Breakfast Crepes?

This is much easier than you might think.  On our recent trip to Cheyenne, WY, we pre-froze a batch of these up and kept them on ice during the week.  We re-heated them on the electric griddle (fire ban so no fire was allowed), eating the crepes stuffed with nutella, strawberries, and bananas.  I have no doubt we were the envy of all our camping neighbors.  They smelled divine, were easy and delicious.  

A crepe is a very thin, eggy, french pancake.  It is filled with either sweet or savory foods, and rolled or folded.  Some great filling ideas include:  nutella, yogurt, strawberries and chocolate chips, banana slices, peanut butter and/or jelly, and sausage.  

These are best made ahead and frozen before filling.  My recipe is based on a recipe from allrecipes, altered considering recommendations and personal experience.  

In a tuperware container, add all the following ingredients:  

Ingredients

·         1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk

·         1 cup milk

·         2/3 cup all-purpose flour

·         1 pinch salt

·         1 1/2 teaspoons canola or olive oil

Cover the container tightly, and shake vigorously.  I like to let the mixture sit in the fridge overnight, and cook them up in the morning so it blends better.  

Heat a pan on medium heat.  Some tips for cooking the crepes include:

*Use a non-stick pan.  We don't have a large non-stick pan, so I make mini crepes with our 5-6 inch pan.  These are easier to turn than the large, 9" crepes.  

*Brush butter on the pan.  

*Add a little less than 1/4th cup of batter to the pre-heated pan (1/3 cup for a larger pan).  Tilt/Swirl the pan so the batter spreads evenly into a circle.  

*Cook it for about 2-3 minutes.  When the crepe is solid enough to flip, use a spatula to get underneath the crepe and flip it.  This may take some practice since they are very thin and fragile.  Cook the other side for just about a minute.

*Stack the crepes on a plate to be filled if eating immediately.  

FOR FREEZING:

Put a sheet of foil on the table.  Layer crepes with parchment paper (or foil) between each crepes.  Wrap the entire stack in foil and seal in a ziplock bag.  Freeze.  When ready to eat, can be microwaved or placed with foil/parchment paper on a griddle (or grill) for reheating.  

As I said, we put the entire bag in the bottom of our cooler and kept on ice for a week when we camped to Cheyenne.  The crepes (reheated on the griddle) were still delicious.  

Cheyenne Mountain State Park (Colorado Springs, CO)

 http://www.parks.state.co.us/Parks/CheyenneMountain/Camping/Pages/Cheyenne%20Mountain%20State%20Park%20%20Camping%20Page.aspx

For those in the know, Cheyenne Mountain is the location of…the Stargate!  We aren’t totally crazy.  Feel free to rain on my parade and tell me that it is only NORAD, and Stargate is a television show that does not really exist.  It was still all sorts of fun to be there.  

 If you find yourself in Colorado Springs, Cheyenne Mountain is also wonderful for several other reasons.  Cheyenne Mountain State Park area is much less crowded than the other places we visited.  It is on the south side of Colorado Springs, so it is out of the touristy craziness of Manitou Springs.  We were within a quick drive to grocery stores and other amenities (a huge movie theater and Chuck E. Cheese were 12 minutes away).  The state park itself has a GORGEOUS view of the city.  Almost every camping site seems to benefit from the awesome view.  

We were at site 48 in the Meadow loop...

 

(48 has an upper area for the tent, and lower area for cooking)

  

 (above is the trail down from our site to the parking lot)

 

 (The cooking/picnic table area of site 48)

There are a string of walk-back camp sites on that path which are fantastic.  48 is the “penthouse” of campsites.  I had read other reviews that said this was the best site, and they are probably correct.  It is the most spacious with a great view.  The only drawback is the walk up to it.  Since there are no bear boxes, all food has to be lugged up and down.  We ate every meal out, packing sandwiches for lunch.  So for our purposes it was just fine. 

For those who are only over-nighting (or campfire cooking), 46 is a good option.  It is right next to the parking lot, yet still quiet and close to the bathroom.  Note, even though these are walk back sites, they are closer to the bathroom than the other sites in the Meadows loop.  We didn’t see any bears, but we did see mule deer, rabbits, and lizards.  All the walk-back sites have some shade and, I think, are prettier than the other sites at the park. 

The bathrooms were very clean and new.  We were not a fan of the pay showers.  Although they were clean-ish, $1.00 for 4 minutes of showering is a little ridiculous.  The water was sometimes cold, leaving me amazed I had actually paid a dollar for a cold shower.  There is a main building with a laundry room, many pay showers, and a playground.  The kids loved that playground.  Next to our site in the meadow loop, however, there is just one shower in the “family” bathroom.  That was also annoying on a morning when there was a line for that one shower.  Not so annoying that we got in the car to drive to the main shower house, though. 

In regards to trails, there is a trail that goes down from the amphitheater.  We took it to the “cougar shadow” trail.  With the three kids, this had some great views and nature “stuff.”  We did turn around about half-way through when a runner told us they had spotted several bear cubs up ahead of us.  Which leads me to the final aspect which I loved about Cheyenne Mountain: the trails were not crowded, yet there were enough people around to give a heads up if a bear or rattlesnake was spotted.  (picture of trail below)

Over all, we loved it.  If life takes us back to the gorgeous world of Colorado Springs, I'm sure we'll stay there again.

 













(above and right:  The Main shower/office/laundry facility with fenced playground)

WaKeeny KOA (on HWY 70 in Kansas)

http://koa.com/campgrounds/wakeeney/

If you camp very many KOA's, you will discover that not all KOA's are equal.  They are each privately owned, so it depends on the owners.  This little stop was a gem.  The ownership was friendly.  We were put right next to the bathrooms, pool and playground.  After a 7.5 hour driving day, the kids were ecstatic.  We heard it was 104 degrees when we arrived!  Since there was a burn ban, our plans for hot dogs and bannock bread was a bust over the fire.  So we busted out the electric griddle.  I'll post the bread recipe, because even over the griddle it was fabulous.  After a swim, the kids were happy to scarf down the hotdogs and s'mores, and drift off to sleep.

The sites were large enough.  There was a partial fence on three sides, which helped with privacy.  The only downside is each site shares the grills with 3 other sites, and you also share electricity with many other sites.  But since there was no one at those neighbor sites, and we couldn't use the grill, it didn't matter.  There is a large street light above our neighbor site, which might be annoying (seen in above picture).  You should avoid site 2 (due to the light).

Bathrooms were modern, clean, and wonderful.  Everything was kept up nicely, including the showers. Definitely worth the stop on hwy 70.

Cheyenne KOA

http://www.cheyennekoa.com/

Every tent camp situation seems to present it's own challenges.  Here, we had yet another first:  putting up our huge (something by 15 tent) in Cheyenne wind.  The site of this camp grounds, so far, is perpetually windy.  There is a wind break, but it is not actually big enough to break the wind for a tent the size of the tent pad.  SO, our lovely rain fly was ripped at the seams last night during an especially windy storm.  Man!  Of course I look around and compare, and everyone around us seems to be ninja camping just fine.  I'm sure we've done something wrong!

Advise #1:  In high wind camping, it is apparently not good to tether the rain fly super tight?

Advise #2:  Should duct tape not stick to your rain fly (yes, you read that right.  There is something duct tape seems unable to fix!), here is a great resource for doing a self-repair:  http://www.backpacker.com/gear/11204?page=2

We took the advise, and found nylon adhesive patching at Hobby Lobby.  You can see the big rip (and our white patchs) in the picture.  It mostly held through the next storm, but I'll have to use a stronger adhesive glue when I get home.

To get on with the review of Cheyenne KOA...so it is not terrible.  The owners were so friendly and fantastic.  I'll add that I love the "convenience" house with the microwave and sinks.  I really wished we had those microwaves in Kansas at the WaKeeny KOA.  It makes operating under a burn ban a little easier.  There is a pool, and the playground is also decent.  The mini golf is a little run down, but still a nice amenity to have here.  

Cons would include the small sites and the small wind break.  Bathrooms and showers are not very clean, and I dislike the fact that the showers are outside the bathrooms.  Considering that this stay comes following our stay at WaKeeny KS KOA, it is hard not to compare the two experiences.  There was a three sided fence around each site in WaKeeny...which would be really helpful here.  Also, their sites were bigger.  Our tent really does not fit very easily on this site.  Since we are late in our camping week, and thus have run through the perishable items in our cooler, I wish they offered some sort of pancake breakfast option.  Otherwise, it is quite livable.  I'll be hunting down some "nylon patch" today as we visit with family!  

Graham Cave State Park, Missouri (on Hwy 70; outside St. Louis)

http://mostateparks.com/campgrounds/graham-cave-state-park

Here's my first review on all the many camp grounds and sites we have used over the past few years.

After 6 hours of driving, we pulled through the beautiful state camp grounds of Graham Cave State Park.  A glance at the rolling hills and rocky outcroppings, made it easy to imagine the earliest nomadic men and women roaming these hills some 10,000 years ago!  Today, however, all seems almost deserted.  We pass rows of empty campsites, until we find the “camp host.”  Turns out he is our camping site neighbor, and this nice man lets us use his electricity to pump up our air mattresses.  Site 34 doesn’t look like much, but it is near the bathrooms and next to the “playground” (a swing set). 

Without a thermometer, our imaginations tell us we have arrived in the center of a lava churning volcano.  You might say it was hot.  We leave off the rain fly, laughing at the likelihood of rain in the middle of this drought.  We all sprawl out in the tent and fall asleep marveling at the starred sky. 

I should add, the bathrooms and shower house were clean and wonderful.  My kids excitedly tracked down several lizards and a tiny toad, an added bonus.  However the best moment was our parting trek to the Graham Cave.  .3 miles up the trail, it was worth the stop before heading back on the road.  I was reminded why we love to stay at state parks, as we considered the huge cave and the people who walked those grounds so many, many years ago.  We will definitely keep this place in mind for future cross country treks.     

Rosemary Sage Chicken

Rosemary Sage Chicken (kabobs)


This is about as complicated as I get.  It is so tasty, I can't resist.  One could decide to make these into kabobs.  I make a few changes to cook it in packet dinners.  I also make these at home all the time.


1.  Put all the non-sauce ingredients (tomatoes, chicken, peppers, etc) in a large folded packet.  Spread the chicken out so it isn't clumped together.  This improves cooking. 
2.  Make the marinade and pour it inside the packet. 
3.  Seal the packet, place in zip lock bag, and freeze it. 

When I made these for our last camping trip, the chicken was not thawed by the time I needed to cook it.  It was taking forever to cook, so another option for cooking a little quicker is to grill it.  Make and store as described above.  I will then cover the fire pit grill with foil, rotate it over the fire, and dump the packet out on the grill to cook.  This requires a little more attention, but is also tasty.  As always, check the chicken for doneness before eating.     

Ninja Cooking Tip #1: Foil is Lighter than a Dutch Oven

I'll start this entry with a confession: I have yet to figure out how to use a dutch oven.  Someone gave us a dutch oven while insisting they were necessary to camp cooking.  Not realizing I shouldn't wash it, the dutch oven is now rusting in our garage.  As I understand it, I am just suppose to sluff food off with oil?  Really?  One of these days I'll drag it out and re-season it.  Maybe.  But honestly, everything having to do with a dutch oven just reeks of hard work.

I'm sure I would love my dutch oven if we were resident campers.  Family tent camping, however, is a different animal.  I already have to squeeze 5 people, and our stuff, in the van.  We value light and easy.  In this category, featherlight and versatile foil is the way to go!  You would be amazed what you can cook in foil packets.  In addition, foil packets can be made in advance and frozen.  I freeze EVERYTHING prior to leaving.  When you are done cooking and eating, you throw it all away (or recycle).  Voila!  Dinner is served and cleaned up.

There are many ways one might choose to wrap food in foil.  Our technique dates back to my days counseling at Outpost Camp and learning from the Kaufman's.  The Kaufman's were a couple that planned all the outpost meals for the entire camp.  They were very particular about how we should fold our foil packets for Hobo dinners, and now I am too.

1.  Rip off a piece of foil.  Size it a little more than twice as long as the sized packet you want to make.

2.  Fold the foil in half.

3.  Fold the left edge about 1 inch over.  Fold again.  Usually I fold again for good measure.

4.  Repeat step 3 on the right side.

5.  Open up the top and fill the packet with yummy stuff.

6.  Fold the top down several times when done.

When making individualized packets, I usually mark them with permanent marker.  Be warned, this is not full-proof because the marker sometimes burns off.  So we'll also distinguish by folding a corner up a certain way.

My favorite way to make foil packets is in my kitchen prior to camping.  I mix up the packets, then put them in ziploc bags (in case they leak).  Afterwards, I freeze them.  As I mentioned, I freeze practically everything we take:  our jugs and bottles of water, bread, juice boxes, individual containers of apple sauce, etc.  This reduces the need for ice in the cooler, saving space.  We usually check the coldness of the cooler periodically, and start adding ice around day 2 or 3 of the camping trip.  This depends on how hot it is outside.  You'd be amazed how long a big jug of water can stay frozen in a cooler!  The packet dinners will typically thaw in the cooler, but they stay cold if you keep them iced.

When I'm ready to cook up the foil packets, here are a few of the tips I follow:

1.  Build the fire with coals in mind.  After started, let the fire burn for around 30 minutes until it has burned down to some hot coals.  Smaller pieces of wood, rather than gigantic logs, work best for this.  When you are ready to cook, spread the log coals out a little bit for a wider cooking surface.

2.  Pull the packet(s) out and lay them on the hot coals.  Since they are already assembled, you will feel like a real camping ninja--take that dinner!  Hiyah!   Note:  I also like to put hot coals on top of the packet, to cook on both sides.  Avoid areas with open flames, because flame will scorch the meal. 

3.  Rotate the meals around every 10 minutes so they cook more evenly.  Otherwise, relax and sip some tea.  You may also spend the time repeatedly reminding your children not to put things in the fire.

4.  Check for doneness before eating.  De-li-cious!          

Other helpful items to have for foil packet meals:  1.  Tongs.  These make it easier to get the packets in and out of fire.  2.  permanent markers (as mentioned above).  3.  Oven mitt.  I always forget to pack this, so a towel/wash cloth also works.

I'll post my favorite foil recipes separately so they can be found easily.

What is a Camping Ninja?

I've always envied those seasoned camping ninjas.  You know, those campers who suddenly appear one day at a neighboring site.  We didn't even hear them set up.  The next day they are gone.  We might be in the process of trying our 100th match to light a fire in the drizzling rain.  The neighboring camp ninjas have opted for their electric cook stove, which is positioned under their lighted and screened meeting tent.  People can smell their expertly prepared meal from miles away.  I'm not ashamed to admit, I am a "camping ninja wannabe."  I realize that this goal is probably too lofty for me.  As a mother of three kids, and wife to a non-camping husband, the deck is stacked against me.  Most days I am doing well just getting all three children in the car with clothes and shoes on their feet.  On occasion, this has even proved too daunting!  "T" (my middle child) will never let me forget the time we showed up at the mall only to realize that he, then 5 years old, had forgotten to change out of his pajamas.  In my defense, he was wearing a coat.

Still, I am a dreamer.  I dream of that day when we make it through a camping trip without having to substitute a towel for a forgotten pillow.  I dream of the day when my family has become such a well-oiled machine that we can set up our tent, or take it down, without alerting the entire neighborhood.  Yes, I dare to dream.  In the meantime, I will continue to enjoy family camping imperfection.  Really, even with the raccoon invasions and leaky tents, camping is one of the best ways I have found for family bonding.  With the bad, we also get s'mores, banana boats, pink sunrises, lightening bugs, shadow puppets, and campfire stories.  Every camping trip gets a little bit sweeter.   

I invite you to follow us on our journey to camping greatness.  I am hoping that this blog can help us keep track of our favorite camp sites, meals, and camping tips.  If there is anyone out there who shares my dream of becoming a tent camping ninja, then maybe you can learn from our mistakes (and successes).  Since our family only camps in the summer, I also consider this an opportunity to sharpen my writing skills on a fun topic while out of seminary classes for the summer.  Now, where to begin...