Family Night Pot Luck Dinner at Boy Scout Camp

It's Amazing How a Few Days at Camp Make the Boys Love You Ever So Much


Theme at Camp was Cowboys - Our Crowd Had Real Ten Gallon Hats


Our Scoutmaster is the Max - He Comes Up with All the Cool Ideas


Time to Eat - Nobody is Shy About That at Boy Scout Camp

We got to Boy Scout Camp without turning over any of the food which is always a good thing. It can be quite a production to get all the pot luck food made, packed and secured for the hour drive to Camp John J. Barnhardt.

One year we arrived a tad late, so we allowed some extra time. Got there before the boys came to the shelter and got to see them all come in. Most of the boys ran up full speed. Some played it cool - to some extent. It's hard to be too cool when you see your people and especially when they come bearing food.

All the boys had huge ten gallon cowboy hats, since the theme this year was cowboys. The Scoutmaster always comes up with great ideas, and the hats were his inspiration. I heard he made a stagecoach, but I didn't get to see that.

As always, we had loads of great food. That's one thing our troop in known for - great pot lucks. Our boys serving as counselors at camp, of course, opted to eat with us. They know which groups go all out, and our group certainly does.

My kid has been going to camp with the troop. This year he is in the counselor training program. He was issued one counselor shirt which got soaked the first day. No one told him to buy more. So, he got chewed out for wearing his offical Scout shirt, since his counselor shirt was wet. He rounded up some money and bought more shirts. I think it's been a long week, and I'll be glad to get him home on Saturday.

Cooking for BSA Camp Family Night

Mini Ham Biscuits - Homemade Biscuits and Country Ham


Chilled Black Eyed Pea Salad


Quick and Easy Appetizer Tray

I was cooking up a storm this afternoon, since this is Family Night at Camp John J. Barnhardt. Every Wednesday during summer camp, the families visit the campers and bring home cooked food. After a couple of days eating camp food, the guys are always really happy to see Mom and the familes.

It's always hot in July when our boys go to Boy Scout camp. That makes it a bit of a challenge to come up with dishes that will travel and be OK in the heat. I have several coolers of various sizes and even a thermoelectric heater/cooler that plugs in the lighter in the truck.

It had been a while since I'd made country ham biscuits, and IGA had some center cut country ham from Frank Corriher. Since there's always so much food at camp on family night, I thought I'd just make mini biscuits. Instead of using the biscuit cutter, I used a juice glass. That worked out well. The empty bowl proved that.

A cold salad seemed like a good plan. I made some black eyed peas and then mixed up a salad and chilled it for a couple of hours - then put it in a cooler with ice. It's a really tasty salad. I added that to my side dishes recipe list at Yes You Can Grill.

By the time I made scratch biscuits and cooked up black eyed peas for the salad, I was pushing it close on the time. I have the acrylic Tupperware serving platter above that is always a quick way to put together something for a pot luck dinner. I just add whatever I have on hand. I always keep some dried beef in the cabinet. I made cream cheese beef roll ups for the center. My son loves black olives, so I opened a can of those. I rounded that out with hot sausages which I adore and some white cheddar cheese.

Then I ran by to get my Mom, and off to camp we went loaded down with lots of good food and ready to see our favorite camper.