I went camping in the woods, slept in a tent, got eaten by mosquitos and lived to tell about it! I certainly do not fancy myself a camper, but trusted my girlfriends Renee + Adie, who promised it’d be a blast and that I wouldn’t run into too many monsters in the deep, dark woods.

I am so, so glad we went – camping might be one of my new favorite ways to spend a weekend. Being surrounded by nine of our most fabulous pals certainly made the weekend great – but we also ate like kings + queens! I’m already planning out menus for the next time we go, I’m hooked! 😀

Alright, well let’s get to that yummy food I mentioned. My turn to cook was up first, so I got to chopping up all of my ingredients for some super easy foil packets.

Sausage + Veggie Foil Packets for 10

Ingredients
3 kielbasa sausages
2 quartered sweet onions
2 chopped red pepper
2 chopped green pepper
5 corn on the cob, each cut into 3 chunks
10 chopped medium red potatoes
choice of mix of seasonings: old bay, garlic salt, celery seed + lawry’s seasoning salt were the options I brought
1/4 cup of cheap beer per packet

Let your campers pick what they want in their packets, season liberally, and pour the beer into the packet – this will help steam the packet and give some yummy flavor. Seal up tightly.

We tried placing the packets on a grate above the fire as well as basically in the fire, towards the side. Placing the packets right on the edge of the fire cooked the packets pretty great, so that’s what I’d recommend, flipping a couple of times so nothing burns. They do require about 30 minutes to cook through. We also threw some brats on the grilling grate for good measure.

The guys seemed pretty happy with their packets.

Everyone really seemed to dig this super easy dinner. Since we had 10 people at camp, I thought the mix and match of veggies + seasonings would be helpful to make sure everyone could have a dinner they loved. Highly recommend y’all!

After a surprisingly good nights sleep, we were up and at ’em. Look at how cool you look after a night in the woods! #WINNING

Also, can I just say how much I loved the misty, spooky mornings? SO COOL!

It was Adie’s turn to feed the gang in the morning, and she did not disappoint! She made amazing breakfast sammies with ham, Gruyère cheese, homemade roasted tomatoes and an egg that cooked up in the fire. This was so delicious, I would make it at home – and plan to! Adie made the roasted tomatoes from the tomatoes in her garden prior to our camping adventure. I thought bringing these along was such a great idea as they gave the sandwiches a bright and summery punch of flavor. I’m going to try roasting some tomatoes before the season’s over. YUM.

Ham + Cheese Breakfast Sandwiches

Ingredients for Each
sandwich roll
slice of thick-cut ham
slice of Gruyère cheese
handful of pre-roasted tomatoes, or sliced fresh cherry tomatoes
one egg
pinch of salt + pepper

First, scoop some bread out of the top of the roll. Crack the egg in the hole, and layer other ingredients on top, ending with the bottom of the roll. Wrap in foil, and place top down near the edge of the fire. These took about 30 minutes or so to cook as well, but remember to rotate them, and take a peak every now and again, depending on how you like your eggs.

After breakfast, we decided to go on a little hike at Scuppernong Trail. It was a beautiful hike. No bigfoot sightings though, to my dismay.

After the hike, as I was trying to push my sweaty bangs out of my eyes, I noticed all the gals brought bandanas to keep their hair back. They looked like a cool badass camping girl gang that I wanted to join. So Marissa made me one out of foil, because that’s what friends do. 😀

Since Adie is the camping extraordinaire, she was a sweetheart and also made us all dinner too! Adie and her hubby Dave (yep, another Dave!), made the chili at home, froze it in tupperware, let it thaw for about a day (in the cooler), then threw it into the dutch oven over the fire to heat through – and voila! An incredible dinner for the masses. We ate every last drop of her award-winning chili – AND she agreed to share the recipe with me for the bloggy blog!

Adie’s Campfire Chili, Feeds 10

Ingredients
2 lbs ground beef
6 strips of chopped bacon
1 small finely chopped white onion
3-4 jalapeno peppers (loosely de-seeded and diced)
3 cloves minced garlic
1 small can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 small can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 large can maple baked beans
1 large can diced tomatoes
3/4 cup roasted/dried tomatoes (optional)
1 can corn, drained
1/2 bottle light beer
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp cayenne
2 tbs chili powder
2 tsp adobo chili powder
1/4 cup masa harina
salt and pepper to taste

In large dutch oven over medium/high heat, brown the ground beef and bacon pieces, and add a pinch of salt and pepper. Remove meat from the dutch oven and place in another bowl. Use the fat from the meats to cook the onion until translucent. Add the jalapeno and garlic and cook until fragrant.

Drain any excess fat and return the meat to the pot. Add all the beans, tomatoes, corn, beer and spices. Stir together well, cover, and then reduce heat to low.

Simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. If the mixture becomes overly dry, add 1/2 cup water or beer at a time as needed. After an hour, place the masa harina in a small bowl. Add 1/2 cup water and stir together with a fork. Add the masa mixture into the chili. Stir together well, taste and adjust the seasonings as needed. Add more masa paste and/or water to get the chili to your preferred consistency, or to add more corn flavor.

Serve with cilantro, cheese, sour cream, or freeze so that it’s ready to go on your camping trip!

After dinner, since it was lovely Veronica’s birthday – we had cake, of course.

With full bellies, we sat around the fire and had some beers under the stars. Couldn’t have been more perfect.

On our last morning at camp Kyle + Veronica made some delicious breakfast tacos in a cast iron skillet. They were perfection!

Cast Iron Skillet Breakfast Tacos for 10

Ingredients
1 lb pork breakfast sausage
12 eggs
8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
20 flour tortillas
hot sauce + salsa for topping

Place cast iron skillet over the fire and add the sausage, breaking apart to cook until browned. Crack the eggs into the skillet and stir until cooked through, similar to making scrambled eggs. While cooking the eggs, heat the tortillas on the cooking grate until warm. Remove from heat, and top with shredded cheese. Serve with hot sauce and salsa for topping. How easy + tasty is that?

Whew, we ate a lot on this trip, which is part of the reason I dug it so much! I would love to hear if you all have any camping go-to recipes for the next time we venture out…which I have a feeling won’t be too long from now. 😀

Cheers!