The www.camp-cook.com forum is having another cook off competition: Chili & Cornbread.  I entered my Chili recipe last weekend (see it here) and this weekend is my cornbread recipe.

For this recipe, I followed the tastes of Senior Management.  She likes all things Pumpkin.  Having found a pumpkin Cornbread recipe at Real Mom Kitchen I decided to adapt the recipe for a 10″ Dutch Oven to be cooked over coals.

This is my new favorite cornbread.  Contrary to what you may think, it doesn’t taste like desert at all.  But the pumpkin adds moisture to the cornbread so that it doesn’t turn your mouth into a desert (which is why I usually don’t like cornbread at all). So here is my version of Real Mom Kitchen’s version of pumpkin Cornbread.

Pumpkin Cornbread (Gluten Free)

1 1/2 C Corn Flour
1 1/2 Tbs baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cup cornmeal
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree (canned or freshly cooked and processed)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 1/2 Tbs molasses

1. Preheat dutch oven with a ring of about 17 briquettes around the outside of the bottom of the DO.
2. Sift flour, baking powder, salt and spices in a large mixing bowl. Whisk in cornmeal.
3. In separate bowl, beat eggs lightly. Whisk in pumpkin, brown sugar, oil and molasses.
4. Make a well in the dry mixture. Add pumpkin mixture and blend batter with a few quick strokes.
5. Pour a thin pool of vegetable oil on the bottom of the DO.  When the batter hits this, it will fry it quickly and make a nice crust.  Plus, you can easily get the cornbread out of the DO when it is done.
6. Pour batter into the DO. Bake -with the lid on – for 30 minutes, or until cornbread is browned and the surface has a slightly springy feel.  Put an additional 15 briquettes on the lid of the DO to brown the top.

You could eat this cornbread with jam, jellies, cheese, or just butter and honey.  They are great.

Here are a few pics:

The www.camp-cook.com forum is having another cook off competition.  This is the second competition that I’ve entered.  The last one I entered was desert (see my posting here).  I enjoy these cook-off weeks because of all of the new recipes and activity on the forum.  Sometimes the cook-off week facilitator gives prizes (iron cookware etc) which is cool and adds to the fun.  However, I am most excited about an avalanche of new recipes to make.

This week’s cook off is divided into two categories: Chili & Cornbread – A classic Dutch oven combo.  My first step into the contest is a home-made chili (gluten-free cornbread may come later). I decided to stretch myself and create my own chili recipe.  I’ve cooked chili several times from recipes and thought I could produce an edible concoction just from scratch out of my head.

I decided to bend and break the rules of chili a bit and mix up the ingredients.  I also wanted to include as many home grown veggies & foods as possible.  I think the most unexpected ingredient that I included is Quinoa.

Quinoa is a unique grain -originally from South America- that has all of the amino acids.  Senior Management and I use it in gluten-free baking all the time.  I like it because it is light and doesn’t get mushy but still manages to fill.  It seemed like a great chili additive and fits my unique dietary needs.

Quinoa Adobo Chili (Gluten Free)

This recipe is designed for a 14″ dutch oven and produces a nice thick chili.  If you like your chili thinner, I’d add another cup of water.

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa
1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive oil
1 onion
1 cup corn (I used frozen that Senior Management preserved this summer)
¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate
6 cloves garlic
¾ lb ground turkey (Vegetarian Option: TVP)
2 cans of black beans
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1.5 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 quart of tomatoes (I used canned tomatoes from our garden)
3 cups water
2 red, yellow, or orange bell peppers
1 zucchini (I used shredded frozen zukes from our garden)
2 tbsp of adobo sauce with 2 constituted chipotle peppers (this adds a nice smokey flavor)
1 bunch of cilantro
1 lime
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:

1. Pre-heat the 14″ dutch oven with a solid circle of briquettes on the bottom.
2. Rinse the quinoa in a strainer until clear water is running through it.  Toast the quinoa for about 3 minutes in a cast iron skillet.  When toasted, add 2 cups of the water to the skillet, cover, and let it simmer for about 15 minutes.  The quinoa is done when it starts to split open.
3. Chop the pepper, zucchini, and onion.
4. Thoroughly rinse the black beans in a strainer.
5. When Dutch oven is hot, add the olive oil & onions.  Saute the onions until they start to change color then add the garlic (pressed) and turkey (or TVP).  Cook the turkey until it is no longer pink but still not done (about 2 min).
6. Add the Cinnamon, cumin, chili powder, salt & pepper, and chipotle adobo sauce.  Stir mixture for about 3 minutes.
7. Add the tomatoes, black beans, bell pepper, quinoa, zucchini, and the remaining cup of water.  Mix well.
8. Move 1/2 the briquettes to the lid of the Dutch oven to form a ring.  Reform the bottom briquettes into one ring.
9. Let mixture simmer for about 15 min then mix in the chocolate and let it simmer for another 5 min.
10. Garnish with fresh cilantro and a slice of lime.
11. Eat it.

For a first attempt at making my own chili recipe, I am pleased with it.  It is nice & fresh, light but hearty, and had just the right smokey flavors that I like.  I may like my chili a bit spicier but Senior Management prefers it just like I have detailed here.

Here are a few pictures to feast your eyes on:

In September of 2009, I received an invitation to do some research with primary resources at the Library of Congress (LOC) in Washington, DC. Knowing that this invitation was a tremendous opportunity, I agreed and made the arrangements to do research for one week. Part of my time at the LOC was spent with librarians who demonstrated the use of primary resources in the classroom. The rest of my time was alone doing research with primary resources.

The focus of my study is the enigma of Thomas Jefferson. He set forth some of our nation’s greatest ideals but he didn’t always follow his own advice. I found this discrepancy interesting and knew that the LOC has many of his original writings and much of his personal library. So off I went to spend days in a library studying first hand artifacts from history.

It was everything I could have hoped for and more. Some of the more famous documents I was able to see were James Madison’s copy of the Treaty of Paris (1763), pages from Meriwether Lewis’s diary from the Lewis & Clark Expedition, Spanish explorer journals (1500s), James Polk’s journals (all unpublished materials), and many many more items & manuscripts. It was truly inspiring to work with these materials and I hope to go back soon -seeing that they issued me a researcher’s library card that is good for two years.

Since the topic of this blog is camping, I thought I’d look up some camping topics while at the LOC.  They had tons of materials but nothing of great note.  Apparently, the best place to go for teardrop trailer material is the RV/MH Hall of Fame in Elkhart, Indiana.  I did some networking while at the LOC that may come in useful for a future project with the Hall of Fame in Indiana.

While in Washington DC, I went to The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles International Airport.  This is the newest addition to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum.  It is a remarkable display of one of a kind aircraft.  I was surprised to see so many of my favorite historic & current aircraft.  I recommend a visit to anyone in the area with a spare day to spend in one spot.

There were three displays that were particularly exciting to me.  The first was the SR-71 Blackbird.  As a kid, I always dreamed of riding in one of those high altitude spy planes and at the museum I finally saw my first one.  The second display that fascinated me was NASA’s Space shuttle Enterprise.  It sits in the space flight section of the museum & dominates the floor.  I have also always dreamed of seeing a space shuttle up close and finally got my chance.  The last display was an unexpected surprise.  I was walking through the space  craft displays when I came upon the most famous Airstream trailer in history.  It is the Airstream that was converted to a quarantine facility for the Apollo 11 mission to the moon.  It has so many reasons to be in that display.  It is related to the moon missions, of course, but many of the first Airstream trailers were made with aircraft specs & surplus materials during and following WWII.

This is the information I found in front of the Apollo 11 Airstream trailer:

“This Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) was one of four built by NASA for astronauts returning from the moon.  Its purpose was to prevent the unlikely spread of lunar contagions by isolating the astronauts from contact with other people.  A converted Airstream trailer, the MQF contained living and sleeping quarters, a kitchen, and a bathroom.  Quarantine was assured by keeping the air pressure inside lower than the pressure outside and by filtering the air vented from the facility.

This MQF was used by Apollo 11 astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins immediately after their return to Earth.  They remained in it for 65 hours, while the MQF was flown from the aircraft carrier hornet to the Johnson Space Center in Houston.  They were allowed to emerge from isolation once scientists were sure they were not infected with “moon germs”.”

I may not have been able to shoot many photos at the LOC, but I did get about 36GB of photos on the week.  Here are just a few of them.

One of our favorite things to eat when camping is canned apple sauce on pancakes. Every year we make some sauce to use through the winter as well as on our spring & summer camping trips.

This year, I picked the apples myself at Hansen’s Orchards at Greenbluff, WA. I chose a blend of gala & Macintosh apples. The gala is very sweet & the Macintosh tart. It made really good sauce.

In addition to the sauce, I wanted to make some cider. I made my own press out of scrap wood from the jPod build. The pressure of the press caused the press to catastrophically fail (it was impressive). So I re-purposed some steel from a basketball hoop that I cut down in front of our house when we moved in last year. That proved strong enough. I could take 3″ of apple pulp and press it into about 1/2″ with my new steel press.

We processed everything on our two camp stoves to keep the house cool.

Here is a video & a few photos of the process:

For about the past 60 years my family has been taking an annual camping trip as a sort of mini family reunion & our friends. The locations have varied over the years as one generation passes the baton to another but the camping is always memorable.

This year, the camping trip was relatively close to home (no pun intended). Farragut state park, ID hosted this year’s family & friend gathering. Senior Management & I were lucky enough to have our work schedules work out so we could attend again this year. The family & friends have larger RVs than our little jPod so a traditional campground was called for. When we arrived, I realized that this was the first time the jPod has actually seen a “typical” camp ground.

We arrived on a Friday night in the middle of a torrential rain & hail storm. It was getting colder (40 degrees Fahrenheit). Yet we had a long extension cord & a space heater. The heater ran for about 2 minutes & it was too hot in the jPod for a normal human being. Senior Management loved the temperature.

One new feature to the jPod since my last post is the addition of the slide out Camp Chef Oven. I managed to get it installed before our departure & it worked really well. Senior Management cranked out some tasty meals from the back of our little jPod.  As the pictures (below) show, the galley is functional but not completed.  I’ve focused on camping & teaching recently.  Winter work will be done on the jPod.  Winter is rapidly approaching too (it was 16 degrees last night).  I have added some pictures to the Galley part of this website that indicate some progress with the camp chef oven.

It was interesting being the smallest RV in the campground. We kept getting inquisitive looks & subtle pointing & whispering. I’ve heard the stories of teardrop owners who were trying to sleep in their tear while curious campers stopped by & examined their rig (thinking no one was there). I expected this bold camper attitude. Only one man was brave enough to come by & look. I was happy to show him around & we traded stories for a while.

There may have been other observers while we were gone hiking for several hours on Saturday.

Saturday night we had a mini DOG (dutch oven gathering). We had some amazing cornbread, scalloped potatoes, chicken & wild rice, & a cherry chocolate pudding. It was amazing.

Sunday morning, we packed up our things and got back home so I could prepare to teach for another week.

It was another great trip.

Here are a few pics:

This week, I made another batch of grape juice.  Every year I make it & this year I decided to make a video of it (see below).  I’ve also added a few pictures at the end of this post.

The process is easy:

1. Pick the grapes
2. Remove the grapes from the stems (stems make for bitter juice)
3. Steam the grapes in a few steamers
4. Empty the  the steamer into a jar.
5. Let the jar sit until the juice has heated it up
6. Boil your lid
7. Put the lit on the hot jar & wait for it to seal as it cools.

That’s it.  Really easy & REALLY good.

Here’s the vid:

I had a few days off of work this week so the jPod got a little work.  We’ve had a camping trip planned since last year that we’ll do in a couple of days.  I made this trip a bit of a deadline for some work on the jPod.  I’ve been pre-warping a piece of plywood for the inside of the galley hatch for about 2 months.  Finally the time came to install it when I was cleaning up the garage.

The galley hatch got wired, insulated & skinned.  It was a bit of a crazy process but eventually worked.  My goal is to have it finished with the same finish I used in the cabin & lights installed in the next few days.  I’ve posted some updated pictures under Galley.

We’re supposed to get our first frost this week & that means that I need to get some other finish work done on the jPod before it is too cold to do.  So I’ll be working on the galley, cabin cabinets, & floors.  Then I’ll wire the whole thing together after the frost & it will be done.

The end is in sight.

I just returned from spending a week in the woods of north Idaho with the senior class.  Every year, as part of our school program, we take the seniors, and many of their parents, into the woods to rough it.  There is no electricity, no camp sites, no showers, no cell phone coverage.  During this time they learn wilderness 1st aid, orienteering, shelters, fire-building, edible wild plants, group problem solving, & have an opportunity to share from the deepest parts of their souls -if they choose.  New to the experience this year is the introduction of dutch oven cooking.  About 30 dutch ovens help the 100 teens make food every day. The students sleep in black plastic structures they have to make for themselves.  Their latrines are holes in the ground that they build another black plastic structure around for privacy.

When I tell some people about the program, they expect me to tell horror stories (like the lord of the flies) of the 100 savage teens in the woods for a week.  I tell everyone the truth…It is a great week.  I am one of the lucky few teachers who get to go on this trip every year.  I teach all of the seniors every day, at school, and they turn in homework from this trip to me later (about 8,500 pages to grade).  This is the first year that I camped in the jPod.    I was a bit spoiled.  After working 18 hours a day in the woods running ropes courses, climbing trees, etc. the jPod was a wonderful haven (especially when I’m sick).

It seems like I always come back sick or injured from this week but it is worth it.  Last year, it was a hospitalizing  e coli infection & 4 broken bones in my nose.  This year I have a really nasty cold/fever with multiple disfiguring wasp stings to the face (you know your face is swollen when your eye lashes rest on your upper lip).  So, I am fairly pleased with this year.  It could be worse.

For privacy reasons, I cannot post pictures of my students here but I do have a few pics of the jPod on its way out, there, and back from our off road primitive camping area.  It is a really great week.  I hope that the fever & swelling go away soon so I can read what I typed in this post.

As I awoke from a much needed nap this afternoon, I thought about the boxes of fresh produce in our kitchen.  I’ve been taking care of my parent’s house while they’ve been gone for the past 3 weeks.  Between that, my own yard, and getting ready to teach again, life has been really busy.  The other factor is their garden (FARM).  Mom planted 30 tomato plants, piles of cucumbers, peppers, beans, etc.   She did all of this planting and then left when it all came to maturity.  So, I’ve collected box after box of fresh produce.

Right now, we have over 75 peppers, about 30 lbs of tomatoes, and some other items.  As I awoke, a recipe came to mind that might use up some of these items and allow me to use the dutch oven.

This is my own creation so I may choose to improve it in the future but this is what I did tonight.  I didn’t make a recipe for this but I will approximate it here if you’d like to recreate it.

Chile Rellenos

• 12 peppers (we used Anaheim peppers because we have WAY too many)
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups of corn flour
• Mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup Milk
• Paprika to taste
• Cumin to taste
• salt to taste

1. Put about 1/2″ in the bottom of a dutch oven and get it up to heat with only high heat on the bottom & not the lid.
2. place the peppers over a gas flame or broil them in the oven until the outside skin bubbles.  Rotate them so that all sides are evenly bubbled.
3. When the peppers are ready, toss them all into a plastic bag together and close the top.  Let them sit for a little while.  This will steam them a bit and make it easier to remove the outer skin.
4. While the peppers steam, make the batter for the outside.  Mix the 4 eggs & flour together.  This will be quite thick but that’s alright.  We’ll add milk to thin it out.
5. Add your spices & salt to the batter.  Then thin the mix out with the milk until it has the consistency of cake batter.
6. Remove the peppers and pull off the skin
7. Cut the peppers lengthwise and remove the seeds.  Don’t wash the peppers out with water as it will flush out all of the flavors and oils that make them so good.
8. Put a stick of mozzarella cheese into the pepper & close the pepper around it.
9. Hold the peppers by their stems and dip them in the batter.  Be sure to cover the whole pepper.
10. Drop the peppers immediately into the dutch oven for frying.
11. As they fry, spoon a little oil over the top to keep the fry even.  Turn them until they are golden brown.
12. Remove and put into the oven (200 degrees) to make sure the cheese is completely melted.
13. When ready to serve, pour your sauce (my sauce recipe is below) over the top & eat them.

The Tomato Sauce

• 5 tomatoes blended
• 2 tomatoes diced
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 White Onion
• Salt to Taste

1. Blend all ingredients together.
2. Add the diced tomatoes for texture.
3. pour over the Chille Rellenos

That’s it.  It is delicious.  Enjoy.

Here are the pics:

This blog entry documents the third day of our Lolo Trail trip & the jPod’s first off-road adventure with Nathan & Erin, Carl, and our family. If you haven’t read about the trail & our first two days on it, visit: Part 1 and Part 2

Day 3

Eggs & Potatoes

Day three started with a great breakfast.  Breakfast foods are my favorite foods in life.  However, breakfast is perfected when camping.  Our camp breakfast was a collaborative effort by Erin, Nathan, Senior Management, and me.  We made eggs, potatoes, huckleberry pancakes, & coffee.

The “cougar bait” played in the grass all morning as we packed up our things.  Then it was time to drive.  From Howard’s camp, we drove up onto a ridge.  It was beautiful and often had views off of either side of the motorway.  We paused so Senior Management could shoot a picture out the window of a doe we found wandering in the woods.

At one point, we stopped to go look at two mountain lakes which we were above.  It was at this time that we met some people on their ATV and swapped stories.  While we were all chatting about this and that, two bucks wandered in from the trees.  We think that they were after something in our area because they would come by us and then turn back from a different angle to get to our area.  I sprung into photographer mode & started shooting photos.  These were mule deer and had little fear of human contact.  I was able to get some of the best photos I have ever taken.

Once the moment had passed, we continued our drive.  The scenery changed drastically as we entered mountain sides of burned trees.  They haven’t recently burned but stand as a witness to a forest fire in the past.  It was a strange landscape of charred trees & mountain wildflowers.  Somewhere in the charred forest, we began our descent to the valley floor.

Along the way, we stopped to pick some huckleberries and met some other travelers coming in the opposite direction.  This is when the teardrop effect of the jPod took hold again.  I gave a tour of the jPod to them & Carl claimed to have sold it to them.  In fact, I have had several interests in the trailer.  I am almost motivated to build another one for someone.

The Lolo Motorway gave way to a wide dirt road and finally we reached pavement at Powell Junction (see map).  We stopped to take stock & to eat some lunch at the Ranger’s Station & then we went in search of Carl’s promise.

On day one, Carl had mentioned a “secret” hot-spring off of highway 12.  No fee was required.  Senior Management & Erin (who are both naturally cold blooded) perked up & made the decision on day one that we would visit this “secret” hot-springs.

Off we drove in search of these hot-springs.  Carl has sworn us all to secrecy about the exact location of these pools.  Yet I will say that any conventional GPS will have it clearly labeled on its map.  We hiked in to these springs and sat in the pool.  The girls really soaked up the heat.  I was good for about 10 minutes and then had to get out.  I was hot before getting in so the hot water didn’t help.  What I really enjoyed was the mountain stream that flows below the hot-spring.  It takes the breath away at first but was exactly what I needed after three days of travel.

As we were leaving our little “secret” oasis in the woods, we came to find that clothing was optional at this hot-spring when another hot-spring seeker stripped to his pores and waded into the water.  I still laugh about this part of our story because, in my mind, I can still see everyone else’s reactions to the realization that they were suddenly in the presence of a nudist.  Thankfully, in my mind, I cannot see our nudist friend.  Life has simple pleasures and seeing stifled shock on one’s friend’s faces must be one of the most rewarding of these simple pleasures.

As we drove home, I glanced at one of the pamphlets I picked up at the ranger’s station.  It offered a brief description of the various trails in the Nez Perce National forest and spent some time describing the Lolo motorway.  At the end of the pamphlet there is a quote from Frank Andrews (a Nez Perce descendant).

“We, the surviving Nez Perces, want to leave our hearts, memories, hollowed presence as a never-ending revelation to the story of the event of 1877.  These trails will live in our hearts.

We want to thank all who visit these sacred trails, that they will share our innermost feelings.  Because their journey makes this an important time for the present, past and future.”

I couldn’t agree more.