Some Dutch Oven Cooking

This past weekend, me and some of my friends tried to horse camp at Hickory Creek Wilderness Ranch  http://www.hickorycreekranch.com/    in the Allegheney State Forrest in PA. Gorgeous country in northwestern PA, and the Hickory Creek folks are awesome. Gorgeous campground.

I say we tried, because we got washed out over the weekend. Cold and wind and rain do not make for happy horses pr happy campers. Truly, we didn't want our horses getting sick since they were tie lined. Anyway, Friday was gorgeous and we got some dutch oven cooking in. My friend Jen brought her set up which is the nicest I have ever gotten to use, with a dutch oven table, camp kitchen and all. You can see the start of our set up below--- This was a real treat. My folks were outdoors people, hunting, fishing, trapping, etc. and I grew up loving it as well. We didn't have anything fancy, just our old army issue knapsacks, but we'd go up on the edge of our woods where we had stones for a fire ring, build a fire, and when it died down, we'd take meat and taters and veggies wrapped in foil with butter and bury them in the coals and then go for our hike or whatever, coming back later to a great dinner. I didn't have a tent either, my dad taught me to camp using a canvas tarp and using blow downs or deadfalls to rig up my "tent" area. My mother's father was Seneca Native American and one of the best outdoors man I have ever known. It was a treat to go with him camping! Mike and I used to take the bike and go camping with our tent as well.  I loved all of this. I will admit that now that I am older with more aches and pains, I enjoy glamping more, but I wouldn't trade all those years of doing that for anything.

So, that night I dutch oven cooked our dinner which was  a sweet and spicy cajun chicken and rice dish. It came out awesome and was super easy. I also took along my strawberry spinach salad with poppy seed dressing, my other friend Lynn brought an avocado-tomato-feta salad with balsamic dressing and I brought my chocolate cake with peanut butter icing for dessert. It was too rainy the next morning to dutch cook my  scrapple, baco and apple datch. And after a couple of us got a ride in that morning, the weather got worse and worse and we packed it in later in the afternoon.  :(  This pic below shows the dutch oven cooking and I have the charcoal started that would then go on top.

My friend Jen dishing up supper!

                                                                            Supper!

I showed the Dutch Oven Cook Book above in the first picture, and I suggest if you aren't familiar with dutch oven cooking but want to learn, get that book. The author does it all the time for scout troops etc. and also has a good video series on getting started.  Great resource.  http://www.dutchovencookout.com/  

       I also am going to share below, they make an ap for that!  Available for both Droid and IPhone, this is really handy with no thinking needed! Thanks for showing me, Jen!  The downside is that if you are in the mountains like we were with poor reception, you may not be able to get it.

PEACH CUSTARD PIE

PEACH CUSTARD PIE

Make a lovely and easy peach custard pie! Follow the numbered pictures from start to finish to see it at the steps below along the way.

1 (9 inch) pie shell

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons brown sugar

5 large fresh peaches - peeled, pitted and sliced

1 1/2 cups evaporated milk

1 egg, beaten

2/3 cup white sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

In a small bowl, mix together 3 tablespoons flour and brown sugar. Sprinkle mixture into bottom of pastry-lined pie pan. 

Arrange peach slices on top of mixture.

In a medium bowl, whisk together evaporated milk and egg. Pour mixture over peaches.

In a medium bowl, mix together white sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Sprinkle mixture over top of peaches.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, until a knife inserted 1 inch from edge comes out clean.

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I used my own home canned brandied peaches, YUM!

In a small bowl, mix together 3 tablespoons flour and brown sugar. Sprinkle mixture into bottom of pastry-lined pie pan. You can see the mixture under the first layer of sliced peaches.

Fill up to 2/3 way with more peaches and arrange peach slices on top of mixture.............

Whisk well 1 1/2 cups evaporated milk, 1 egg, beaten

In a medium bowl, mix together white sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Sprinkle mixture over top of peaches.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, until a knife inserted 1 inch from edge comes out clean.

And success, it's half gone already!

Babka

BABKA

This is an old Polish favorite around here. Good comfort food!

                                                           5 large red potatoes, grated

                                                           1 large onion

                                                           6 strips of good bacon, cut into smaller pieces

                                                           2 tbs bacon fat

                                                           3 eggs

                                                           1 c milk

                                                           salt and pepper

                                                          1/2 C sharp shedded cheese

                                                          1/4 C italian bread crumbs

This always tastes better in cast iron, so used my good old Lodge fry pan.

Fry up the bacon and onion until onion is translucent. Add the bacon fat. 

In a big bowl, whisk up the eggs and milk. Add the shredded potatoes. mix well.

Then add the bacon and onions, fat and all and mix well, adding your salt and pepper to taste. After mixing that all in well, transfer back to the cast iron pan and bake around 30 minutes at 375F.

Here it is going into the oven.................

And here it is all baked and ready to eat!