Brook Trout over the Fire

Camping Eats Continued!

When we ventured out for the day on Saturday, we ended up fishing at Three Creeks Lake near Sisters, Oregon.  We bank-fished all afternoon (which we have decided we are just NOT good at) and came away with one 12" Brook Trout.  I will say I'm supremely proud of that catch :-)

Cleaning fish in camp isn't a big deal, but ... we didn't bring any flour; we hadn't planned on cooking fish in camp.  So we started rummaging through the grocery bags to see what we could find and brainstorm.

By this time, our Ramen Noodle adventure had come to a close, the kids had stayed up to see the amazing stars and two of the four were passed out in the tent.  Cleaning a fish in the dark - interesting times.  Photographing a fish cooking in the dark - even more fun! :-)  But obviously we made it work.

The closest thing we could find for a breading for Mr. Brook was Trader Joe's Gorgonzola Crackers.  So into a Ziploc bag we poured those babies and one of the kids got the satisfying job of crushing them into dust.  Fishy was shaken in the crumbs and onto the waiting grill pan he went!  No, we didn't season fishy any further than the crackers.  Mostly because ... fishy was cooking in the leftover bacon grease from that morning and we knew that would be enough!  So resourceful.



While fishy was frying over the fire, Brownie scooped up the leftover bell peppers from the kids and sauteed them with the rest of the onions and cilantro from the Jamexican Tacos (how many meals did we get out of that adventure!?) until they were soft.  Then, stirred in two chopped tomatoes from our garden to warm in the pan and ... on top went Mr. Brook Trout!  We just shared a plate, ate the meat and scooped up the veggies as we went ... it was delicious! Wild trout taste nothing like farmed trout, TRUST US!

Overall, we were definitely frugal with food on this trip and created some pretty yummy, if unconventional and strange, meals if you ask me!  And yes, we ended up coming home with quite a few groceries to spare!  We had a blast!

I wouldn't recommend staying in a campground with no water, though.  Luckily we were close to town where we could buy water because .... dirty fishy dishes ... must be washed! :-)

Camping Ramen Noodles

If you've never been camping with 5 kids ... then you don't know our pain.  This weekend we only had 4 out of 5 and luckily, we have a camp stove.  This trip, we brought hot dogs to roast, of course and sandwich fixin's to make sure we were prepared.  But we always make camp spaghetti and I am just sick of the idea truthfully.  So this year, I had read a blog someone posted about their own family tradition of making Curry Ramen Noodles when they go camping and how the tradition got started.  I thought:  Ramen!  What a perfectly awesome camping idea!  Plus, it's inexpensive and with 4 kids ... you get the idea. 

I can't in good conscious feed our kids merely noodles, but they argue over which cooked vegetables are edible.  So we opted for raw veggies!  Brownie cut up three bell peppers and put them on a plate with some raw carrots and heirloom cherry tomatoes.  The kids munched on (and nearly finished) those while I concocted the noodles with what we'd brought.

What we brought was very little.  I am allergic to MSG.  The packets in Ramen Noodles with all those salty spices? They get tossed. Knowing how they make me feel, I can't put that into our kids' bodies.  I had brought some vegetable broth leftover from making our Jambalaya with us and a handful of jars from the spice cupboard, knowing the spice packets would be useless to me.  There must be others out there who can't stand those packets, so I will share. At home, I will sometimes use cumin or curry or wherever my intuition leads me, but ... in the spirit of camping I kept it simple.  My skeleton recipe for camping Ramen with no spice packets? Here ya go:

Ingredients:

6 packets Ramen Noodles
Water
Broth (doesn't matter what kind - I have to use specific brands and usually vegetable to avoid MSG)
Garlic Powder
Salt
Pepper
Poultry Seasoning
Chives (dried from our garden)
Dried Basil

Directions:

Boil water and broth, add noodles, add everything else until the taste is just right for you.  You know how to make Ramen! :-)

Once the kids were fed and full, we still had noodles left for us.  I stirred in a little more water, chopped up the rest of the Jerk Chicken from our Jamexican Tacos that I'd put in the cooler on our way out of town, threw it in and warmed the noodles up again.  Yes!  This may be a new favorite. Did I mention we're packing Jerk Chicken with us no matter where we go now form now on?  Yup.

We even had enough noodles leftover to store in the used chicken container to heat up for breakfast!  I will never camp without Ramen (and 1/2 my spice cupboard) again!