Make-ahead Components For Easy Camp Meals

It is just plain fun when you pull off cooking a delicious camp dinner, usually because it’s a collaborative effort of family and friends who tend to gather for such culinary outdoor adventures, and everybody’s recipes just taste better when you cook them up over an outdoor grill. However, if you want to have your meals ready to throw on the fire, try this Rib and Veggies Dinner you can take from the ice chest to the grill. Add our famous coleslaw recipe to complete this meal by storing the dressing separately from the salad into it until you are ready to serve.

We picked a few of our favorite easy camp meals, that make camp cooking simpler than ever. Okay, so we never said these were low fat recipes!

COUNTRY STYLE GRILLED RIBS

Choose meaty, country style pork ribs, bone-in or boneless.  (Boneless ribs are easy to cut into serving size sections.) Place ribs in a large soup pot. Cover with water. Cook medium high, stirring occasionally to bring to slow boil. Then lower to simmer to parboil the ribs for another 45 to 60 minutes, depending upon thickness, until fairly tender but not overcooked; (easy to poke a fork into but not falling apart. (You don’t want them falling apart… yet!) While parboiling, keep pan partially covered, or use steam vented pan lid to prevent too much moisture escape. If water cooks down too low, add more hot water.

With large tongs, remove the ribs and lay out on a wire rack to cool.

Sauce:

In a large jar or container with tight fitting lid, whisk together the following ingredients:

1 1/2  cups thick, rich Ketchup – I like Heinz.

1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup A-1 steak sauce

3 tablespoons salsa from a jar – Pace Picante is good.

1/2 tsp. garlic salt

1/2  tsp. fresh ground pepper

1/2 tsp. onion powder

Add cooled, cooked ribs to sauce. Cover tightly and turn bowl or ziplock slowly to coat all ribs with sauce. A bowl is best to protect them in the ice chest.

Grill over medium grill about 10 – 15 minutes on each side or until golden brown.  Mmm… These should now be tender enough to cut with a fork!

Italian Style Veggies in Foil Packets

Use heavy duty aluminum foil, cutting one square (about 9″ X 15″ per person),

Wash and pre-cut vegetables (approx 1/3 cup of each vegetable per person):

Fresh cut green beans – break off ends and cut in 1″ pieces.

Carrots – use regular size carrots (not mini’s) and cut in thin slices, approx 1/8″ thick slices (like chips), cutting on a slight diagonal slant if you can for prettier slices. Careful!

Red Potatoes – about 1 small  potato per person – Cut in half lengthwise. Lay two halves flat and slice again lengthwise. Now you have  long strips. Cut these in slices twice as thick as the carrot slices.

Mix the clean, cut veggies in a bowl with the following:

3 tablespoons olive oil per serving

1/4 cup fresh grated or dry Parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp. Garlic Powder

1/2 tsp. Parsley

Salt & Pepper garnish

Directions: Scoop a large clump of vegetable mixture into a large piece of foil and double fold edges, then crimp edges to ensure package stays together while it cooks. Make a package for each guest and make one extra. Place on top rack of closed barbecue for 20 minutes, turning occasionally with tongs. Transfer to a hotter spot on the grill and cook an additional 10 minutes, turning packets frequently. Test the extra packet of veggies to ensure desired tenderness. (Someone will want more!)

GRANDMA’S BISCUITS AND GRAVY

These may not  be the exact amounts for your group, One pound of sausage should provide 4-5 servings, depending on your crowd ‘s ages and appetites. So this should serve 6 – 8. 

Have these ingredients ready and read on before you begin:

1 1/2 lb. breakfast sausage

4-6 tablespoons butter

1/4 to 1/2 cup flour

3 cups cold milk

1/ tsp crushed red pepper

salt & pepper

Brown 1 1/2 lb. sausage on medium heat, until the edges of sausage pieces get brown and crunchy looking. (This LONG, SLOW cooking style gives it that homemade MOUNTAIN flavor.) Now, you should have fat in the pan, how much you have will depend upon the sausage you buy. If you see no grease in the pan, add 4 tablespoons of oil. You can always add more butter and flour BEFORE you add the milk

Start by stirring half of the flour into the cooked sausage mixture, adding more flour as needed to absorb the fat, 4 to 8 tablespoons should do it. Now, stir and cook a few more minutes. Add 2 cups of milk and stir as you bring the gravy to a light boil. This will thicken the mixture. Add more milk to reach desired consistency. Add 1/2 tsp. black pepper and salt to taste. Serve over fresh, hot biscuits.

I like Bisquick® biscuits. They are easy and taste homemade and you don’t have to roll out your biscuits and cut them. You can drop a large spoonful of dough and flatten and shape it with the spoon. It’s easy and really looks homemade.

Enjoy the great outdoors!