Campers love fire roasted red peppers

Yesterday I wrote about extending campout fare beyond burgers, dogs and s’mores. Today was the day I put theory into action. G1, the youngest cabin of girls, were the subjects of my little food experiment. Tonight at campout, in addition to the usual veggie burgers, dogs and burgers, I tossed some red peppers and zucchini on the grill.

The youngest girls had never seen a red pepper roasted on an open fire before. The outer skin turns black, while the inside becomes soft and super sweet. Fortunately, I had a couple of true “food ambassadors” in the group who shrieked excitedly when they saw me take the peppers off the grill and dress them with a touch of balsamic vinaigrette. As they were first in line for a piece of the roasted pepper, the other girls watched. The food ambassadors gobbled up the peppers and asked for more, the younger girls decided they wanted to try them before they were all gone.  Before I knew it, all the peppers were gone. I didn’t even get a chance to taste my creation.  I’m sure that word will spread and roasted peppers and squash will make it onto the campout food request list for more cabins.

We didn’t get a chance to try the Banana S’mores recipe I listed yesterday. After tossing 3 bananas on the grill, they were gobbled up before I had a chance to break out the  chocolate and graham crackers. Super sweet and super banana-y. Another big hit.

Lesson learned: when you’ve couple of enthusiastic adventurous kids who can act as food ambassadors, its easy to encourage others to try new foods.