My family went on a camping trip this past weekend!  I have not been camping in 12 years, yikes!  Needless to say, I was a little nervous about the whole experience.  I had thoughts like: “How am I going to keep the tent clean?” “How do I keep the insects out of my tent?” “I don’t want hot dogs and smores every night (though the smores were pretty darn good), what we will eat?” “What if I freeze?” “How much bug spray is too much?” “How sanitary are the bathrooms, wait, are there bathrooms?”  Ha, laugh if you want but these are seriously the thoughts I had. 

Before I had a total melt down, my husband reassured me that everything would be fine! Did you gals get that he said fine, not good, but fine.  So, I took a deep breath and told myself I will go and do this for the sake of my family.  This did not prevent me from making a list of things to bring that fit on a legal pad piece of paper. If I was going, I was going to be prepared! That’s my motto, Prepare to be Prepared…just kidding…well, not really…

It was cold, ok, that one was actually a rational fear…I think I actually froze one night! On the whole, though, it was one of the most enjoyable times I have had with my family in a really long time.  To be away from TV and Video Games, and get back to the roots of everything was really nice.  It makes you realize how beautiful this earth is and how beautiful family is. Needless to say, yes, I “Wanna Get Away” and go camping again with my family!

With that said, let me share with you some AWESOME camping recipes to keep you from starving or having to eat hot dogs each night. This will add complete simplicity into your cooking and make it eatable at the same time. I hope you and your family enjoy them so very much and remember, cherish these special moments together and create memories that will last a lifetime!

Camp Fire Muffins

• 6 Oranges
• 2 Pkgs. Muffin Mix, any flavor

Directions:
Cut oranges in half and scoop out orange segments (it is the hollowed peel shells that you need, but keep the fruit for use with fruit salad or juice). Prepare the muffin mix according to package directions. Fill the orange peel cups half full of batter. Wrap each one loosely with heavy duty aluminum foil. Place in hot coals and make certain the batter side stays up. Cook 5 - 10 minutes, until muffins are done.

 Camp Pocket Dinner

• Ground Hamburger or Chicken
• Potatoes, sliced
• Carrots, sliced
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Foil Bag
• Garlic Powder, Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:
Season meat with garlic, salt & Pepper to your tastes. Shape the meat into a patty, slice potatoes and carrots and toss Worcestershire sauce, garlic, salt & pepper. Place the veggies over the meat and wrap in a foil bag. Cook on the coals until the meat is done and the veggies are tender.

 Pineapple Upside Down Cake

• Cake Donuts
• Pineapple Slices
• Butter
• Brown Sugar

Directions:
Take a large square of aluminum foil. Cut a cake donut in half. Lay a pineapple slice on the donut half. Put a few dollops of butter on. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Put other half of donut on top and seal tightly in foil. Lay on coals for about 10-15 minutes. Open carefully as it will be very hot.

Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and you realize Fall is in the air!  I Love fall - it’s my favorite time of year!  I love the leaves changing, pumpkins, hayrides, bon fires with yummy smores, and not to mention all the fun get togethers you can have!!!!

I am always in a dilemia trying to figure out what to bring to our little gatherings we have with family and friends. Of course, it has to be sooo cute and fun.  I found this awesome way to use a pumpkin as a serving dish and put any kind of soup in it! Yes, that’s right, a pumpkin as a serving dish! Who would of thought?!? I love this and I am using it to take to our Church’s Fall Festival and I am going to put some yummy Chili in it and surround the base of the pumkin with crackers! How cute is that!

I would never leave you hanging, so, here are the directions to make this adorable

PUMPKIN SERVING DISH

Wash the pumpkin with warm water and pat dry. Cut away a round section on top of the pumkpin to form a lid. Scoop out the seeds and stringy mass with a large spoon.

Spray the pumpkin inside and out with a non-stick oil cooking spray. Lightly sprinkle the inside with salt. Spray a heavy baking sheet with cooking spray also. Place the pumpkin on the baking sheet. Place the lid aside of the pumpkin, cut side down.

Bake at 325° for 1 hour or slightly longer, depending on the size of the pumpkin. Bake until the inside of the pumpkin shell just begins to soften. The shell will be a deep orange color and have a shine from the cooking spray. Do not over bake. An over baked shell will not support the weight of the soup. Remove from oven. Very gently scoop out any remaining stringy areas you might have missed. Check the bottom of the the lid as well.

Again, as always a wonderful way to have fun in the fall and add Simplicity to your lives!

Enjoy!!!!

�

As my little guy started Kindergarten this past week it really sank in that as life goes on we need to “MAKE IT COUNT”!  Life tends to get the best of our time and we loose track of the moments we should cherish.  So from having your little guy start Kindergarten, to someone needing a pick me up, to taking a minute to recognize a good deed, take the TIME to MAKE IT COUNT!

To MAKE IT COUNT does not take alot of time or money.  For my little boy’s first day of Kindergarten I came home threw in some easy bake chocolate chip cookies ( as I boo-hooed), which took 15 minutes. During the 15 minutes I put a load of clothes onto wash and folded a load of clothes which I am all about making the best of my time.  Then I took a paper lunch bag put some of the cookies in the bag folded the top and put a ribbon thru it and ta-dah! A special treat bag to let my little guy know I love him and I really care about his BIG Day.  I gave it to him when he got in the car from school and the look on his face was pure excitement! I have also done the same thing as a Thank You to some of my friends! So here is to Making It Count and still having simplicity in your life.

During the summer months, the heat gets the best of everything.  It gets hot outside, inside, and sometimes you just can’t escape it.  Unfortunately the heat can make smells worse than ever.  I am such a clean freak that smells just drive me crazy and sometimes our kitchen sinks just STINK! So, I am always looking for those effective cleaning tips to bring simplicity into my life.  So LADIES, here is a little secret of mine to help clean those stinky kitchen sinks:

Pour down several quarts of boiling water to flush out grease. Do double-duty by adding 1 cup of baking soda followed by 1 cup of white vinegar down the drain; then sprinkle more baking soda in the sink to scrub clean.

The best part about this cleaning tip is the products you use are cheap and most everyone has them already on hand.  So, here’s to keeping the kitchen sink clean and to bringing that word I love “Simplicity” back into our lives!

Have you ever made pasta and after draining the water the pasta is sticky? Ugh, is all I have to say about that!  I am all about Simplicity in the kitchen so don’t fret, I will let you in on a little secret on helping reduce the sticky out of your pasta! 

Once you have put your water in the pan to cook your pasta just grab your pam and spray the top of the water and then give your water a little stir so when you add your pasta and cook it, it will come out smoother! Ta-Dah! Simple & Quick Trick that puts Simplicity back into your Kitchen! Now who doesn’t love that!

Well Hello There!

The above image is our “New Girl” and we need a name for her.  So we are asking for your help!  All you have to do is leave a comment with the name you think we should use to name our “New Girl”.   So get your creative juices going and submit the name you think we should use.  There will be one winner that will receive a $50 American Express Gift Card. 

She will be used on a lot of things including our blog, as a watermark, on marketing materials and so forth.

There will also be a random comment entry winner that will be picked from a random number generator.  So even if the name you submitted doesn’t get picked your comment will be entered into a random number contest, for a $25 American Express Gift Card

The Rules:

1. Leave a comment on this post, before midnight EST Wednesday, June 11, 2008.

2. Make sure to provide your e-mail address and phone number so we can notify you that you have won!

3. We will announce the winner here on Monday, June 23, 2008 and we will also e-mail the winner to notify him/her.

4. The winner must release a photograph to Simplicity Gourmet of his/her image for any web or print media.

5. You can only enter once!

**We reserve the right to not use the name submitted, but a winner will be chosen for best creativity!**

Good luck!

My kids which are 5 and 3 and they are soooo worried about hurrying up and eating so they can go play or they have no desire to eat what I fixed b/c it’s those YUCKY things (as my 5 yr. old calls them) called vegetables. So I was reading in this book and heard that if you make the dining experience enjoyable then they will be more engaged in eating than running off.  I thought to my self this is a scam, it couldn’t be real that it was just that simple.  So I went to the store and bought 6 little candles (a little bigger than tealights) and 1 big candle and I lined them down my dining room table.  At dinner I lit the candles and called them up for dinner.  THEY LOVED THE CANDLES, they thought it was so cool.  So I told them if you eat  half of your food you get to blow out 3 candles each, BUT if you eat all your food you get to blow out ALL the Candles including the Big one.  Now, I would have to light the candles again for my 2 yr old. when she was done but it works.  Not to mention it was a relaxing atmosphere.   Try it, what do you have to lose?  Remember a Family that eats together stays together!

So here’s to setting the mood!