Culinary Adventures with Camilla

We just got back from our annual family camping trip around northern California. We spend three nights in Modoc National Forest with my in-laws, then hit the coast, and camped all the way back home, exploring different California State Parks as we go. It's about 1500 miles, 10 days, 1 national forest, 3 state parks, and many, many days and nights of cooking over the campfire. Last year I discovered - and had a chance to review (click for my post about it ) - Robin Donovan's  Campfire Cuisine: Gourmet Recipes for the Great Outdoors. What I learned: you can cook just about anything with some parchment paper, some heavy duty foil, olive oil, and herbs. So easy! Campfire Steelhead fish filet onion, sliced organic lemon fresh herbs (I used flowering dill) olive oil salt pepper Procedure Lay a piece of heavy duty foil on the table. Lay a slightly smaller piece of parchment on top of that. Place your fish piece in the center of the parchment. Lay ...

Welcome to the June 2014 edition of my virtual potluck! Summer vacation is almost here. My boys are out of school this Thursday. Yikes! And we have quite a few days of camping planned before they go back to school in August. So, this month, let's share recipes that are cooked over a campfire. Think roasted potatoes or your favorite s'mores. Last summer I worked my way through Robin Donovan's Campfire Cuisine: Gourmet Recipes for the Great Outdoors during a 10-day camping trip around northern California. And, as I mentioned, we have another trip planned for this summer. So, bring it on! I'd love some new recipes for our cooking in the wild arsenal. Link in up to three recipes and I'll round 'em up in a week or so.

One evening after a full day of hiking and adventuring in Modoc National Forest, my sister-in-law Liv and I forgot to set the venison meat to braise. So, we scrambled to think of what to do with the meat and I remembered a recipe in Robin Donovan's Campfire Cuisine for Chicken Kabobs with Spicy Peanut Sauce. Done deal. We sliced the venison into bite-sized pieces and threaded them onto skewers with onions, green bell peppers, and cubes of zucchini from Aunt Greta's garden. Then we grilled them over an open flame and served them with Donovan's sauce. For kabobs: venison meat, cut into 1 inch pieces Bamboo skewers, soaked in cold water for 15 minutes 1/2 C fresh lemon juice freshly ground salt freshly ground pepper garlic powder zucchini green bell peppers onions For peanut sauce: 1/2 C milk 1 C peanut butter 1/4 C soy sauce 1/4 C brown sugar 1 1/2 t crushed red pepper 2 T ketchup Juice of one lemon Rub the venison with the s...

Inspired by Robin Donovan's Veggie Polenta Scramble in Campfire Cuisine , on day eight of our ten day camping trip, I whipped this up for breakfast at Salt Point State Park. This one-pan vegetarian frittata made a hearty breakfast - perfect for our pre-bike riding meal. I used Donovan's recipe as a jumping off point, adapting her ingredients to match what I had in my camping larder. 1 T olive oil 1 medium onion, diced 1 medium fennel bulb, diced 2 C chopped carrots 4 oz. ready-made polenta, cut into 1/2-inch dice (about 1 cup) 6 eggs (or use 1 1/2 cups liquid egg substitute) freshly ground sea salt freshly ground pepper Beat eggs. Add salt and pepper and mix well. Set aside. Heat oil in a skillet over high heat on a camp stove. Add onions and fennel. Cook, stirring, until beginning to soften, about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-high, add carrots and continue cooking until onion is translucent and carrots are softened, about 5 minutes mor...