Ingredients:

2 lbs cubed beef

vegetable oil

celery

carrots

onion

sliced mushrooms

2 cloves of minced garlic

2 bay leaves

1 tsp thyme

1 tblsp tomato paste

1 tblsp flour

1 cup red wine, you could also use beer but in either case choose something you would drink. If you want to forgo alcohol use stock. 

2 cans of diced tomatoes

1 carton of beef stock

Dumpling Mix:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tblsp baking powder

3/4 cup milk

fresh chopped parsley, rosemary, oregano

To prep before camp: 

The beef was pre-cubed stew meat, but I did consolidate it into 1 bag and flatten to freeze better and stay cold longer in the cooler.  

I pre-chopped a mix of diced carrots, celery, mushrooms and onion along with minced garlic, thyme, bay leaves and stored it in a plastic quart soup container to save time by adding all the “aromatics” in step 2! Since the base was going to be cooking for a few hours, I then rough chopped another mix of just celery and carrots to add towards the end so the stew would have a little bit of veggie texture. 

Finally I created a small freezer bag of dumpling mix dry ingredients, and packed 2 tablespoons of flour in a small bag. I brought more flour than the recipe called for in case the stew hadn’t thickened to my liking.  

Packing Prep-Pro Tip: Don’t forget to label all of the bags that you are preparing. Not only will it allow someone else to easily identify them so they can help you, but it will be difficult to distinguish between ingredients if you are cooking in low light so help yourself out too. I will often write the key instructions on the bag so I can’t forget a step by mistake. Each meal get’s it’s own recycling tote bag that contains the ingredients, recipes, specialty tools, etc so its all in one place when it’s go time! 

Instructions:

1. Season cubed beef with salt and pepper, add oil to dutch oven to heat then brown beef on all sides. Work in batches taking care not to overcrowd the pan.

2. Remove the browned beef and add your base of diced carrots, celery, mushroom, onion, minced garlic, thyme, bay leaves. Cook for a few minutes and then add the tomato paste, saute for 10 minutes. 

Pro Tip: I bought pop-up “food tents” to keep flies away from the large mixing bowl I used to temporarily store the beef when you remove it from the pot after browning. Comes in very handy for all kinds of food serving at camp!

3. Add browned beef back to the pot and sprinkle with a tablespoon of flour, mix to combine until none remains. 

4. Pour a cup of wine into the pot to de-glaze, scraping up the delicious browned bits of flavor that have developed on the bottom of your dutch oven. Cook down, then add the canned tomatoes and enough beef stock to cover the vegetables/beef. 

5. Place over the hot coals on your campfire and let it cook down for an hour (or two wouldn’t hurt!). 

6. When you are a half an hour away from dinner, add the remaining bags of sliced mushrooms, and rough cut carrots and celery. Cook uncovered while you prep the dumpling mix by adding 3/4 cup of milk and mixing together.  

7. Add tablespoons of dumplings to the pot and cook covered for another 25 minutes (or until the dumplings are firm, try not to check too much and let the steam out!)

8. Garnish with fresh parsley and serve. 

Camp Champs Review: 

It might seem daunting to make with the long cook time in between, but here’s how I made it easy and boiled down to a few steps. We made this the first night, so as soon as the major camp things were set up I sent everyone off to collect firewood and start the fire so I’d have embers for cooking. I puttered around putting things away and organizing stuff then started cooking on the new camp box using our propane stove. By the time I got to step 5, the fire had been going for a few minutes and we could separate some early coals under the grill. 

I served this with stuffed mushrooms as an appetizer (prepped in advance) and threw on the campfire grill when people told me they were getting hungry about an hour and a half later. They heated through in about 15 minutes then I started step 6 while everyone munched. 

We finally had the opportunity to camp with some great friends who we have never gone out with before, and a few other friends and family members were able to get away for the holiday weekend too. Originally, we planned to return to the Haldeman Tract, but were displaced to the Greenland tract nearby due to some construction. I was glad for the opportunity to explore a new tract we hadn’t visited before, and since we went for the long weekend we were able to make the short drive (30-40 minutes) over to Haldeman to walk the Forest Demonstration trail, picnic at the hang gliding vista and visit Broad Mountain vineyard in Elizabethville. We took home a bottle of the Black Creek red this time, and since our last visit they added a craft beer selection! They also had bloody mary’s and live music we missed earlier for Labor Day.

The campsite was about a quarter mile up a wooded trail with a slight incline. We had a lot of stuff, but also a lot of people so it wasn’t too strenuous. Next time we would consider asking a friend to bring their beach gear wagon so the haul is slightly easier. The site itself is an open clearing at closer to the top of the mountain. The gravel pad with the fire pit and picnic table is large and level, we were able to fit 9 chairs around comfortably in a half circle with the picnic table a comfortable distance spanning the other end. Since the site is open, be prepared to bring or make your own shade! The canopy our friends brought was a lifesaver with the sun boiling right down on us during the day. It was supposed to rain on Sunday, but at the last minute changed and we had beautiful weather all said and done. Since we were at the top of the mountain, it did get cold quickly when the sun went down, but we were comfortable in our tents and by the fire. 

Pictured: The trail leading up to the campsite, taken standing in front of the rocks blocking the parking area. We were able to fit 2 cars, 1 van and 1 SUV and could have had room for another vehicle. 

There’s another large open area near the gravel pad where we set up the tents. You can see from the photos that the ground dips slightly in the middle, creating what I speculated after visiting the Forest Demonstration area is a vernal pond. The guide we picked up at the trail says that these temporary bodies of fresh water are important to local amphibian life, and we did observe tadpoles in the small shallow pool! It was easy to tell from the ground where the water line is, and be warned traveling in the spring there will be less room for tents in the same place we have them pictured. We also enjoyed watching the birds that came to drink. I hoped to hear the unique “pleased pleased pleased to meet cha”! call of the Chestnut-sided Warbler after learning about that in the Forest Demonstration area, but it wasn’t hanging out near us this time. 

Pictured: The panoramic view of the campsite, hopefully illustrating the slope in the middle where the pool is (not pictured). And the sweet fancy canopy our friends brought which saved our butts in the heat of the day.  

The only other “wildlife” observed were tons and tons of insects. Lots of large spiders, 100% crawling on everything on the ground - both harmless daddy long legs and questionably harmless but only interested in eating our birthday cake big guy spiders. They were pretty cool and didn’t really bother anyone too much. We also saw some really cool grasshoppers, in assorted blue green colors.  And then there were the enormous dinosaur wasps, one of which stung me while we were asleep on our last night. It must have followed us into our tent after we turned the lantern off. Honestly it hurt like hell, but I experienced a normal amount of aching and swelling the next day which only added insult to injury to my hangover. I wouldn’t want to mess with the wasps, but knowing that now I may consider bringing wasp spray and give the canopy a quick once over before setting it up. We had citronella torches, which either we didn’t need otherwise or were extremely effective.  

There was still plenty of wood in the forest surrounding the campsite, and we were able to process the dry wood quickly. One benefit of the open site was the chance for amazing stargazing, which was a surprise because we thought it was going to rain! We got to busy setting up camp when we arrived, and when everyone else started collecting and processing the wood to get the fire started, I had to get the dinner started which was simple prep but needed a long time to cook. Tom and I wound up taking turns between setting up the camp box/prep at the fire/setting up the tent in stages... we didn’t realize that neither of us had put the rain fly on the tent until everyone else had gone to bed! Rookie mistake. We managed to get the fly somewhat? askew onto the tent and gave up because 1) we were laughing hysterically and didn’t want to wake anyone up and 2) had a few and it was late. While that was pretty stupid and I was a little cold when I rolled over a few times in the night, I did spend a significant amount of time staring at the stars just... completely enthralled. It was a great experience that I wouldn’t recommend repeating under the threat of rain was but so worth the experience of sleeping under the stars. 

Another wonderful surprise at the campsite - wild oregano! It was cropping up everywhere and smelled amazing. We threw it onto the fire but did not eat it. On that note... onto what we ate:

Camp Champs Chomps:

Saturday lunch: Troeg’s brewery, to fill up our growlers and to meet up with some of the group for lunch. We tried a little of everything between us (beer and food) and it was all really great. 

Saturday dinner: Campfire stuffed mushrooms as an appetizer, couscous with herbs & vinaigrette, campfire beef stew with herbed dumplings, lime birthday cake for our camp brother’s b-day!

Sunday breakfast: Assemble and bake your own breakfast sandwich foil packets on the campfire, generously provided by my sister in law who couldn’t make it at the last minute. She sent pre-cooked bacon & eggs, slices of cheese, bagels and sandwich thins to make into breakfast sandwiches, which turned out really good and fun to make. She also made apple cinnamon muffins to munch on while the sammies heated on last night’s embers - so thoughtful!

Sunday lunch: A fabulous picnic of  various sandwich fixings, delicious deli breads and homemade pasta salads - a couscous salad with feta, mint and cucumbers, and a mexican bean salad brought by our old pals and new camp champions. Perfect feast to enjoy with the views of the rolling hills of Pennsylvania. They even thought to bring a sweet treat - a bag of peanut M&M’s! MMM!

Saturday dinner: campfire spinach and artichoke dip with pita chips for an appetizer, while Tom prepared his famous lemon Alfredo pasta with chicken, served with zucchini. 

Monday breakfast: Leftover breakfast sandwiches, muffins and snacks as we packed up camp

If you need to stay connected: T-Mobile had no service through most of the Greenland tract of the state forest, Sprint & AT&T had some, our Verizon friend had a hot spot so she was in good shape. While you may not have had service at the site, it was a short trip down the hill to get in range if needed.

Useful maps:  

Google Map to Campsite location (not exact but very close)

Day One lunch: ham and cheese sandwiches

- served with chips and fruit (which doubled as snacks all day)

Day One dinner: Bratwurst rolls served with sauteed sauerkraut with diced potatoes and onions 

- Everything happens in one pot! First, add the diced potatoes and onions to your dutch oven with a little oil or butter. After the onions start to turn translucent (just a few minutes), add the can or jar of sauerkraut and your brats. You could add a quarter cup (or two, who’s measuring) of beer to enhance the flavor as well. Let it all heat through and serve on a sliced roll with your favorite mustard. 

- As I mentioned we were recovering from post-family-wedding-weekend exhaustion so we kept it stupidly simple, but you could easily add more side dishes and toppings to suit your tastes. This trip we couldn’t build a fire, but toasting the buns slightly before serving would also be an excellent touch. PS- we asked our super thoughtful friend who is always asking what he can bring when he camps with us to pick up buns! One less thing for us to worry about, and he found perfect challah buns that upgraded our entire meal.      

Day Two breakfast: bacon and egg wraps