Hiking and Camping

Fall is a perfect time for camping in North Carolina. We love to take day hikes in our beautiful mountains, and snacks are essential. The kids love to camp out and these recipes always taste better when made in the wild!

For the hike up the mountain:

Kitchen Trash

1 (15 ounce) box Cheerios toasted oat cereal
1 (13 ounce) box Kix cereal
1 (12 ounce) box Corn Chex
1 (15 ounce) bag pretzels
1 (16 ounce) box cheese crackers (Cheese Nips)
1 lb pecans
1 lb almonds
1 lb peanuts
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
3 teaspoons season salt
4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
6-8 drops Tabasco sauce
1/2 cup butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a very large container, mix your cereals, pretzels, crackers, nuts and any other goodies you can come up with. Set aside. In a medium saucepan, combine onion powder, garlic powder, salt, Worcestershire, Tabasco and butter. Cook over medium heat until everything is dissolved and well mixed. Stir butter mixture into cereal mixture. Bake in roasting pans for 1 1/2 hours, stirring every 15 minutes. Cool and store in airtight containers. Also keeps well in the freezer.

"Apple Pie" Trail Mix

1 egg white
1 T. water
1 lb bag of almonds/walnuts or pecan halves
1 cup white sugar
1/2 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
dried apple rings, cut into quarters
Golden Grahams cereal or Chex cereal

Beat egg white and water until frothy. Mix in sugar, salt and cinnamon. Add nuts and stir until well-coated. Spread on a large baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 200*F for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from oven when the nuts are dry and toasted. When cool, mix with cereal and apple rings. Store in airtight container or Ziploc bag.

Once you get to the top and set up camp, you'll need to make supper! Here are some quickies that will taste even better for the hike you had to make to get there:

Hobos
serves 2

1 LB of ground beef
1 small onion (optional)
2 large potatoes
4 carrots
salt
pepper
hamburger seasoning (optional)
Aluminum foil
(amounts do not need to be exact. This is just a guideline. It will depend on your tastes and how hungry you are!)

Pull off 2 large pieces of aluminum foil and lay flat on your work surface. Split the ground beef in half and place one each piece of aluminum foil and flatten ground beef into patties. Put seasonings on ground beef (salt, pepper and/or hamburger seasoning) Slice onion and put onion on top of ground beef. Clean potatoes and slice. Peel first if you so desire. Put potato slices on top of the onions (which are on top of the ground beef). Clean carrots and slice. Peel first if you so desire. Put carrot slices on top of potato slices. Bring up sides of aluminum foil and wrap contents so that everything is covered. Place on grill. The amount of time that it cooks will depend on how much you put in the aluminum foil and how well done you like your hamburger and potatoes. You will eventually want to pull the largest one off and check it. Potatoes and Carrots are done when a fork can go through them.

Mac & Cheese

1 Can Condensed Cheddar Cheese Soup
1/2 Soup Can Milk
1/2 Soup Can Water
1 Cup Elbow Macaroni (uncooked)
Mix soup, milk and water in a pan. Heat to boiling. Stir in macaroni. Cook over low heat for approximately 10 minutes, or until macaroni is cooked. (Serves about 4 people.)

Rocky Mountain Cake
1 prepared angel food cake
1 small package instant chocolate pudding
1 large Cool Whip
1 package toffee chips

Slice angel food cake in half horizontally. Mix pudding into Cool Whip. Spread half over bottom half of cake. Sprinkle with half of the toffee chips. Replace top half of cake and spread with remaining topping and toffee chips. Done and delicious!

Servings: 10