Camping.com

RV Road Trip

RV Road Trip

RV Camping | Road Trip Ideas

Hit the Road and Camp America!

More...
RV Stuff

RV Stuff

Top RV camping trips and Tips

Top Trip & RV Camping Tips

More...
Family Camping Fun

Family Camping Fun

Family Camping Fun | Hot Spots

Camping tips and trip ideas for the whole family

More...
Camping Gems

Camping Gems

Camping Trip | Hidden Treasures

Find hidden treasures for camping and RV road trips

More...
Camp Cuisine

Camp Cuisine

Recipes | RV & Campsite Cooking

Recipes for Camping and RV Cooking

More...
Camp Styles

Camp Styles

Tips | For the Way You Camp

Tips and Trip Ideas for Every Type of Camper or RVer

More...

Camp Cuisine

Camp Cuisine - Camping Recipes

Inspire your inner camp chef with recipes for camping trips.  It doesn’t matter if it’s shared around a campfire, cooked in your RV's gourmet kitchen, or take-out from the local deli, food just tastes better on a camping vacation!
Find and share more great camping recipes at CampingCafe.com

Truly American Foods

If you enjoy thinking about the first Thanksgiving and the foods the pilgrims and Native Americans might have put on the table, you might also like incorporating more of our native foods into your cuisine year-round. Many of the world's best ingredients come from North America, from herbs and flavorings to staples like corn, potatoes, and chiles. For your next dinner party, why not see if you can put together a meal that's completely native to our shores?

Food Staples
When European explorers first reached the shores of North America, they were excited to sample our local foods and take them back to their kings and queens at home. They returned to Europe with holds full of plants, bringing potatoes, corn (then called maize), tomatoes, peanuts, and avocados. While these foods met with mixed receptions in the European courts, it's easy to see that they caught on in time and became staples in European cooking.

A few hundred years later, Ireland was so exclusively planted with potatoes that when a blight struck, it caused a massive famine. European colonists took our warm-weather crops with them to their colonies in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean, where peanuts, hot peppers, papayas, onions, and tomatoes became so much a part of the cuisine and diet, locals would be shocked to hear that their distant ancestors had never tried these foods.

Read more about native foods and find recipes for a "native" American Thanksgiving feast on CampingCafe.com..

Have a recipe to share? Click Here

Rich and Hearty, Mild or Spicy - Chili

The origin of chili is a matter of great debate and there are many out there that have attempted to chronicle the history. For me it's not so much about where it came from or when, it's about what I will put into my next pot. Many lay claims to originating the stew we now know as chili. There seems to be no doubt that chili was a staple during times when meat was in short supply and the cook’s creativity was challenged. That challenge is alive an well today.

Many states in this great land claim to have the best Chili. Texas, New Mexico, California, Cincinnati, Ohio, and even Mexico, would have you believe that they are the originators of authentic Chili and home to the best bowl. As the controversy rages on Chili cook-offs are held every year in ever corner of America. And every Chili cook knows that his or her secret recipe is - really the best. Attend any chili cook-off and I'm sure you'll agree - they are all good.

There are similarities to all the recipes - a combination of meat, beans, chili peppers - but it's the combination, the type of meat, the type of beans, the type of chilies and the spice combination, spicy or mild or somewhere in between that set off the differences - making chili one the home cooks all time favorite dishes. Many experiment with each batch - no batch being quite the same (I fall into that category), while others follow exacting recipes many perfected over generations.

Regardless of which camp you fall into there is no arguing that a steaming, hot bowl of chili with your favorite toppings is comfort in a bowl - just the thing to warm the body and boost the spirit on cold evenings.

So whether you make it spicy, mild, or somewhere in between, you can tailor your pot of chili to your particular tastes. Experiment and make something incredible!

Recipes
CampingCafe.com. offers up some great chili recipes this month. Try Black Bean Chocolate Chicken Chili, Dutch Oven Chili, Vegetarian Chili or Hot and Spicy Chili.

Have a recipe to share? Click Here

All About Chocolate

The origin of chili is a matter of great debate and there are many out there that have attempted to chronicle the history. For me it's not so much about where it came from or when, it's about what I will put into my next pot. Many lay claims to originating the stew we now know as chili. There seems to be no doubt that chili was a staple during times when meat was in short supply and the cook’s creativity was challenged. That challenge is alive an well today.

One of the most popular foods in the world, chocolate comes in many forms. From dark chocolate to milk and white chocolate, this delicacy blends well with almost every flavor -- caramel, peanut butter, mint, raspberry, cherry, orange, coffee, and nuts. You can drink it, eat it, sip it, and chew it. Whether you bake it into a cake or brownies, mix it with coffee for a mocha, or eat chocolates straight out of the box, it's one of the finest treats you'll find.

All chocolate is made with seeds of the cacao tree, generally using a blend of cocoa solids and cocoa butter. People have been drinking hot chocolate for thousands of years, but it wasn't until the 1800s that companies started producing the hard chocolate treats we're used to today. Pure chocolate (or baking chocolate) contains cocoa solids and cocoa butter, but no sugar. Sweetened chocolate includes sugar, milk chocolate has sugar and powdered milk, and white chocolate includes cocoa butter, sugar, and milk but no cocoa solids. Semi-sweet, as the name suggests, has less sugar than milk chocolate. Dark chocolate has been tauted for its health benefits because of the antioxidants it contains that reduce the formation of free radicals.

Cacao is originally from South America, where it's been cultivated since 1100 BC. Today, two-thirds of all the cacao produced in the world is grown in Africa, mainly in the Ivory Coast. The industry is dominated by three companies, Barry Callebaut, Cargill, and Archer Daniels Midland Company, chocolate producers that distribute cocoa butter to all the various chocolate makers. Chocolate includes a small amount of caffeine.

Get your fill of this sweet delicacy with these recipes from CampingCafe.com.

Recipes

Decadent Chocolate Fudge

Fudgy Brownies

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Have a recipe to share? Click Here

More Articles ...

You are here: Home Camp Cuisine