Hey, I Went Camping! With Other People! And I Didn't Starve! And They Liked My Food!

Hi. My name is Kim, and until this past weekend, I had never been camping. This weekend, a group of my friends and I rented a cabin on a small lake about thirty minutes north of where we all live. And it was my kind of camping, because we had a nice cabin, indoor plumbing, a full kitchen to utilize, and awesome views.  We were celebrating two birthdays, including mine, and it was a great two days of eating, relaxing, talking, drinking, and enjoying a beautiful early fall weekend in Iowa.

See? Gorgeous! Little Wall Lake

On Saturday afternoon, we all went around and talked about what our dream job would be if money was no object. Mine involved food. Weird! But it also relates to this blog, because my dream would be to create a cookbook series, cooking show, and/or restaurant(s) that cater to people like me. I can't be the only Worst Dinner Guest Ever, and if I can share my kitchen successes and failures and that helps others, that would make me very happy.  Because even though there are a lot of people like me, like me, we all have families and friends who we want to spend time with, and eating is a huge part of socializing. The ladies encouraged me to update this bad boy more often, so I'm going to try to! And because I was on vacation, no food pictures from me, but I'll upload pics of some of the products I use.

I try to live my life as low-maintenance as possible, and this whole digestive system situation basically is Mother Nature's way of saying 'You think you have control of life? That's adorable'. So I often just show up to things with a bag of stuff so I don't make the host freak out. But this weekend, we divided up meals. Everybody was responsible for a different meal-which is the BEST way to do camping.

The other great part about this is that I introduced some of my recipes to the group and they went over like gangbusters. This post is going to be a bit long, so bear with me, because it was an awesome weekend and I ate. A lot!

Friday Night:
Friday night was Libby and Sam's night to cook. They made this awesome taco soup and Libby texted me the recipe earlier in the week to see if I could eat it. Yes-with modifications :) So they made the base of the soup, put some in a Tupperware container for me, and brought the full recipe for everyone else. Sam also brought Jarritos for everyone for Fiesta Night! I used to consume the pineapple Jarritos like water when I worked in the Twin Cities, so I was super excited to see them. Friday night was a super fun night and we were near the town of Jewell, where there is a fabulous homemade ice cream shoppe that my friend Brynn (other birthday girl) is obsessed with! So we left the cabin to go get ice cream. And guess what! They have lactose free soft serve. Everyone was drooling over the great flavors, and I was super excited to have ice cream! It was vanilla and next time I go (which will probably be next summer as they close soon for the end of the summer season) I might bring my own crumbled up cookies or something for a little extra fun. It's called Sweat Treats and if you're ever near Jewell, Iowa on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday night in the summer, you should definitely stop by.

Happy Birthday to Us!

Saturday morning:
Saturday morning was me! I first made cinnamon roll pancakes for Christmas morning this past winter and I knew they would be a success this weekend, because my brother-in-law ate five of them at Christmas and he usually isn't a huge fan of my cooking. :) Or vegetables. Below is the recipe as I've modified it, and here is a link to the original recipe by Recipe Girl.

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes (lactose free, egg free, gluten free)

Ingredients
Cinnamon Filling:
4 T lactose free butter, melted in the microwave (I use lactose free Blue Bonnet and it's 99 cents!)
1/4 c + 2  packed light brown sugar
1/2 T ground cinnamon

Cream Cheese Glaze:
4 T lactose free butter
2 oz vegan cream cheese (I use Tofutti), room temperature
3/4 c powdered sugar
1/2 tsp gf vanilla

So light and fluffy!

Pancakes: 
I use a mix, because my pancakes also have to be egg free, and I LOVE the Cherrybrook Kitchen's pancake mix. It's what I use for my regular pancakes too. I use coconut milk instead of regular milk and we only had olive oil at the cabin, so I used that instead of vegetable oil and you can't taste a difference.

Directions:
Prepare the Cinnamon Filling: In a medium bowl, stir together the melted butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Scoop it into a baggie and set aside (when you're ready to use it, you'll cut a SMALL hole in one of the corners.
Prepare the Glaze: In a small pan, heat the butter over low heat until melted. Turn off the heat and whisk the cream cheese until smooth. Tofu cream cheese is not like regular cream cheese, so it kind of breaks down into small little balls of cream cheese. It tastes amazing, so don't worry if it doesn't look like the icing you're used to. The original recipe says to sift the powdered sugar into the pan, but I've never done this and have received zero complaints! Stir and add in vanilla extract. Set aside until ready.
Pancakes: Make the pancake mix according to the packaging and then while it rested, I made the glaze. It needs to rest for about five minutes before you start cooking.

Magic:
I use a 1/4 c measuring spoon to put the mix on the griddle and about four fit on the griddle at the same time. Before they get too set, take the baggie of cinnamon filling and pour over the top of the batter. You can be fancy and do a circular swirl, or you can be normal and just swirl it all over because nobody cares what it looks like once they start eating it! Flip CAREFULLY once the bottom is set and then when they are done, serve with the icing (might need to reheat it quickly).

Along with the pancakes, we also had bacon, sausage (not Kim-Friendly FYI), and mixed fruit. They DISAPPEARED!

I also did a Mimosa bar with champagne, orange juice and raspberry lemonade. Great breakfast and a great way to start the day!

Saturday afternoon:
We decided that because breakfast was going to be so big, we wouldn't assign anyone lunch and just graze. This is the snack table BEFORE two of the ladies got to the cabin. We had A LOT of snack foods and nobody starved. Clearly I couldn't eat all of snacks, but my friends know how much I love the Boom Chicka Pop popcorn and we ended up with four bags of it (including the bag I brought!)

The other success of the afternoon was a lasagna dip that I made for the group that was very Kim-Friendly, but was also freaking delicious and disappeared in less than an hour. And it wasn't just me eating it! I found the original recipe on Closet Cooking and below is my modified version. I doubled the recipe and I am posted that version because it worked really well in the slow cooker I used.

Lasagna Dip

Ingredients: 
1 pound ground beef
2 c lasagna tomato sauce (see below)
2 cups Tofutti cream cheese
1 bag Veggie Shreds Mozzarella cheese

Directions: 
1. Cook the ground beef, add the tomato sauce and simmer until it thickens, about 5 minutes
2. Spread the cream cheese over the bottom of the slow cooker, pour the meat sauce over, and then cover with the mozzarella cheese.
3. Cook on high for 1-2 hours. Enjoy!

Seriously, how relaxing is this?

Lasagna Sauce:
Ingredients:
1 tsp (or more-I like it spicy) red pepper flakes
2 cans crushed tomatoes
2 T tomato paste (I didn't have any, so didn't use it, but will next time)
2 tsp oregano
2 bay leaves
1 tsp paprika
2 T balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
2 T basil

Directions:
1. Heat crushed tomatoes, red pepper flakes, tomato paste, oregano, bay leaves, paprika, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until thick, about 5 minutes. Then mix in the basil and remove from heat.

We ended up with a boat ride around the lake thanks to some friends of ours who live on the lake full time, so the dip cooked while we were gone. When we got back to the cabin, it smelled amazing!

Sunset, Night #2

Saturday Night:
Saturday night's menu was burgers on the grill, roasted potatoes and squash (grilled with lemon olive oil-I've officially converted my friend Haley to the happiness that is lemon olive oil), and tomato and cucumber salad. Delicious!

After we ate, outside, under a beautiful but slightly chilly sunset, we gathered around the fire pit to listen to ISU Football on the radio and to make S'mores over the fire. Like John Walters, we were not happy with the results of the game, but we were 100% behind fire pit fun!

I've been able to modify a normal S'more so I don't miss out on the fun, and it doesn't taste like a traditional S'more, because it doesn't include graham crackers, but it does include chocolate chip cookies, so really, I think I win!

Here is what I use to make my S'mores. The marshmallows get huge when they're heated, so be aware that they might be a mess, but it's not a successful S'mores experience without food all over your face.

Sunday morning:
Sunday morning the plan was breakfast burritos because we knew we would need to get up, pack, clean and get home to have the rest of our Sundays. Breakfast burritos are not something I can eat easily, so I just had  Kim-Friendly granola bars that I had brought. After all of the food I ate on Saturday, I wasn't super hungry anyway.

It was a great weekend with great friends, and it re-energized me in many ways. But one way is to focus more attention on getting more gluten free, dairy free, egg free, onion free, garlic free, apple free, etc... recipes out for people who need them.

I'm second from the left and it felt like a perfect time for Dock Yoga

Thanks for reading! Send me questions, recipe ideas, and recipe disasters!