You’ve heard from me before - pudgie pies are one of my favorite camping foods - so it’s probably no surprise I have another pudgie pie recipe for you.

This one is a ham and cheese sandwich with a twist - the cheese is in the bread instead of inside the sandwich. It’s good made in a pudgie pie maker or on a griddle or frypan at home.

If you can’t find cheddar bread where you live, substitute a 3-cheese bread or any other cheese bread you like.

HAM AND CHEESE BREAD PUDGIE PIE RECIPE
Ingredients Needed for Each Sandwich:
2 slices cheddar bread
2-3 slices smoked deli ham
horseradish to taste
stoneground mustard to taste
butter

Directions:
Butter one side of each slice of bread. Spread mustard on inside of one slice of bread; place butter side down inside a pudgie pie maker/pie iron.
Place ham on top.
Spread horseradish on inside of second slice of bread. Place horseradish side down on top of ham and close pudgie pie maker.
Cook in fire until bread is toasted and browned.
Remove from pudgie pie maker/pie iron, cut in half, and serve immediately.

Burgers are a classic camping food probably because they’re easy to make and are portable. But plain burgers can get boring. And burgers with lots of toppings can be really messy since the first bite results in half those toppings oozing out and landing on your plate (if you’re lucky) or on your clothes.

That’s why I like stuffed burgers, or as I like to call them, “inside out burgers.”

This recipe for portabella mushroom and blue cheese stuffed burgers (juicy lucy burgers) is really good and quick to make. Try them even if you’re not a fan of blue cheese. I don’t usually like blue cheese but found I really liked it when it was stuffed inside a burger.

The traditional stuffed burger recipes I found say to saute the mushrooms before stuffing them in the burger because of the moisture they give off, but I’ve found that little bit of extra moisture they add to the burgers keeps them juicy and even if they are cooked to the well done stage so I don’t bother with that extra step.

JUICY LUCY STUFFED BURGERS
Ingredients needed for each burger
1/2 pound 85 percent lean beef (any leaner and the burgers tend to be dry)
1/2 of a portabella mushroom cap, chopped
1-2 tablespoons blue cheese crumbles (1 if you’re not a huge fan of blue cheese and 2 or more if you love blue cheese)
burger bun (a bakery fresh hard roll or semel roll if possible)
freshly ground salt and pepper (I use McCormick sea salt and black pepper grinders)
two quart size resealable plastic bags
Optional toppings:
buttter or Boston bibb lettuce
ketchup
sauteed onions

Directions:
Divide the 1/2 pound beef in half. Place one in each plastic bag and press down to make two thin patties. Remove from bag and place on a paper plate to finish the assembly process.

Place chopped mushrooms and blue cheese crumbles in the center of one of the patties, leaving enough room around the edge to seal the patties together.

Cover with the second beef patty and seal the edges.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Cook over fire or on grill to desired doneness.

Seve on roll with lettuce, sauteed onions, and ketchup if desired.

To make sauteed onions: slice one yellow onion into thin slices. Place on a generously sized sheet of aluminum foil. Sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Drizzle with olive oil, canola oil, or use a few pats of butter. Seal foil and place on grill, in fire, or on cooking grate until onions are tender - about 5 minutes.

Chili Cheese Dogs are one of my favorite treats so I decided to turn them into a pudgie pie using my pie iron. The results were fantastic and earned a definite “you need to make these again” from all five people who tried them.

To me the trick to having them taste really good is to first warm and brown the dog over the fire, then slice it and add it to the pudgie pie.

CHILI CHEESE DOG PUDGIE PIE

Place hot dog on hot dog fork or a stick and hold over fire to warm it and crisp the skin. Set aside for a few minutes so it cools enough to handle.
In the meantime, generously butter one of side of 1 slice bread.
Place in opened pie iron with buttered side down.
Put slice of cheese on bread.
Scatter desired amount of chopped onion (I use a small handfull)
Top with 3 heaping tablespoons of the chili (I grab a tablespoon from my utensil stash and spoon it on)
Slice the hot dog into little rounds (thinly enough to get about 16 pieces)
Arrange hot dog slices on top of chili.
Generously butter one side of second slice of bread
Place it on the sandwich - butter side up.
Close the pie iron and cook in fire until bread is toasted and golden brown.

Eat immediately (but make sure to grab a bunch of napkins or paper towels when eating the sandwich because it’s really messy).