Cooking and Camping

This weekend we went camping for the first time in years. It was a lot more modest than some of our pre-kid hiking adventures, but it was great to get back to the great outdoors.

Luckily, our friends Megan and Jak, real pros at car-camping, thought to bring along the essentials -- ingredients for Jak's famous Hobo Stew (beef, potatoes, carrots), two boxes of Bandit wine, and, of course, marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate for S'mores.

The kids loved searching for just the right sticks and then loading them with marshmallows. As always, the real challenge was getting the marshmallow gooey enough to melt the chocolate, but not setting it on fire (I wasn't entirely successful).

Avo says that before he met me, he thought S'mores were made using chocolate-covered graham crackers, but I have never heard of such a crazy tradition.

I'm more of a purist when it comes to S'mores, which I first tasted as a kid at Camp Sloane, where I fondly remember "S'mores with the Moores," the camp director's family.

I also remember when my big brother and I got the not-so-bright idea of making S'mores in the toaster (using forks instead of sticks!). Luckily, we were not electrocuted (don't try that one at home)!

Still, there's nothing like the taste (and smell) of S'mores roasted fresh over a campfire.

Here is a basic recipe:

Ingredients

Large marshmallows
Chocolate bars, quartered (I'm generally a dark chocolate snob, but in this case, I prefer Hershey's milk chocolate)
Graham crackers, halved


Directions

1. Place marshmallow on the end of whittled sticks. Toast marshmallow over a campfire (resist the urge to stick marshmallow into the fire and watch it go up in flames.)

2. Once it's evenly browned, place marshmallow with 1 piece of chocolate between two graham cracker halves and squish. Let it cool for a moment and eat right away. Have some wet wipes handy because you're going to need them!

For more creative recipes for S'mores (e.g. Baked Alaska Peanut S'mores), check out this site.

And if you're really gung-ho and feel compelled to make entirely homemade s'mores (including homemade graham crackers and marshmallows), follow this recipe.

I'm sure I could whip that up in no time, but I don't feel the need to show off. I'm still basking in the afterglow of a fun weekend spent with friends out in the country.