Easy Camping Recipes & A Peek into Our Camping Weekend

Heath and I took the kids camping! We rented a beautiful, new camper from some friends of ours. The site was already set up so comfortably and it was honestly the best way for us to camp since we don’t own a camper or even a truck. This was a quick getaway about 30 minutes away from home the first weekend of May, which meant beautiful weather here in Kentucky!

I’ve only been camping with my family in the fall, so late spring camping after the pollen count died down and before the humidity and mosquitoes get bad was so nice! It was perfect for cozy throws, coffee and campfires in the early morning and late nights, but hot enough for shorts, sandals, biking, watermelon and popsicles during the day.  Best of both worlds!

My favorite things about camping are the very quiet early mornings before everyone else in my camper—or in the campground— is up and moving around yet. 

It’s special to step outside with my first cup of coffee that I soooo very quietly made (not to wake the kids) and enter the fresh air as the sun is coming up through the woods. Then I usually make a small fire in the fire pit and snuggle with my coffee and soak up the fact that I’m surrounded by nature—God’s creation!

We enjoyed all the food that we made. I kept it very simple: roasted hotdogs with chips and queso dip (which was delicious!) and gooey s’mores the first night. 

S’mores are a must, especially for Rosemary!

So lets talk queso dip! This recipe was different than I usually make, and so very good! It had the best spice and smoky undertones about it. It was so delicious that I want to share the very easy recipe with you!

Smoky and Spicy Queso Dip

8 oz. pepper jack cheese, cubed

Half brick of Velvetta, cubed

Jar of salsa verde (I initially used just shy of a full jar and it was perfect for me.)

A few dashes of Cumin

Put everything together in a cast iron or another pot, and heat until everything is gooey and melted! Stir every few minutes so it doesn’t burn. 

I cooked ours in cast iron skillet I brought along with us, over a hot grill. It’s delicious with tortilla chips!

All outside cooking! Hearty meals to fuel days full of playing. 

For breakfasts we had pancakes cooked on the griddle, which was really delicious and fun, and sausage in the cast iron pan over the grill. 

Lunch was simply sub sandwiches with deli ham and various cheese with chips and pickles.

Dinner the second night was delicious! I made some chili at home the evening before we left and brought it in my red Dutch oven. I heated that up over the fire because why not!? We are roughing it after all! Lol!

( In hindsight, I don’t recommend doing this unless you’re using a cast iron Dutch oven that’s not glazed. I may have ruined that pot. I can’t get the blackness off and it still smells like smoke, but it was very inexpensive. I’ve used this pot it hundreds of times over the last 13 years. Lol.) You live and learn.

We had the hearty chili with some fried cornbread made on the griddle, and we roasted a few more hotdogs for those who wanted chili dogs and finished the cheese dip. Very cozy and perfect for camping!  

Dessert was the favorite of everybody’s though!.. I made a classic campfire cherry dump cake, except I cooked it over the grill! I have never made any dessert on the grill before, but I was improvising since I didn’t have a cast iron Dutch oven to make it in the fire, and the pan was too big for the camper’s oven. This grilled cherry dump cake turned out so delicious!!! Oh my word. I think we were all pleasantly surprised. It’s good enough the kids want me to make it at home, too. To serve with some vanilla or butter pecan ice cream would take it over the top!  

The beauty of this recipe is that it so easy and only requires the cake mix, cherries and butter! The cinnamon and almond extract are optional.  Like any dump cake, you simply dump or layer the ingredients.. no stirring required! This is my kind of food when camping!

“Campfire” Cherry Dump Cake

1 Box Yellow Cake Mix

1 Can Cherry Pie Filling

1 Stick of Butter, Melted (1/2 c.)

A sprinkle of Cinnamon, optional

1 tsp. Almond Extract, optional, I didn’t use this

-Spray or butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. (Sometimes I just rub the butter’s wax paper after I’ve taken the butter out of it.)

-Mix the almond extract, if using, with the cherries and pour the can of cherries into the pan and spread evenly. 

-Sprinkle the box of dry cake mix over the top of the cherries. Drizzle melted butter over the dry cake mix, although it won’t cover all the cake mix and that’s ok. 

-Lightly sprinkle cinnamon all over, if using. It’s as simple as that! 

-Bake in an oven for about 50 minutes or until light golden brown. Or bake it on a closed grill set on med-high for about 20-30 minutes. I don’t have an exact time for this because I just winged it. But I would say to check every 10 minutes or so and take off when you can start to smell it and it becomes light golden brown and bubbly. It took me about 25 minutes to bake!

-Let cool enough to eat and enjoy! We loved this super simple dessert!

I hope this gives you some easy, simple ideas for your next camping trip! We don’t always eat so rich, and we did have some fruit in there and lots of water, but overall we were doing a lot of biking and the kids were playing non-stop outside so this food fueled us well. Summertime is basically here, and my family is here for it! Let me know if you make either of these delicious recipes and let me know what you think.