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There's so much to say about this Betty Crocker recipe. I love that they couldn't think up a better name than "Can Opener Chicken." Because what's more appetizing than a can opener, right? And I like the traditional pear-chow mein-tomato combo. Yet, though I mock, if you look at the recipe you'll see it's super easy to make and only has a few ingredients, so if chow mein floats your boat this would probably make a good camping meal. And because I enjoy experimenting on my children I might very well try this out. On a dark night when they couldn't see their plates. Traditional Chinese fare Easy breazey, don't mock Betty!

I love camping in the spring. After being cooped up all winter long I'm ready to get out into nature and be part of it again.  Especially when everything is green and new and popping open. We've had a few spring camping mishaps, though.  OK, more than a few. I remember one spring we left Brooklyn on a day when it was about 80 degrees and sunny. We had the windows up in the car and the A/C on and when we arrived in Maine, I thought it was going to be balmy outside.  Instead, it was freezing! And we hadn't packed jackets! The kids were OK because they had a huge bag of clothes, so they just wore layers. But Pete and I had forgotten to pack hardly any clothes for ourselves so we just huddled together, looking pathetic. The next day we went to Goodwill and bought some very authentic-looking, lined, wool shirts that were super warm. Oh, and a funny, white crocheted blanket that looked like something at Grandma's house but was actually quite toasty. So it all turned out OK, ...

From  The Real Family Camping Cookbook : A classic.  Never again will you roast a plain, old hot dog over the fire. Serves:  1 Ingredients:  1 hot dog catsup & mustard a sharp knife green, pointy sticks Preparation: 1.  Cut 4 slits on each end of the hot dog. 2.  Put the hot dog on the stick in the center of the dog and cook it in the fire. 3.  The slits will curl – those are the spider legs! 4.  Eat on plate with catsup & mustard. “I have drunk, and seen the spider.” - William Shakespeare

From The Real Family Camping Cookbook : This is probably what Elvis ate when he went camping.  We usually make these in a skillet, but they’re also yummy in a sandwich iron.   Serves: 1 Ingredients: 2 T. of peanut butter 2 slices of bread 1 T. of butter Preparation: 1.  Make a peanut butter sandwich. 2.  Fry the sandwich in butter. 3.  Cool and eat the sandwich. Variation: •  Add a sliced banana, a piece of chocolate, a strip of cooked bacon or a marshmallow to your sandwich. Or add all four! “After a hard day of basic training, you could eat a rattlesnake.” - Elvis Presley

From The Real Family Camping Cookbook : It’s the M&Ms that make it so healthy. Serves:   8 Ingredients: 2 c. of raisins, Craisins, dried pineapple, banana chips or dried apricots 2 c. of peanuts, almonds or macadamia nuts 1 c. of dark chocolate chips, peanut butter chips or m&ms Preparation: 1.   Mix everything together. 2.  Divide the gorp into 8 little Ziploc bags. 3.  Serve to 8 hungry, little campers. “In the cookie of life, friends are chocolate chips.” - Salman Rushdie

These simple games are well liked by all kinds of kids, no matter what their different interests or abilities, and you can play them all without any special materials or equipment. 1. Scavenger Hunt A scavenger hunt is a great way to get kids interested in a nature walk. You can walk along the trail while the kids hunt for things on a list and check them off as they find them. Real nature lovers leave everything just as they find it and take a picture for a keepsake. Here are a few ideas for your list: • a rock shaped like a heart • a feather • a bird’s nest • a maple seed whirligig • a red leaf, a green leaf and a yellow leaf • moss • a pinecone • a slug • a snail • a frog • a fish • something a raccoon would like to eat • a flying insect • a crawling insect • animal tracks • scat or manure • a snake or a worm • a squirrel • a flower • a mushroom • a tiny pebble no bigger than the fingernail on your pinkie • something purple • a deer • a piece of garbage (to take with you and throw ou...

A big favorite from  The Real Family Camping Cookbook : This is really for the grownups, though some kids (the smart ones!) like it. Put the pot on as soon as you start the fire in the evening and cook it until after the kids go to bed. Then have your stew with a glass of wine by the fire.  That’s what camping’s all about, Charlie Brown. Serves:  4 Ingredients: 6 strips of bacon 2 lb. of sliced oxtail – see TIP at the bottom. 1 small, yellow onion, chopped 4 carrots, peeled and sliced 2 potatoes, cubed 10 oz. of white mushrooms, sliced 1 c. of beef broth ½ c. of red wine olive oil ½ c. of white flour salt & pepper large Ziploc bag Preparation: 1.  Cook the bacon in the bottom of a big pot. Feed the bacon to the children. Fight off the stray dogs. 2.  In a large, Ziploc bag, put the flour 1 t. each of salt & pepper.  Add the oxtails in batches and get a kid to shake it around. 3.  Cook the oxtails in the bacon fat for about 10 minutes.  ...

From  The Real Family Camping Cookbook : We call this bacon salad because then the kids forget it has vegetables in it. Serves: 4 Ingredients: 3/4 lb. of green beans, with the ends snapped off 4 carrots, peeled and sliced 1 red pepper, sliced 4 oz. of Parmesan cheese, shredded 4 strips of bacon, cooked crisp Preparation: 1.   Put the veggies and cheese into a large pot or bowl. 2.   Crumble the bacon in and toss the salad gently. 3.   Serve with a creamy dressing, like Ranch. Variations: •   Try with different veggies like cauliflower and broccoli. •   Try with other dressings, like soy-ginger, poppy seed or French. “We don't need a melting pot in this country, folks. We need a salad bowl. In a salad bowl, you put in the different things. You want the vegetables - the lettuce, the cucumbers, the onions, the green peppers - to maintain their identity. You appreciate differences.” - Jane Elliot

Our two coolers on a recent outing to NJ, the Garden State. While the kids mainly like to eat marshmallows when we're camping, us grownups like to sit down at the end of the day and have a nice meal.  To us, that means using fresh ingredients, so we take our cooler packing pretty seriously.  Here’s our strategy:    1.  Use decent coolers.   In spite of being the cheapest people in the world, we do own two semi-decent coolers. I think we bought ours at the Pharmacy next to Mrs. Green’s in Ossining, NY (shout out to the Pharmacy - they have one of everything, and not too expensive). Anyway, they’re Coleman brand and they were about forty bucks each, but any heavy plastic coolers with handles and wheels and little plugs at the bottom for letting out the water will do.  TIP: Coolers double as stools.   2.  Take the perishables seriously.   We use cooler #1 for serious perishables. It contains two plastic containers with lids, ...

  From The Real Family Camping Cookbook : There are infinite versions of camp stew made with leftovers.  Here’s one of ours.   Serves: 4 Ingredients: 3 or 4 links of Italian sausage or Kielbasa 2 or 3 leftover cooked hamburgers 1 small, yellow onion, chopped 2 carrots, peeled and chopped 1/2 of both a green and a red pepper, chopped 2 c. of beef broth 2 c. of leftover cooked noodles olive oil 1 bay leaf salt & pepper Preparation: 1.  Fry the sausages in the bottom of the pot in a little oil.  Cool and slice the sausages. 2.  Add 2 T. of olive oil to the pot and saute the onions and the rest of the veggies with the bay leaf for about 5 minutes. 4.  Add the noodles and sliced sausages and break up the leftover hamburgers into chunks in the pot.  5.  Add the broth, mix gently and simmer for about 5 minutes.  6.  Bon appétit! Variation: •  We have also done something like this with leftover cooked steak.

Dessert Under the Stars.  'nuff said.   Last year my sister gave my older son, who likes to cook, a huge box of old Betty Crocker recipe cards for his birthday and I stole them from him, because that's the kind of parent I am.  It turned out that a whole section was devoted to camping and grilling recipes or, as Betty C. calls them, "Foods That Go Places"! Now, if you like rice pudding with canned peaches and maraschino cherries - and who doesn't? - imagine how much better it'll taste fresh off the grill!  Mmm! Dates add a nutritional twist to this recipe. All mockery aside, this recipe looks pretty good - not too many ingredients, easy instructions.  It's the maraschino cherries that scare me.  I think they did a study ... involving rats ... anyway, it wasn't good.  But you can always substitute some of those green cherries they put in fruit cake.  Kidding.

The Real Family Camping Cookbook is officially launched.  Here's the announcement: "CAC Digital Arts, LLC is very pleased and excited to announce the first eBook publication under the CAC Digital Arts imprint, Maggie da Silva's The Real Family Camping Cookbook. Available now for the Kindle ( http://amzn.to/j01xiE ) and Nook ( http://bit.ly/mBp6NQ ) and will be available in the iTunes store by the end of this month." These are all the recipes we make when we go camping, based on our many hilarious mistakes and the generous and helpful hints from other campers. It was super fun to put it together and I hope you like it. And stay tuned for the Apple version, coming soon!

An easy recipe for grilled asparagus from my new cookbook, The Real Family Camping Cookbook . Enjoy! Grilled Asparagus Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook time: 10 minutes Yield: 4 servings Ingredients: 1.5 lbs. of asparagus with the bottoms snapped off olive oil salt & pepper skewers Instructions: 1.  If you use wooden skewers, soak them in water first so they don’t burn up on the grill. 2.  Lay 4 or 5 asparagus spears down next to each other and skewer through all of them with 2 skewers. 3.  Repeat with all of the asparagus. 4.  Brush the asparagus skewers with olive oil and lay them on the grill. 5.  Sprinkle them with salt and pepper. 6.  Grill until the asparagus is tender, 5-10 minutes, turning often. 7.  Serve with salt & pepper. “ Asparagus inspires gentle thoughts. ” – Charles Lamb You may also like: Grilled Corn, a Husks-On Approach Bread Salad, or Panzanella Classic Camping Recipe: Veggie Foil Packets