Roasted Red, White and Blue Potatoes with Kielbasa and Corn on the Cob

      In honor of the upcoming holiday, here's an easy one pot dinner that can feed a few or a crowd.  I give you the ingredients loosely, you can double or triple the amounts to suit your needs.  Just toss the potatoes, onions, seasoning and Kielbasa in your dutch oven, bake for 20 minutes, add the corn and cook until the potatoes and corn are tender.  I roasted this for a total time of 40 minutes in my 12 inch dutch oven with 12 coals in a ring around the bottom and 28-30 on the lid.  If you can't find fingerling potatoes, use any small new potato.  Substitute with your favorite pre-cooked sausage, I like the smokiness of the Kielbasa and you could top it off with a sprinkling of crumbled, cooked bacon at the end of the cooking time to give it even more of a hickory smoked flavor.
 
Roasted Red, White and Blue Potatoes with Kielbasa and Corn on the Cob
1 1/2 lbs red, white and blue fingerling potatoes, unpeeled
1/3 cup chopped onion OR shallots
1-2 packages Kielbasa
3-5 ears of corn, cleaned and cut into large pieces
2-3 Tblsp olive oil
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp chopped garlic
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

     Lightly oil or spray dutch oven.
     Toss potatoes, onion, Kielbasa, olive oil, paprika, garlic and seasonings in prepared oven.
     Roast at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
     Stir in corn.
     Continue cooking for 20 minutes or until potatoes and corn are tender.
     Makes 4-5 servings.

Roast potatoes, onion and Kielbasa at 400 degrees for 20 minutes

Stir in corn and continue roasting for another 20 minutes
or until potatoes and corn are tender

A patriotic one pot dinner

    

Fall Apart Tender Slow Roasted Pork

     In Boston, around the time of the Revolutionary War, cuts of pork were stored and shipped in casks, or barrels, called butts. This popular cut of meat came from the upper part of a hog's shoulder, hence the name Boston butt.  Very affordable, I paid only $2.00 a pound, and cooked best at low and slow temperatures, it's a marriage made in heaven with dutch oven cooking.
     This recipe comes from Shirley Corriher's book, Cookwise.  She also brought us my all time favorite, Touch of Grace Biscuit recipe.  Her original version calls for cooking the pork, covered in the oven, for 5 hours at 250 degrees.  Not wanting to spend all day lighting coals, I chose to roast it at 300-325 degrees for 3 hours instead.  I cooked a 3 lb. roast in my 12 inch dutch oven with 10 coals in a ring around the bottom and 16-18 in a ring around the outside of the lid with 4-6 spaced evenly in the middle. I changed the coals three times, cooking the roast for a total of 3 1/2 hours.  It is extremely tender, you can slice it or pull it apart with a couple of forks.  The best part is the wonderful sauce that forms in the bottom of your dutch oven, light and sweetened with apple and brown sugar, add some salt to it if you like but be sure to drown the juicy meat in the delicious drippings.

Fall Apart Tender Slow Roasted Pork
1 pork butt roast (3-4 lbs.)
1/4 to 1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup apple juice
1/2 tsp salt

     Lightly oil or spray dutch oven.
     Place pork in large bowl.
     Sprinkle the roast on all sides with Worcestershire sauce.
     Press brown sugar into pork, coating all sides evenly.
     Carefully place in prepared dutch oven.
     Pour apple juice around pork roast, being sure not to drizzle it on crusted meat.
     Roast at 300 degrees for 3-3 1/2 hours, replenishing coals hourly.
     Pull the meat apart.
     Stir the salt into the juices remaining in dutch oven.
     Serve pork in its delicious juice hot or at room temperature.

Coat roast in Worcestershire and brown sugar then pour in apple juice

Roast for 3-3 1/2 hours around 300 degrees

Very tender and the sauce is out of this world

Fleischmann's Simply Homemade No Knead Bread Mix

     Today I am not going to the trouble of posting a recipe because you can follow the instructions for making this no knead bread on the back of the box.  Instead, I am posting photos of the steps required in making this delicious and ridiculously easy loaf in your dutch oven.  If you don't want to take the time to make this classic version of no knead bread which requires the dough to rest for 12 hours, this boxed mix from Fleischmann's is something you can whip up at your campsite in under an hour. 
     In my 10 inch deep dutch oven it baked for 25 minutes with 10 coals in a ring around the bottom, 15 in a ring around the outside of the lid and 9 spaced evenly in a ring around the middle.  Initially I started with 2 extra coals on the lid to heat the oven up quickly but removed them after 10 minutes.  When the scent of homemade bread wafts from your dutch oven, it's probably done.  It's not necessary to make this in your deep oven as the bread doesn't rise all that high.  Relatively new to the market, I paid $2.00 a box for this handy mix and here's a link to the company's site if you want to print out a coupon.  On the package they suggest adding diced, cooked bacon and grated Cheddar to the dough which would probably send it into bread nirvana. 
     If you're nervous about baking bread from scratch, give this mix a try.  Except for heating the water for the yeast, it's a camper's dream come true, all you need is a bowl, a wooden spoon and a hot dutch oven to enjoy the taste and aroma of home made artisan type bread.

Add warm water to yeast and sugar, let sit for 3 minutes

Add flour mixture and mix until ball forms

Add to well oiled dutch oven and sprinkle with 1 tsp flour

Cover and let rest for 25 minutes in warm draft-free location,
make slits in loaf before baking

Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown

Pass the butter please

Fresh Blueberry Muffin Breakfast Cake

     I was weeding through stacks of dusty cook books today, hoping to donate a few to our neighborhood used book store.  As I was browsing through the pile, not wanting to miss even one good recipe, I came across this blueberry cake and thought it looked too good to pass up.  From Rosie's Bakery All-Butter Fresh Cream Sugar-Packed No Holds Barred Baking Book by Judy Rosenberg, the author wasn't kidding, as you can see, it's loaded with butter and sugar. 
     A great coffee cake to usher in blueberry season, what I especially like about the recipe is that you add the topping at the end of your baking time, lessening your chances of burning the sugary layer in your dutch oven.  In my 10 inch oven, it baked for a total of 55 minutes with 16 coals in a ring around the outside of the lid, 6 coals evenly spaced in the center and 10 briquettes in a ring around the bottom.  After 30 minutes the cake had set and I spooned on the topping.  Don't worry if every inch of the cake isn't covered, it will all meld together as it bakes and don't expect the topping to have the consistency of a streusel, it's supposed to be a crunchy layer of sugar. 
     If you want to blow your diet in a big way, this is the way to go.  You can smell the butter while it's baking in your dutch oven, and a warm slice, as it melts in your mouth, is positively sublime.
       
Fresh Blueberry Muffin Breakfast Cake
Cake
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
10 Tblsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 3/4 cups fresh blueberries
Topping
8 Tblsp unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt

     Lightly oil or spray 10 inch dutch oven; line with parchment paper.
     For the cake, sift flour, baking powder and salt together in small bowl.
     Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla in medium bowl with electric mixer until mixture is light and fluffy.
     Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping bowl after each addition.
     Add dry ingredients in thirds, alternating with milk, beginning and ending with dry mixture.
     Mix just until batter is smooth.
     Gently fold in blueberries.
     Pour batter into prepared dutch oven.
     Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until the top is just set but not golden.
     Meanwhile prepare the topping.
     Mix all the dry ingredients in small bowl.
     Rub the butter into the sugar mixture with your fingers.
     When the top of the cake is set, cover the surface with spoonfuls of topping.
     Bake for 20-25 minutes more or until topping spreads and begins to get crunchy.
     Cake is done when tester comes out clean.
     Let cool in dutch oven before lifting out with parchment paper or serve warm from oven.

Spread buttery batter in parchment lined 10 inch dutch oven

I baked this cake with 16 coals in a ring around the outside of the lid,
6 spaced evenly in the center and 10 in a ring around the bottom

Let the cake bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees

Once cake has set, spoon on topping

Bake for 20-25 minutes more or until topping has melted
and covered cake

Extremely rich and sweet but oh so delicious

Hornet's Nest Cake

      Sometimes I'm drawn to a recipe more for it's name than it's list of ingredients, I mean how can you resist making a Hornet's Nest Cake in your dutch oven?  Not only is it a fun cake to make, it's almost too easy for something that tastes so good.  After the cake bakes, the butterscotch chips sink down into the batter, leaving little holes and indentations, with a 'swarm' of pecans on the top, it does actually resemble a hornet's nest.  Made with only a few ingredients, it's a great campfire dessert, the cake layer is extremely moist and the topping tastes like a butterscotch pecan pie.  This recipe is all over the internet, I like this version because you can make it with instant pudding, all you need is a large bowl and a whisk and you're ready to go. 
     In my 12 inch dutch oven, it baked for 40 minutes with 12 coals in a ring around the bottom and 26 on the lid.  Be sure to test the center before you take it off the coals.  I let it cool in my oven for 30 minutes before lifting it out with the parchment.  The cake sinks down as it bakes making it more like a bar and it's so sweet, a little piece will go a long way.  Be sure to sprinkle the pecans on last, you don't want your little 'hornets' to get lost in the batter.

Hornet's Nest Cake
1 3.4 oz package instant vanilla pudding mix
2 cups whole milk
1 18 oz package plain yellow cake mix
1 11 oz package butterscotch chips
1 cup chopped pecans

     Lightly oil or spray 12 inch dutch oven; line with parchment paper.
     Mix pudding and milk in large bowl according to package directions.
     Add cake mix, stir until well combined, there will be a few lumps in the batter.
     Pour batter into prepared dutch oven, smooth evenly with spatula.
     Sprinkle batter completely with butterscotch chips.
     Sprinkle chips with chopped pecans.
     Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes or until tester in center comes out clean.
     Cool in dutch oven for 30 minutes before lifting out with parchment paper.
     Cut into small pieces, cake is very rich.

Spoon thick batter into parchment lined oven
then sprinkle with chips and pecans

Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes,
don't look too closely, you might get stung

A fun and easy cake that will have your sweet tooth
buzzing a happy tune

Chicken-Chile Enchilada Pie

     I woke up this morning, looked at my 8 inch dutch oven and thought, 'Today's the day I'm going to dust you off and put you to good use'.  There is something so endearing about that little pot, it's light and easy to clean, uses fewer coals and like The Little Engine That Could, it packs a powerful punch for it's size.  There are many of us who are cooking for small families and I will try to post more recipes geared for our tiny ovens. 
     Since I already had a picked over rotisserie chicken in the fridge and most of the fixings, this recipe for Chicken-Chile Enchilada Pie caught my eye.  I simplified it even more by using a box of Jiffy corn muffin mix.  In my 8 inch wonder, it baked for 25 minutes with 8 coals in a ring around the bottom and 12 on the lid.  Before you top it with cheese, test the corn bread to make sure it's done in the center.  Once you add the cheese, give it 3 to 5 more minutes to melt.  You can certainly make this in your 10 inch oven, the sweet corn bread is a good contrast to the spicy chicken, a quick and easy meal beside the campfire or in your kitchen at home.

Chicken Chile Enchilada Pie
2-3 cups cooked, cubed or shredded chicken
1 4 oz. can chopped green chilies, undrained
1/2 cup enchilada sauce
1 8.5 oz. package corn muffin mix (Jiffy)
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 11 oz. can Mexican corn with red and green peppers, drained
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

     Lightly oil or spray dutch oven.
     In medium bowl, combine chicken, chilies and enchilada sauce.
     Spread in bottom of 8 inch dutch oven.
     In separate bowl, combine corn bread mix, milk and egg until well blended.
     Stir in corn.
     Spoon over chicken mixture.
     Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes or until tester in center of topping comes out clean.
     Sprinkle with shredded cheese.
     Bake for 3-5 more minutes or until cheese has melted.
     Makes 2-4 servings.

Spread chicken mixture in bottom of 8 inch oven

Spoon corn bread batter over chicken

Bake for 25 minutes at 400 degrees or until tests done in center

Top with cheese and bake for 3-5 more minutes

A warm and filling dinner for two

Dude Ranch Chicken

      This recipe for Dude Ranch Chicken from RoTel is similar to a King Ranch Chicken Casserole, only made with flour tortillas.  It couldn't be easier, just toss everything together in a large bowl and pour it in your dutch oven.  It's cheesy, fluffy, spicy and a good pot luck casserole that gets better the longer it sits.  In my 10 inch dutch oven, it baked with 10 coals in a ring around the bottom and 20 on top.  After 30 minutes it was bubbling away and ready for a final topping of cheese.  It's another good camping dish, the ingredients don't require much refrigeration and you can even mix it right in your dutch oven. 

Dude Ranch Chicken
2 1/2 cups cubed cooked chicken
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
1 10 3/4 oz. can cream of mushroom soup
1 10 3/4 oz. can cream of celery soup
1 10 oz. can RoTel Diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies, undrained
1 4 OR 8 oz. can diced green chilies
3/4 cup sliced green onions
10 flour tortillas (8 inch), each cut into 6 triangular wedges
1 Tblsp sliced green onions for garnish

     Lightly oil or spray dutch oven.
     Combine chicken, 1 cup cheese, both soups, undrained tomatoes, green chilies and the 3/4 cup green onions in large bowl.
     Mix tortilla wedges into chicken mixture.
     Spoon mixture into prepared dutch oven.
     Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbling and hot.
     Top with remaining 1 cup cheese, bake for 5 minutes or until cheese has melted.
     Let sit for 10-15 minutes before serving.
     Garnish with 1 Tblsp green onions.
     Makes 6 servings.

Mix everything together and spoon into your dutch oven

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until bubbling,
then top with cheese

Bake for 5 minutes more, or until cheese has melted

A good, easy pot luck entree

Very Berry Blackberry Dump Cake

      It's that time of year again when we outdoorsy types start inventorying our camping equipment and googling new dutch oven dump cake recipes.  This Very Berry Blackberry Dump Cake uses fresh berries and a packet of jello to thicken the bottom layer.  The original recipe calls for 1-2 sticks of butter, it was scrumptious with one I can only imagine how rich and buttery it would taste with two.  In my 12 inch dutch oven, it baked for 35 minutes with 12 briquettes in a ring around the bottom and 24 spaced evenly on the lid.  When the blackberries are bubbling and the topping is cooked all the way through, it's ready.  If you're making this at your campsite you may want to line your oven with parchment to make your clean up easier.  Also, if you don't want to go to the trouble of melting the butter, pour the water on first then completely cover the top with thin slices of butter.  Top it with whipped cream or ice cream but be sure to try it, you'll be lapping the bowl to get every last drop of the sweet berry syrup.

Very Berry Blackberry Dump Cake
4 cups fresh blackberries
1 3 oz box raspberry OR blackberry jell-o
1/3 cup sugar
1 18 oz box yellow OR butter cake mix
1 cup water
1-2 sticks butter, melted
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

     Lightly oil or spray 12 inch dutch oven.
     Spread berries in prepared dutch oven.
     Mix jell-o and sugar together; sprinkle over berries.
     Sprinkle cake mix over jell-o and berries.
     If using nuts, add them now.
     Pour the melted butter over the cake mix.
     Slowly add the water.
     Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes or until golden and toothpick inserted into the cake portion comes out clean.
     Let cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Sprinkle berries with jell-o and sugar

Top with cake mix, melted butter and water

Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes

The first dump cake of the season is always a treat