80--- Campfire Red Beans & Rice

Eating healthy while camping can be difficult. Especially without refrigeration. I have a new-found curiosity for dutch oven cooking over the campfire. However, many recipes call for highly processed (highly-preserved) ingredients.

I have wanted to try this recipe for a while, and I wanted to test it before I tried it camping (which would have left us food-less had it not turned out so well). Last Friday night was cool enough to build a fire in our fire pit in the backyard. I'm no Boy Scout (not even a Girl Scout) so I asked my hubby to stoke up a nice cooking fire for me.

In my original recipe I used a long grain brown rice. But it took FOREVER to cook, so I have modified it to Minute Brown Rice. If you have FOREVER to let your meal simmer, you can certainly use the long grain brown rice, or use pre-cooked rice also.

This recipe will be coming with us on our next outdoor adventure!

Campfire Red Beans & Rice
Serves 6

1 medium white onion, coarsely chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed and minced
1 cup Minute Brown Rice
14 oz low sodium vegetable broth
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 can pinto beans, drained
1 can diced tomatoes with juice
2 Tbsp Cajun seafood boil spice mix (I used the Louisiana brand)
1-2 tsp garlic hot sauce, to taste (I used Tabasco brand)
1 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper

3 chicken or turkey sausages, grilled and sliced (optional)

Build a fire, and place a grate over one end of the pit, making sure that there is flame directly under the grate. In a large iron dutch oven, combine olive oil, onion, and peppers. Place oven onto the grate and saute onions and peppers with a long-handled spoon. Cook for 2 minutes or until softened.

Remove oven from grate and add remaining ingredients (except optional sausage). Mix well, then cover oven and return oven to grate. Keep a flame under the grate while cooking. Bring mixture to a boil and cook for ~20 minutes, stirring every 4-5 minutes (you may remove oven from grate to stir). Remove oven from fire when rice is fully cooked and mixture has thickened. Add sausage if desired. Allow to cool for ~5 minutes prior to serving as it will be very hot!

Serve with additional Tabasco sauce if desired.


Nutrition Info per ~1 1/2 cups WITH sausage: 308 calories, 7 g fat, 18 g protein, 36 g carbohydrates, 8.5 g fiber