Ready to take a bratwurst to the next level? Here is a great recipe for tailgating or a lazy afternoon at the campsite. It is easy to prepare and works well when cooking for a group.

You will need a large pot to cook this in, one that can hold at least a gallon of liquid. I almost always cook this outside on the grill or campfire, but will mention that if you do cook it inside, beer has sort of a funky smell when it starts to boil. I also avoid any weird sausage brands and just stick with Johnsonville, though that is a matter of taste so use what you like. Don’t get the cheap hot dog buns for this either, they are not up to the task, get bakery quality buns or rolls, they taste better anyway.

Grill the sausages to your liking, be bold and crisp them up a bit… Once done grilling, return the sausages to the pot and lower the heat to a simmer. There is no specific amount of time it takes to cook this, once your veggies are cooked it is done, but it can simmer like this until you are ready to eat, as long as you keep adding a little beer here and again so your sauce does not burn or become too thick. When ready to eat, slap one on a bun and then scoop up a load of the sauce and veggies from your pot to throw on top of it. Mmmm.

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Ingredients:

Directions:
Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute until cooked. Add the wine and reduce it by half, then add the plum tomatoes, oregano and parsley. Add the mussels to the pan and allow to cook for about 10 minutes until all the mussels are open. Transfer mussels to a platter. (Discard any mussels that do not open.)

Coat the mussels with the sauce and sprinkle with fresh chopped basil just before serving…

Have some bread, toast or bruschetta handy for dipping into the sauce.

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Here is a quick and easy desert/snack recipe I found on the internet.

Take it out and check it, if rock hard then flip it over and peel off the foil. Now you can break it up and it is ready to eat. Store in the freezer.

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Like those little bottles of Frappuccino but tired of spending all that money? Keep your empties and try this recipe to refill them for a lot less money.

To make this recipe you will need a blender and must be able to brew coffee, I have not tried it with instant coffee but suspect it would not yield the expected results. The following recipe will refill 3 of the 9.5oz bottles Starbucks sells in most stores (they are convenient and can be used over and over). I should also mention that 1 pot of coffee should allow you to make the recipe 3 times, but I would not make more than you will drink in 5 days or so (assuming the milk used was dated to last that long in the first place) just to be sure they remain fresh.

DIRECTIONS:
Add 4 heaping tablespoons of Swiss Miss Instant Cocoa and optionally 2 tablespoons of sugar to the blender. Now fill the blender to the 3 cup mark with hot coffee followed by one cup of milk (filling the blender to 4 cups). At this point I add the whipped cream until the blender is just about full (we have a 5 cup blender that will hold 6 cups before overflowing). If using ‘Cool Whip’ go with about 1/3 of an 8oz container. Blend the ingredients on high for 30 seconds or so, the mixture ends up with some ‘foam’ on top so you may need to let it settle a bit (actually I fill the bottles in the sink so I can fill them to the top with liquid and allow the foam to overflow before capping them and rinsing them off). That’s it, they should be kept in the fridge until cold and ready to drink, shake well and enjoy from the bottle or over ice…

NOTE:
I use the ‘real’ whipped cream you buy in a pressurized can (like Reddi Whip), I have also tried ‘Cool Whip’ and it tastes fine if you prefer, since it is less expensive (but is actually an oil based ‘topping’). You could also just leave the whipped cream out to save on calories…

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Here is a quick and easy recipe for just about any type of seafood with your choice of vegetables that can be made just about anywhere in under an hour.

If using fish you are going to want to select thick, firm fillets or steaks of about 1/2lb each. Mahi or Grouper are good selections and I am sure Swordfish, Tuna, Shark or any other firm fish would work very well, depends on your taste or mood. You can combine the fish with about 1/3lb of shrimp, scallops, oysters or whatever you prefer. Really you can ‘mix and match’ the seafood up to about 3/4lb of seafood per serving. Same holds true for the veggies, pick what you like… We prefer onions, squash, green peppers, mushrooms and zucchini. You are looking for a total weight in vegetables of about 1/2lb to 2/3lb per serving. Feel free to experiment with your ingredients but I would avoid adding any cheese or citrus to this recipe. Besides food you will need a disposable bread pan for each serving measuring about 4.5″x8.5″ and about 3″ deep, these are inexpensive and can be used over and over. We also usually cook this recipe on the grill but it would be just the same to bake it in your oven or even cook it over a campfire. The following recipe will be based on 2 servings, adjust yours as needed.

Grill over medium heat (around 400 degrees) for at least 30 minutes, or a bit longer to be sure all the veggies will be nicely cooked. I actually place the pans over the center burners of my grill and adjust those to about ‘half throttle’, keeping the outside burners a bit higher for more of an indirect heat. Our portable grill has only one burner with no thermometer and the trick seems to be cooking it for 30 to 40 minutes. You don’t have to worry about ‘burning’ your food but some might be concerned about over-cooking seafood like shrimp… I really don’t lose much sleep on that subject and would rather have the veggies be done, fresh shimp will taste great even if a tad over-cooked (shrimp scampi cooks for hours and tastes just fine).

My wife and I originally came up with this recipe to use when camping or at a hotel. It is a quick ‘full meal’ recipe that allows a lot of variation in the use of ingredients.

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