By Amanda Wilkes
A couple of weeks ago, my boyfriend asked me to go camping for Memorial Day weekend. I was excited to go hiking and fishing and exploring the mysterious trails that crept through the tall mountains. I knew that at the end of our very busy days we would be very hungry. Of course when I was growing up, camping dinners consisted of hamburgers and hot dogs; but with this newly found lifestyle of mine, the days of eating carcasses are long gone. The other challenge was that I wasn’t cooking just for me, but also for my still carcass-eating boyfriend. Although he eats healthy, he’s just like every other man’s man and enjoys a good cut of meat every once in a while. Since he put me in charge of food, I saw this as a perfect opportunity to impress him with my veggie cooking, so I put my thinking cap on and got creative. Surprisingly, it was not as hard as I thought and, with a little preparation, I knew we would be eating in style!
DAY 1
Dinner
Brie cheese with green apple slices on a baguette (Pan needed to warm cheese)
Butternut squash soup (Prepared before – Pot needed to warm soup)
Veggie Kebabs (Marinade and Veggies prepared ahead)
Brownies (Prepared ahead)
DAY 2
Breakfast
Soy chorizo, egg, potato and salsa burrito (Pan needed to cook)
Lunch
Almond butter and raw honey sandwiches
Apples
Cheese and crackers
Dinner
Vegetarian chili (Prepared before – Pot needed to warm up)
Cornbread (Prepared ahead)
S’mores
DAY 3
Breakfast
Pancakes (Mixture prepared before – Pan needed to cook)
Strawberries
My veggie diet was a hit, and my boyfriend did not complain once about my avoiding what most people consider traditional camping food. Now I have a veggie camping menu that I probably will use for years to come. I found that freezing the soups before putting them into the ice chest worked very nicely to keep a lot of the other foods cold. The kebabs were the easiest because I had cut all the veggies prior to the trip, marinated them once we were there, then strung them onto a kebab stick and cooked them over the fire. With summer approaching, I plan to take many more outdoor trips. Maybe you will, too, so use this menu as a guideline and let me know what changes you make. Maybe I can use them on my next adventure!