Local cook tries out new camping recipes

By Jomay Steen, Journal staff | Saturday, July 19, 2008

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For a better meal by the fire, a little planning helps.

Kayla Dutton of Rapid City is something of a master campfire cook, according to her husband, Steve. Last weekend, the first in ages without rain, the couple caught up with her two sisters and a brother and their families to pitch camp in the Black Hills and feed a large group of hungry people.

“She did a lot of planning on these meals, looking for ideas for cooking over the campfire,” Steve Dutton said.

To keep up with the demand, the Duttons brought along a portable grill and a camp stove and kept the park’s fire gate grill blazing.

“We had the works, and we used them all,” he said.

Kayla Dutton, 49, volunteered to cook breakfasts for the four families, but she also went onto the Internet to look up some new recipes that she was willing to try.

“I love to cook and experiment,” she said. “I cook a lot of times without using a recipe.”

She found a few new recipes that looked easy and doable.

“I picked the ones I liked. My sister, Shannon, was excited to try them,” she said.

They were a hit, with accolades and people requesting more.

“Everyone was skeptical about the orange muffins when we started. But once they tasted them, it was a whole different story,” she said.

Using large oranges and a tri-berry muffin mix that uses only water for mixing, Kayla cleaned the fruit out of the peel. She poured the batter into the orange shell until it was half full, then wrapped foil around it twisting the top into a tent allowing enough room for the muffin to rise when heated.

The foil clad orange rind-filled muffins were then set down into the coals and rotated about four times until they finished baking in 10 minutes. The one package of mix made four muffins, she said.

“This was a first-time recipe, and they worked wonderfully,” she said.

The individual servings of bread absorbed the moisture from the peel and tasted a little citrusy, she added. “It wasn’t brown on top, but it was done.”

Once a Girl Scout, Kayla learned to love cooking over open fires.

The Duttons camp several times each summer and even into the fall, setting up their tent and relaxing into a life without a lot of fuss or bother.

“We keep our stuff in a plastic storage tub labeled camping,” she said.

Inside is a first-aid kit, flashlight, batteries, waterproof tablecloth, a clothesline, dishes and utensils, cooking gear, dish pans, dish towels and towels.

“We try to do at least two days of camping because that how long it takes to set up camp,” she said with a laugh.

She inherited her love of camping from her mother, Roberta “Bobbie” Thomas, who regularly packed up her seven kids and husband into the car and pop-up tent camper, heading out into the Black Hills.

“It was in her blood,” her daughter said. “She grew up in the Hills, and she liked the serenity of camping, too.”

For best camping food preparation, Dutton recommends planning ahead.

y The fire: You have to have a fire going at all times even if there is only one log in the fire. When it is time to cook, just add more wood.

y Cookware: A must for camping is a cast iron skillet or Dutch oven.

y Packaged foods are your friends: Bring along pre-made biscuits for biscuits and gravy and use packaged mixes (muffins, gravy mixes) that only need water to mix.

y Heavy-duty aluminum foil is a must. Check out new foil products that may make camp food cooking more fun.

Area campers serve up favorite camping fare

Kayla Dutton offers some of the recipes from her family’s most recent camping trip. “Something about a campfire makes things taste so yummy,” she said.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

10 cake donuts

1 can pineapple rings (usually has 10 rings), drained

1-1/4 cups packed brown sugar

1 can whipped cream, optional

1 roll foil

Cut cake doughnuts in half (crossways). Lay a pineapple ring on each doughnut half, sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of brown sugar over the ring, then wrap in a piece of foil.

Place on grill gate of campfire and let heat for 3 minutes, turn over and let the fire do the work for the next 3 minutes. Open up foil packet and enjoy. A can of whipped cream works well as the finishing touch. You can also use sliced bananas.

Campfire Muffins

2-3 oranges

1 package add-water-only muffin mix

1 can nonstick cooking spray

Butter, optional

Cut oranges in half and take out the sections (save for later for fruit salad). Mix muffin packet as directed on package. Spoon the batter into orange shell sprayed with cooking spray until half full.

Place orange shell on piece of foil and twist at the top so muffins have room to rise. Place foil-wrapped shell down in the wood coals and turn 1/4-turn every few minutes for 10 minutes.

Check for doneness. When done open foil and eat right out of the shell. Top with butter for even a better taste. (It has a nice citrus flavor from cooking in the orange shell.)

Campfire Garlic Butter Baked Potato

6 empty vegetable or fruit cans, labels removed and cleaned

6 potatoes that will fit into cans

Butter

Garlic salt

Foil

Place one potato into a can. Add several teaspoons of butter and sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon garlic salt. Tightly wrap foil over can top. Place close down next to campfire coals. Let cook for 20 minutes. Then turn can around so other side gets nice and hot. Allow to cook for another 10 to 15 minutes. Remove foil, using fork to take potato out of can and put onto plate. Pour the melted garlic butter from the can onto the hot potato.

Calico beans

1 can black beans, rinsed

1 can great northern beans, drained

1 can light red kidney beans, drained

1 can large butter beans, drained

1 large can pork and beans

1 pound hamburger, browned and crumbled

1/4 cup molasses

1 cup brown sugar

Stir all together. There are several ways to prepare this dish at campsite. I have cooked it in a slow cooker all day at site or packed it in a sealed container, taken to camp site and heated half of the batch at a time in a skillet over the fire.

Peas, Pickle and Cheese Salad

2 can peas, drained

1 (8-ounce) block Colby cheese, cut into cubes

3 whole dill pickles, diced

1 cauliflower, broken up (optional)

1 cup Miracle Whip or salad dressing

Put cheese and pickles into a large bowl. Add salad dress and stir until well coated. Gently stir in peas. Fold in cauliflower. Refrigerate.

Kielbasa Skillet

1 package kielbasa cut into large slices

1 can sliced potatoes

1 can French style green beans

1 small onion, chopped

2 tablespoons butter

Put kielbasa slices, potatoes, green beans, onions and butter into a cast iron skillet over the fire. Use a spatula to turn over food and thoroughly heat through until hot. Serve immediately.

S’mores

Marshmallows, chocolate, strawberry or regular

Chocolate bars

Graham crackers

Of course what camping trip would be not complete without s’mores. Do I need to say more?

Here are some additional local camping recipes submitted by Journal readers:

Breakfast rolls

When we use to go camping we made breakfast rolls — and you can do this before you go camping. Scramble eggs, fry some hash browns and fry some bacon or any other meats you like. You can also add onions and/or peppers or mushrooms. Put all in a flour tortilla, roll in tin foil and put in cooler. Then put on fire pit or the grill to warm up.

Michelle Danielsen

My girls liked to help make this Hobo Dinner. They can be made before going camping for easy cooking and easy clean-up.

Family-Favorite Hobo Dinner

What you need:

Heavy duty Tinfoil (or double up single foil)

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast

1 can french style green beans, corn, or all

Potatoes

Onions (optional)

1 can cream of mushroom soup.

Lay out a large section tinfoil for each family member. Place chicken breast in each. Top with large spoonful of vegetables. Cut up potatoes, leave skin on for great taste, over top. Place large spoonful of soup on top of all

Fold tinfoil up to form pouch and seal by folding and pressing edges. Place on grill and cook over medium heat for 30 minutes

Monica Bower-Brink

This tried and true camping dinner saves a lot of time and clean up while you are camping by doing a lot of the prep work at home and cooking in foil.  It’s easy to double or triple the recipe depending on how many are camping, too.  It’s a favorite of family and friends alike!

Campfire Foiled Chicken Dinner

6 servings

6 chicken breasts, precooked at home

6 carrots, sliced lenghtwise, parboiled

6 medium potatoes, sliced lenghwise, parboiled

one large sweet onion, sliced into six slices

1 can cream of celery soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

4 tablespoons butter

Boil chicken breasts until done at home, about 30 minutes. Place fully cooked breast, partially cooked carrots, partially cooked potatoes, one onion slice, a dollop of each kind of soup and pat of butter on six squares of heavy duty aluminium foil, dull side out. Seal tightly. Wrap each packet with a second piece of aluminum foil. Seal tightly and freeze until needed.  Pack in water proof storage bags before placing in cooler. The packets will thaw in a cooler packed with ice and be a perfect supper for the second night of camping. 

At campsite, remove the packets from the storage bags. Place the packets over a medium hot fire and turn frequently with old oven mitts for about 45 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.

Serve in the inner piece of foil for easy clean up.

Tanya Gall

Newcastle, Wyo.

This recipe tastes good lakeside, at the beach or on a picnic. Cooks may add diced potatoes, chopped meat or breakfast or Italian sausage to the mixture also. For a different flavor, you can add some tomato paste to taste as well. There’s no mayonnaise, and the olive oil acts as a preservative.

Peppers and Eggs

4 peppers — green, red and yellow, cut into small slices

Olive oil

6 eggs, scrambled

1 clove garlic

Salt and black pepper to taste

Hard rolls, optional

Add several tablespoon olive oil to frying pan medium heat. Add peppers and garlic clove to pan and cook. Do not let garlic burn. Cook until peppers are tender. Take garlic out. Add scrambled egg mixture and some salt to taste. Stir mixture so it does not stick. Add some black pepper. Serve on hard rolls warmed. Serves 6.

By Anne Fauvell

Rapid City

Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com.