Camping!

We decided to take our first camping trip of the year last week. We had a great time and the weather was perfect. We love hiking, fishing, and the whole not showering thing... Something that we also get excited for is the food,though. We go beyond just roasting hot dogs and boiling water. Mikey usually handles the dinner portion (because it means he can play with the fire) while Mo handles breakfast. Our overall menu included eggs, potatoes, bacon, baked potatoes, roasted corn on the cob, clam chowder, chicken sandwiches with tomato, hot dogs, and S'mores. Oh yeah- we know...

Let's talk about the propane stove we had. It was small and only held one pan (or pot) at a time but it was so easy. It held the pot for the chowder, the pan for the bacon, the eggs, and the potatoes, and even was easy enough to use for a just a tea kettle for a quick cup of hot chocolate. The best part is that we could keep the stove by the campfire in case we absolutely needed hot chocolate but didn't feel like getting up :)

Breakfast was another thing that we had a good system for thanks to our wonder stove. Since we were only feeding the two of us we could use one pan to make everything for breakfast. One day breakfast came out particularly well; Bacon-Scrambled Eggs and Breakfast Potatoes. First cut the bacon into small pieces then cook it so there's enough fat in the pan to cook the potatoes. When the bacon's done but it on a plate with a paper towel and cover with foil. Next you have to dice the potatoes up then put them in the pan as soon as the bacon is done. Mo hates to cover things because it keeps her from being able to see what's happening but we did it anyway and they cooked faster. When the potatoes get soft and you've put enough garlic powder, salt and pepper on them then put them onto a plate and cover with foil too. Leave whatever oil is left in the pan and turn you pan to low heat. Now add beaten eggs. They should start cooking right away. You need really low heat. Mo is sort of awesome at eggs and knows you can't rush the process. When the eggs start to cook together and have lost most of their liquid consistency add the chopped bacon to the eggs. Fold, mix, stir, you know.

*Quick tip* We don't bring milk when we camp but if you're like Mo and won't cook without something in your eggs then used evaporated milk. It does the same thing, just as well.

You can't tell us that's not a pretty good meal for one pan, cooked in the outdoors! It was really filling and cleanup was minimal.

America's Most Harmful Drinks

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Help Our Kids- Courtesy of Jamie Oliver

Remember Jamie Oliver, once The Naked Chef? How many people were watching his new show Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution? Well we were. The show was sort of on at a weird time- Friday nights at 9. But in case you didn't watch it (shame on you) what he did was simple. Jamie went to the unhealthiest town in America (Huntington, WV) and tried to get a food revolution going to make their people healthy again.

Jamie Oliver 's Food Revolution Promo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-mYAoWu-O8

When Jamie arrived at an elementary school he faced a lot of resistance from the adults who seemed too lazy to make any real changes and resistance from kids who would die for their chocolate milk...an literally were. What Jamie found in Huntington were people dying of obesity, entire families getting diabetes, and young kids getting their lives shortened because of the fatty, processed food they over-consumed on a daily basis.

Jamie tried replacing the crappy school lunches (nuggets, french fries, several types of pizza, and and every color of milk except white) at the schools with homemade food that were full of vegetables and nutrients. Real bread, baked chicken, and salads were too much for the lunch ladies...sorry...school cooks to handle. Jamie went through every resource he could to let the people know he had a kitchen up for people to come in and learn how to cook good, healthy, meals. There's one episode left but so far Jamie has taught over 1,000 people in that town a better way to cook. His kitchen is open up to anyone and the people are starting to take notice of their problem and trying to fix it.

Jamie has a petition up so that we can get our kids' school lunches healthier across America and not just in that one town. Here's the link. It's really simple to sign, you just need to do it. We hope you do.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/campaigns/jamies-food-revolution/petition

Also, on the show Jamie showed the town how to make a really awesome looking beef stirfry. He chose it because all the ingredients are healthy and obtainable. We haven't tried it yet but we're dying to soon. Here's the recipe. We'll let you know what we think soon. :)

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/beef-recipes/beef-and-vegetable-stir-fry

Grown Ups and Rice Crispy Treats

So we haven't had much to post these days. We're getting ready to move soon so a lot of time has gone to that. Apartment hunting, school, working... it all takes so much time. Obviously our cooking took a back seat (along with the blog) but we're trying. It's never been that being an adult is hard its just cooking sounded like the last thing we wanted to do after a long day- to be honest that didn't make us very happy. We finally got back into the groove of "cooking" one night when we actually had some time off. (What? Time off? What's that?) Actually we did use that day for school stuff but that night we needed something that would be suiting for our broke-college-student needs (basically cheap and quick... and something sweet!) What did we make? Rice Crispy Treats, of course. Three ingredients and ready in less 10 minutes. You can't beat food that easy. The recipe was on the box, but it wasn't like we really needed it. Melt butter, add marshmallow and melt, then add Rice Crispy cereal and mix well. Done. It's easy but we did change one thing. Instead of adding the given amount of cereal, we added the same amount as the marshmallows. What we ended up with was the perfect amount of chewy and soft- magic for the most part. It was nice to allow the children that we still are at heart to come out for a while. We learned a valuable lesson. Sometimes being in the kitchen doesn't mean we have to produce the perfect 10 course meal, but being silly and not so serious is way more important. It was so worth it.

Mikey and Mo's very grown up Rice Crispy Treats