Went for a walk

 

A week and a half ago it snowed here... kind of late for this part of the country but it was nice to get some moisture.

I had the chance to take off for a day and check out my favorite mushroom hunting ground.

headed out and just followed some of the cattle/deer trails..

Didn't see any mushrooms, not sure if it's too early or just too dry right now.

It was pretty nice just getting out for a long walk. The air smelled so fresh. :)

I checked out my favorite little lake before coming home..

The water level was up which is good. Maybe the fish will be biting soon. :)

Some Beef Short Ribs on the Little Cooker

Another cook from my last camp trip.  I love beef short ribs, and decided to take a plate of them to the lake with me. The weather was a bit "iffy" so I used my little charcoal cooker instead of the tractor rim.
I set the cooker up with the hot coals on each end and a drip pan in the center.
Slathered the ribs with bacon drippings and seasoned with cracked black pepper and coarse salt.

This was a nice meaty slab of ribs. I figured they would take around 6 hours.

I let the ribs cook on low and added more coals about every 30 minutes..

After 5 hours of cooking, I added a few tatoes.
Split the tatoes open, added a sliver of onion, a slice of bacon, salt and pepper and a dab of butter. The foiled and set them in to cook.

The ribs had the pull back on the bone that I wanted after about 6 hours of cooking.

I sliced one of the ribs off the end. Served with slaw and the tatoe..

Took what I thought was a HUGE bite....

...and quickly realized that I wasn't going to make it through this thing.

it turned into an all day rib.  I wrapped it in a napkin and snacked on it the rest of the day. lol

It was SO tender, juicy and tasty though. Beef ribs just gotta be my favorite food on earth. lol

The weather has been pretty nice here lately. I've been spending as much time as possible outside. Spent yesterday afternoon at my favorite creek/hunting spot, saw plenty of wild life and enjoyed the fresh air. Didn't make it home in time to cook on the grill as I had planned last night but enjoyed the much needed outing. :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Gooseberry Skillet Cobbler

 



When I was a kid, dad took us camping in the Colorado Rockies every summer. While he fished for trout in the cool running stream, I explored the area. I hiked, climbed and generally ran wild until it was time to head back to camp for supper in the evening. One of my favorite things to do was to check out the gooseberry bushes. Mom was the one who fed us and I remember her telling me "If you pick enough gooseberries, I will make you a pie". 
This didn't happen often. lol  Either the bushes didn't produce enough berries or I ate too many while picking.  I LOVE gooseberry pie. It's one of my favorites and reminds me of those campouts in the Rockies.

Gooseberries are hard to find in my area, even the canned variety. I came across these in a Mexican grocery store and grabbed a few cans to take camping with me.

To make the skillet cobbler, I drain the gooseberry juice into a skillet. (used 2 cans) They are really tart so I added sugar.. about 2 cups. Enough to make the juice sweet. Also added a pinch of salt, a squeeze of lemon juice and some cornstarch to thicken the mixture..

 

 

 

 

I placed the skillet over hot coals and let it cook until smooth, hot and bubbly. Then added the drained gooseberries and some other berries from breakfast.

The wind was blowing pretty hard that afternoon so I used the cooker provided at the lake instead of the tractor rim.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When the pie filling was hot and bubbly I added my cobbler topping...

 

1 cup flour, 2 tsp baking powder, pinch of salt, 1 3/4 cups of sugar and enough milk to make a stiff dough.  Dropped by spoon on top of the hot filling..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I covered the skillet with another larger pot to give the cobbler topping room to rise. Then placed a few hot coals on and let er cook.

 

 



 

 

The cobber cooked for about 25 minutes.. I moved it to the tractor rim and let it cool a bit before diving in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I even brought some whipped cream in a can with me for this dish. lol Ok I ate some straight out of the can too. :)

 

It was really tasty. Reminded me of my childhood. :)

If you've not had gooseberry pie, it tastes a bit like rhubarb pie.... kind of tart.

 

 

 

I'm not sure why, but I never make desserts while camping. I guess I fill up on the meal and have no room for dessert. Might have to do this one again though...





























Catfish n Hushpuppies

While camping at the lake a couple of weeks ago, I fried up some catfish and made a batch of hushpuppies. They just seem to taste best over a campfire.
I actually brought these fish with me in case I didn't catch any...... I think that I must have jinxed myself cause I didn't have one single bite while fishing. :)

This was some catfish from fishing last fall.  I cut the fish into nuggets, rolled in a cornmeal, flour, salt, cayenne, lemon pepper mixture.

heated some oil on the tractor rim...

mixed up a batch of jalapeno hushpuppies.. cornmeal, flour, baking powder, one egg, milk, salt, cayenne, minced onion, minced jalapeno and whole kernels of corn.

fried the fish first,  lowered the heat in the pot by moving it off the fire a bit. Then fried the hushpuppies...

That's about it... I ate quite a few fish while hot off the fire so I didn't feel like eating much supper.

It was pretty tasty!

The temperature dropped into the high 20's and low 30's at night so the campfire felt really good.

It was SO pretty in the evening....

Later that night I stabbed a few pieces of leftover catfish and hushpuppies with a stick and roasted them over the fire.  Couldn't believe how good they were. I will do this again next time I go.

experienced my first "caveman style" hushpuppy. (yeah, it fell into the fire).  Much to the horror of friends, I stabbed the fallen hushpuppy, brushed it off and popped it into my mouth!  I tried to explain the latest caveman style cooking fad (cooking directly on hot coals) but they said that even cavemen had sense enough to put their food on a stick to cook.  :)

The moon rising over the water was SO pretty. Although I froze and didn't catch one single fish, I really enjoyed just being out there. :)
Ready to go again!