Saturday, June 27, 2009

The Great American Backyard Campout

Today--Saturday, June 27, 2009--is the scheduled day for The Great American Backyard Campout! This event encourages families to camp right in their own backyards tonight and enjoy some family fun. What kid doesn't enjoy pitching a tent in the backyard and roasting hot dogs over a fire?



Hot dogs too simple? The nice thing about camping in the backyard is that you have everything you might need close-by--no packing! But to keep the adventure in keeping with the spirit of the event, a backyard campfire complete with cooked-outdoors food is in order.

- The National Wildlife Foundation website even has an easy recipe page here. More than just hot dogs & s'mores, they have useful instructions on how to use a pie iron with lots of clever ideas for fillings.



- Family Travel has a fun list of kid-friendly camping recipes. I particularly liked the foil-cooking page, since foil packets would be relatively simple for mom to prepare in the kitchen for low-fuss food (and no dishes).

- About.com's list of Kids' Favorite Camp Foods is a good one.

- Kids' Cooking Activities has a fantastic list of easy-to-make camp food. Love their use of a 12-cup muffin tin for making breakfast (ham & eggs in 6, diced potatoes in 6)! They also have a useful list of Picnic Recipes.

- Healthy Camping Recipes is a treasure trove for great ideas that won't kill your dietary lifestyle. I'm particularly enamoured of the campfire kabobs--they just look so darned yummy!

- Tales from The Coop Keeper has an interesting recipe for no-knead bread made by campfire... clever!

- The Ultimate Camping Experience Blog has some interesting recipes, including how to cook fresh fish on a fire and a very easy beer bread recipe.


If you can't get it set up for tonight, some other night would still be great opportunity to make special memories with your family.

4 comments:

Mary said...

What a terrific idea! Is this your backyard? It's beautiful!

Dragon said...

This looks like a lot of fun! I love hotdogs cooked over an open fire. :)

Sam said...

Cooking outdoors is fun! We used to make bread by wrapping dough around a stick and holding it over a fire, I haven't done that for a while!

Amanda said...

Mary--thanks! And no, I only WISH that was my backyard. :D

Dragon--I agree... there's just something about food cooked over an open fire that makes my mouth water!

Sam--Mmm, fire-cooked breadsticks, lol! Love it!

LinkWithin Related Stories Widget for Blogs