Camping Oats, and Yes All We Did Was Eat All Weekend

Last weekend David and I decided to go camping with our friend Kristi, partly to escape the annual horror that is the Woodward Dream Cruise and partly because camping is fun and we haven't gone in a long time. There's always that part where you're dragging out the tent and the camping gear and the sleeping bags and wondering if a little time sleeping out in nature is worth all the fuss. The answer is yes, it is, and the best part of camping is eating. 

I realize this may not be true for everyone. I do have some pretty fond memories of a camping trip early in our marriage that peaked with bologna sandwiches and wine coolers around the campfire, but for the most part we see no reason to eat less imaginatively while camping than we do at home, albeit with a little more advance prep work. While I wouldn't recommend, say, spaghetti and meatballs, it's perfectly possible to do a nice curry or stir-fry if you bring the camp stove. For several years we used to kick off the annual fraternity canoe trip with a charcoal-fired Chinese hot pot, which was perfect for the long catching-up conversations we always started the weekend with. And pancakes and sausages are practically required on Saturday mornings, which is actually kind of funny because I consider them to be altogether too much of a bother most Saturdays at home. 

While David's massaman curry was a big hit, my favorite meal of the trip was the oats we had on Sunday. I'm usually indifferent to oatmeal unless it's topped with a big scoop of ice cream (a la The Fly Trap) but these were even better than that, plus I can tell myself I had a serving of vegetables along with it. We quadrupled the recipe to feed three hungry and legitimately-not-hung-over adults, but here I've scaled it down for one person. You could even make a big batch of this and have it for breakfast all week, pretending that you're actually sitting around a morning campfire. The only real trick is to make sure you remember to start the oats the night before, which we remembered perfectly well despite the liberal application of wine and whiskey the night before. 

You could also make this with regular oats and start cooking the morning of, in which case you can use milk instead of water for the cooking. You could also use steel-cut oats and cook them the morning of, if you don't mind waiting forever and ever for your breakfast; might I suggest passing the time drinking some percolator coffee? :-) 

From a cookbook that Kristi bought and whose cover I've never seen, so I have no idea what it's called. Kudos to the mysterious authors, because I would never in a million years thought of this on my own. 

Camping Oats 

1/4 cup steel-cut oats
1 cup water 
1 medium carrot, grated 
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger 
2 Tbsp dried cherries (or raisins. I know which I prefer) 
1 tsp peanut butter 
1 tsp maple syrup 
1 Tbsp crushed cashews or pecans or whatever your nut of choice may be 
1 handful fresh blueberries 

The night before, heat the water to a boil in a small pot and stir in the oats,. Turn off the heat and let sit overnight. 

The next morning, stir in the grated carrot, dried cherries, cinnamon, and ginger and cook the oatmeal over medium heat until the carrot is tender, about 5 minutes. 

Stir in the peanut butter, maple syrup, and cashews. Top with the blueberries. You are getting vegetables and fruit in this meal! And fiber! You're so healthy!