So Campy

Campy: adj. being so extreme that it has an amusing and perversely sophisticated appeal.

(As defined by Urban Dictionary)

There's no way around it, packing up to go camping is a huge, gigantic, colossal pain in the ass.  Once you get all the tents, sleeping bags,  clothes for all seasons, bug spray, sunscreen, fishing poles and canoe.  Then your husband will decide to bring some bikes.  Whaaaaaaattttt? And that's not even the most crucial part.  Everyone knows that the most crucial and painful  part of camping is.... food.  

In the past I'd always gone quick, convenient and traditional on our camp food.  I'd bring hot dogs, baked beans in a can (don't forget the can opener), muffins for breakfast and disposable plates.  But this time would be different.  We were gonna get so, so campy....

Let's face it, the meal preparation out in the woods battling the mosquitoes and your own stench is no picnic anyway.  Wait, unless it actually is.  Anyway, we had 4 strong healthy kids who could do the post picnic dishes with our new environmentally friendly plastic plates and dish soap that was super concentrated and also super natural and biodegradable guaranteed not to harm the plentiful chipmunks who were stealing and squirreling away our food.  Cute my ass.  Cunning they were!  (In yoda speak.)

Really tomatoey taco meat

The first night I made taco meat.  I took the frozen brick of beef and popped it straight into the cooler for even more chilling action.  I made the seasoning ahead of time and popped that in the pantry items.  Then added a can of black beans, corn and the yellow tomatoes that would have gone bad in my fridge had I left them home.  The kids could either use chips to scoop this up or put it on lettuce and make a taco salad.  Oh, and I brought cheese and avocados to embellish.  

Kids vote:  Thumbs up!

TACO SEASONING

 1 T chili powder

    1/4 t garlic powder

     1/4 t onion powder

                        1/4 t crushed red pepper flakes

       1/4 t dried oregano

1/2 t paprika

              1 1/2 t ground cumin

1 t sea salt

      1 t black pepper

Bacon.....need I say more?

We even brought bacon for breakfast.  And the whole campground knew it.  Even the carnivorous chipmunks.

Campground's vote: Oh crap, why didn't we pack bacon?

Teriyaki packets cooked over an open flame

I brought the chicken frozen.  Cooked the brown rice at home.  Schlepped an entire pineapple and 3 peppers and a bottle of teriyaki sauce.  Then I layered them in heavy duty foil.

Ok, so maybe it tasted better than it looked in the bowl.

Kid's vote:  Thumbs up!  

Our accidental tradition.

 Many years ago when we were camping we were left with bananas tortillas and peanut butter.  And it became a thing.  And then we added some nutella to it.  It's our lunch staple and it's what we packed when we climbed Mt. Ouray.  Camping isn't camping without a banana tortilla.  Whole wheat of course.

Kid's Vote:  Thumbs way up!

Shrimp and Spinach Quinoa Penne

Ok, so 3 out of my 4 kids don't like shrimp. Unless it's shrimp cocktail with extra horseradish, which seems weird, right?  Anyway, I had it in the freezer frozen, so I packed it for extra ice action.  Plus, Craig and I really like shrimp in a garlic sauce.  And it goes great with a box of red Zinfandel.  So there.

Kid's Vote:  Thumbs up if you pick the shrimp out and add tons of parm cheese!  (Which allowed me extra shrimp to share with my shrimp loving friends.)

Sky's fresh caught fish

Sky caught a fish in the lake and perused the camp ground mooching just the right seasonings.  And ate the entire thing.  So obviously, it was delicious.

Sky's vote:  Thumb's up!

Breakfast untortilla

The last morning I cooked up eggs and hashbrowns, used salsa leftover from happy hour and added the remaining avocado.  The chipmunks stole the blueberries out on the table.

Chipmunk's vote:  Thumbs up!

And I know you're wondering about the kids and those dishes.  Of course they didn't!  I packed it, cooked it and Craig helped me wash the dishes.

Parent's vote:  Thumbs down!  Way down!

Plus, I'm not sure if using all that propane to heat the water with our supposedly non-toxic camp suds was really better for the environment or not.  Not to mention all the gas used to get us and all our food to the campsite....