We have been camping for several years, and wherever we go, so does an inexpensive lightweight 12′x14′ piece of green indoor/outdoor carpet.

When we set up camp that piece of carpet goes in front of the door leading into our camper, which helps prevent a lot of dirt and grime from getting tracked inside.

A quick daily sweep keeps grass, leaves, dirt, and gravel from accumlating on it.

If it rains while we’re camping, it’s okay. It’s indoor/outdoor carpet. The rain won’t hurt it.

When we’re done camping, we sweep it off one last time, give it a good shake, fold it up, and stow away in our storage area for next time.

It’s an inexpensive idea I got from my sister-in-law. She started using a piece of indoor/outdoor carpet because they camped with their kids at a lot of campgrounds that were short on grassy areas in the campsite, but not short of dirt, sand, and gravely areas. She bought the carpet to prevent her kids from tracking 5 pounds of dirt into the camper every time they came in, which was about 50 times a day.

She bought hers on clearance at the end of summer for less than $30. I bought mine during the summer season on sale for less than $40.

It’s a good investment to make, even if you don’t have kids and no matter what type of camper, rv, or tent you have.

Everybody who camps or rv’s has at least one story to tell about something silly, crazy, or funny, that happened (even if they didn’t think it was funny at the time.)

For me, one of the things I can remember vividly is the day my loaf of bread disappeared. We were camping with family over the Memorial Day weekend 3 years ago and decide to make pudgie pies for lunch. I dug out my pudgie pie makers and my loaf of bread, and then decided I needed to take a quick trip to the bathroom before continuing with lunch preparations.

I was gone less than 5 five minutes. When I got back I couldn’t find my bread. I thought I had gotten it out, but it wasn’t sitting on the table in the screen room attached to our pop-up camper and that was where I could have sworn I left it.

I proceeded to look in the camper in case I had only dreamed I had gotten it out. I didn’t find it. Then I walked down to my brother and sister-in-law’s campsite to see if anyone had come to my camper and gotten the bread. They hadn’t. The only other bread we had between us was about a half loaf (and that wasn’t going to feed 7 hungry people) so soon everybody was on a hunt for it.

Suddenly, my five year old niece called out “There it is!” She was pointing down a grassy hill, about 25 feet from our camper. Yep. That’s where our bread was - what was left of it. Running away from the bread, was a big fat raccoon who apparently didn’t get scared off until my niece yelled “There it is.”

In the few minutes I was gone from our campsite, that raccoon came to our campsite, squeezed under the screen room walls, reached up onto the table, took the loaf of bread, ran into the field with it, and ate most of it. Talk about a fast masked bandit!

Yes, we had to take a trip to the store before we could have lunch that day. And no, I no longer leave any food out unattended - not even for a minute.

Yesterday I wrote about cooking with dutch ovens, shared my recommendation for which dutch oven to purchase, gave care and cleaning tips, and shared a recipe for dutch oven beans. Today, I’ve got a couple of dutch oven chili recipes for you. One has just a few ingredients; the other is a little more involved but both taste good.

6 INGREDIENT DUTCH OVEN CHILI
INGREDIENTS:
2 pounds lean ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1, 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 6 ounce can tomato paste
2 cans Brooks chili hot beans (Bush’s work well too)
1 package chili seasoning mix

Brown the ground beef and onions in a dutch oven (I use a 5 quart one). Drain the fat. Add remaining ingredients and combine well. Simmer for about an hour.

EVERYTHING BUT THE KITCHEN SINK DUTCH OVEN CHILI
Note: Because my dutch oven is only 5 quarts I usually cut this recipe in half - it makes a lot of chili!
1 1/2 pounds beef stew meat
1 pound italian sausage removed from its casing
1 large onion, chopped
1 large green pepper and 1 large red pepper, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
2, 8 ounce cans tomato sauce
1, 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
1, 6 ounce can tomato paste
2 cans chili beans (mild, medium or hot), undrained
1 can black beans, drained
1 can cannellini beans (white kidney beans), drained
3 tablespoons chili powder (2 tablespoons if you like mild chili)
1 teaspoon black pepper
salt to taste (about 1 teaspoon)
1 can beer (if you take a sample taste out of the can before adding it to the chili I won’t tell)

Rub a little oil inside the dutch oven and preheat. Brown the stew meat and italian sausage. Drain all but about 2 tablespoons of fat off. Add the onion, peppers, celery, and garlic. Cook for another 2 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer, covered for at least 2 hours. If the chili cooks down too much, add a little more beer.