Every summer since I have known Clay we have sat down and made a bucket-list of hoodrat adventures we want to accomplish that summer. On our bucket-list this summer we put “Become true Oregonians and go camping at Crater Lake.” Clay and I love camping, love exploring the outdoors, and most importantly we love campfire food. Jerrys face pictured below is an accurate depiction of how chill our long weekend in the wilderness was. It is so fun taking our hilarious pug Jerry camping because he turns into a wild, naked, free roaming pup. Jerry lives his best life when he is outside in the woods. Call him nature pug.

Fun fact: The first trip Clay and I ever took together was to go camping at Yellowstone National Park. It rained the entire time. I think I ate 50 plus smores. I can’t remember a moment when we weren’t smiling or laughing. We saw 20,000 Asians with selfie sticks. Oh and Clay thought Old Faithful was lame. But I loved him and it was a freaking rager.

Now lets talk food. My favorite arena of course. Camping can be a hard environment to count your macros, calories, and weigh out your meals (she said with the utmost sarcasm). It’s beyond me why anyone would want to do that in their everyday life anyway….but whatever floats your boat…..float on. Anyway. I feel like when the classic white blooded American family goes camping they bring the jumbo bag of Ruffles, 20 pack of weenies, and coolers full of crap. For some reason camping is like this inevitable excuse to eat like shizzzzz.

False.

Now Clay and I love snacks. But we are also human! So heaven forbid we go camping and don’t have the perfect and pristine diet. SO FREAKING WHAT?!?!?! WE HAD A GOSH DANG BLAST! One of Clays favorite snacks is popcorn. So our tradition is that whenever we go camping we pop some good ol’ campfire popcorn. Not the healthiest snack but we pack along other snacks that are healthy too. So one night of eating popcorn doesn’t completely derail our good eating habits. I made a list of our favorite go-to snacks to pack in our cooler and take with us camping! See below.

Our Favorite Camping Snacks

Grapes, apple slices, orange slices
Ritz crackers, goldfish, pretzels
Energy bites
Cucumber slices, carrot sticks, celery
Cheese sticks
Homemade trail mix
Shalane Flanagan Superhero Muffins
Rice cakes, peanut Butter, banana slices
KIND Bars
AND OF COURSE………Campfire popcorn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our first night at the campsite we decided to make BBQ chicken kabobs. Clay and I love any opportunity to cook on the fire. Meals that are prepared over a fire have a smokey, earthy, and real taste. There is something so fun and refreshing about taking the time to cook a good meal over a fire that you have built yourself. This trip was so fun because Clay showed me different ways to build fires and I showed him different campfire cooking techniques. I attached the super simple kabob recipe below. I prepped the chicken before we left for camping. So when we arrived to camp all I had to do was put the chicken on the sticks and cook it up!

BBQ Chicken Kabobs

Ingredients

1/4 cup BBQ Sauce of your choosing
2 tbsp water
1 boneless skinless chicken breast

Instructions

Cut raw chicken into chunks.
Marinate chicken in airtight ziplock bag with BBQ Sauce and 2 tbsps of water overnight.
When ready to cook kabobs put chicken on sticks.
Wrap kabobs in foil and cook over a fire for 15-20 minutes. Rotating occasionally.
Remove from foil carefully and roast kabobs over an open flame for 2-5 minutes. (This step just adds an extra smokey flavor).
Remove from heat. Let cool and enjoy!

Clay and I spent our time at Crater Lake hiking all of the amazing trails and basically just soaking up the gorgeous outdoors.It was pretty much impossible to go to Crater Lake and not be in awe of the beauty. When we weren’t exploring the trails and looking at the amazing lake we were chilling at our campsite. We love to throw the frisbee, play card games, hammock, and chase Jerry around the campsite. Camping is so great because you just get to unplug from the annoying world and enjoy the silence! Clay and I have some of the funniest conversations, tell each other childhood stories, and enjoy debating different controversial topics. The silence of camping is freaking golden folks! Next time you go camping: let your phone die, have deep conversations with people that you love, take the time to make good food and just enjoy the outdoors. When we went home after our time at Crater Lake we went home feeling absolutely refreshed. Camping done right, if you ask me.

On our last night of camping we made a side dish of campfire potatoes to go with our main meal. Super simple recipe, but such a smokey, down to earth taste! We also just love potatoes in general so of course this is one of our favorite recipes. Voila, enjoy.

Campfire Potatoes

Ingredients

1 Russet potato thinly sliced
3 tablespoons olive oil
Dash of garlic salt

Instructions

Thinly slice potatoes and place them in the cast iron skillet.
Toss potatoes in olive oil and garlic salt.
Put potatoes over the fire and roast for 30-40 minutes. Flip halfway through.
Remove from heat and let them cool.

Enjoy these hilarious pictures of Jerry sleeping after a hardcore weekend of camping. He is so funny, we love him, he is our whole world. <3