What is the most creative dish you have made while camping? Have you ever tried to make a homemade pizza on the barbecue?
We camped out last week with my Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Ray Rieger just outside of Bridgeport. We stayed in our favorite Twin Lakes campground, Crags, in lower Twin Lakes. Tom and Matti Paulsen are the camp hosts. They keep the campground and especially the restrooms nice and clean. At an elevation of 7,200 feet, the nights were cold this time of year, 31 degrees. I was happy we towed the trailer and I packed lots of extra blankets. I was a little nervous when we arrived and Tom said he had run a small bear out of the campground that morning. There were no mosquitoes up there off the river and the fishing was good on Robinson Creek.
Aunt Bonnie and I consider ourselves to be excellent cooks. Each evening we would coordinate our dinner plans, each trying to outdo each other.
I chopped in large pieces of some red potatoes out of my garden, drizzled them with a little olive oil and seasonings, then wrapped them in two layers of aluminum foil. They cooked on the grill for one hour. I turned them every 10 minutes or so. They turned out delicious. I think I thought they were so good because I haven't eaten baked potatoes in about a year. The other great dish I made was also with ingredients out of the garden that I sautéed in a large skillet over the grill. I drizzled some olive oil and added one chopped onion, one diced jalapeño, one diced Anaheim chili, one green bell pepper and two sliced yellow squash. I stirred to keep from burning for about 20 minutes then topped with one cup grated cheddar cheese. Yummy.
One night Aunt Bonnie grilled up some delicious chuck roast she bought at Buster's Market in Bridgeport. She had marinated it in Italian dressing all day. It was so tender ... but what about the pizza she made on the barbecue. She bought a package of pizza dough mix and prepared it in a bowl. The dough was put in a cast iron skillet on the barbecue. After just a couple minutes she flipped it out onto the grill to get the grill marks on that side. Then she flipped it back in the skillet and added sauce, pepperoni and three kinds of cheese. Next a foil top until the cheese melted. Wow. You have got to try this, especially if you are camping with your grandchildren. They would be very impressed.
For sure the best was the trout Uncle Ray caught almost every night we were there. A little margarine, salt, pepper, lemon juice, wrapped in foil and placed right onto the grill within minutes of catching them. Uncle Ray says that's the secret.
Call me with your favorite camp-out foods. I'm thinking of putting together a camp-out cook book.
n Johnson Lane mourns the loss of long time resident Willi Huf. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife Nanny and all of the family.
n Lisa Welch is a Johnson Lane resident and can be reached at 267-9350.
