Addiction

 Let me begin by saying I am relatively new to dutch oven cooking.  I purchased my first Lodge 12 inch deep camp oven in August of 2010.  All my adult life I have been interested in cooking, my mother, sister and I have over 1000 cookbooks between us.  Don't know why it took me so long to discover this ingenious and interesting way of cooking. I have always loved the outdoors, am an avid fly fisher and have been tent camping for years.  I stumbled upon some camp cooking sites and became intrigued.  You don't need much to get started, a dutch oven, a bag of coals, some tongs, and away you go.  It is recommended that you have something to protect the ground from the heat of the coals.  I started with a metal oil pan raised over the grass with 4 bricks.  From there I graduated to a metal wine rack I picked at a garage sale for $5.00.  As you can see in the photo, I can tip it on it's side or leave it in the upright position, it might look a little crazy but it serves the purpose of raising the height of my ovens and protecting the ground.  Thanks to the generosity of my family at Christmas I was able to purchase three more ovens, all Lodges sized 8", 10" and 12" regular.   I tend to dive right into whatever piques my interest, there is a fine line between an obsession and an addiction.  I can truly say I have caught dutch oven fever. There is nothing like stepping out your back door and being hit with the aroma of some delicious dutch oven meal wafting through the air.  I hope you will join me as I pour through shelves of cookbooks in search of easy, tasty dutch oven recipes that can be made in your backyard or campsite.