Squash in a Skillet

I made this dish yesterday in a cast-iron skillet over a campfire because I needed to find a way to use the vegetables I had in our camping ice chest.  I have never thought of combining squash with peppers, but I had some fresh ones from my daughter's garden.  I expect that zucchini or some other summer squash would be fine as well, if that is what you have.  The blended flavors were surprising and so delicious I decided to share the experiment here. (My husband does not like squash, but he remarked, "Hey, that was pretty good."  That's high praise indeed.)  I'm thinking that some fresh herbs, like basil or tarragon, would make it even better, and I see no reason this wouldn't turn out just as well when cooked on the stove at home!

Ingredients
one medium to large onion, chopped coarsely
one medium to large pepper, chopped coarsely  (I used an orange one.  Red or green would be fine too.)
one or two tomatoes, halved and cut into about 8 pieces
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter or more, as needed
3 or 4 potatoes, cut in fourths and then sliced somewhat thin
one large crook neck squash
salt, pepper, garlic

To Do
Saute the onions and potatoes in a large skillet with the butter.  Use more butter, or add some olive oil, as needed.  Add tomatoes and squash.  Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.  Add about 1/2 tsp. garlic powder or one chopped garlic clove.  Cover and cook, stirring occasionally,  till squash and potatoes are just tender. 

Mountain Man Breakfast

This is our favorite crowd-pleasing breakfast when camping, made over coals in a cast-iron dutch oven. Today I am chopping the veggies in preparation for making it tomorrow a.m. for my church. We will cook three large batches in roasters. My kitchen smells amazing--a mix of Jimmy Dean sausage (my favorite), onions and peppers. Yum!

You can make it at home by layering ingredients in a large covered casserole dish.

The original recipe is from Lodge Cast Iron Cookware, but we added to it. The original version has hash brown style potatoes, meat, eggs and cheese. You can omit all the additional ingredients and with just those it will taste good. Just not ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS! ;-)

Layer the following in a dutch oven or casserole dish. If cooking in an oven, preheat to 350 degrees F.

1 lb. bag tater tots (or hash browns) deep fried or baked according to package directions
(If cooking in a dutch oven, cook potatoes in oil and then continue the recipe)
1 lb. cooked chopped bacon, ham or sausage (I like sausage best.)

Add some or all of the following:

one chopped onion
some chopped mushrooms
about 1 cup or more of chopped green pepper (we use a mix of green, red and yellow ones)
1 can of water chestnuts, chopped
about 1 cup sliced olives.

All of this is very approximate and we do cook the peppers and onions a bit beforehand.

Slightly beat 1 dozen eggs (or more if needed, depending on how many you are serving), and pour over the top of the potatoes and vegetables. Cover and cook till eggs are almost done. Add about 3 cups shredded cheese. (Lodge calls for 1 lb. cheese, but I think that's overkill.)

Cook till cheese is melted and eggs are done.

Serve with salsa if desired. I'm labeling this "make ahead" because you can cook everything except the eggs, tater tots and cheese beforehand and then layer it together the day you want to eat it.

Cheesy Apple Bake

Today is Johnny Appleseed's birthday. I posted this recipe (using two of Wisconsin's favorite foods) as part of today's Friday Five at Rev Gals. It is easy and quick and the apple and cheddar flavors are just right for fall!

Next door to the church where I am the pastor is a home with an apple tree. Each year the tree is loaded with apples, and they mostly fall to the ground. I have no idea what kind of apples they are, but they are among the best I've ever tasted. They are crisp like a Granny Smith, but they are the perfect mx of tart and sweet. The skin is a mix of green and red, just like the one in the picture. I look at that tree and wish it was in my yard. Those apples would be going to good use, I can tell you! Later today I'm going to go pick a small basket full from the ground and make this recipe. It will be delicious with the pork chops that are waiting for the grill. Yum yum!

Cheesy Baked Apples

Ingredients:

4 medium apples - peeled, cored, and cut into eighths

1/4 cup water

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

2 Tablespoons sugar (or more, depending on tartness of apples used--Granny Smith's need at least 3))

1 Tablespoon flour

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Pinch of salt

1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

What to do:

Arrange apples in a shallow baking dish. Sprinkle with water and lemon juice. In a small bowl, combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt. Sprinkle over apples. Bake covered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until apples are tender. Uncover, top with shredded cheese, and bake 5 minutes more or until cheese melts. Serves: 4 to 6. Great side dish with ham or pork.

Notes:

It can be made in a medium sized cast iron skillet with a cover. Bake on bed of coals with coals on the lid as well. Add coals as needed. Try adding raisins or craisins and a tiny pinch of cloves and a little more sugar for a sweeter dish. For a more savory dish, add 1/2 to 1 tsp. of curry powder and a sliced onion (baked along with the apples--with or without raisins).

SingingOwl's Camp Stew

This stew works well at home on the stove or over a campfire in a big dutch oven. The pot of stew in the picture is cooking on the stove right now, and it has to be the best I ever made. There is only one thing different about it, and that is the Ro-Tel tomotoes (diced tomoatoes and green chilies). Yum! I don't use a recipe, so the amts. I'm giving you are the best guess I can make of quantities.

Ingredients:

2 lbs chuck roast, cut in cubes

1 large onion, chopped in large pieces

About 3 stalks celery, chopped in large pieces

green beans (or peas, or whatever you think sounds good)

carrots and potatoes, chopped into chunks

2 tsp. Lawry's seasoning salt
one bay leaf
2 or 3 cloves of chopped garlic
two 14 oz. cans beef broth
one 10 oz.can Ro-Tel tomaoes (this is diced tomatoes and green chilies)
flour
oil
soy sauce
browning sauce (Kitchen Boquet or similar)
salt and ground pepper, to taste

Look closely at the picture and you will see my cute pepper grinder.

What to do:

Pour about 1/4 cup of oil in the bottom of a dutch oven or large pot. Add stew meat and about 1/2 cup flour. Stir to coat meat, and brown over medium heat. Add about 1/4 cup soy sauce and a nice glug ;-) of Kitchen Boquet. Add garlic, onion, Ro-Tel tomoatoes and seasonings. Add just enough water to slightly cover meat, if needed. Cook about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add beef broth. Cook till beef is tender, add vegetables. Cook till veggies are tender, adding liquid if necessary. Add salt and pepper to taste. If you like, you can add a can of diced tomatoes, but this is not recommended if cooking in cast iron.

I plan on making corn bread to go with it. I think it will go nicely with the slight zing of the chilies.

Bearded Eagle's Award Winning Dump Cake

My daughter, Kris, and I won first place in a dessert contest using her Dad's recipe.* I've received many requests for the recipe, so it has the honor of being the first post on the new cooking blog.

We like to cook when we camp (our camping is fur-trade era reenacing). My husband, Bearded Eagle, cooks this desert in an iron dutch oven using hot coals. It really does taste better that way. If you do try it in a dutch oven, we have recently discovered that a double batch works great.

For this blog,  I'll give you the "kitchen equipped with gas oven" version.  :-) 

Ingredients
1.  1 can of pie filling
We usually use cherry, but you can use whatever you like.

2.  2 cups any fresh fruit, or one larger can crushed pineapple, drained

1 box yellow or white dry cake mix

Just the mix. Don't make the cake! We like yellow best. Lemon also works, depending on what else you are going to add.  Peaches go nicely with lemon cake.

3.  1 stick butter, melted

4.  1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

What to Do
It's called dump cake because it is so simple and ingredients are just dumped into the pan. So start with layering the ingredients in the order listed in a greased 9"x13" pan.  Cook at 350 degrees for about one hour. Check often. The top should be nicely browned, but the consistency is much softer than a regular cake.

Comments:

It's quite rich, so portions should be relatively small. Nice served with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

The fun of this recipe is that it has endless variations. Use what you like--the combinations are endless and the amounts are very approximate.

Canned pineapple is fine, but fresh fruit is better. Strawberries are great, as are blueberries, especially with the cherriy filling.

Try a can of apple pie filling with sliced fresh apples for the fruit. Fresh peaches are great too. The best version we ever tried used seedless concord grapes, but they are not easy to find.

I usually use more than a cup of nuts, because I love the crunch (and we have been known to double the strawberries). I tried a cup of homemade rhubarb sauce instead of the pie filling, and added strawberries.

* The combo that won an award was cherry pie filling and fresh strawberries.

If you find a particularly good combination, please let me know in the comments.