Tasty campfire cookout classics

While it may be rare for them to volunteer to help cook at home, kids always want to participate when you're camping. Cooking over an open fire can be exciting for youngsters, so get them involved in the process by trying a few classic camping favourites that are easy enough for anyone (as long as young kids have lots of supervision and help).

TIP: For most campfire cooking, be sure to use a fire that has been going for a while -- hot coals are the essential elements, not tall flames.

Bannock
Quite possibly the oldest "Canadian" food, this very plain dough can be baked over a campfire in no time (just like the pioneers did!).

Bannock is made up of the following ingredients: flour, baking powder, water, sugar salt, and cooking oil. The beauty -- or downfall, depending on who you ask! -- most people who make bannock don't measure the ingredients, they just guess.

Some approximate measurements:
2 cups of flour
2 tablespoons of baking powder
2 tablespoons of sugar
2 pinches of salt
Water
Cooking oil for frying

• Mix the dry ingredients together, then add water to form a dough. Make patties, dollops or whatever shapes you like and fry in a pan over the fire until golden.

TIP: Spice up your bannock by adding chunks of cheese, berries or raisins or by spreading it with jam or peanut butter.

Spider-dogs (or Octopus-dogs)
This process takes no more than a few clever cuts of a hot dog, but will amuse kids and excite them for dinner.

(Parents might want to slice the hot dogs before placing them on skewers for kids to roast over the fire.)

• Using a paring knife, slice an "X" at one end of a hot dog (from the tip into the centre). Slice to about a third of the way down, then flip the hot dog and repeat on the other end, leaving enough room in the centre for a skewer. When the hot dog is roasted in the fire, all eight legs will curl out, making the hot dogs look like crazy, crispy spiders.

Fire-roasted potatoes
While parents won't notice much of a difference from a regular baked potato, the simple novelty of tossing a potato right into the fire pit will be the kicker for kids.

• Wrap potatoes in foil and place against hot stones. Rotate regularly.

• When baked all the way through, decorate with bacon, cheese or sour cream!

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