There's nothing quite like winter camping.  But what makes it even better is when it's paired with gourmet camp cooking!

This January Culinary Couples is bringing their sleeping bags and camp chairs over to Heather & Eric's for a Culinary Camping Cookout!

S'mores Cocktails:  Ryan & MJ

What better way to start a night of camping than with a mixture of s'mores and alcohol!  Ryan and MJ made a beautifully crafted s'mores cocktail complete with Nutella and a graham cracker rim and marshmallow garnish!

The marshmallow vodka was also great straight from the bottle!

Ryan & MJ also brought a cooler full of camping beers for us to choose from!  Just like the real deal :)

Recipe:

Campfire Pizza Nachos:  Ann & Jason

Ann & Jason showed up with two cast iron skillets ready to go on the campfire for some campfire pizza nachos!

Since the weather wasn't cooperating with us we put them straight on the grill and that worked just as well!  

These pizza nachos were immediately devoured and will definitely become a camping staple on future camping trips!

Recipe:
http://cookingwithjanica.com/campfire-pizza-nachos-recipe/

We cooked ours on the grill since it was raining out and they still turned out awesome!

Ingredients:Garlic Cream Sauce Ingredients:

• 1.5 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
• ½ Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 2-3 Garlic Cloves, Minced
• ½ cups Heavy Cream
• ¼ cup Milk
• 1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese
• Salt
• Pepper
• Red Pepper Flakes

Nacho Ingredients:

• 1 Bag of Tortilla Chips
• ½ cups Garlic Cream Sauce (recipe below)
• ¼ cups Onion, diced
• ½ cups Pepperoni, cut into quarters
• ½ cups Black Olives, sliced
• ½ whole Bell Pepper, diced
• 2 Green Onions, sliced
• 1 cup Colby-Jack Cheese, Shredded

Directions:

Garlic Cream Sauce: Melt the butter and olive oil in a sauce pan. Once the butter is melted, add the minced garlic. Stir. After a minute or two, add in the cream and milk. Stir until it comes to a boil. Add salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and cheese. Stir until sauce has thickened. Once it has thickened, remove from fire and set aside.

Nachos: Grab your cast iron skillet and add the tortilla chips. Drizzle the garlic cream sauce all over the chips.

Top with the onions, pepperoni, olives, bell pepper, and colby jack cheese. The best approached is to layer it between tortilla chips so every bit gets plenty of toppings.

Place over the open fire and cover. Cook until the cheese is nice and bubbly and the veggies are warm, about 5-8 minutes.

Chili with Cornbread:  Heather & Eric

After our pizza nachos and s'mores cocktails, the rain had stopped and we headed down with our camping chairs to sit by the campfire for a bit.  It was a beautiful winter evening in Arizona!

As it started getting dark we headed back up to the house to fill our bellies with Heather and Eric's amazing chili and cornbread.

While preparing our meals, Jason discovered something never seen before - sour cream in a squeeze tube!  Mind blown!

Recipe:

Fluffernut S'more Brownies:  Kim & AJ

Dessert was a creative concoction of graham crackers, brownies, peanut butter and marshmallow that came together in one beautiful hand-held treat!

After dessert, we stayed with the camping tradition and continued to drink into the wee hours of the night before we passed out on our sleeping bags and air mattresses spread throughout Heather and Eric's house.  House camping at its best!

Recipe:

Ingredients:
Graham Cracker Crust:
2.5 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup sugar
10 Tbs melted butter (vegan)

Brownie:
1 box vegan brownie mix

Filling:
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup marshmallow fluff

Topping:
1 bag dairy free chocolate chunk chips

Instructions:
Graham Cracker Crust:
If needed, grind graham crackers in food processor or mash inside a plastic bag to get crumbs.  Combine crumbs, sugar, and melted butter and mix until well blended.  Place cupcake liners into muffin tin.  Press graham cracker mix into bottom of each of the cupcake liners.  Place tin in refrigerator while preparing the rest of the ingredients.  You may want to cover it with plastic wrap.

Brownie:
Follow instructions on the box.  Set finished mix aside.  Get tin with graham cracker crust from fridge.  Fill each cupcake liner with brownie mix until the cup is 2/3 full.  Bake in the over according to the instructions on the box, but only for about 12 minutes.  Brownies will rise.  When finished baking, remove tin from oven.  Use a regular sized spoon to depress a rounded divet into each of the brownies.  Do this gently while brownies are still hot.  Allow the brownies to cool for about 5 minutes.

Filling:
In a microwave safe bowl, melt the peanut butter for about 30 seconds.  Stir in marshmallow fluff.  If needed, heat the mix a little more to get a good blend.  Spoon the filling into each brownie cup.  Let it cool for 2-3 minutes.

Topping:
Top each cup with a dairy-free chocolate chunk.

Serve at room temperature.