Kid Friendly Camping Meal: Grilled Pizza Sandwiches

We went camping a few weeks ago when we had a "cool front" meaning the highs were only upper 80s instead of low 100s. My parents were kind enough to give us their sandwich makers a few years ago since their camping days are over and we love to use them. Amazon sells them here.

These sandwiches are certainly not gourmet or fancy by any stretch of the imagination but they are really easy to make and the irons are fun to use. The best thing about them is that kids can help prepare and cook the sandwiches. I feel like so many camping dinners are hands off for kids, involving raw meat, slicing and dicing, foil packs and fire.

All you need is some butter, pizza sauce, bread, and cheese.
First, spread butter on two pieces of bread. Then place them butter side down into your sandwich maker.
Next, spread some sauce on top. This is a great kid job.
After that, sprinkle enough grated cheese on the sandwich to cover up the sauce. You could add pepperoni or anything else you want but when I'm camping I'm kind of a minimalist, so for me, less is more.
Now here is the only semi-complicated step in the whole process. Hook the ends of the press together and then snap it shut quickly without spilling your cheese.
Then you hook the little latch and pull it up toward the handle so it doesn't get hot in the fire.
Then stick them in the fire and cook for a few minutes on each side.

I can't really give you an exact time but err on the side of being underdone as you can always stick them back in if not grilled enough for your liking.
Then carefully take them out and serve!

We threw in a foil pack of veggies marinated in Greek dressing as a side and of course ended the night with some S'mores.

So there you have it! Let's be honest, you don't really need a printable recipe for this one. You can also make these on your stove top to add variety at lunch time. I think you might be able to make these in a foil packs while camping if you didn't want to invest in the sandwich makers. I'd be really interested to know the results if anyone tries it.

Tomato Corn Relish

Okay people, here's the deal. I love to blog but having the everyday happenings of my family completely out there was a little too touch-feely for me. As it turns out, taking pictures of food is a great way to improve my photography skills. Tomatoes are way better at sitting still while I fiddle with my camera settings than my two year old. Thus I will continue my quest for recipe organization and photography improvement via this blog.

I discovered this recipe this summer while looking for new ways to use my tomatoes and it was love at first sight. I found the recipe here.

You'll need:
Olive oil, a Vidalia onion, 3 ears of corn, 3/4 lbs tomatoes (4 roma), fresh basil, lime juice, sugar, salt, crushed red pepper, and black pepper.
Start by cutting the stem out of the tomatoes.
Dice them up.I know this is too many pictures of the tomatoes but don't they look delicious? Once they're all cut up, set them aside.
Next, cut the corn off the cob. Don't be surprised when the kernels jump all over your counter. I like to keep my little shark vacuum close by to clean up the silk and the dropped kernels after I cut corn off the cob so the hubby doesn't have a heart attack at the mess on the floor. If you know Ryan you are probably nodding your head knowingly while you read this. Once it's all cut up, set it aside.Next, cut up 1 cup of Vidalia onion, I used one half.
Then slice up enough basil to fill up 1/3 cup. Take a good long sniff. Ahhh.You should have this all ready once you're done chopping.Once you have everything chopped up, pour a tablespoon or two of olive oil in a pan and then dump in the onions. Cook them until tender, about 5 minutes.
After that, add the corn and cook it for another 8 minutes, stirring regularly.Once the onions and corn are cooked, dump in the tomatoes and basil.Next you're going to add the good stuff.
Once you've mixed in the tomatoes and basil, pour in1 tbsp lime juice.Next add 1 tsp sugar, 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper, and 1/8 tsp black pepper, and 1/4 tsp salt (not pictured. I think you get the idea). If you're serving this to kids you might want to scale back the red pepper because it does have a bit of a kick. At least to my wimpy tastebuds.

Serve it warm, I love to pair it with grilled chicken.
Enjoy!
You can find a printable version of the recipe here.