Food Glorious Food

When we eat at our bonfires, we traditionally make pizza pockets. My kids arent grilled hot dog people (they prefer them boiled) so pizza pockets were a great substitution. The sand can sometimes get in the way, but after numerous bonfires, we have created a system where we can make them rather quickly and without much fuss. Pizza pockets are always a crowd pleaser: they taste great and they're fun to make.

Do you guys know what pizza pockets are?

Matt introduced me to these delectable treats while we were dating. We used to camp in Joshua Tree a lot and he used the hot apple pie cookers to make us pizza pockets. For those who dont know, an apple pie cooker is a metal contraption that cooks apple, cherry or blueberry pie filling between bread to make a pie. To make pizza pockets, you substitute the pie filling with pizza sauce, cheese and any toppings you like. We usually make ours with pepperoni but you can throw anything in there. Then you pop it over the fire and wait for it to cook - usually 3-5 minutes. They are really delish. You can see a picture of a apple pie cooker below - its the back square type thing that James is holding on the far left.

The Huelsman family usually joins us for bonfires and a couple summers ago, they introduced brats to our bonfire food lineup. I never had a brat over the fire until they shared one with me. Im not a big hot dog fan (I eat them at baseball games and thats about it) so I didnt think Id like them. I finally tried one at the end of the summer and I loved it! They were fantastic tasting - very juicy and flavorful.

Last Friday, instead of taking one of the Hueslman's brats (they're always gracious - offering brats to everyone) I asked Matt to buy some of our own so we could eat them to our heart's content without emptying our friend's stash. While the kids were changing their clothes, I decided to break out the brats early and eat one quickly before they came back. It was sooooo good. Why do things cooked over the fire always taste better than the food prepared at home? Its a mystery. In any case, I ate my brat with a pickle and honey mustard and it absolutely hit the spot. As if on cue, the boys were on their way over to our bonfire so I began getting the pizza pockets ready for them. After about 45 minutes of preparing and cooking, we were all fed and happy. Below are the recipients of some of the pizza pockets.


About two hours after eating my first brat, I began to get hungry for another. Let me state right now that I wasnt physically hungry for something to eat. I had eaten enough, but I knew there was one last brat left in our cooler. I began to fixate on it - thinking how yummy it would taste in my mouth. Finally when I couldn't stand it any longer, I got our campfire stick, cooked it and ate it. It was sooooooo good and I felt very satsified. YUM YUM YUM!

The next day in conversation, Matt mentioned that those brats I ate had a lot of fat in them. I was genuinely confused. Werent they about the same fat/calories as hot dogs? Matt replied a resounding "Nooooooooooo." Turns out brats are awesome tasting because they have on average 19 grams of fat! HOLY SCHNIKIES!!!!! I about died when he told me. I didnt believe him at first so he went online to check. Sure enough, each of those beef brats I ate had 19 grams of fat and 210 calories. COWABUNGA! I almost felt sick.

Ive decided that at the next bonfire Im going to be more like my nephew, Eli: empty bun with some ketchup. No more brats for me.... even if they do taste delicious.


Happy Tuesday.