Having a job is big part of why I liked our recent trip to Joshua Tree.  In past trips, I’ve stood around holding my sleeping bag while everyone else sets up and I just spin in circles looking for someway to be helpful.  But in the end, it just ends up being me and my sleeping bag spinning around in circles off to the side. Having the job of Chef Nature’s Miracle, made me feel useful… and full of quality food.

If you’ve never been to Joshua Tree, it really is amazing.  It almost feels like you’re on the moon.  Amazing boulder/rock formations coming out of the ground that you can climb all over and see for miles and miles and miles.  It’s huge and stars at night make you feel like you’re in a planetarium.   Soooooo cool.  You know what wasn’t cool (but just totally tells you so much about what Adam and I do when no one is around to roll their eyes), we listened to U2′s Joshua Tree album more than we did in the 90′s.  We’re, like so…. cliche.

So, here’s the breakdown of all the meals we created during our trip.  In case you missed it – yesterday’s post gives you the rundown of all the prep work you can do in about an hour the night before.  So worth it! I made the recommendation to bag each meal’s ingredients in individual shopping bags in the cooler (so you can just grab and go).  I’ve listed out each meal with those bags in mind, for easy planning.

Last but not least, before we dive into it.  COOLEST CAMPING FIND (via Pinterest, obbbvvss) – a gallon water jug and a head lamp = amazing ambient light!  We tried it and it worked.  You MUST do this your next trip out! Check out the picture at the very bottom.

Recipes and Ingredients after the jump:

Night 1 Dinner - Soy-Marinated Sirloin Skewers with Grilled Asparagus and Best Ever Pasta Salad (pictured above)

Bag 1 Ingredients: 

• Overnight Marinaded Sirloin and Vegetables
• Night Before Best Ever Pasta Salad
• 1/2 bunch of asparagus
• olive oil* (stored in a small tupperware cup during night-before prep)
• lemon pepper seasoning
• 4 skewers
• Heavy Duty Tin Foil

Preparation:

Submerge the skewers in melted ice water in the cooler up to 2 hours before prep begins.

Preheat the grill.  Cut the stems off the asparagus and drizzle with oil olive and lemon pepper seasoning. Set aside.

Skew soaked skewer sticks with beef and veggies that were marinaded the night before.  Grill for about 8-10 minutes, turning once at halfway. If you can fit your asparagus on the grill, add asparagus with 2 minutes remaining.  If you don’t have room, grill asparagus while skewers are resting for 2-3 minutes.

Hopefully the marinade with have provided enough flavor for you to leave that bbq sauce in the cooler.  But if not, grab it!

Morning 1 Breakfast: Hungryman Camp Breakfast

Bag 2 Ingredients:

On top of the sausages, add a handful of hash browns, an egg or two, and diced tomato and green onion if you like. Salt & pepper to taste. You can also add Cajun spice, or Old Bay spice or whatever spice your posse likes.

The key to Camping for Foodie success is preparation.  I prepped the night before for about an hour and I was able to put together meals all weekend quickly and super easily.  To make this easier to digest, I’m going to separate this into two posts.  Today, I’ll run down the night before prep!

Please note this picture of Adam: He insisted I get on higher ground to take this photo of him.  We were about 200 feet up and the angle he requested makes him appear like he’s on the ground. bahahahahaha. So much for drama.

Night Before Prep:

Chop the following produce:

• 4 peppers (red, green, orange or yellow), 3 chopped and 1 sliced
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1/2 onion, skewer-sized (slice a few pieces just for the sauteed peppers and onions)
• 5 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 green onion, chopped
• 1 avocado, cubed
• 1 mango, cubed
• 1 zucchini, thick sliced
• Cantaloupe, cubed
• strawberries, halved
•  grapes, whole

Throw last three produce items in a tupperware and store in fridge.  Grab a few for yourself to snack on while you prepare the rest.

Make this Mango Avocado Salad.  Store in tupperware in the fridge. Comes together in less than 10 minutes and keeps for up to four days!

I began boiling the water for the Best Ever Pasta Salad while I was making the Mango Salad. Once pasta is done, make pasta salad.  Store in tupperware in fridge.

Chop 1 lb. top sirloin and add to a gallon ziploc bag with 1 chopped pepper, 1 skewer-sized onion, 1 chopped zuccini and this marinade.  Lay flat in fridge overnight.

Saute the sliced pepper and onions in a little olive oil.  Once tender crisp, transfer to a small tupperware in fridge.

Bag the tomatoes and green peppers in a small ziploc bag. Store in fridge overnight.

Bag all ingredients for meals together in separate plastic shopping bags. That made it soooo much easier to just grab a plastic shopping bag out of the cooler for each meal and know all the items were in it, rather than having to dig around for an hour like it’s your Tory Burch.

Things to remember in your dry foods bag:

• Heavy Duty Tin Foil
• 4 skewers
• Paper Towels
• Anti-bacterial
• Baby Wipes
• 2 steak knives
• Paper plates, cups and utensils
• Grill utensils
• Mustard
• Lemon Pepper seasoning

Now that you’re prepped – stay tuned for all the Camping for Foodies recipes tomorrow including…

Lemon Butter Campfire Salmon with Mango Slaw

Hungryman Camping Breakfast

Healthy Hiker’s Lunch

Soy-Marinated Sirloin Skewers with Grilled Asparagus and Best Ever Pasta Salad

• And the best camping secret EVER!