Glamping + All-Purpose Griddle Cakes {plus, camping tricks only Boy Scouts know!}

photos by sara Remington

The coming of labor day has me itching to go camping. I'm not talking about glamping--I mean real, hardcore camping. When I grew up, camping was a pop-tent trailer {ahem, that I once fell out of when I was 18 months old} or a utilitarian-tan canvas tent on wooden flats, ala Girl Scouts Troop 209 {and girl scouts, if you're reading this, what your counselor tells you about not keeping sweets or snacks in your tent for fear of raccoon raids IS true!}. 

There's a lot of fuss about modern day luxury camps, and I'll admit that though we were hardcore pre-babe, traveling with only a two-person tent, down-filled sleeping bags and my stash of {yard-sale} curated enamel and stainless camping cookware, I'm tempted by those upscale options now. I might even have collected a few fantasy ideas for luxe camping set-ups on my pinterest pages. But the truth is, to live large in a tent, all you really need is a smallish cast-iron pan, a reliable camping stove and an equally dependable recipe for griddle cakes, preferably that you've mixed up in advance. Stash the dry goods in a plastic bag and throw into your ice chest along with a few eggs, a stick of butter and milk, which you'll need anyway for coffee when the early morning light creeps in through the cracks in your tent. 

There's a good deal about camping in the Escapes chapter of my book, The Newlywed Cookbook, because it was in a tent that I truly fell in love with my hubby, watching him maneuver the wilderness like, well, a mountaineer. Swoon. And I'm not going to say that my handiness with my little cast-iron pan didn't have some sway on his heart, too. I made veggie paella for dinner {okay, a little overkill for camping} and these griddle cakes the next morning. Whatever your style of camping is, cooking on a live fire or the flicker of a camp-stove flame is the surest way to a simpler life, which we could probably all use a little dose of, if only for a night. 

photos by sara remington 

{Glamp Like a Pro} Griddle Cakes

At home, mix together 3/4 cup/ 90 grams white whole-wheat/wholemeal flour, 1/4 cup/ 35 grams cornmeal or semolina flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt in a sturdy plastic or stainless steel container big enough to stir your batter in the next day. At the campsite, add 1 egg and 1 cup/240 ml of the milk you brought for coffee. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the cast-iron skillet, pour into the batter. Seal the container tightly and shake it around to mix well, or stir with a fork. Add an extra pat of butter to the skillet. Pour about 3 tablespoonfuls of pancake batter {you can eyeball this} into the skillet and cook until bubbly. Flip with a spatula to cook through. Repeat with remaining batter, adding a little more butter if you like extra crispy edges.  Serve with pure maple syrup and wild berries. When you’re all done, wipe the skillet with paper towel/absorbent paper so it’s ready for lunch.