(To read this series from the beginning click HERE)
If you are doing the same things you have always done; read the same books you have always read; have the same friends you have always had - your life will never change. Good health includes trying new things, chancing new adventures, being willing to fail before you succeed. This is all a part of life and learning.
While on our camping trip, I decided to branch out from our normal fireside menu of hotdogs and hamburgers. I wanted to try to bake in my Dutch oven. This requires some skill and knowledge of how to place hot coals under and on top of the cast iron pot. Then one must rotate the lid and the pot 90* in different directions to even out any hot spots so the food inside cooks evenly.
My first attempt was apple crisp. I love apple crisp. The soft apples under a thick blanket of crunchy oats and brown sugar sewn together with butter. YUM! The recipe book said this was a recipe for novices. That's me! So we burned down some wood to get the red hot coals needed. Then we made a bed of embers on the gravel, set the oven on top and covered with more embers. According to the directions, it needed to cook for 20-30 minutes, rotating every 15. After 45 minutes (and checking several times), I couldn't wait any longer determined it was ready to eat.
The apples were still crunchy and the crisp wasn't really. It was edible, but not your top of the line apple crisp. My guys still liked it and enjoyed my first attempt at dutch oven cooking.
For breakfast I had bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits planned. Bacon and eggs were to be cooked in the cast iron skillet. No problem. I had done that many times before. The biscuits? Yep, you guessed it - another try at the dutch oven.
Since I didn't have enough heat for the apple crisp, I made sure I had enough heat for the biscuits. I placed the oven in the middle of the fire ring after we were almost done for the evening. We shoveled coals on top until you could barely see the handle on the lid. Now I was cooking! After setting my timer for 15 minutes, I sat down to blog and read. After 10 minutes, I smelled something funny felt the need to check under the lid. Beautiful brown biscuits!!
Lesson learned. Go gently, adjust slowly. We were able to salvage the tops of the biscuits for the breakfast sandwiches. My men ate heartily.
Will I try the dutch oven again after 1.5 failures? You betcha! We love camping and this method of cooking will greatly expand our menu. It is another skill I can learn to improve my life. I'm sure it will even add a few laughs to our camping memories. I discovered a new skill, while it is still shaky at this point, I'm willing to keep trying. Are you? Let's do this!
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