Cooking with kids on a camping trip, with recipes

Cooking for kids on a camping trip can be…fun. Often it goes something like this: You’re 20 minutes into trying to find the griddle that you know you put at the bottom of that one box, and then Jimmy asks what we’re having for breakfast, and then you find the griddle, but now where is the mix?

Then Ashley wants to know where the Band-Aids are, and can you get poison ivy if you touch it with your clothes on? And, by the way, she announces, she hates pancakes. Jimmy comes back to announce that he’s hungry, right now.

The banana-peanut butter recipe makes great waffles.

They want this, they want that. “Ewwwww” to that. Are we having (fill in the blank with something you didn’t bring)? And you’d better have the stuff for s’mores on hand.

Cooking with kids, though, that can be a different story (a messier one, yes, but it’s all trade-offs here…). When they’ve had some say about what’s being made and they’re invested in the outcome, they’re usually – well, I say usually because we all know there are no guarantees here – more agreeable. At the very least, it keeps them from putting smelly things they find near the creek in each other’s sleeping bags. For now.

Here are two recipes that are big hits out on the road, and not only are they a blast to whip up with input from everyone in the family, they’re fairly forgiving. Note: You can speed up the pizza process if you make the pizza dough ahead and bring it along (it will keep, chilled, for up to two days), or bring commercially prepared pizza dough instead. And these toppings are just suggestions – if you have a kid who likes Froot Loops on his pie, why not?

Pizza on the Grill

Pizza dough

1 package (2 ¼ tsp.) active dry yeast

1 ½ cups warm water

¼ cup olive oil, plus more for oiling dough

4 cups flour, plus more for kneading

1 ½ tsp. salt

Pizza

Pizza dough (recipe below makes enough for six individual pizzas)

3 cups of your favorite pizza sauce

3-4 cups mozzarella cheese or mix of cheeses, grated

1 1/2 cups each of toppings, diced, sliced or chopped: black olives, ham, sausage (cooked), pepperoni, pineapple, onions, mushrooms, red or green peppers, fresh tomatoes, artichoke hearts, basil, sweet corn kernels.

Make the dough: Dissolve yeast in warm (not hot; check it on your wrist) water for five minutes. Add oil, flour and salt. Mix until blended, and then knead for eight minutes (kids love to do this; put a piece of aluminum foil on a table and flour it, and then turn them loose).

Cover the dough and put it somewhere to rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 1 ½ hours. When ready, punch down and allow to rise again until doubled, about another half hour.

Meanwhile, prepare charcoal grill or preheat gas grill to medium or 350 degrees. Tear six 12-inch sheets of aluminum foil and, using a piece of paper towel, slick with olive oil. Lightly oil everyone’s hands and divide dough into six equal portions, giving each person their own to flatten on a piece of aluminum foil and shape into a pizza (gently flatten and push into shape, and make a rim around the edges).

Flop each crust onto the grill dough side down, two at a time, and gently ease the foil off. Grill for about 3 minutes, or until the dough starts to puff up and the bottom looks like it’s getting slightly crispy. Using a large grill spatula, transfer each crust, grilled side up, back onto its foil and set aside. Repeat with the rest of the crusts. You can do this part several hours in advance; just let the crusts sit somewhere covered to keep bugs off.

Make the pizzas: Have all of the ingredients out – the sauce, the cheese and the toppings – so that everyone is able to reach to custom-assemble a pizza. They should first slather on about a half cup of sauce, then the same amount of cheese, and then the toppings.

Using a large grill spatula (sometimes two is better), carefully lift or slide each pizza from the aluminum foil and put it back on the grill (depending on how large your grill is, you can grill two or three at a time). Cook, with the lid on or top down, until the cheese melts, the toppings are heated and the bottom of the pizza is nice and crispy and evenly browned (sometimes you have to rotate the pizzas). It usually takes about 5-6 minutes. Makes 6 individual-size pizzas.

Peanut Butter & Banana Pancakes

2/3 cup of pancake or waffle batter, made according to package directions (whole grain, buckwheat and buttermilk all work well with this recipe)

1 banana, cut into small pieces

2 tablespoons peanut butter, creamy or chunky

Honey or maple syrup for topping

Stir banana and peanut butter into batter. Heat griddle over medium-high heat. Spoon portions of the mixture onto the hot griddle – feel free to make shapes, such as Mickey Mouse or hearts – and cook on each side until golden. Serve with honey or syrup. Makes about 8 medium pancakes

The roadtripster is the handle of a longtime Coloradan who travels the country by any means possible, sometimes in an RV, sometimes car camping or in the backcountry, with kids and without.