Campfire Treats

I did not invent this treat. I don't know who did or if there's anyone out there who can claim the combination of fruit and chocolate. If there is an "inventor," they are a genius.

My husband found this idea somewhere on the interwebs and we decided to give it a try last week. We made a simple dinner in the house and then started our fire to make dessert and linger outside on a nice spring evening. I have to apologize in advance for the quality of the images you're about to see. They're hurried phone photos with terrible lighting. I guess I was too excited about the final product to dig out the fancy camera.

Orange Brownies with a-Peel

 Makes 6-8 (depending on the size of your oranges and how much batter you eat during prep)

You will need:
* Oranges (1 per person)
* Brownie Mix and any accompanying ingredients (ours called for 2/3 c. of yogurt)
* A campfire
* Aluminum foil

Instructions:
Cut the oranges in half
Dig out and eat the fruit

Prepare brownie mix per instructions
Pour batter into hollowed out orange halves; leave a little room for the batter to expand when cooked

Put the halves back together (making a whole orange again)
Wrap the orange in aluminum foil

Throw them in the campfire and cook for 25-35 minutes

Open up the foil and eat the cooked brownies

(this is the picture I have to apologize for the most. It does NOT make this treat look good but believe me, you guys...they.are.awesome.)

Sigh with delight while stargazing

Best Practices:
* Great for kids/families as they do not require a lot of work. You could make these in any backyard fire pit if camping's not for you.
* You can use any brownie mix you want so if you have dietary restrictions in your family, there's probably a mix out there for you (my hubby is dairy-free which is why we used this mix and almond yogurt).
* Leave them in the fire for approximately the same amount of time that you would cook them in the oven.
* Turn them every once in a while to make sure they're evenly cooked.

The oranges do a great job at keeping the brownies soft and moist. There have to be great ways to alter this recipe (clementines for smaller treats? Lemons or Limes with a white cake batter? Mix some of the orange pieces into the batter for more flavor?). Let me know if you come up with any other great variations.

Rifle Falls State Park

When Rocky Mountain National Park is in your backyard, it's easy to forget about the many fantastic state parks in Colorado. Over Easter weekend, we embarked on Addy's first overnight camping trip (more on that to come). As it was our first attempt, I had some specific criteria for our destination.
* Within 4 hours or less driving distance
* Comfortable temperatures
* Access to hiking
* Access to town (medical emergency, midnight escape)
* No snow on the ground
* Car camping but some sense of being isolated (read: not on the interstate or a mere 2 ft from the next tent)

Most of the country is wondering why on earth I would be worried about weather and snow in mid-April. Up here at 8750 ft, I still have to traverse a 4' tall snow drift to get in and out of my house.

I was surprised to find many camping areas in the Buena Vista/Salida area were closed until May. Utah was too far but we could consider Grand Junction/Fruita...SOLD OUT! Dang. Then I happened upon this little gem about 15 miles North of Rifle, CO (45 min from Glenwood Springs).

Rifle Falls State Park

With 11 drive-in tent/RV sites and 7 walk-in tent sites, this quaint 100 acre park was a charming find. The RV area was full over the holiday weekend but there was only one other reserved tent site so we felt like we had the place to ourselves. There were carts available to help us transport all of our gear down the hiking trail a short distance to our site. Since there were few other campers, we were told to look over all of the sites and pick the one we liked best. All of the spots were creek-side and came with the standard picnic table and fire ring set up. Being Spring, we were lulled to sleep by the babbling creek below us. Imagine our delight when the "tent pad" was a lush patch of grass. Grass, people!! I haven't seen grass in months! The trees were just budding but all of the sites would have ample shade in the summer and nice views of a canyon on the other side of the creek.

 

If you're overnighting elsewhere, you can drive in to the park just to view the waterfall and limestone caves.They are definitely worth stopping to see. There are a few hiking loops on site but they only took us about an hour and a half and that was meandering with an infant in tow. There are lots of other hiking spots nearby however, if you want to use this spot as a base camp.


 
Camping: $16/night
Online Reservation Fee: $10 (This seems high to me)
Park Pass: $7/day per car (you can also buy annual state park passes)
Tent campground- No electricity, walk out to water/vault toilet at the trailhead/parking lot

Campsite photo borrowed from gjhikes.