Camp Food Part 2: Dutch Oven Cooking Fires Up Outdoor Dining

In last week's  I complained about my experiences with bland camp food and shared a recipe of one of the more successful meals I had camping.

Pat Resende of Woodinville wrote Patch to share her experiences with making scrumptious camping meals. She wrote:

Annie, I used to agree with you. Then I discovered Dutch oven cooking and everything changed. We just got back from spending a week at Moran State Park on Orcas Island, a journey we've made every summer for the past 17 years. Some of our meals were:

• Breakfast - Strata with sausage & onions, hashbrowns, cheese, eggs, and a biscuit topping,
• Breakfast - Fresh blueberry pancakes (made from scratch), bacon
• Breakfast - French toast with sausage
• Breakfast - Bacon, scrambled eggs, homemade biscuits with butter and jam
• Dinner - Grilled cheeseburgers with coleslaw and homemade-from-scratch baked beans,
• Dinner - Tamale Pie with Caesar salad
• Dinner - Pie iron pizzas (admittedly not my fave, but husband and kids just love them) with salad and corn on the cob
• Desserts - peach and cherry cobblers, triple chocolate cake

I spend about 20 minutes prep for a meal, about 30 minutes actual cooking time, and (with two people working) about 20 minutes cleanup time.

I can cook literally anything in a Dutch oven that can be cooked in the oven at home, including casseroles and desserts. The secret is preparation -- I prepare absolutely everything I can at home so assembly at camp is a breeze. I'm attaching a few pics from our recent trip.

One of the things we love most about camping is the food!