As I mentioned last week, it sorta felt like we were short on adults for our camping trip last week. I had a feeling this would be the case so I tried to think up really easy meals.

As I walked past a boboli crust display in the grocery store I got an idea… Turned out it was actually a pretty good idea.  Pizza while camping is totally a lazy man sort of meal.   Also turns out Olivia had a few more lazy-man pizza ideas to add.

All these recipes are similar in that they involve your basic pizza toppings. They differ in that there are 4 different ways you can make the crust depending on how much time you want to put into it.

First some thoughts on a few key toppings. (more…)

We’ve talked before on the blog about feeding children while backpacking. But today we have a new perspective from someone who’s dealt a lot with feeding a wide range of appetites in the backcountry. This is a guest post from Lauren Caselli, a Manhattan desk-jockey-turned-wilderness-junkie and former guide for Alpengirl Camp. 

Backpacking with kids and teens can be a rewarding experience. They think that every sweeping mountain vista is super rad, they have good energy, and they are surprisingly strong enough to carry most of their own weight.

But at the end of the day, when they’ve hiked miles with heavy packs in all kinds of weather, they’re still kids. They still get tired and cranky. And they definitely still hate spinach.

So what’s an outdoor mom to do when she’s got picky eaters in her tent?

Here are a few tips that I’ve learned as a guide for an all-girls adventure summer camp to keep even the pickiest of pack-carriers happy, and gives enough variety for everyone to go home and still appreciate pasta. (more…)

We’ve talked on this site before about making the perfect granola bar.  (We are still looking for good recipes, by the way!)  While these aren’t technically granola bars, they are pretty darned good!  My mom has been making these ‘bread sticks’ for years.  They’re wonderfully filling and so easy to make, but (even better), they’re also incredibly versatile.

What you’ll need:

1)  5 cups of various flours:  white flour, whole-wheat flour, oats, flax seed, millet, whatever suits your fancy.  The whole wheat makes them denser, the flax seed gave it a slightly nutty taste (which I liked).  Try your own combination and see what you like best!  This weekend we made them with 2 cups each of white and whole-wheat flour, 1 cup of oats, and a few tablespoons of flax seed. (more…)

One of the things I love about backpacking is the challenge of creating a tasty and filling meal at the end of the day, without lugging an extra ten or twenty pounds of food in with me. Backpacking with kids adds even more to that challenge, as they are discerning little folks, with taste buds as sensitive as a New York food critic.  They can sense the dehydrated food in your pack before you even pull it out, and steer away from powdered milk like cats from water.

The thing is, those little ones need a good meal filled with fat, a little protein, and plenty of calories.  Even better is if you can get them to drink enough to stay fully hydrated.  Bring lots of drink mixes to encourage imbibing, and think about starting dinner with a soup–Ramen noodles are easy, for example.

Here are a few meal suggestions to satisfy the little connoiseur, giving him or her the energy to get through a few days of long walks in the back country.

A note before we get to the recipes.  As with car-camping, there are ‘kits’ that I like to prepare when I go backpacking…  The Olivia Bag covers most things, but I also have a little kitchen bag for backpacking.  In it (along with utensils, etc.) are a few things that I know I’ll need no matter what meals I decide to make.  I’ve got a tiny container of olive oil, some commonly used spices (salt, black pepper, red pepper, cinnamon, paprika, oregano, taco seasoning or chile powder… curry is also fun). (more…)

Note: A version of this article was also published last week as a note by Nature Rocks via their Facebook page. Thanks go out to Nature Rocks for featuring tips from OutsideMom.Com.

Summer is officially here—the longest day of the year has already come and gone, and now it is time to hike in earnest!  Quick before winter shows up again!  Each summer I empty out my well-worn pack of all the junk has accumulated in it over the last year, turn it inside out and shake out the debris, and re-stock it for the year.  I have a food pouch in my pack.  In it there resides a constant supply of (mostly) non-perishables that are (always) tasty.  Today I’m sharing with you my list of favorite hiking foods; like a good wardrobe these items are cheap, and can be mixed and matched in any combination to create delectable moments in your mouth (ummm… that last part should actually never happen with your wardrobe…). (more…)

Now that your dutch oven is ready to go (or perhaps yours already was…), here are a few of my favorite recipes to make when camping.
Note: Pictured here is a variation of the Green Chile Cheese Cornbread and White Bean Chili recipe (minus the cornbread, plus black beans).

Also a note on dutch oven cooking:  So that you don’t lose heat, I often place my dutch oven in a shallow hole in the ground over some coals.  HOWEVER if the ground is wet, this doesn’t work at all.  You can also use a metal pail that is slightly wider in diameter than your dutch oven.  Put the coals in the bottom of the pail and place the dutch oven over the top of them.  If it is windy, you’ll need to rig up something to keep the heat around the dutch oven; I find the pail to work well, but I’m sure there are other solutions.  Wind is one reason why yesterday I wrote that dutch oven cooking is at its best on a sunny beautiful day! (more…)

Note: As per the discussion on facebook, this article does indeed end with the photo of a dog eating out of Dutch Oven with a cone on it’s head.

For me, cooking outside is either a complete nightmare or a wonderful delight.  It all depends on the weather (want a little food with your sand? Anybody feel like stepping out of the car and into the rain to see how the chili is doing?), your mood (who wants to make fajitas after coaxing kids to walk three miles in seven hours?), and the mood of those who will be eating your food (come on, son.  One more bite and then you can roast marshmallows).  For those moments when the stars align, the children are happy, the cook is motivated, and the weather is gorgeous, consider the dutch oven.  Why?  Let me tell you. (more…)