If you’re intimidated by dutch oven cooking, this is a great recipe to start with. It’s not super easy to burn, which is always a concern with cooking on a campfire, and even if it does burn, it will probably be salvageable if you just scoop it out from the middle.

You can vary the fruit according to the season, but I love the combination of cranberries and apples. Both are tart and add a bright element to this crisp, in contrast to the sweet topping. I love the subtle coconut flavor from virgin coconut oil, but you can use refined coconut oil if you don’t like that flavor. A good pinch of salt really makes a difference in the topping, so make sure you taste it before you bake it and add more if needed.

To avoid having to bring your entire package of flour, sugar, etc, measure and mix the dry ingredients at home. You can mix them in a ziplock bag or in a tupperware. In this case, you would have one container for the fruit and another for the topping.

Everyone loves pie and potatoes on Thanksgiving, so we put them together into one dish. It’s a rustic, free form pie that is hard to screw up. Cook it in your dutch oven over the campfire. We roasted the vegetables a bit before our trip, so assembling and cooking pies takes very little time. This is helpful if you have only one dutch oven and lots of hungry guests.

This Roasted Potato Squash Galette should be finished with a drizzle (or generous dollop) of Cashew Garlic Sauce. It’s a simple sauce that is creamy, yet vegan, making it less perishable than a dairy option. The sauce makes this dish. The recipe included makes a full mason jar, which should be enough for the galette, along with all the side munching of extra butternut squash pieces going on around you while you’re cooking it. If you’re lucky enough to have leftover sauce, it’s also great as a sandwich spread or vegetable dip the next day.

And where would Thanksgiving be without a good stuffing? Bird or no, the stuffing is an important staple on every Thanksgiving menu. Our friends at Fresh off the Grid created this gorgeous Apple Fennel Stuffing that adds needed heartiness and fall flavor to the table. I’m already imagining my day-after leftover squash, stuffing and creamy garlic spread sandwich on my hike. Click here to check out their recipe.

Gunsmoke is an uber-classic bouldering problem in Joshua Tree National Park. It is a 85 foot long V3 traverse that I’ve been playing on for about 7 years, never with any hope or intention of finishing it. But I feel like it’s possible if I really put my mind to it. And train.

During climbing season, our food focus shifts a little. We go outside any chance we get, which may mean running out to the park after work, sleeping outside, and climbing for half a day before work again. It may mean leaving the house at 4am and getting home the same evening. Food doesn’t necessarily have to be nonperishable, but it has to be easy, and preferably ready to eat at whatever time we get off a rock, with little to no prep.

We’ve gotten into loving salads for this purpose. Pasta salads, bean salads, grain salads. This particular one is heavy on the salad portion and lighter on the pasta. It can be eaten cold like a salad or hot like a pasta, which makes it great for lunch or dinner. It’s filled with fresh ingredients that can be swapped with almost anything fresh in your house, and requires very little to make a dressing (just lemon and olive oil).

Wes likes to put pasta in his salad, and I’ve always thought it was weird. But I get it now. Sometimes you need a lot of vegetable bang for your bite, but the comfort and energy from a sprinkling of pasta is always welcome.

Hope to see you out at the crag!

While trying to decide which overwhelmingly sweet flavored alcohol I was going to buy a whole bottle of, I realized they make airplane bottles of most of the flavors! I narrowed my experimentation down to five, and landed on vanilla vodka as the best choice for this cocktail. I expected to like the honey flavored whisky or orange vodka better, but vanilla warmed the whole thing up just one more level. It also made sense when I dolloped a scoop of freshly made mason-jar whipped cream on top.

This dip is inspired by a recipe on one of my favorite blogs, 101 Cookbooks. It is actually very similar to our Chunky Roasted Red Pepper Dip, but it’s smoother and a little tangier thanks to tomato paste and the pepper varieties. I tried a version with the heirloom bell peppers shown here, and another one with shishito peppers. Both were fabulous.

I recently got this Hydro Flask Food Flask, which is an awesome container for picnics and day trips. It kept the dip cool in 100 degree weather until we were ready to eat it, and is durable and leak proof, compared to the plastic storage containers I usually try to awkwardly jam into backpacks. Stanley and Klean Kanteen both make these in different sizes as well.

The original recipe calls for Pomegranate Molasses, which I didn’t have on hand, so I used a combination of balsamic vinegar and honey instead. Pita chips are my dippable of choice, but crackers or fresh campfire-warmed pitas drizzled with olive oil would also be lovely.

It’s always motivating to have a trip coming up. We’ve been hiking and running pretty consistently to get in shape for all the activities we plan to cram into one little week. This week, we spent a morning running in the local mountains, and we stumbled upon blackberry bushes growing right up against the trail. We ate a few on the way out, and I focused on finishing my water bottle so I’d have storage for more on the way out. It was a perfect running morning, because it was gray and rainy. We rarely get these, so I was really excited to take advantage of it. It’s amazing how much less whiny I am on cool days.

Though we sacrificed a bit of fitness to stop (for a while!) and pick a whole bunch of blackberries, it was worth it. We got back to the car stained red, scratched up, and quite happy. The day stayed rainy, so we stayed in the kitchen. I taught Dutch Oven Cooking basics at REI the night before, and had overpurchased peaches for the cobbler I made, so I pureed them with the blackberries, and dried the whole thing into a big roll of fruit leather.

It was very easy to make fruit leather, but I did make a small mistake. I wanted to show off the contrast between peaches and blackberries, so I swirled the two purees together without mixing them fully. This turned out beautiful, but created inconsistencies in the thickness of the puree while in the dehydrator. It dried unevenly, so I had to peel chunks out as they dried and leave the rest to continue. I think the swirl would still be pretty if I’d done a bit better job of evenly distributing the puree.

I’m going to try to get this fruit leather to last until Canada (August 1), but I don’t see how that’s going to be possible. If it does, I’ll give you a full report about the perishability of the product.

Whether you got the flu of the year, ate and drank your way through the holidays, or are just excited about the opportunity of a new fresh start, here’s a super easy recipe to start with. Layered Picnic Cabbage Salad is great on it’s own, or as a slaw-style topping to a burger or sausage. Cabbage is hearty enough to take outside with you fresh, which is such a nice treat. You have the choice to keep the dressing separate and add at the time of eating, or add the dressing to a jar first, place the cabbage on top, and shake to combine at the time of eating. It’s mayonnaise free, which reduces it’s perishability.

Make it easy on yourself as you try to implement new habits. Camping recipes like this one will make it more likely that you’ll bring fresh, homemade food on your trip. That, in turn, will make you want to go outside. Hopefully that will get you outside more often!

Have you been on an amazing winter camping trip that we should know about? We’re making plans and looking for advice. Share your winter adventures with us in the comments or in photos on our Facebook page.

I know that I mention what a seasonal snob I’ve become for a few things: corn and tomatoes. Even this place that has everything available all year round can’t get me delicious corn or tomatoes until it’s officially a warm weather month.

Tomatoes aren’t ready yet, but corn is at least at an acceptably sweet level. Especially when eating it off the cob. I saw a version of this salad on Pioneer woman, and thought it would make the perfect camping meal. It could definitely be completely made and jarred up at home, but we wanted campfire grilled corn and chicken, so we made it in joshua tree.

One bite will remind you of all the summer fun you get to have soon!

With a butternut squash sitting on my counter that had yet to find a purpose, the Butternut Squash Tahini spread recipe caught my attention. I was also on the hunt for a snack to bring along for a quick weekend camping trip and this seemed to fit the bill.

I cut off the skin of the squash, cubed it and threw it into a foil packet along with some olive oil, salt and cinnamon per the recipe. An alternative for cooking the squash could be to half the squash, wrap it in foil and throw it into the campfire if you are doing it all at camp. Once the squash is cooked – it’s simply a matter of combining all remaining ingredients in a bowl and mashing it together with a fork.

The result – a mix of sweet, savory, creamy flavors that keep your taste buds guessing. I was really impressed and honestly surprised by it – I half expected not to like it because I typically find butternut squash too sweet. This wasn’t the case. It’s a hearty snack best served with pita chips or bread and a fresh salad.