Outdoor Cooking

Cooking and eating a meal outdoors with your family can be a lot of fun. With the help of your mom, dad, or another older person, you can cook these recipes when you are picnicking, camping, or in your backyard. The “Prickly Porcupine Mallows” or the “Treasure Cave Cakes” would also make a fun activity as well as a delicious treat for family home evening.

Grilled Kabobs

6 cherry tomatoes

6 metal or soaked wooden skewers

1 pound (.45 kg) cooked sausage or other meat of your choice, cut into 1/2″ (1.3 cm) chunks

1 green pepper, cored and cut into 1″ (2.5 cm) pieces

1 onion, cut into wedges

1 zucchini, cut into 1/2″ (1.3 cm) slices

6 large button mushrooms

Thread a vegetable onto each skewer. Fill each skewer with pieces of sausage, mushrooms, and vegetables, topping it with a vegetable.
Grill the kabobs over medium hot coals for 10–15 minutes or until the vegetables are crisp-tender and the meat is done.
For each serving, place a skewer over a mound of Herbed Rice (see recipe on this page).

Treasure Cave Cakes

By Heather Hatch Brinkerhoff

10–12 oranges

1 package (18 1/4 ounces/517 g) cake mix, any flavor

any additional ingredients listed on the cake mix package

aluminum foil

To make a lid, cut off the top of each orange.
With a metal spoon, scrape out the insides of each orange into a bowl. Set the pulp and juice aside to be eaten later.
Make the cake mix according to the package directions.
Fill each orange “bowl” 1/2 full of the cake batter; put the lids on. Carefully wrap each orange separately in aluminum foil, making sure the foil is sealed tightly.
Place the wrapped orange cakes on the coals, lid side up. Bake for 15–20 minutes or until the cake is done.

Herbed Rice

By Lindsey Greenhalgh

2 tablespoons butter/margarine

2 tablespoons cooking oil

4 cups cooked white or brown rice

2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

2 tablespoons finely chopped chives

seasoning salt to taste

Melt the butter/margarine with the oil in a large frying pan. Stir in the rice, and cook over medium heat for 3 minutes.
Mix in the herbs and seasoning salt; cook for 5 more minutes.

Prickly Porcupine Mallows

By Heather Hatch Brinkerhoff

1 can (16 ounces/454 g) chocolate flavor syrup

1 package (7 ounces/198 g) coconut

1 package (10 ounces/284 g) marshmallows

roasting sticks

Open the can of chocolate syrup and carefully place it on the grill or in the hot coals to heat.
Spread the coconut on a large plate.
Have each person place a marshmallow on a roasting stick and toast it over the coals until golden.
While the marshmallow is still on the cooking stick, dip it in the chocolate syrup, roll in the coconut, let cool, then enjoy!
You might want to try this variation: a can of heated caramel sauce and chopped peanuts or crushed pretzels.

Photos by Craig Dimond