Pulled Pork Lunch Special

Yield: 4-6 servings

ingredients:

2-3 cups cooked pulled pork

¾ cup favorite barbeque sauce

2 cups shredded cheese

Baked potatoes or sourdough rolls

Coleslaw as a side or topping for the roll

at home preparation:

prep time 10 minutes · total time: 10 minutes

Assemble any ingredients (the grasshaven team cooks pork butt one evening for a delicious outdoor dinner and reserves some pulled pork for the next day’s lunch special sandwiches or baked potato toppings)

campsite preparation and presentation:

total time: 3-4 hours

Warm the pulled pork and barbeque sauce in a saucepan.  Toast the bread (or if you have left over baked potatoes – warm the potatoes).  Once the pork/barbeque sauce is hot and the bread or potatoes are warm, plate the sandwiches (or baked potatoes) with the pulled pork mixture. Enjoy!

recommended campsite gadgets and gear:

aluminum foil

disposable aluminum pan

meat thermometer

cook’s notes:

Add a side of coleslaw (we recommend our Lovage Infused Slaw) and homemade chips.  Even a simple lunch can become an epicurean delight.

Remember Better·Living·Is·Surprisingly·Simple™ in the outdoors.

Pulled Pork Lunch Special · Enjoy

Lovage Infused Coleslaw

Yield: 6-8 servings

  

A very good friend of the grasshaven team from Romania introduced us to an amazing herb called lovage.  Lovage is a very old herb with a crisp, aromatic and unique flavor combining anise and celery.  It can infuse amazing flavor to vegetarian soups and stews. It also pairs nicely with starchy dishes like potatoes.  Lovage can be used similar to celery or parsley but it imparts a stronger flavor so a little goes a long way.  When added to coleslaw it elevates traditional coleslaw to gourmet status.  And when brought on a camping trip, it adds a level of sophistication and intrigue to an otherwise typical side dish.   This is not the traditional sweet coleslaw recipe, it is savory and scrumptious and delicious with pulled pork!

ingredients:

1 head purple cabbage, finely shredded

2 large carrots, finely shredded

2 tablespoons onion, grated

2-3 sprigs fresh lovage

2/3 cup olive oil

¼ cup vinegar

sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste (we start with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper and then increase from there)

at home preparation:

prep time 20 minutes · total time: 20 minutes

Combine cabbage, carrot, onion and lovage.  Emulsify (mix vigorously) oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.  Add the dressing to the slaw and blend thoroughly.  Place in a resealable bag and store in the refrigerator until time for departure.  Flavors will intensify over time.

campsite preparation and presentation:

total time: <5 minutes

Add as a side to a favorite entrée and enjoy!

recommended campsite gadgets and gear:

No special gadgets needed

cook’s notes:

Lovage can be found in specialty stores or is easily grown in a small garden pot.  When found, it freezes well after a very quick blanching.

Remember Better·Living·Is·Surprisingly·Simple™ in the outdoors.

Lovage Infused Coleslaw · Enjoy

Magical Vegan Cream of Roasted Cauliflower Soup

Yield: 6 servings

After a long (or short if there are kids involved) hike on a cool day, what is more rewarding than serving up a piping hot bowl of creamy soup – yet this cream of roasted cauliflower soup is like Houdini!  It is magical, enigmatic and we’re just referring to the taste, wait till you get to the composition.  This soup will amaze even the biggest skeptic of vegan dishes.  What is so remarkable about this soup is that everyone swears it is made with cream or some sort of dairy product.  Curiously, there is no dairy and that’s where the magic comes in.  The key ingredient is rice, which thickens the soup and gives it body without the calories or fat of dairy products.  Coating the cauliflower in good olive oil, sea salt and cracked pepper before roasting, creates a mesmerizing, caramelized, nutty flavor.  So good, it might not make it to the soup.  Make this soup ahead of time, freeze and hope it does not magically disappear before making it to the campsite.  We warned you, this soup will put a spell of you!

ingredients:

to roast cauliflower:

1 cauliflower head, chopped into small florets

1/3 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper

For soup:

roasted cauliflower

1 cup cooked rice (we like Basmati or Jasmine for a little extra flavor)

3 cups water

¼ teaspoon fresh cracked pepper

sea salt to taste

chives for garnish (optional)

at home preparation:

prep time 15 minutes · total time: 40 minutes

Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C).  In a large bowl, toss cauliflower, olive oil, sea salt and pepper until uniformly coated.  Transfer mixture to baking sheet and cook 30-45 minutes turning occasionally until cauliflower becomes evenly cooked and tips become caramelized brown.

Cook rice according to directions.  Add cooked rice, roasted cauliflower, water, and pepper to a blender.  Blend until silky smooth.  Thin soup with additional water if needed and salt to taste.

Once the mixture is cool, place soup in a freezer bag and freeze until frozen solid.

campsite preparation and presentation:

total time: 10 minutes

Remove soup bag from your cooler and add contents plus 2 tablespoons water to a saucepan. Stir occasionally.  Cook until piping hot. Serve immediately, garnish with chives and pair with warm, buttery bread heated on your fire!

recommended campsite gadgets and gear:

saucepan

heat resistant spoon

cook’s notes:

Make extra soup to be stored in the freezer and serve for dinner at home when life is a little crazy during the week.

Remember Better·Living·Is·Surprisingly·Simple™ in the outdoors.

Magical Vegan Cream of Roasted Cauliflower Soup · Enjoy

Fireside Sage and Garlic Smoked Pork

Yield: 8 servings

   

Smoked pork amazingness

Kids: What’s for dinner

Mom: Pork butt

Kids: What did you say?!?!?!

Mom: Pork butt

Kids: Mom said butt!!!!! Between giggles and snickers….ehwwww! 

At least this is the conversation that happens with the grasshaven team.  Pork butt always gets lots of snickers and giggles from the kids.   But the parents won’t be giggling when this dish is plated and the first succulent bite is taken.  With aromatics wafting from sage and garlic to the reddish, orange color infused from paprika and turmeric, this dish is an appeal for the senses creating a perceptible change in the outdoor dining experience.

Now that the senses are engaged, let’s address the butt of the jokes.  First, the cut, though called the butt, does not come from the rear end of the pig.  It is actually a cut from the shoulder officially know as the shoulder butt.  Somewhere along the way, pork shoulder butt was reduced to pork butt.  As a cut, slow cooking creates tender, melt in your mouth meat.   Cooking the meat to a higher than normal internal temperature for pork yields meat so amazing it will not be the butt of anyone’s jokes moving forward.  Pair roasted sweet potatoes with brown butter sauce and broccoli florets and even the biggest skeptic of pork butt will be transformed.

ingredients:

Rub

2 tablespoons paprika

2 teaspoons turmeric

1 tablespoon sea salt

1 teaspoon turbinate sugar

1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper

1 teaspoon ground mustard

Stick

¼ cup old fashioned yellow mustard

¼ cup oil

¼ cup fresh chopped sage

1 tablespoon vinegar

4 big cloves garlic, minced

3-4 pounds pork butt

Rub and stick dressed for the fire

at home preparation:

prep time 10 minutes · total time: 10 minutes

Mix spices for “rub” together.  Mix “stick” ingredients together.  Rub the pork with the stick (named because it helps the rub stick to the pork).  Once thoroughly covered, coat the pork with the rub until the pork is again thoroughly covered.  Place the coated pork, into a resealable bag and place in the refrigerator until departure time.

campsite preparation and presentation:

total time: 3-4 hours

Start a low smoky, aromatic fire.  Place the pork in an aluminum pan (or on aluminum foil).  Add 1-2 cups of water to the pan and tent with additional aluminum foil.  Cook until a meat thermometer reads 180-205° Fahrenheit (82-96° Celsius).  Slice or pull apart and enjoy!

recommended campsite gadgets and gear:

aluminum foil

disposable aluminum pan

meat thermometer

cook’s notes:

Meat thermometers will say pork is done at 140-160° Fahrenheit (60-71° Celsius) however, for tenderness, this cut of meat needs to be cooked longer and slower.

180-185° F (82-85 ° Celsius) for sliced pork

190-205° F (87-96 ° Celsius) for pulled pork

Remember Better·Living·Is·Surprisingly·Simple™ in the outdoors.

Fireside Sage and Garlic Smoked Pork · Enjoy

Take the kids camping!

Here at grasshaven, family time is our primary motivation!  We also have no geographical boundaries so when our friends over  @gocampingaustralia shared five reasons to take your children camping, we knew we had to repost!  Think about it, kids today, all over the world are plugged in...plugged in to computers, watching television, playing video games.  Some estimates put a child's total multimedia hours in the 10 years between the ages of 8 and 18 at over 30,000 hours.  How can the estimate be so large, you might ask....kids are often interacting with multiple devices at one time.  So as parents, how can we reduce this time?  Grasshaven's answer: take the kids camping and experience the outdoors!  Sit around the campfire laughing at made-up stories; find an uncharted trail; reconnect as a family.  While you're at it, build some memories through amazing family time in the great outdoors!


Here are five great reasons to get the kids camping:

1. Family bonding time - we think this is one of the best ways to build family memories
2. Experience nature - a fluttering butterfly, birds singing its nature at its best
3. Learning experiences - what an amazing way to learn new things (for both kids and their parents)
4. Fresh air and open skies - breath it in and relax!
5. Exercise everyone wants to do - the gym or a walk through the great outdoors?  It's not a hard question in our minds to answer

So go ahead and get the kids outdoors!

Remember Better·Living·Is·Surprisingly·Simple™ in the outdoors.

Getting the kids camping · Enjoy

http://gocampingaustralia.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/5-reasons-to-take-your-children-camping.html