Family Camping: Homemade Ice Cream

Most of the time, camping involves a wide variety of temperatures from very chilly at nights to incredibly warm during the days. Trust me when I tell you, I have staying warm down to an art! I hate being cold. But cooling down is not something that I typically try to do, so I have had to be more creative than usual. This recipe however, made my job a breeze!

Here's what you'll need:
(Per Person)

1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup whole milk or half & half (2% will work too, just not as well. Half & Half is your best bet)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
6 tablespoons rock salt
1 pint-size plastic food storage bag (e.g., Ziploc)
1 gallon-size plastic food storage bag
Ice cubes
Newspaper or brown paper bag
Duct Tape

In the pint size bag, mix Milk, Sugar & Vanilla. Seal tightly and place inside the gallon Ziploc bag. To the gallon bag add ice and rock salt in layers until full, but still able to zip closed tightly. Wrap tightly with newspaper and secure with duct tape. ( I will usually wrap with 4 or 5 layers of newspaper and then cover completely with duct tape, but my husband says that is just wasting duct tape.) Then shake, shake and shake some more. Shake and shimmy it around for 5 to 10 minutes. (My kids really enjoy rolling it down hills or kicking it around. Whatever gets the job done. Just don't kick it so hard that either bag breaks open. Be kind of gentle with it.)
Makes = 1 Scoop of Ice Cream

When opening your bags, take the ice cream out of the ice & salt mixture first and then wipe down or rinse the Ziploc opening before opening it to prevent the salt/ice mixture from getting into your ice cream and making it taste salty.

Family Camping: Super Easy Orange Roll Recipe

This is one of my all-time favorite camping treat and it's SO easy to make over a campfire.

You'll need:

Aluminum foil
1 Fresh Orange Med. to Lg. for each person
2 Refrigerated or Frozen; pre-made Cinnamon Rolls per person (Pillsbury is a great brand, but I would not recommend buying the orange flavored variety, unless you really, really like orange flavored cinnamon rolls)
Butter or Margarine

Cut each orange in half and scrape out the meat, leaving the peel intact, so it forms a bowl. Place one cinnamon roll in each orange peel half and add a small amount of butter to the top of one roll in each orange. Place together and wrap in tin foil. (I usually wrap it twice to prevent burning.) Set down in the glowing embers of your campfire. (Let the fire burn down to embers only, lame is not good for these). Allow to sit in the embers for 7 - 10 minutes, turning half way once during cooking. Pull them out of the fire and allow to cool for a few minutes before opening. Once cooled, remove the tin foil and add the icing from the package. ENJOY!

As a side note: I will usually reserve the meat from the orange, add a teaspoon or two of sugar and squish into a yummy orange juice. (Pampered Chef pitchers come in really handy for this)

Family Camping: Activity Drawer

My kids are easily bored and when we are up camping, away from their regular activities such as sitting in front of the TV, surfing the internet or texting friends "K"' ":)" & "Hey", I need to have something to keep them busy. When they were little a pile of dirt and some hot wheels or the Tinker-Toy bucket did the trick. And while I do still have the Tinker-Toy bucket, it is just not as amazing to them as it once was. So I have dedicated a drawer in our camper, exclusivly to stuff that will keep them busy. Just some ideas of items you could include in your drawer (or when I am without my camper; rubbermaid shoebox) are: Markers (I use the non-washable kind because they are brighter, don't wash off rocks and my kids camping clothes are specifically chosen so that I do not have to care if they get destroyed.); Watercolor paints, which like markers, are great for coloring rocks and trees; Crayons, which come in handy for coloring of course, but also for making sun catchers and other fun melted wax creations, Scissors & glue; Pads of lined and unlined paper; decks of cards; dice (many, many fun games can be played with a set of 5 dice) and a couple of folder games.

The things that get used the most out of my drawer would be the card decks, dice; paper and markers. I will usually restock my drawer in late August or early September, when all the school supplies are on sale.

Family Camping: Dishes

One of the things that I have struggled with when taking my family camping is dishes. If I buy paper or plastic ware then I spend the majority of my camping trip chasing down plastic cups and paper plates and I swear that my family of 7 can easily got through a 100 pack of cups and plates on a 4 day camping trip and that gets expensive really fast. I have tried using washable plastic ware and always wind up with a huge pile of dishes to wash. NOT my idea of a relaxing camping vacation! So I was thrilled when I found this idea for individual mess kits and washing stations.

So here's what you need:
1 Nylon Mesh Bag (like a garment bag) per person
1 Washable Plastic Plate per person
1 Washable Plastic Bowl per person
1 Washable Plastic Cup per person
1 Washable Plastic Fork per person
1 Washable Plastic Spoon per person
1 Washable Plastic Knife per person
1 Strong Clothes Pin per person
2 Scrubbie Sponges or Brushes
1 Bottle of Dish Soap
1 Nylon Rope (to hang between trees as a drying line)
3 Plastic Buckets, large enough to fully submerge the plastic plates.
1 Large Rubbermaid Tote, Large enough to fit everything in.

Here's how it all works....
Label each dish, bag and clothes pin with a family members name. Use a marker or sticker that is waterproof. Setup the three buckets just before dinner. You'll line them up in a row. Fill the first bucket with plain warm water and a scrubbie sponge or brush. Fill the second bucket with hot water and add dish soap & a scrubbie sponge or brush. Fill the last bucket with cool plain water. Hang the rope between two trees. After dinner, each family member will scrub & rinse their dishes in the first bucket, scrub & wash their dishes in the second bucket, rinse their dishes in the last bucket, put all the wet dishes in their bag and using the clothes pin, secure it to the rope to hang dry until your next meal.

As an after note: I assign each child to a chore throughout the day. One of the children will be responsible for washing the meal preparation dishes, after everyone has washed their meal dishes and another child will be responsible for cleaning out the washing buckets when everyone is through.

Family Camping

Under this heading, I want to share with everyone, things that I have found helpful while traveling, camping specifically, with my semi-large family. I want to share trials and errors, funny stories and fun games, recipes for great meals and yummy treats and anything else that I find helpful, useful or just plain fun. Check back often to find out what inventions or ideas we have come up with on our most recent camping trips!