2 lb ground beef
4 tbs water
1 tbs oil
2 tsp each of salt, sugar, Worcestershire Sauce, cocoa, ground cumin, oregano
1/2 tbs Tabasco sauce
1 large onion chopped
1-1/2 tbs chili powder
2 cans kidney beans
3 c canned tomatoes

Brown ground beef in oil. Add onion and cook until it turns clear. Add remaining ingredients except kidney beans and simmer 1 hour covered using 8 coals underneath and 4 coals on top. Add kidney beans and cook 1 additional hour uncovered take the coals from the top and put them underneath.

Take dutch oven off the heat, put the lid back on and let it sit until its cool for a couple of hours. Once dutch oven is completely cooled place as is in a cooler of ice over night. The next day put the dutch oven on a bed of 6 to 8 hot coals for 45 minutes to an hour until its hot and ready to serve.

Tags: camping recipe, dutch oven, dutch oven cooking

2 lb. Stew meat
3 large onions
Potatoes
Corn
Carrots
Peas
Cauliflower
2 Beef bouillon cubes
Mushrooms
Seasonings
Cornstarch
Water

Cut meat into pieces of eating size, Cut onion into quarters, Cut vegetables and potatoes into desired size for eating. Put 1/4 inch of oil in Dutch oven and place on coals. When oil is hot, add meat and onions. Cook until meat is browned. Remove pot from fire and drain off excess oil. Add all vegetables, potatoes, and mushrooms. Add seasoning to taste. Add bouillon cubes. Add enough warm water to cover vegetables. Cover and place pot on coals. Put 10 coals on top. Cook until vegetables are tender. When vegetables are tender, add corn starch to thicken water mixture.
 

Tags: camping recipe, dutch oven, dutch oven cooking

I constantly get requests for what to cook while on a camping trip and in particularly "easy camping recipes". I try to answer this question as best that I can but I'm not sure that I'm really the best person to talk to about "easy" camping recipes becuase I truly enjoy cooking particularly while camping so I don't worry about how easy or hard a recipe is.

To me it truly is a pleasure to cook over an open fire whether it be would or charcoal.

I can understand why I am asked this question which is why I will do my best to help you all out.

To me there are probably two kinds of really easy camping recipes:

1. Those that include burgers & dogs on a grill with some sort of potato and a veggie.
2. One pot meals that can be cooked in a dutch oven.

Since I'm pretty sure most of you know how to taken a frozen burger, put it on the grill and flip it until its done I'm not going to spend much time talking about that.

What I really want to talk about is dutch oven cooking recipes…why? Because dutch oven cooking is easy, simple, has just about no cleanup and are truly tasty.

Good Dutch ovens are not cheap, 12 to 18 inch cast iron dutch ovens can run you from about $60 to close to $200 but they are worth their weight in gold! If properly cared for and if you are careful with your cooking times the cleanup is miniscule. Clean it out with a little warm water and a piece of steel wool and occasionally season it with some good oil and it will last you multiple generations.

Alot of people think that easy camping recipes for dutch ovens include only chili and beef stew sort of recipes…I am here to tell you that you are really limiting yourself!

Catfish Alay, Lobster Bisque, Chicken & Dumplings, Mountain Man Breakfast, Pot Roast, Roasted Duck, Brisket, meatloaf, Lemon Pepper Sea Bass and so many others I can't even tell you! If you can cook it in a frying pan or an oven you can cook it in a dutch oven!

If you buy only one new piece of camping equipment this year do yourself a favor and make it a dutch oven!

There are a couple of really good books out there that will teach you how to cook in, care for and cleanup your dutch oven…grab one of them and read through it. You will also find hundreds of recipes in them that you will be really surprised at.

One pot meals in a dutch oven are in my opinion the most delicious easy camping recipes you will ever treat yourself and you camping compatriots to!

One last tip for you: when you buy a dutch oven I STRONGLY recommend paying a little bit more and buying one that is made of cast iron. The aluminum ones are cheaper but in my experience they don't cook as evenly and are not quite as easy to cleanup as the cast iron.

Till Next Time…

Eric
 

Tags: Camping, dutch oven, dutch oven cooking

This recipe is beyond delicious!

This is a great recipe if somebody will be staying near the campsite during the day to keep an eye on it.

3-4 lb beef brisket
Seasoned tenderizer
2-3 tbs flour
Salt and pepper

Coat brisket well with tenderizer. Wrap with 2 layers of heavy duty foil. Refrigerate overnight. Place in Dutch oven, cover and cook with 6 coals underneath and 4 to 5 coals on the top for 6 to 7 hours. Remove from foil and place on warm serving plate. Using the juice, flour, salt and pepper, make a thin gravy. Pour gravy over brisket before serving.

Tags: dutch oven, dutch oven cooking

Sea Pirate campground is located in West Creek, NJ. It is a privately owned campground with alot of things that I like in a campground:

1. Close to the beach – It's just a couple of miles from Long Beach Island
2. Clean – The store, restrooms, laundry facility, pool and all public areas were well maintained and clean.
3. Spacious – The site(s) we stayed in and all that we saw were a good size, most had grass and trees and were in good repair. All hookups functioned properly.
4. Seasonal Sites – All the seasonal sites were clean and well maintained. We didn't see any that were old and delapidated. The residents seemed to keep their sites nice and neat.
5. Activities – There is plenty of things to do at this campground including: swimming pool, fishing, crabbing, coordinated arts & crafts and regularly scheduled and well attended evening activities.
6. Moderately priced – As of 2009 the sites ranged from $32 to $45 per night which is well worth the price in my opinion.

We have stayed at this campground twice now and will definitely go back again.

The staff was friendly and professional, the owner was a very nice older woman who spent lots of time in and around the campground helping out and just enjoying herself.

They have an annual crabfest there every year and if you get the chance it is definitely worth it. Plenty of crab, food, beer and live entertainment. There is always something going on at the campground during the summer.

There are several good restaurants in the area so if you want to go out to eat you can and you don't have to drive to LBI to do so. I say this because sometimes when we go camping for a weekend we don't like to worry about cooking dinner on Friday night after we get there and get our site all setup. We went to the Grapevine II restaurant right down the road thinking it was just a pizza place but it was way more than that. It was a good quality moderatly priced italian restaurant that we really enjoyed!

If it does happen to rain while you are there it's not really a big deal. Our site(s) and most of the sites we saw were fairly level and graded well so the water drains off fairly quickly. The fact that there are so many trees around does mean that the ground itself stays a little wet for awhile so be prepared with mats and/or external rugs to get most of the dirt and mud off your shoes before you go into your tent/trailer.

The only negative experience we had while there wasn't the fault of the campground and would not prevent us from returning but you should be aware of it: Mosquitos. There were alot of them around during the summer of 2009 but that was true of the entire state of New Jersey not just Sea Pirate. So just make sure to bring extra bug spray and your favorite area clearing bug repellant (I personally like the Coleman Mosquito Deleto – pricey but keeps the average campsite pretty clear of the little annoyances!).

I highly recommend Sea Pirate to everyone I talk to. Check them out at: Sea Pirate Campground

Till Next Time…

Eric

Tags: campground, nj camping, sea pirate campground

Is there such a thing as a "New Jersey Camping Guide"?

Yes and no.

There are a couple of "guides" out there that talk about New Jersey camping areas and facilities. There is one that I think is really, really good. My only problem with them is that they don't seem to be complete to me.

They talk about camping in the northwestern part of the state, they talk about the shore regions, they talk about the pine barrens but unfortunately none of them seem to be as complete as I would like to see. It might be that the publication might be focused on one particular region and cover that region incredibly well but they might not be as familiar with the Skylands region or the Gateway region.

Here is what I would like to see in a New Jersey Camping Guide:

1. Cover each of the six major regions in the Garden state: Skyland, Gateway, Shore, Delaware, Atlantic and Southern.
2. List each and every known campground, public and private, that can be verified to exist at the time of publishing.
3. Give details of each campground to include at least:
    a. Contact Info: address, phone, email, web address, etc…
    b. Proximity to major attractions: beach, theme parks, cultural areas
    c. Campground Map
    d. Size of Sites
    e. Prices for sites
    f. Details of facilities: pool, playground, lake, fishing, sports, arts & crafts, etc…
    g. General Info: do they charge for visitors, how many vehicles can be on site, cancellation policy, etc…
    h. Calendar of Events
    i. Dates of Operation
    j. Some reviews of facility
4. List Major attractions for each region:
    a. Theme parks
    b. Beaches
    c. Arts
    d. Sports Arenas
    e. Local Attractions
    f. Anything that a tourist or local would like to visit
5. Provide details of the type of camping available in each region. Mountainous area? Sandy area? Lots of grass? Traffic congestion? etc…
6. Average temperatures in region during "normal" camping season (March to November).

I'm basically looking for a camping guide that I can turn to that will answer just about any question I have about where to go camping in New Jersey. I don't want to have to look in this guide if I want to camp down south, another one if I want to camp up north and then have to look online for average temperatures, local attractions and campground prices.

See when my family and I plan out our camping schedule for the year (usually in February) we usually sit down around the kitchen table with our calendar(s) and try to plan a trip or two per month from March to November (we would go all year round but my wife refuses to go camping when the temperature doesn't even have the chance to go above freezing!). Right now when we do this I grab the couple of guides I have, our calendars, our maps of the state and my laptop and it takes us multiple hours to do this planning. If there was a single exhaustive guide as I am suggesting it would make our lives and our planning much, much simpler.

I don't even know of any website that has all of that information in one place including mine!

Till Next Time…

Eric
 

Tags: new jersey camping guide, nj camping

3-4 lb rump roast or pot roast
3 medium potatoes, pared and halved
3 medium carrots, cut into 2" pieces
2 medium onions, halved
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 c water or beef broth

Brown roast in oven on all sides in small amount of oil. Remove meat, salt and pepper. Place half of vegetables in bottom of oven, return meat to oven and add remaining vegetables and liquid. Cover and cook with 8 coals on bottom and 4 coals on top for 3-5 hours depending upon size of roast and degree of doneness desired. You will have to add coals to keep this temperature fairly steady. Remove meat and vegetables carefully and place on serving platter.

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Tags: camping recipe, dutch oven

Do you want to camp near one of the many beaches in New Jersey?

So do I!

Luckily, there are many options for exactly that. Whether you want to visit Ocean City, Sea Isle City, Long Beach Island, Atlantic City, Cape May, Seaside, Island Beach State Park or any of the other beaches in the Garden State.

Depending on which beach you want to visit you can get within two or three miles of that beach and stay at some very nice and clean campgrounds. If you want to camp directly on the beach unfortunately the State doesn't allow that anymore. Island Beach State Park used to but for some reason they stopped allowing it, even though you can still drive on the beach with the right kind of permit.

New Jersey beach camping can be lots of fun even though you can't get right on the beach. Some people actually think it's better to stay a couple of miles away because you don't have to worry about paying the sometimes exorbitant prices associated with staying right at the beach.

You can spend the day at the beach enjoying the sand, sun and waves and then head back to your campground, get cleaned up and enjoy a nice homecooked meal and then participate in the local campground activities or just sit around a campfire and enjoy the company of those you travelled with.

My family and I absolutely love the beach but we also like being able to get away from the noise, congestion and overpriced attractions. So this type of "beach camping" is absolutely perfect for us.

Currently our favorite location to call "home" for this kind of trip is the Sea Pirate Campground. It is only minutes away from Long Beach Island. It is a nice, quiet campground that is very well maintained by the polite and very accomodating staff that has lots and lots of activities planned during the summer.

The sites are a good size, moderately priced and all the facilities are in great shape. This campground gives us the ability to spend the day at the beach and then to come back go for a swim, cook up a nice dinner and then decide what we want to do that night. There are also a couple of really good restaurants in the area that we enjoy visiting if we don't want to cook ourselves.

We have also stayed at and really enjoyed the Outdoor World Lake & Shore Campground many times. Great facilities including a cedar lake, big swimming pool and a small outdoor water park make up for the moderately sized sites and slightly higher fees. The proximity to Sea Isle City, Wildwood and Cape May make this campground perfect for our version of beach camping. If you decide to check out this campground you do need an Outdoor World membership.

So for us (and lots of our friends) "New Jersey beach camping" is more about the enjoyment of the beach and then the enjoyment of a clean campground away from the hustle and bustle than about pitching a tent within 20 feet of the waves.

Till Next Time…

Eric

Tags: beach camping, Camping, new jersey camping

I really enjoy winter camping.

Unfortunately, winter camping in new jersey is somewhat limited. Pretty much all of the private campgrounds in the state shut down by around November 1 and even the public campground choices are somewhat limited.
 

There are still places to go, you just have to do a little more research and make a few more calls. You also have to make sure you bring everything with you that you will need. Even now, many years into my winter camping experience I use a checklist and make sure I am prepared for just about any contingency.
 

Is there going to be snow on the ground? Will there be freezing rain? Can your tent hold up under freezing rain conditions? How will you start a fire if it's pouring? Do you have protection from the biting wind?
 

So what do I do?
 

Well, I go camping with my Boy Scout Troop for one. Scout Reservations are open all year round for the most part. Most of them are not exactly full of amenities and activities during the winter but I don't mind that because we plan our own events and activities so I'm not in need of the campground to provide that for me. Wood Platforms for the tents, campfire ring, latrine and sometimes a pavilion for our cooking & eating is pretty much all I need.
 

If I'm not going with the scouts then it gets a little harder. Over the years I have managed to find a couple of locations in or around the state that are open year round or are on private property but I have developed a relationship with the owner and they don't mind me camping on their property for the weekend.
 

Why do I like winter camping?
 

Mostly for the same reasons I like summer camping. I get out of the house, I get into nature, I get to contemplate my place in the universe, I love watching animals and I love the peace and quiet.
 

I am sure you are thinking "How the heck do you do that with a bunch of rowdy boy scouts around?"
 

It's actually easier than you might think, early mornings, late in the evening and even during the day sometimes when they are out on a hike or doing some sort of activity that I don't have to attend.
 

If you wear enough layers and are prepared for the temperatures and you learn how to just sit still and try to become part of your surroundings it is amazing what you will see and hear.
 

But isn't it cold?
 

Yeah so?
 

Do some planning and preparation and you won't even notice the cold. Bring extra clothing, get a good sleeping bag, bring an extra blanket or two, leave the air mattress at home, bring twice as much firewood as you think you will need, make sure you know exactly what the weather is "forecasted" to be and know exactly what is provided at your campsite of choice.
 

Winter camping New Jersey, limited but still one heck of a fun experience you won't soon forget!
 

Till Next Time…

Eric

Tags: Camping, camping new jersey, winter camping

3-4 lb rump roast or pot roast
3 medium potatoes, pared and halved
3 medium carrots, cut into 2" pieces
2 medium onions, halved
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 c water or beef broth

Brown roast in oven on all sides in small amount of oil. Remove meat, salt and pepper. Place half of vegetables in bottom of oven, return meat to oven and add remaining vegetables and liquid. Cover and cook with 8 coals on bottom and 4 coals on top for 3-5 hours depending upon size of roast and degree of doneness desired. You will have to add coals to keep this temperature fairly steady. Remove meat and vegetables carefully and place on serving platter.

Tags: dinner, dutch oven