Foiled Again!

Tinfoil is one of those versatile must-haves. Tinfoil does everything from covering my lasagna to transforming my children into robots. You can chew on it to make your teeth twang, or press a small strip across your teeth for pretend braces. It saves the bottom of your oven from evil pie spill overs and it can increase the rang of your T.V. antennae. Some people even use it to invite skin cancer by holding a sheet of it under their chins while sunbathing. Don't forget to line the inside of your house with foil to prevent the government and aliens from spying on you. Among this miracle item's many uses is the foil pouch. When filled, rolled, and folded, a foil pouch becomes your personal little oven and only a lack of imagination can limit its possibilities. The trick to foil pouch cooking is the shape of the food, the way the foil is wrapped, good coals, and lots of turning.

Food should be flat. The flatter the food the more evenly it will cook.

Using Heavy Duty Foil will increase your cooking time but it will also help prevent burning of food. Make sure that all your seams are doubled rolled and pinched tight. You don't want steam to get out or ash to come in, and you also want it to stay sealed through lots of turning and flipping.

Make sure your coals hot, ashy, and grey. If you want to enjoy a fire while you cook foil pouches just light your fire to the side of your fire ring. After the fire has burned good and hot and you have plenty of red coals going underneath it, just scoop, or push, some of those red coals to the other side of the fire ring and place pouches in them. You can also place some coals on top of your pouches to cook both sides at the same time.

Flip and turn your pouches often. Coals give uneven heat and turning will give every part of the food a chance to cook, and keep food from burning on hot spots. Watch the foil itself for signs of blackness which are signs of doneness or burning.

My kids favorite foil dinner is also one of the simplest. Just press ground beef into a patty, add sliced carrots and sliced potatoes (beef shouldn't be thicker than 1/2 inch and veggies shouldn't be thicker than 1/4 -1/2inch thick). Sprinkle it all with Lawry's Season Salt and toss in the coals.

My siblings' favorite foil pouch is Inside Out Pineapple Cake. Take a glazed old fashioned doughnut (did you know these are my very favorite doughnut after the luscious apple or blueberry fritter) and slice it in half like you would slice open a hamburger bun. By the way, a glazed old fashioned is very different from a regular glazed doughnut, if can't find the old fashioned style just use regular cake doughnuts. Lay first half of doughnut on square of foil, cut side up. Sprinkle with brown sugar (how much depends on your sweet tooth), then lay on a slice of pineapple (the circle sliced kind), sprinkle with more brown sugar, top with other half of doughnut cut side down. Fold and seal foil tightly and cook. You will know it is done when the brown sugar and juice from pineapple have turned to a carmel glaze. Sooooo rich. If possible, serve with vanilla ice cream.

The Reynolds Wrap web site also has tons of great recipes for foil pouch cooking.

Now, if you don't mind, I need to get back to my foil ball

Fine Dining in The Great Out Doors

Hey everyone, sorry I've been gone so long. I'm still in Idaho having an AMAZING time, but I missed blogging. I have been so busy, there has been no time to sit at a computer for more than 5 minutes. It is almost 2am but I just had to type something up.
In my not-so-humble opinion, when camping, everything should be cooked on a stick. Seriously! I don't go camping just for the dirt factor. I go so that I can live the survivor lifestyle I've always dreamed of and for me that means eating off a stick. My mother and my sisters highly disagree and opt for the gourmet style of dutch oven cooking. I don't mean to knock it. I have eaten pizza, blueberry cobbler, beer brats, beans cooked in various delectable sauces, cinnamon rolls, and many other marvelous foods baked in dutch ovens. That said, I still prefer the stick. Why?

First off, they are easy to clean. I'm sorry, but I consider camping as a way to "get away from it all" and that includes getting away from the daily chore of washing dishes. Sticks are easy to clean, you just stick it in the ashes to burn food remnants (and sanitizes it at the same time), then wipe it off on your not-so-sanitary jeans and you are good to go.

Second, they are easy to pack and store. Mess kits are really cool and fun but when you are cooking for a family of 6 those mess kits can cause a big mess. I can carry enough roasting sticks in my stick bag for 15 people if I wanted to.

Thirdly, the kids can cook their own food. Sure, they drop stuff in the fire and whine a bit that it is covered in ash. The bright side is that they are a bit more thankful for the clean food you give them once they return home and I can always go for more gratitude in the food department with my bra... um, I mean, angels.

Fourthmost, it's just fun. It is fun being able to play with my food, play with sticks, and play in the fire all at the same time. It is fun having competitions to see who can roast the perfect pig in a blanket. It is fun coming up with new "stickable" kinds of food. It is fun watching my boys play sword fights after they are done eating. Camping should be about letting loose, having fun, and eating well, and stick cooking seems to fit the bill in all three areas.


Things I cook on my stick:

Pop Tarts (the trick is all in how you skewer it)

Canned Whole Potatoes (sprinkle with salt or dip in ketchup, yum)

Toast (spread bread with bacon grease, skewer onto a forked stick like you would pin your fabric before sewing)

Popcorn (hook my forked stick around the wire handle of those old burner style Jiffy Pops and shake like crazy)

Bacon (put on stick accordion style)

Any kind of shish kebab (I love ham, pineapple, red onion, and bell pepper with a little teryaki sauce)

Hot Dogs (my favorite are Cheddar Brats)

Marshmallows (I'm not a big fan of chocolate so I do my smores on fudge covered grahams. I kill two birds with one cracker that way)

What do you cook on your stick?

Check back tomorrow for my second favorite way to camp cook: Foil Pouching