Foil Dinners

We had foil dinners last night and I must admit that I love them. I'm not sure what it is that makes them so enjoyable. I do remember thinking they were fun to prepare on Girl Scout camp-outs, but I love having them as an adult as well. As we prepared and ate them last night I was reminded that they are fabulous, low-stress meals. If you've never had a foil dinner, I will describe: using sheets of foil torn into individual sized pieces (at least 12 inches long), you layer various ingredients in the middle of the foil. Once your food is in, fold up the foil and cook. There is actually a technique to rolling up the packets: the main goal is to allow air circulation (think of a tent). We love to layer sliced onions (always put sliced onions on the bottom . . . it keeps the rest of the food from sticking to the packet), ground beef, chopped carrots, diced potatoes, and more chopped onion. We used salt, pepper, and a small portion of olive oil for seasoning. Kyle fired up the BBQ and we put them on for about 20 minutes. They were fantastic. The best part was that we didn't have to heat up the kitchen and Kyle didn't have to man the BBQ the whole time. I also enjoy putting in sliced sweet potatoes, broccoli, and minute rice. Kyle has added mushrooms before with success as well. It's fun for kids since they can build their own dinner, and you can eat right out of the foil, so you don't have to get dishes dirty (hence the reason it is a great camping meal).

One note on sweet potatoes: the sweet potatoes are one of my favorite additions. I thought I didn't like sweet potatoes or yams (I know there's a difference, but I can't remember it) because I really don't enjoy them at Thanksgiving with all the seasonings and the toasted marshmallows. Foil packet sweet potatoes are a completely different story. My mother-in-law introduced me to the foil packet sweet potatoes. She prepared them exactly like a foil dinner, except she lined the packet with onions and only added sliced sweet potatoes, salt, pepper, and olive oil. I am so grateful that my mom taught me to always try something at least once. I tried a slice or two and discovered that I really enjoy them when they are prepared this way. It was again my MIL that gave me the idea of putting sweet potatoes in foil dinners since she did so when we went camping last summer. They were delicious.

As a side note, I have also done foil dinners during the winter. I prepare them exactly the same way, but bake them at 350 until they're finished. Clean up consists of throwing away the foil. Delicious.