The whole camp cooking process isn't like whipping something up in your kitchen. You are literally "playing with fire". And that can get a little intimidating especially when you aren't sure what kind of fire to use. 

So getting outside and camping for the first time can be expensive if you buy all of your own gear. But that doesn't have to be the case. There are two ways to borrow outdoor essentials (tent, sleeping bag, ground pad, stove, cook/eat-wear).

I love my husband Dan so much! But sometimes he does things and my only response is face - palm. We had one of those moments over the weekend.

To celebrate a milestone birthday for my husband he and I recently went on our first hard-core "Glamping" adventure in Mexico. Our friends Alex and Becky were also kind enough to take a break from the cold New England weather and join us. 

Running a business that creates camp food kits we’ve tasted our fair share of s’mores and they are delicious. But sometimes you are looking for a savory after-dinner treat to make over the fire. And popcorn fills that bill. Plus, many of us big kids have fond memories of making a certain kind of stove top popcorn that comes in a distinctive silver package.

I am sitting here in what could be considered a bit of a disaster of a house and I am realizing It has been really a busy few weeks here at CampEats. No actual camping but lots of outdoor related fun. (My husband building mini campers - that is outdoor related right?)

When you Google camping you'll find this seemingly straightforward definition. But when you dig a little deeper camping can basically be almost anything. The Wikipedia entry even defines it by saying "There is no universally held definition of what is and what is not camping." They rather choose to define it by the intent to spend time in the outdoors and the inclusion of typical activities.  

To celebrate the new year and get inspired we took a weekend trip up to Napa and Sonoma with some foodie friends from Chicago. On our adventure, we explored several wineries that are "family businesses". CampEats is like a newborn compared with these established, multi-generational, powerhouses that have grown from someone's dream to sustainable enterprises. I wanted to share a few of their stories and

2015 has been one complex year for our small family. It will go down as the year we made our commitment "official". We also closed a few chapters and started some new ones including starting CampEats. This afternoon we went on a magical hike on Mount Sutro here in San Francisco. 

S'mores have been on my mind the last few days. In one of our holiday cards, we got a lovely note from our friend Margaret on the topic of these gooey delights. With her permission, I've re-posted it below. I think my favorite part was the idea of sliced chocolate ala Kraft cheese. You can check it out here.

That lovely squash mentioned in our last blog post made its way up to our roof deck and got all roasty on the gas grill. This was the third preparation of this particular roaster. The first was oven cooking, then a charcoal grill, and finally on the gas powered grill - all in my pursuit of recipe mastery. 

My husband couldn't be more supportive. He is CampEat's biggest fan. And he is also its primary guinea pig. Yesterday he was forced to eat chocolate with dried mango and coconut and then compare it with chili chocolate. Yeah, I feel really bad for him.

Here at CampEats we've been "testing" all the components of the Provisions Packs over the last few weeks. From some very tasty lentil soup to some wicked carrot cake pancakes I think we have already found a few winning dishes that will be sure to please. We are also working hard to make sure they all work togeather in harmony as a weekend full of meals. 

A big thank you to everyone who came out last weekend to make s'mores with us at our first Fireside Gathering. We had a ton of fun and we've been able to gather a few "findings" about s'mores. To help distil them for your use we've created a top 10 list of what I like to call S'more Science. And let me tell you we used rigorous testing methodologies. Though they may have been clouded by the copious amounts of sugar from all the sweets, but we'll still share them in the name of all things that are fun about camping.