Overland Journey

Maybe its the fact I havent had lunch yet, but this looks soooooo good. I love seeing how things get done “Down Under”

ThermalCookware.com teaches you how to cook delicious slow cooked lamb shanks using the Thermos Shuttle Chef. Visit www.thermalcookware.com for more recipes and information.

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Too busy at work and too tired to cook? Even if we are a whiz a cooking, cooking can be a hassle and a pain if you have a 12-hour job, kids and absolutely no time to prepare the ingredients for cooking. If only we were rich and hire our own cook to do the cooking for us. If only we have a wonderful spouse who can surprise us with great-tasting dishes once we get home from work. If only our kids know how to cook. But alas, the times are against us, and we often have to resort to processed and frozen meals or fast food and take outs. However, this can be a bane – it vacuums money out of our wallets, makes our bellies even wider and clogs our arteries to the brink of giving us a heart attack.

Fortunately, there is still hope. There are ways on how to have good food at home, without the hassle of rushing work just to get back home and cook. One solution is to prepare the food at night or the day before workday. Whip up the dishes, and then store them in the refrigerator while we are at work. Once we get home, we can microwave them to heat it up and enjoy a fresh tasting pasta or casserole. Having a crock pot or a Dutch oven helps in storing the ingredients ready for cooking.

A Dutch oven is a cooking pot made of cast iron. It comes in various sizes, but it is generally handy for carrying it around. One might think that only stews can be cooked in a Dutch oven, but for the avid camper, they can cook a variety of meals – from bread and biscuits, chicken, pork and veggies, to soup, stew and noodles. You can boil, roast, fry and steam food in it.

Crock pots and Dutch ovens are especially good for slow cooking. For example, we can use them for slow cooking most frozen meat and poultry, which needs at least four or five hours for it to get soft. Other recipes have 12 hours tops to slow cook, so we can always prepare the ingredients and store them before hand, and slow cook the stuff the following day while we are at work kissing up to the boss or at church thanking God for our everyday meals. If you want to look for slow cooking food, you can refer to a Dutch oven recipe book or a Dutch oven ebook

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This is a great tip for those with a storm kettle. Great way to have a cheap stove from equipment you may already carry.

I made a thin strip of perforated steel to sit in a ring around the base of my storm kettle to see if I could cook on it.

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A backyard demo of cooking a quiche in the canteen cup, I t would be nice to have rocks to radiate the heat rather direct from the fire, but you can manage pretty well with some carefull coal placement. You’ll also note that it didnt stick and came out as one big egg log. Enjoy

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Let’s be honest, not everyone loves camping.  It’s a very “love-it-or-hate-it” type of thing, and some people just plain hate it.  There are varying degrees of campers too. From the people who drive their RV and occasionally walk through woods, to people who bring a sleeping bag and figure everything else out when they get there.  Believe it or not, solar cooking is helpful no matter what kind of camper you are or aren’t. In a myriad of ways, a solar cooker is ideal. From not having to build a campfire, to cooking what you catch, to pasteurizing water to make it safe to drink, a solar cooker can provide all you need to have a satisfying camp cooking experience.

Who likes building a campfire?  I know some people do (to be honest, I’m one of them), but most just don’t like all the effort.  Even for those of us that do, there are times when it’s just not practical.  Let’s say you just hiked a mile to the best fishing spot, but it was still 3 hours before you caught anything.  Do you really feel like foraging for wood, having to light it, and fighting with the wind?  I’m sure the answer to this for most would be a big NO.  That’s when you pull out a light solar oven, throw your cleaned fish in, and take a nap.  That’s really all there is to it, the sunlight will heat the oven up to roughly 275 to 300 degrees Fahrenheit, so even though it isn’t as hot as a campfire would be, it will still cook quickly.  All that and with no need to find dry wood, find kindling, dig a pit, or build a circle of rocks.  No fire safety issues either as the sides are cool to the touch.  The only real question is, what can you cook in it?

You can literally cook almost anything with a solar oven.  Let’s take that fishing story as an example.  Because the oven is about 300 degrees, it will cook a whole fish in less than 2 hours.  While that may seem slow, remember all the work you’re avoiding.  No tending to the fire, no making sure the little ones are too close to the fire (or throwing stuff into it), you just put the fish in and go do something else.  Don’t want to wait that long?  If you filet the fish first, the filets will take less than half an hour (assuming the oven is preheated or set up for about 20 minutes first).  Even more fun is that the oven’s relatively low temperature (from a cooking standpoint) will make it pretty difficult to dry out the fish which is every fisherman’s nightmare when it comes time to bite in.  As cool as all this is, your solar oven has an even more important use. Any idea what that is?

I’ll give you a hint: 70% of your body is made up of it.  That’s right, water.  Just set up your solar oven, fill a metal pot with water, and leave it in to boil for at least 10 minutes.  Now, don’t misunderstand.  If the water is chemically contaminated in some way, boiling the water won’t help.  Boiling only kills the natural bacteria that would make you sick.  So just make sure there’s no industrial waste by your water supply and you should be fine.

I think that that is a pretty amazing range of uses for something that weighs only ten pounds. Especially considering it needs no fuel except daylight, and even works when it’s cloudy (if you have reflectors).  So now that you know all its great camping uses, go camping with your solar oven and eat well with no excuses!  If you don’t have one yet, you can search online or just go to www.SurvivalOven.com for more information.  Have fun not building that campfire this weekend and please feel free to share your solar cooking camping stories! I’d love to hear them!

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Many nature-tripping adventurers would find it difficult to think of camping with no campfire. Campfires, after all, are important when you need to cook, have some warmth when the weather is cold, or plainly just to have it as a primitive but romantic way of spending the night outdoors, camping.

The good news is camp cooking can now be easier, more convenient and, more importantly, safer for everyone who wants more time to enjoy their camping trip rather than trying hard to cook their camping food. Now we have camping stoves: small, safe and very easy to use. You surely will have more time to enjoy your camping adventures to the hilt rather than building campfires for cooking. Besides, in many national forest camping grounds and campsites, campfires are deemed safety hazards and are simply not allowed. So camping or portable cooking stoves–being small, safe and easier to use–are instant substitutes.

Portable camping stoves are designed for the benefit of the users who, expectedly, are campers who need equipment or tools that are easy to carry, fuss-free and safe. Camping stoves fall under four basic categories; they are classified on the basis of the kind of fuel they use. The most basic type is the single-burner that does not have any control mechanisms and uses either a liquid or solid fuel. There are other single-burner stoves as well but use a stove tank that compresses liquid fuel, and their top serves as the burner control.

There is also another type which has one or two burners and makes use of gas. It has small mechanisms to control the gas amount being used up. The height of its flames is similar to that of a regular-sized gas stove we use at home.

The last type of these camping stoves uses fuel that trickles down by simple gravity and into the priming pan. This type, however, has been substituted by gas stoves for their portability. One advantage for this type of stoves, however, is that it has a much lower risk of causing a fire, thus preventing possible fire mishaps.

We may experience some problems with these camping stoves as they are quite susceptible to the elements around us, the wind in particular. While sometimes the wind may not extinguish the burner’s flames while you are cooking, it can cause the flames to either fade out or generate heat unevenly against the bottom surface which in turn will likely diminish the efficacy of your portable stove.

So if you wish to avoid these kinds of problems, consider some stove models that provide built-in protection against the wind. While these stoves either come in larger sizes or are less portable, they pose, on the positive side, less problems when you cook. In some instances campers would rather just create their own type of wind shields, but this, too, can be dangerous. The wind can be unpredictable in its direction and strength, therefore your creation of a wind shield can unexpectedly be ignited and start an accidental fire. On the other hand, aluminum foil is considered safer as an alternative wind shield if one becomes necessary.

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Instead of throwing a mixture of food in a box when you are packing to go camping and hoping for the best. Organise beforehand what you are going to have for each meal. Let’s say you are going for a long weekend and you are arriving on Saturday morning at your campsite and leaving Monday afternoon. That will be 2 breakfasts, 3 lunches and 2 dinners.

Organise what you will have for each meal and pack that food with a bit of spare tin or packet food.  Do meals that are easy to prepare with minimum clean up afterwards and similar to what you would do at home, especially if you are new to camping.

It does depend on what cooking equipment you have as to what you can cook, a gas stove & BBQ would be the most common, then you will be frying or cooking in a saucepan. If you have a campfire as well than you may use a camp oven and cook a roast or a stew which is quite easy to do.

Here is a few popular camping foods that are easy to cook and prepare

Pancakes with butter and syrup are great for breakfast or sweets, the mixture can be bought ready just add water to make pancakes very easy.

Hamburgers are easy, just add the rolls or bread with lettuce, sauce, cheese etc.

Eggs, onion and bacon in a muffin, or a plateful.  Great for any meal time.

Pasta is a quick and easy meal. Cook the meat and add the pasta and sauce.

A Barbecue meal is always popular, sausages, chops, steak, onion and any extras.

Cooking Marshmallows on the campfire is fun if you like them cooked, if not eat them out of the bag.

Breakfast cereals are easy, just add milk. If you have a campfire cooking toast early in the morning is fun, campfire toast is far better than pop up toast.

Fruit, popcorn and muesli bars are easy snacks  Hot drinks like Milo, coffee, tea are great when it’s cold, also cup a soup is easy.

Cold drinks like juice, milk and water are necessary, pack the beer and wine too.

Do you have a favourite easy camp food?

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Haven’t tried cooking your pizza outdoors yet? Well, read on and you’ll find out how to create your own Dutch oven-cooked pizza like a pro!

Easy-to-make Dough

Many people find dough a bit hassle to make because they don’t really want to spend long hours in the kitchen. So maybe you can just grab a pizza shop dough, just make sure it’s frozen to keep it longer. But you have to try making your own dough. It’s not really that hard and it’ll just take less than an hour to make. You can prepare it earlier, maybe a day or two before your party so you’ll have more time to prepare other things you need.

You can basically make your dough from scratch. All you need is all-purpose flour (unbleached), active dry yeast, oil, salt, sugar or honey, and lukewarm water.

Pizza ring and a stand

The most important thing you have to consider is of course, your tools. I love to cook my pizza using my Dutch oven. This is somewhat a little hard to handle especially for first timers so I suggest you make use of a pizza ring and a stand. The unique advantage of making use of such is the regulation of heat both on top and at the bottom simulating your indoor oven. Your Dutch oven will have the right amount of heat that will cook your pizza to perfection! And by using your Dutch oven, you can definitely add a little flair to your recipe because of the distinctive taste and aroma the smoke brings to your pizza.

Pizza Perfect!

I personally can not resist my pizza with mouth-watering golden crispy crust, lots of cheese and pepperoni and crispy bacon bits. The best thing about cooking your own pizza is that, you can overload it with your favorite toppings and simply omit some ingredients you prefer not to be found in your pizza (well, anchovy is one for me).

You can create your very own version and who knows, you might even get famous for your unique pizza recipe!

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Photo by Tim Parkinson

One of the most fun things to do during a camping trip is camp cooking. Why? Because eating is one of the best things in life! Most people who are passionate about food and have flair for the sense of taste would agree with this. A grand feast of sumptuous camping meals would definitely make a camping vacation a great experience.

But because cooking entails quite an effort and some equipment to bring, avoid the scenario of forgetting an important ingredient or an essential cooking utensil by creating a menu of the dishes you intend to cook for the family and from here create a checklist of things to bring.

Here’s a sample of a camping cooking checklist with a few cooking tips to make your life easier. Be sure to add any personal food item or cooking utensil you can’t do without.

• Main ingredients of the dishes and meals you plan to cook. It’s a good idea to measure ingredients back at home, put them in ziplock bags with labels. This will make cooking much easier and faster and save you space in your bags. It’s also better if you half cook meat or poultry at home also to save fuel in the camp trip.

• Other cooking necessities like cooking oil, seasonings and condiments.

• Cookware like pots, pans, frying pans that you’ll need for the meals in the menu. Don’t forget the lids because these will enable you to save a lot of cooking time since dishes cook faster when covered.

• Cooking and eating utensils like spatula, tongs, grill skewers, knives, spoons, forks, plates, bowls, cups, can and bottle openers.

• A Coleman camping stove. Be sure to bring one that will suit your camping needs: size of cooking you intend to do, type of camping activity and fuel preference.

• Camp or barbecue grill

• Lighter or matches. Even though most Coleman stoves have electronic ignition, it’s still good that you have these to use for other purposes like lighting up a grill.

• Fuel for your Coleman camping stove

• Large water jug, water bucket. Camping activities may drain your energy. You need a lot of water to reenergize and prevent yourself from dehydrating.

• Coolers, ice chest and ice. These are important because you’d want a cold drink to quench your thirst. It’s a smart idea to bring a large block ice instead of cubes because the former last much longer.

• Potholders and oven mitts to prevent anybody from getting scalded.

• Thermos

• Portable water heater

• Dishwashing soap

• Folding tables and chairs and table cloth

• Heavy-duty aluminum foil and ziplock bags which serve a variety of purposes like for wrapping leftover food, for storing ingredients and many others.

• Paper towels and napkins

• Trash bags. Be sure to leave the camp site in a spick and span state.

After a whole day of spectacular views to see, exciting and fun activities to do, the best thing to look forward to aside from a comfortable rest is a great sumptuous meal that entice your taste senses. Bon Apetite!

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Just like convection cooking a dutch oven is nothing more or less then a cooking pot. It is an iron, most of the times cast iron, thick walled cooking pot that has a lid that is tight fitted. In the past, dutch oven cooking over coals would mean that the whole pot, even the lid, was covered with coals just to make sure that the heat would be all around the pot. When you buy a dutch oven these days it will have legs to hold it above the coals. You will even see that a flange is added to keep the coals out of the food. This type of cooking is a slow and intense process.

Roasting

A very popular way of cooking with a dutch oven is using it to prepare a roast. The oven will make sure that the meat is evenly cooked because of the thick walls which makes it very insulated. It is a delicious way of cooking and all the juices will absorbed by the meat, because it is a closed system they are steamed up and fall down on the roast again. All the flavors of the vegetables and all the spices that are there in the pot together with the meat will circulate together and are going to be present in every bite you take.

So you see that dutch oven cooking over coals can really be ideal for the next time you think about getting a roast done for the family. It will be hard to overcook and get a dry piece of meat.

A stew

Using a dutch oven for your stew is, of course, perfect just for the fact that a stew needs to simmer slowly. The combination of liquid and solid food, using meat or seafood, vegetables and spices all together slowly cooking in this oven is just perfect. All the flavors of all these ingredients will melt together and the lid on the oven will make sure that it doesn’t cook dry.

A Casserole

You will find that a casserole is not that different from a stew, the only difference being that the the meat and vegetables are cut in smaller pieces. A casserole often is served in the dish in which it was cooked. A dutch oven is a perfect piece to put on the table and even more perfect to cook your casserole in.

When your an outdoor person and go camping a lot it will be nice to know that dutch oven cooking over coals can also be done on the camping site. The newer ovens are designed to be more convenient in this way but still have the same basic functions.

Just give it a try, if you have never done this type of cooking try and find people who have experience with it and ask them for advice. Ones you see, and most of all, taste what you can create with a dutch oven you will never do it any other way. Your table guests will love you for it.

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