Current challenge: Chaneling Julia Child in the middle of the wilderness

My husband Brandon and I have scheduled a family camping trip. I'll refrain from saying when since this is still the Internet, after all. But, we're going, and it shall be fun. It's the only sort of vacation we can afford right now. Thankfully, other than a repeat of our honeymoon to Washington, D.C., it's also the only sort of vacation we're all that interested in at the moment. So, it's a win.

When I was in the eighth grade, my family took a camping trip to the Carson National Forest near Taos, N.M. We rented a day glow blue Chevrolet Astro van and drove to Tucumcari, N.M. where we spent the night so we wouldn't have to set up our tent in the dark. The next morning, we drove the rest of the way to the forest. My father had to bribe my mother to go camping in the forest where the bears are. He bought her an overpriced sterling silver storyteller bracelet from an Arab shopkeeper in Santa Fe as her consolation prize for being a trooper and sleeping outside on the ground. In a few short days, she was converted and has since then longed for the cool of that mountain forest when the God-awful Texas temperature soars to 100 degrees in August. She's like that. She didn't want the family dog either, but he turned out to be "her" baby in the end.

The day time high temperatures in those mountains were in the 70s. At night, the temperature would drop to the 40s. In short, the weather made it the perfect place to escape from the suffocating heat of Dallas in the summer time.

Ever since that camping trip, I've wanted to go back to that camp ground. My family got to revisit the next year on a trip we took to see my grandmother in Albuquerque, but we didn't get to camp that time. I believe we just took a day trip with my grandmother, Suze, a few days after my grandfather, Pa's, funeral.

Ever since Brandon and I met, I have wanted to take him to that place and start a new family tradition. One of the first gifts Brandon ever gave me was a North Face 0-degree sleeping bag we found on mega clearance at REI. (Side note: don't judge me for owning a North Face bag. Also, please see "mega clearance.")

For our anniversary in October, we bought a Mountain Hardware five-man, three-season tent. It's an extremely nice tent, and we got it for half price. It packs down to about five pounds, which is nothing at all. It's not meant for backpacking, but it could be used for backpacking if necessary. This is new territory for the girl who had previously camped only in a Coleman two-room tent from Wal-mart.

We took the new tent on an excursion to Turner Falls Park in Oklahoma for our anniversary weekend camping trip (otherwise known as "The Camping Trip from Hell"), the one where our spare tire fell off the bottom of our SUV and hit the 18-wheeler behind us...the one where it rained all night long...the one where the park was overrun by a convention of the Brothers of the Third Wheel (kind of like bikers but with three-wheelers instead of Harleys). In short, it's time for us to redeem the idea of camping since the last attempt ended with us drinking Spaten Oktoberfest in our tent and muttering about how we should have stayed home.

So, we're going camping. Which brings me to the point of my post. I have cooked exactly three things outside: hot dogs, marshmallows, T-bone steaks. The T-bone steaks were overcooked because I was afraid we would get sick from eating raw meat and would have no available facilities other than the bright turquoise port-a-potties at Turner Falls. And just...no thanks.

I'm searching for some recipes. I like to cook. And I tell myself I have somewhat inherited my mother's cooking genes. But what I shall cook in the wilderness with nary a proper knife or a citrus zester in sight I do not know. If you have suggestions of things I could make (and proper instructions on how to cook them on a contraption like this) please let me know.

Some useful information:

1) We will not actually be in the back country wilderness. We'll be car camping and will have access to clean water. There are a couple of fresh water spigots within the campground.
2) We have a couple pieces of cast iron cookware we can bring with us if necessary.
3) I'm really scared of attracting bears, so anything that smells too enticing is probably a no-go. I guess truffle oil is out.