Woodsmoke & Starlight!

Summer Vacation - AT LAST!!!
It couldn't have come too soon for me this year! It has been a challenging time of ungrateful clients, too many people out to take advantage/wanting your heart and soul for nothing (both clients and staff) and a painfully sluggish economy -- just to add to the stress! The past months have not typically brought out the best in people. So... bring on the summer holiday! I am getting ready to go camping with my best friend, my son and my son's buddy. The other day I kicked my pumps off in the car at lunch hour and felt the texture of the rubber car mats -- in my mind I was at the lake shore, feeling the cool lick of the water and rolling the smooth pebbles under my toes! Yes, I am SO ready to get away:)

Food-on-a-Stick and Other Delights
I try to keep camping simple and yet not spartan. We typically allow for a couple of restaurant meals - good old A&W burgers and root beer one night, and Pizza Hut another night. But the rest of the time we are "true campers", cooking over a fire pit and singing songs under the night sky while the fire flies sparkle in the dark trees. Because of our northern latitude, we are often treated to northern lights - usually green and white, and occasionally with a burst of soft pink. Oh, and of course, you have to enjoy "S'mores": the fire-pit toasted marshmallow and milk chocolate bar pieces sandwiched between graham wafers -- ooey gooey delicious!

Keeping Things Interesting...
In the weeks before summer vacation, my radar is always alert and scanning for any new activities or recipes I can use to spice up our time together camping at the lake. This year, I came across a great recipe for baked beans. My plan is to make the beans in advance, freeze it in smaller batches and to take a small container along to reheat over our camp fire. I have adapted the recipe somewhat to suit my tastes -- but the secret weapon remains the same: two bottles of beer! Hope you will try this and add it to your roster of summer meal memories. xo

Campfire Baked Beans

Ingredients:
2 cups canned pinto beans, rinsed and drained*
2 cups canned black beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups canned navy beans (in tomato sauce)
1 lb. bacon, cut in large chunks
2 large cooking onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 Tbsp. chipotle paste
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 Tbsp. black strap molasses
2 - 12 ounce bottles of beer
Sea salt and ground black pepper to taste

*You will require one-14 ounce can to obtain one cup of beans -- a little more or less can be used, and add/substitute your favourite bean varieties as desired.

Method:
Cook bacon in fry pan until crisp - drain and set aside. Reserve 2 Tbsp. of the bacon fat for the recipe. Add the onions to the reserved fat and fry until they are soft and translucent, but not browned. Add the garlic, chipotle paste, cumin, salt and pepper, and cook together five minutes to blend the flavours.

Place the drained beans in a large dutch oven or crock pot. Add to this, the onion mixture, sugar, molasses, water and one of the bottles of beer. Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat, then cover and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook for approximately 45 minutes (4-5 hours on high, if using the crock pot). Add additional beer if needed, along with the bacon. Taste and add more salt and pepper as required. Delicious on their own, or with mild tomato salsa and grated cheddar. Also a great side to hot dogs, burgers or steak. Enjoy!

Steamy Summer Sustainance

A String of Pearls
Of my three sisters, two of them are close to me in birth date - although they are nine and seven years older than me (much, much older, I know... wink!) we are celestially close! My one sister was born June 30 and the other July 8, and as for "yours truly", I am in the middle! This makes for a very festive month little time span for we girls... party, party, party :)

Hot, Hot, Hot!!!
The steamiest time of the year has special food memories for us all. We shared such a dinner (and Boston Cream Pie!) for Sue's B-Day on July 1 -- she had plans for the actual birth date with some gal pals, so we combined forces on Canada Day.

Dinner was prepared by my dear Momma (MMM for Marvelous Mother Martha) and it proved to be a German farm family feast -- what a delight: farmer sausage, roast chicken, new potatoes with dill and sour cream, steamed green beans and Russian Salad.

The Russian Salad recipe comes from my maternal Grandmother, Susanna Kitzmann (Nast) whose family roots were in Russia (authentic, NOT the famous red dressing in the Kraft bottle!). The recipe follows and I hope you will try it. It makes a lovely meal on its own, but is especially wonderful with a bit of roast chicken or lean sausage and new potatoes on the side. We are very lucky in my area to have access to wonderful Mennonite-made farmer sausage - very lean and flavourful; but you could substitute any favourite sausage or barbecued ribs.

Susanna's Russian Salad

Ingredients for the Dressing:
1/2 cup buttermilk
1- 2 tsp. liquid honey, or other sweetener
Dash of salt
Dash of pepper
2 Tbsp. mayonnaise (regular or low fat)

Ingredients for the Salad:
10-12 cups fresh mixed garden greens (our typical mix is Romaine, red leaf lettuce and green leaf lettuce)
1/3 cup fresh dill weed greens, finely cut
1/3 cup fresh chives, finely cut
1/2 lb. bacon, fried to crisp and crumbled
Optional: 2 medium tomatoes, chopped and drained

Prepare dressing and bacon in advance and refrigerate until serving time. At serving time, toss greens together with bacon, reserving a bit of the dill, chives and bacon for garnishing. Toss greens/bacon mix with dressing, garnishing with bacon, tomatoes and herbs. Serve immediately - serves 4-6.

Enjoy!