Travel Cooking

It was just a few days after our celebration of Jesus’ journey from cross to garden, from death to life that we began a journey of our own.  Maybe that’s just a fancy way of saying that spring break came right after Easter this year, but after celebrating the resurrection, we seemed all the more ready to embark on a new adventure.  This time, to central Florida.

Our family recently purchased a new pop-up camper, and I can’t tell you how much we have enjoyed it already.  The pop-up allows us to travel on a level somewhere between roughing it and not.  Our son loves the slide out beds while our daughter loves the constant opportunity to play outside.  The camper not only sleeps our family comfortably, but gives us a nice place to eat together, and even – most important to me - cook our own meals.

So . . . I made some extensive meal plans for our trip.  I imagined things would be much tougher than they actually turned out to be, and I took my recipes from camping websites where the assumption was that we would be cooking over an open fire.   I had two gas burners, so that kind of qualifies.  The other assumption, which I loved, was that kids would be involved and that the recipe would need to be simple and fun.

And so we had scrambled eggs with cheese and goldfish crackers on the day we saw the Tampa Aquarium, and Banana Boats for desert on the day we went to the Okefenokee Swamp.  Not every food was themed specifically for the day’s activities, but they were all pretty fun and good.

Travel is all about seeing new things and enjoying new experiences.  In this trip, not only did we get to visit places we had never been, but we got to live life just a little closer to nature.  We fended for ourselves just a little bit more than before, living not only just a little closer to the land, but closer to our neighbors in the next campsite as well.

Common wisdom tells us that we find God in unexpected places.  Having traveled and witnessed the never-before-seen, I know that that is true.  God can be found in the prairies of Florida, the swamps of Georgia and the state parks and campsites across the country.  Each one had its own beauty, and each one was made by God.

Travel if you can.  If you can’t, look harder at your own locale.  The more you see, the more you will know of God’s imagination and the indescribable love that brought about an amazing and varied world.  This world may not belong to us, but we get to be willing participants in each day.  Don’t miss that opportunity.

Blessed eating!

One of my favorite dishes on the trip.

Black Cherry Dump Cake

Chocolate Cake Mix                        1 Stick Butter

1 Can Cherry Pie Filling

Pour cherry pie filling into pot or Dutch oven.  Cover with Chocolate Cake Mix.  Slice butter and place on top of cake mix.  Cook until done.