Camp Our House: Black Bean and Chicken Salad

We decided last year we would go camping for Father's Day weekend.  Thatboy loves camping, and the weather is perfect for it in early June.   And then the Coronavirus became a thing and we weren't going anywhere.

When they mentioned that campgrounds would be opening, we had a serious discussion about going.  Seems safe enough, right?  Except I have some friends in Canada, where they're kicking the pandemic's butt, and I remember when their campgrounds opened and all the restrictions that were put in place.  One of my friends got an RV because one of the restrictions was that they weren't opening the bathrooms at campgrounds.  No such restrictions were being put in place in California campgrounds.  They were open for business as if there was never a shut-down.  So we decided no on the camping.  (As a side note- we were totally right because less than 2 weeks after opening, we'd already had an outbreak at a San Diego campground.)

So instead, on Father's Day weekend, we found a campground much closer to home - our backyard!

We found that scavenger hunts are a must when we go on hikes when we camp, and earlier this year I had found these "Seek and find" sheets in the Target Dollar Spot and bought them.  Lucky for me, they work equally well on hikes around the neighborhood.

Hiking around, you can work up and appetite, so when we got back, we made a little snack - butterfly trail mix bags.

I also pulled out some of our crafts from our camping supplies.  The kids had just as much fun making bubble snakes in the backyard as they do at the campsite.

We did some family tournaments, like cornhole and bocce ball.

And a little bit of archery

Another Target dollar spot find were these Backyard Bingo games.  (We have roadtrip versions too)

For lunch, I had "packed" us a lunch we would have had a campground - a leaf-less salad that travels well, watermelon, and some sangria for the grownups.

Our neighbors happened to be out of town during the week and we were in charge of feeding their cat and making sure their pool got used, so we spent the afternoon pretending it was a lake.  When we got back, Thatboy lit a fire and we all sat around reading by the campfire.

And doing that resting thing you do at campgrounds.

We grilled hot dogs for dinner, and ate them with more watermelon and lots of chips.

And after we had hot chocolate (which is my kids' favorite part of camping I think)

And smores (their other favorite part?)

And then we let them stay up late telling "spooky" stories, which turned into silly stories.  We also let them stay awake in the tent whispering and giggling for a while.

Eventually the boys fell asleep, and Thatboy and I stayed awake listening to every little sound - we were both a lot jumpier in our own backyard than in the middle of the wilderness!  Our only problem is that the kids have been asking to sleep in the backyard every night since then.

One of the things that kept the whole thing feeling "real" (especially since we had indoor plumbing) was the fact that I did my best with authentic camping food.  We learned a couple years ago that the best way to keep our kids happy was to bring mostly prepared food.  Either foods that could be eaten cold, or foods that were already cooked and just needed to be heated.  The boys lack the patience for true camp cooking.  This salad is perfect to make ahead and bring with you, but that also makes it great for picnics - and when this is all over, summer barbecues.   Because there's no lettuce, there's nothing to wilt.  Rather than dressing, which can get gloopy even without lettuce (and yes, gloopy is the scientific term) there's just some lime juice which keeps everything fresh and bright tasting.  

Black Bean and Chicken Salad

1 can black beans

1 1/2 cups frozen corn

1 shallot, minced

1 pint grape tomatoes, quartered

2 cups cooked chicken, chopped

juice of 1 lime

1 Tbsp cumin

1 avocado, diced

1. Combine beans, corn, shallot, tomatoes, and chicken in a large bowl.
2. Add the lime juice and cumin and toss well.
3. Gently fold in avocado.
4. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Welcome to the jungle: squash and couscous salad

California is opening up against expert recommendations, so while others venture out, we adventure in!  It'll be a looooong time before we go to the zoo or Safari park, so this past weekend we turned the house into our very own jungle so we could go on a safari here.

Now, realistically we blended the African Savannah with the Asian jungles, in terms of what animals we incorporated, but this is a fake adventure, so lions and tigers and monkeys and giraffes all mingled together.

We started the morning by turning ourselves into animals with masks.

Then gave ourselves some jungle animal tatoos.

Next we made Safari animal pendants.

After that it was time to make our own quicksand.

We took a break for lunch and had chicken and mango skewers with plantain chips.

After nap I hid stuffed animals all around the house and wrote up a scavenger hunt for the kids.

The boys went on safari to try to find the animals.  Thatkid, being older and needing a handicap, had to figure out what animal the clues were referring to.

We finished up our activities by coloring our own animals.

To go along with our theme, we rented Jumanji for the evening and ate our Safari-dinners.  Roast squash and couscous salad.  Sure it's not authentic, but neither is the rest of our day and this seemed like a nice cool way to end a hot day in the jungle.   I even made the kids strawberry banana coconut smoothies to drink out of our non-authentic coconuts.

This salad really does make for a great summer dinner.  I roasted the squash early in the day, because really - no one likes a hot oven heating up their house. You can prep the couscous ahead of time also.  After that, all the ingredients are cool and easy to throw together.  The dressing is really simple, but simple and salads are all I really want as the days get warmer. 

Squash and Couscous Salad

1 butternut squash 

2 1/2 Tbsp olive oil, divided

1 1/2 cups Israeli couscous

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tsp honey

1/2 red onion, sliced

4 cups baby arugula

1/2 cup toasted almonds

1.  Preheat oven to 450.  Peel the butternut squash and cut into bite sized pieces.  
2. Toss the squash with 1 Tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and arrange on a single layer on a baking sheet.  Roast for 20 minutes, until browned.  Let cool.
3. Cook the couscous according to the package directions.  Let cool.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together remaining olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and honey.  
5. Add sliced onion to the dressing and let sit while putting together the rest of the salad.
6. Toss couscous, arugula, squash, and almonds together.
7. Fold in the onions/dressing mix and serve.

Summer Fair: Simple Summer Salad

School's back, which is the unofficial end of summer - despite the fact that it's still so super hot here and theoretically we've got another month of "summer."

I think we've done a pretty good job of making the most of the summer.  Starting with the fair.  There's never enough time to do everything we want to do at the fair now that we have kids and head home before it gets dark.  So we made it out twice this year to fit in everything. 

The theme of the fair this year was "Ozsome", and there was a ton of Wizard of Oz themed attractions to peruse.

Including props to create your own scenes.

And the Wizard was there with some of his friends.

There were even themed food - like Emerald City lemonade.

The kids of course love the rides the best.

Due to Newcastle disease, the fair had a no fowls this year, which meant we didn't get to watch the turkey races.  I didn't mind so much, because as I predicted, the turkey people brought their camels instead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The first time we went, Thatboy and Thatkid won a father/son look alike contest!

We listened to fair music, took silly fair pictures, and ate all the crazy fair food.

And as much as I love crazy fair food, it always makes me crave something healthier the next day.  It must be my body trying to right itself after spicy, fried foods.  Lately all I want is salads.  Green, leafy, crisp, crunchy salads.  And the nice thing about salads is they are incredibly easy to make.  Whether as a side dish or a main meal, they're on your plate in minutes. 

Simple Summer Salad

1 head of romaine lettuce, shredded

1 grapefruit, peeled and sectioned

2 bell peppers, julienned

1 cup of cherry tomatoes

1. Make a bed of the romaine on a platter or shallow bowl.
2. Arrange the grapefruit, peppers, and tomatoes atop the romaine.
3. Dress with a light vinaigrette.