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CONTACT BALOO

Write to Baloo (Click Here) to offer contributions, suggest ideas, express appreciation, or let Commissioner Dave know how you are using the materials provided here. Your feedback is import. Thanks.

Baloo's Bugle

July 2006 Cub Scout Roundtable Issue

Volume 12, Issue 12
August 2006 Theme

Theme: Scouting It Out
Webelos: Naturalist & Forester
Tiger Cub
Activities

CUB GRUB

Backyard Ice Cream
Baltimore Area Council

Supplies

1 - 1 pound coffee can w/lid
1 - 3 pound coffee can w/lid
2 10” squares aluminum foil
1 roll duct tape

Ingredients

½ pint milk
1 - 13 oz. can evaporated milk
1 pkg. instant pudding
1 pound rock salt (any flavor)
1 qt. crushed ice
For more flavor use fruit, chocolate chips, nuts, etc.

Directions

  • Into one pound can add the pudding mix, evaporated milk and enough fresh milk to fill can to the ¾ point.
  • Stir very well.
  • Place aluminum foil squares over can top and press plastic lid on.
  • Secure lid with several wrappings of duct tape across top of lid and several more holding the lid on the sides.
  • Place shallow layer of crushed ice into the three-pound can.
  • Sprinkle with rock salt.
  • Place one-pound can in three pound can.
  • Alternate layers of crushed ice and rock salt, filling the three-pound can.
  • Secure lid with aluminum foil and duct tape as before.
  • Roll or otherwise agitate the can for 20 minutes (perfect opportunity for a game!).
  • Remove the ice cream and enjoy. Makes about a quart.

Scout Tacos
Baltimore Area Council

Ingredients

1 pkg. Taco Seasoning mix
Lettuce
2 pounds hamburger
Tomatoes
1 15 oz. can Ranch Style Beans
Cheese, shredded
1 medium onion, chopped

Directions

  • Sprinkle salt in bottom of Dutch oven.
  • Follow directions on Taco Seasoning mix.
  • Be sure not to add too much water.
  • Add beans.
  • Cook until beans are hot.
  • Serve mixture on Doritos or Fritos.
  • On top, sprinkle lettuce, tomatoes, cheese & onions.

Campfire Foil Dinner
Baltimore Area Council

There are lots of variations of this most simple meal on the web.  You might want to do some research to find a combination you like.  CD

In a square piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil, place enough of each of the following to make one serving:

sliced potatoes
thin ground beef patty
sliced carrots
sliced onions
salt and pepper
a small amount of water
mushrooms, if you like them
Creamed soup (chicken, mushroom) may be substituted for water

Water is necessary to steam the food.  Without water, food will burn
Cook package on hot coals for approximately 15 minutes on each side.
Pork chops and chicken breasts are also good this way.

Folding the Aluminum Foil -

  • Place the food in the center of the foil and pull the sides up to meet in the middle.
  • Crease the foil in the center, and fold over three times.
  • Fold the ends into triangles and fold toward the center.
  • Make sure the packet remains airtight – otherwise the water will escape when it turns to steam and the food will burn.

Dutch Oven Cobbler
Baltimore Area Council

Ingredients

1 White cake mix
brown sugar
1½ sticks butter or margarine
cinnamon
2 cans apple filling
         (or whatever fruit pie filling you prefer)

Directions

  • Put pie filling into Dutch oven together with about 3/4 can of water.
  • Sprinkle cinnamon over apples.
  • Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly into Dutch oven.
  • Do not mix or stir.
  • Cut butter into l/4 thick squares and cover cake mix.
  • Sprinkle cinnamon and brown sugar on top of butter.
  • Place lid on Dutch oven.
  • Put 4 pieces of hot charcoal under Dutch oven and 12 pieces on top of Dutch oven.
  • Cook about 45 minutes or until you can’t resist the aroma.
  • Peach cobbler can be made by using two cans of sliced peaches (29 oz. can) and eliminating the water.

Tin Can Cooking
Baltimore Area Council


Materials
To make a stove and buddy burner:

  • Stove: One No. 10 (one gallon) can, tin snips, kitchen can opener, punch-type can opener, pair of gardening gloves
  • Buddy Burner: one tuna or cat food can, rolled corrugated cardboard, scissors to cut the cardboard, paraffin wax Damper: aluminum foil or tuna-can lid, spring clothespin

Instructions:

To make the burner, cut the corrugated cardboard across the corrugation (so its holes show) into strips the same width as the height of the tuna can.

Roll the cardboard to fit inside the can and place it there,

Pour melted wax over the cardboard. Very carefully heat the wax in a double boiler. Caution: NEVER heat wax directly over flames. If the wax does burst into flames, smother it with a lid or similar covering. DO NOT use water to extinguish the flames.

The cardboard in the buddy burner serves as a wick. When it is lit the wax burns like a candle, providing heat for the stove. It will help when lighting the burner to hold the can on its side so the flames can spread across the surface of the cardboard more easily.

For the stove, first put on the gloves and then cut out one end of the No. 10 can with a kitchen can opener.

With a pair of tin snips cut a door about three inches high and four inches wide on the side of the can at the open end.

Leave the top of the door attached and carefully bend the door up toward the closed end. Use caution because the edges are razor sharp. At the top of the stove (the closed end) punch two to three smoke holes into the side opposite the cut-out door. This will allow the smoke to escape out the back of the stove.

Make a damper out of foil or the lid of a tuna can. The damper is the key to tin can cooking because it gives you the ability to control the level of heat. The easiest way to make a damper is with the lid of the tuna can that was used for the buddy burner.

Clip a spring clothespin to it for holding and protecting your fingers from both heat and cuts.

Position the damper over the burner can, sliding it forward or backward, to expose more or less flame. By controlling the fire this way you can have low, medium, or high heat.

Your stove is now complete and you’re ready to cook.

Foods to Cook on your Buddy Burner:

Eggs in a basket, bacon, hamburger, taco meat and the like are a few of the foods that can be prepared when you use the tin-can stove like a frying pan. The stove can also be used as an oven to bake items that require a short cooking time such as a small cake or cookies.

Frying: Light the buddy burner and place the tin can stove over it.  The stove will be ready to use in seconds.  Through the doorway adjust the damper over the buddy burner to create the desired heat.  The stove works fine for cooking hamburgers or pancakes.

Baking: Place three small ½-inch high rocks in a triangular formation on the stove. Place on the rocks a tuna can lid with enough cookie dough for one cookie, or a tuna can almost filled with cake batter. This position keeps the food above the stove surface, preventing burning, and allowing hot air to circulate completely around the food during baking.

To “close” the oven, cover the food with another can (like a coffee can). The covering can should be large enough to permit at least l/2 inch of open space. Use your imagination and cook away.

Foil Cooking
San Gabriel Valley, Long Beach  Area, Verdugo Hills Councils
Variations on the "Hamburger Foil Dinner

 
  • Just a touch of garlic salt makes a lot of difference. If you look at the labels in the stores, you will see that onion and garlic are part of almost everything! It doesn't take much to make it great. 
  • I like to use cabbage leaves to wrap it all in before I wrap in foil. A little catsup helps for some boys. I also add a few slices of onion. Around here, we never seem to have enough. The kids all go for seconds! 
  • We add Cream of Mushroom soup to our "hobos." It adds taste as well as additional moisture. A couple of tablespoons will do just fine. Yum-yum. 
  • Just skip the butter and add some soup. Cream of mushroom or something like that. When cooked slow it is wonderful. 
  • How about BBQ sauce, Worchester sauce, or even Italian dressing? 
  • Spices ... a measuring teaspoon of Italian seasoning or of curry powder or of chili powder wouldn't hurt it either. You might be able to combine BBQ and chili powder; or Italian dressing and Italian seasoning; I don't recommend mixing Worcestershire and curry powder though. 
  • We have spiced up our "hunters pack" aluminum foil dinners by adding Heinz 57 sauce. It is the boy's secret ingredient. It really makes a big difference. We've had boys finish one dinner and return to make seconds and thirds until all the ingredients are gone.  I remember some were just cooking the left-over onions or potatoes as long as they had the Heinz 57 left to spice them up.
  • Instead of hamburger, try Pork Loin, or Boneless Chicken Breast!   Also vary the vegetable ingredients to include slices of tomato, and/or bell peppers. BBQ sauces may be included also.  If you use chicken, try pineapple slices with mild BBQ sauce.  Ground turkey can be used instead of ground beef, and is "more healthy". 
  • I have had good luck asking the kids what they would like in their foil dinners. You'd be amazed at the great ideas they come up with. If, however, your den is gastronomically challenged :-), there are some things you can do to liven up those meals:  I've substituted Mrs. Dash, garlic pepper, Montreal seasoning, or any other favorite general- purpose seasoning for the pretty dull salt and pepper usually found in a foil dinner. We've added celery, green beans, and onions into our dinners for some additional variety. I've also had some good experiences substituting chicken for the beef, and making a pseudo stir-fry dinner using stir-fry oil instead of butter and spices. 
  • Also, consider replacing the hamburger with stew meat, cubed steak, or chicken or turkey breasts cut into stew meat sized cubes. As to spices, consider adding a part of a clove of fresh garlic. Smash it first.  You might also consider adding soy sauce, teriyaki, or plain old steak sauce.  Try adding small dough balls of biscuit mix for dumplings. 
  • In addition to the ingredients you mentioned, I always use onion, bell pepper, radishes, Lowry's Seasoned Salt (and/or Lowry's Seasoned Pepper), and Worcestershire sauce. In addition, I sometimes will use barbecue sauce and if someone thinks to bring some along, sweet potatoes (try it!). I have also seen other people use soy sauce, Tabasco, etc. 
  • Instead of salt and pepper, use seasoning salt and pepper. This makes it a whole lot less bland. Of course you could add Worchester sauce AFTER you are done cooking for those who like that.
  • One of my favorite additional ingredients in a foil dinner is a dash (maybe a big dash) of Wyler's bouillon granules. These add significantly to the flavor. I typically use Seasoned Salt instead of just plain salt. You also left out one of the main flavor ingredients, Onions. Anything in the onion family can add lots of flavor, try scallions or green onions if the boys are a little squeamish about yellow onions. Garlic (salt, powder, crushed) can add a nice flavor. 

Cornish Hen

At home, parboil (3 mins) a Cornish hen. oil it up, salt and pepper and wrap in foil. Cook as you would a foil pack (15 min/side).  Do another pack of just thin sliced potatoes and onion, salt/pepper with a bit of olive oil. Makes an OUTSTANDING meal.   BTW, differentiate your foil pack by wrapping a length of foil in with the folded seam; never an argument over who's pack it is.

Pizza Pocket

I have seen a pizza pocket dinner, made with those packages of 'flat' dough (those tubes from The Dough Boy). You take the flat dough, and fill the center with pizza sauce, pepperoni, cheese, with optional mushroom, olives etc. Fold it over to enclose the 'goodies' and wrap in 2 layers of foil.   'BAKE' 10 minutes on each side, and you might have a pizza pocket. 

Seafood Dinners

  • For variety, try peeled shrimp or scallops, snow peas, strips of red pepper, sliced mushrooms, thin slice of ginger root. This cooks rather quickly, usually in less than 10 minutes depending on size of shrimp or scallops. Kids seldom like it . . . it's too different. 
  • Shark chunks cook up well with a thin slice of lemon. 

Ham Dinners 

  • I have done chunks of ham, sweet potatoes (par boiled), pineapple. As soon as it comes out of fire, I add a few mini marshmallows on top. 
  • Ham & Potatoes Au Gratin: Cubed Ham, chopped Potato, Onions, Grated cheese of your choice. 

Chicken Dinners 

  1. Try using boned chicken instead of hamburger. Cooking time is the same, add a small amount of water or soy sauce to replace the water found in hamburger. 
  2. One of the best foil meals I had included a combination of chicken breasts, shrimp, snow peas, celery, and bean sprouts. Similar to a stir-fry. The meat was place on the bottom (by the way, the chicken had been slightly cooked prior to going), with the vegetables on top. I had a couple of dashes of Teryaki sauce, some spices (tarragon and others from a pre-mix spice jar).
  3. Only exception was that I didn't turn it over, I let the vegetables cook in the heat from the meat. They were still slightly crunchy, almost steamed. 
  4. Lemon Chicken: Take a whole chicken. Brush with melted butter. Take a whole lemon, slice, squeeze juice over chicken. Sprinkle generously with Lemon & Herb spice. Put leftover lemon peel & pulp inside chicken with slices of onion. Wrap in foil. Cook until done. 40-60 minutes. 
  5. We also cook potatoes & onions in other foil packs. 
  6. For dessert. Take a banana, slice in lengthwise in the peel. Insert butter and brown sugar into the slit. Wrap & bake. 
  7. Try boneless chicken breasts, green peppers, onion, carrots, potatoes (I think), mushrooms, in a cream of mushroom sauce. They are cooked the same way as your foil packs, but are gourmet quality!! 
  8. One that we tried is the chicken with instant rice and cream of celery soup (undiluted). I thought it was good and it cooks up quick. You can also try baked Apples with sugar, butter, and cinnamon. Bisquik mix is good for individual biscuits just coat the foil with butter or oil before you plop the biscuit dough on the foil keeps it from sticking. Baked potatoes are good and you can put cheese, butter, etc on after they are cooked. 

Foil Fajitas

Marinated Fajita Meat (Beef or Chicken), Onions, Green Peppers. Serve on tortillas with cheese, salsa, etc.... 

Stuffed Potatoes 

Core small to medium potato, insert a small pre-cooked sausage or wiener. Wrap in foil, set in hot ashes to bake. Takes 45-90 minutes to cook. Remove and slice top and add cheese, chili or fixings of your choice. 

Hobo Popcorn 

In center of 18" x 18" square of heavy or doubled foil, place one teaspoon of oil and one tablespoon of popcorn. Bring foil corners together to make a pouch. Seal the edges by folding, but allow room for the popcorn to pop. Tie each pouch to a long stick with a string and hold the pouch over the hot coals. Shake constantly until all the corn has popped. Season with salt and margarine. Or soy sauce, or melted chocolate, or melted peanut butter, or melted caramels or use as a base for chili. 

Portable Chili 

Cook up a pot of chili (homemade or canned). Buy individual size bags of Doritos or something similar. Cut an X on front of bag and open. Put chili on top of the chips, and shredded cheese. And you have portable lunchtime nachos/tacos. This was in my Crafting Traditions Magazine. 

Don's Hawaiian Delight 

In a square piece of heavy duty aluminum foil place enough of each of the following to make one serving: 

Sliced ham, Sweet potatoes, Carrots, pineapple

Surround the ham slices with the other ingredients on the foil then add 1 tablespoon of syrup or honey. Fold using "drugstore" wrap to hold in the juice. Cook package on hot coals for approximately 15 minutes on each side.  

Helpful Hints 

Do NOT, REPEAT NOT use cheese in your recipes, unless put on after cooking. 

  • The cheese will warm and separate and the oil will catch fire or cook the food faster than expected. We had a few very unhappy Cubs expecting Cheeseburgers, but receiving, well something else if you can imagine. 
  • It may cost a bit more too, but try to keep your meats lean and let the veggies add the moisture necessary. 
  • Also, have some extra bread and cheese slices available as there will inevitably be an accident or two (broken foil-food in fire), and a few boys who will not be to happy with the final product. 
  • Don't forget extra utensils as you'll be moving a lot of packages around. 

Dinners Without Foil 

  • How about baking muffins in half an orange with the pulp removed (and we hope eaten). Eggs in onion half with all but outer few layers removed. Meat loaf (I use recipe on Quaker Oats oatmeal box) cooked in onion half (mound it up as it shrinks while cooking). Twist on a peeled green stick. Potatoes wrapped in "clean" mud and baked in fire. Skin comes off with mud. 
  • How about chicken and dumplings. Envelope of chicken & vegetable soup, about half the regular water, a small (6 oz) can of chicken. Bring to a boil. Drop spoonfuls of biscuit dough on top (use drop biscuit recipe). Cover tightly and cook over low heat for about 10 minutes or until dumplings are done. 
  • I also like to make stone soup. Everyone brings their favorite vegetable to toss in the pot with a few seasonings. Add some bullion for extra flavor. (Bullion can also be added to foil dinners to add a bit more flavor--go gently until you find the right amount.) 

Foil Cooking Hints 

  • Use two layers of light-weight, or one layer of heavy duty aluminum foil. Foil should be large enough to go around food and allow for crimping the edges in a tight seal. This will keep the juices and steam in. This wrap is know as the "drugstore" wrap.
  • Drugstore Wrap 
  • Use heavy foil three times the width of the food. Fold over and roll up the leading edges. Then roll sides for a steam proof seal.
  • A shallow bed of glowing coals that will last the length of cooking time is necessary.
  • Cooking Times: 
    • Hamburger: 8-12 minutes,
    • Carrots: 15-20 minutes 
    • Chicken pieces: 20-30 minutes,
    • Whole Apples: 20-30 minutes 
    • Hotdogs: 5-10 minutes, Sliced potatoes 10-15 minutes 

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