Fully loaded we got snacks and supplies

This weekend I took a few friends camping trying to get my outdoorsy fix in before the fall temps came on (and didn't quite make it... brrr). Somehow it worked out that I did all the planning / prep / cooking for out meals. Fine by me, though I would have worried a little and made an effort to be more prepared had I known I'd have such responsibility. It all more or less worked out in the end, so no big. Personally I didn't think I did anything all that special, but it's been said that what I made was "extravagant camping food." For breakfast, there was banana walnut pancakes, which I swear is easy like falling out of bed: pancake mix, walnuts, bananas. Look at that! You're done. Just don't forget the spatula like I did. You might have to make do with an ice scraper scavenged from the car. How traumatizing. Dinner was a bit more involved. I have a long standing tradition of eating Zatarain's over the course of a trip when I go camping and that was something I wanted to continue, but this time I elected to try my hand at making something from scratch. I settled on a recipe for chicken and sausage beer jambalaya that I found online that I then played with a bit (enough that I felt the need to re-write it when I got home). I got a decent amount of compliments, so I guess I did pretty good. Near as I can remember this is the way it went down:

Chicken and Sausage Beer Jambalaya

~1 lb chicken breasts, diced
~1 lb smoked sausage, sliced
~1/2 bell pepper, chopped
~5 stalks celery, chopped
~1 large white onion, chopped
~2 cloves garlic, minced
~1/4 cup vegetable oil
~2 cups white rice
~2 1/2 cups water
~1 1/2 cups (12oz) beer
~1 1/2 teaspoons rosemary
~1 teaspoon thyme
~a handful of chopped parsley
~salt to taste
~lots of cayenne pepper
~flour to coat chicken

Start off by cutting up the chicken into appropriately-sized pieces. Place the flour in a plastic storage container (season the flour with salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper, garlic powder, cajun spice, etc). Add the chicken to coat. Vary the amount of cayenne pepper to suit your tastes. This is the sole source of heat you are going to add and it will cook into the rest of the dish some, but be careful as it will carry further than you might think. Heat the oil in the bottom of a large skillet. Fry the chicken in the oil until golden brown. Set aside. Now place the onions, celery, garlic and bellpepper into a large pot along with a bit of oil and saute them until the onions are transparent, scraping the bottom of the pot often. Add the rosemary, thyme and parsley and cook for a minute or so. Place the sausage slices, chicken, and a little water into the pot and mix well with the vegetables. Add the rice, beer and water to the pot and stir until it comes to a boil. Taste it at this point and adjust the salt if necessary. Turn heat low, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes (until the rice is tender). Stir the mixture frequently, always scraping the bottom to keep things from burning (break the chicken up a bit with the spatula as it cooks. It should break up naturally as the dish cooks, but this just helps things a little).

And the original inspiration.

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