coupla camp'n recipes

at the behest of more than one reader, here are a couple of my kids' favorite camping recipes. judging by the number of requests for the soup, it looks like several families will be partaking of chicken noodle soup at our next pack trip!

*Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup*
2 C chicken stock/bouillon
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 clove minced garlic
2 C chopped cooked chicken
1 C sliced carrots
1 C sliced celery
1/2 C chopped onion
1 T parsley
1/2 tsp thyme
salt & pepper to taste
2 C dry egg noodles

home prep: (i always freeze the meat and veggies i take camping because they double as ice packs in the cooler that way. i can re-use their dishes if i have any leftover soup as well.)
1) cook, chop & freeze chicken.
2) chop & freeze veggies.
3) cook & cool noodles. store in plastic baggie.
4) if using chicken stock, freeze that in quart-sized freezer bags. if using bouillon cubes, never mind.
5) combine dry spices in small tupperware container or snack-size zipper bag.

camp prep: (either propane stove or over the fire)
1) heat frozen stock first, if necessary. otherwise, combine 2 C water & bouillon cubes, add 2 cans of soup. stir til combined.
2) stir in dry spices. add veggies & chicken. heat through. add cooked noodles last.
3) heat 'til bubbly; it shouldn't take more than 10-15 minutes on a good fire. serve with biscuits or toast. serves 6.

FABULOUS on a cold, rainy trip. you can change up the veggies to your family's liking, of course, and if you prefer your soup thinner, just add more liquid. we like ours thick enough that it doesn't run off the spoon on its own. you can easily convert this recipe to a beef stew by changing the stock, veggies, & meat, but keeping the same measurements.

*Backpack Fudge*
1/2 C cocoa
16 oz powdered sugar
1/2 C butter
1 tsp vanilla
3 oz cream cheese

1) combine butter, cheese & vanilla in a gallon FREEZER bag. when squished together, add cocoa & sugar.
2) pass around the campfire and knead in the bag for 30 minutes. knead carefully so the bag doesn't burst! spread in pan and let rest for about 10 minutes. cut & serve. makes about 1 pound. VERY good.

kate's eights 10-7-09

 8) i started this week out on a fair note: i got up with my first alarm on sunday, which has not been happening lately. just tooooo tired to get up. i decided to treat myself to dunkin donuts on my last sunday/friday and there i found my precious: pumpkin donuts. YUMS! the day passed without so much as a burp in my happiness until about 9:50, which was right before quittin' time. an elderly stick-in-the-mud decided to start an argument over facial wash. without all the he said/she said, it was too big for the carryon. the end. but he decided to throw a fit about it. i remained calm and unflustered until he asked me my IQ. my supervisor (bless you, you saint) stepped in and told the guy to get his things and go, and stood my ground for me as i paced like an angry lioness down the terminal. you may not like the policies that i enforce, but do not dare to insult my intelligence. the IQ tests that i have taken, (because i have had reason to take more than one) average out to 137. i didn't know that was good until yesterday, when someone said that score was "borderline genius." wow. thanks, dude.

7) tomorrow begins my Hell Week, since my shift changes as of sunday morning. so i work my regular shift thursday, friday, saturday.... and start my new shift sunday, monday, tuesday. it's gonna be a long-loooooong week. may the gods have mercy upon any soul who thinks to piss me off on tuesday. and then management will announce whether i'm lucky enough to get full-time hours - and change my schedule again.

6) i woke up hungover this morning from 2 glasses of wine. i can't be serious, can i???

5) i counted out another 1K campbell's soup labels yesterday. which brings my total thus far to 3100... and i still have more. fortunately, once i have caught up with the bag of summer labels, i will be able to keep up with the weekly dropoffs a lot better. boxtops total (which will be going into the mail this week) is about 2300. i think. i can't remember and i can't be arsed to go upstairs right now and look. not bad for, like, 40 hours of work! :oP

4) my mother said something positive. i almost fell down in shock. maybe this new presidency is good for her, i dunno. she received a $100 whole foods gift card from the wife of someone she works with. she earned this little gem for transferring the contents of a floppy disk onto a flash drive. i know.... can i get some of that kind of work?? so she calls me and tells me she doesn't want to go to "this whole foods place," even after i told her all about whole foods and how lucky she was to have that gift card. she sent it to me in the mail with a card that read, "i'm not thinking of this as re-gifting, i'm thinking of it more along the lines of paying it forward." wow, mom. you don't know how profound that really was... especially for you. BOOO-YAH! i got a whole foods gift card!!

3) there is a branch literally hanging by a thread in my tree. it is about... 40 feet up and over a set of power lines. we contacted the power company last spring when it splintered and they told us they weren't concerned with it. with today's extremely high winds, it is now leaning heavily on the guide wire between poles. that bad boy is coming down soon. i can feel it. i just wish there was something i could do, aside from fork out $2K that i don't have to have a tree surgeon hack the whole tree down. i'll prolly sleep in the girls' room tonight just to listen. i don't want to be woken in the night by a fire alarm. apparently the lines back here have a habit of setting the houses on fire when they come down. so say the neighbors. *shudder*

2) my baby had her first homecoming this past weekend. we found her dress by fluke during back to school shopping. it was the perfect size and price, so we snatched it up. friday night, the mavericks delivered a sound spanking to the visiting team (who were also wearing orange); the score was 36-12 at the beginning of the 4th quarter when we left in the rain. trombones don't much like rain. saturday, after getting the girlie's hair did, we drove to bria's boyfriend's house, and brad's mom and i paparazzi'd them for about a half hour before driving the two to TGIFriday's for dinner. they sat at their own table on the other side of the restaurant from us. we dropped the cuties off at the dance and i collapsed into bed. i understand that someone else retrieved them, because she was here sunday when i got home from work. she danced so much, she ruined the toes of her shoes. WoW. looking at the pictures of my daughter, she is so much a young lady... i hardly recognize her from her "everyday tomboy" look. *sigh* now i'm just nattering.

1) the temps are dropping and the soup recipes have been dusted off. we are looking forward to a night in the near future of setting fire to a lot of wood in our yard (possibly more delivered straight from above) and enjoying our firepit before it gets too cold to sit by the fire. this has been the shortest summer season i've ever known outside of the united queendom. it was still chilly enough to wear jackets in mid-june, and we busted out the winter coats for a day last week. *grump* and lars has outgrown almost all of his pants already. in two months. he keeps growing like this and he'll be taller than his big brother by christmas. yipe!

there's a daughter on her way home now and 3 other kids to pick up, then homework and dinner to begin... and then the boy scouts and i will be working on knots tonight. yay knots!