Camping Adventures: Aussie Burgers, Hospitals and Face Painting!

Vanessa Pike-Russell via flickr

Well, we had a pretty excellent time camping, overall. Ate lots, drank lots and the kids played lots. Awesome!

I pretty much feel it's my duty to introduce my non-Aussie friends to some delicacies of the outback, so this camping trip we did damper with Golden Syrup (pics way too phallic for this family blog) and Aussie-style Hamburgers with the Lot.

Here's my not-very-pretty pic of the assembly:

It's fairly similar to a North American version, except that it is HUGE and contains more delicious items. Here's what is involved:

• Bun - preferably sesame seed and toasted. We didn't toast ours on this trip (too much work!)
• The Meat - ground beef, finely diced onion, salt, pepper, worcestershire sauce, ketchup
• Fried Onions
• Tomato
• Shredded Lettuce
• Ketchup
• Bacon
• Cheese - the real deal - no processed stuff here!
• a fried Egg - very important! The yolk should be broken and cooked through to prevent mess
• a thin slice of canned Pineapple (omitted because I don't like it)
• Pickled Beets - the MOST important item. It's just not right without it! Try it and see!

So the hamburgers were a big hit. One person in our camp site actually ate 2!

As I was saying, the trip was generally a big success. Though Saturday morning was very eventful and led to 3 people from our group (of 6 families) visiting the local Emergency Room! Holly's eye swelled hugely and was infected so Rachel had to take her home (she's ok now, thankfully), Emmett's pneumonia had not improved so we had to take him in (gave him stronger antibiotics which seemed to work well), and BJ had a terrible cough. Luckily none of these things was life-threatening but let me say that the Goderich, Ontario hospital is fantastic!

...And now, some face-painted cuteness! The older girls painted the little ones' faces!

Eleanor...

 
and Holly!

Was your long weekend eventful?

Simple Camp Menu

I apologize in advance for the crude photography; most of these meals were made at night and frozen! I am no chef, this menu is geared towards simplicity and picky eaters, so here goes:
Breakfasts:
Eggs or Pancakes and Bacon, cereal, fruit
Lunch:
Dogs and burgers, hummus and veggies, etc
Pre-frozen easy to make pasta (see recipe below). To make this simpler you could even make the noodles ahead of time, but I prefer to boil the noodles at the campsite and heat the sauce.
Dinner x 2:
Both of these dinners are pre-cut, wrapped in foil and frozen. Just throw on coals in campfire for 40 minutes (check to make sure) for meat dishes and half hour for veg:

1.Steak with roasted potatoes and vegetables:
We took the simple route, precut the vegetables and potatoes and wrapped them in foil with olive oil and seasonings (we used Cajun).
2. Fajitas:
Almost the exact same, precut veg (and chicken this time), cumin, chili powder, crushed red pepper and chipotle sauce, oil and fresh squeezed lime. Wrap in foil and throw on hot coals! We even pre-grated cheese, but we will assemble at the site.
Easy Sausage Pasta:
This recipe is very flexible; I have used more vegetables and fresh ingredients in the past but was in a time crunch:
Step 1: Brown sausages on medium-high heat, set aside.

 Step 2: Chop garlic and onion, sauté in olive oil on medium heat in the same pan (save dishes!). Add peppers and other vegetables, fresh basil, oregano or whatever you have! Sometimes I add some heat with chili peppers, sauté for an additional 5 minutes.

 Step 3: Drain and add 1 can diced tomatoes, slice and add your sausage, cover and simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes. Serve over your favorite pasta!

This recipe uses 2 dishes 2 utensils to make, I think that's why I like it so much. After it cooled we poured it into a freezer bag and froze it for camping. Enjoy your holidays this weekend!

Camping in Style

Along with some other families, Rachel and I are going camping this weekend. We're pretty bare bones campers and don't have a lot of extras but I've spent a bit of time lusting after certain things. Here's my pick of camp heaven:

Peacock Hand Warmers

I was given one of these as a child but never used it. I suppose my parents thought using lighter fuel might be a bit dangerous or something...
But it has a lovely smooth quality to it and now I wish I still had it!

Tim Blair

 The classic Atomic Coffee maker is the perfect thing to take camping. Seems as though they were very popular in Australia, judging by my sightings there and by the location of them on Ebay. I'd love one, but they're pretty collectible nowadays.

Kelly's Camping

It might look like a compost bin, but actually it's a Billy - a classic piece of Aussie camping kit. It's used exclusively for boiling water for tea and coffee. To make tea in it, you boil the water, then put loose tea leaves in it and then perform a very scary but impressive feat - swinging the billy. This is where you swing the billy full of boiling water around and around (as though you were bowling but all the way around) without actually burning yourself. There are several videos of this on youtube, but they are way to cheesy to post here!

Glam Camping

Cute sleeping bags. No explanation needed!


Do you, like us, forgo style in favour of practicality when you camp or do you match your camping gear to your uber-stylish home life?