In this installment Christen makes a Spinach and Feta Scramble

Food is more than sustenance – it’s an experience. A good breakfast not only fuels your body, but lifts your spirit. Add a campfire and the company of family, and your experience gets ten times better.

Our Memorial Day Camping Trip to Occoneechee State Park involved a day of hiking and exploring. We wanted to spend time in the terraced gardens and find the graveyards that we knew were hidden in the periwinkle on the forest floor. The gardens mark the site of a once thriving plantation built around 1839. The house burned in 1898, and the once stately gardens fell into disrepair. Now they are a shadow of what they once were, with only the gentle roll of the terraces and the oversized boxwoods giving a hint of what they once might have looked like.

Our lives are busy, and we don’t often get a chance to sit down to a hearty breakfast together, so we look forward to camping breakfast – leisurely, easy to cook and of course food always tastes better when you eat outside.

Spinach and Feta Scramble *(complete recipe at the end of this post)

Ready to chop

For this day we pulled together some of our favorite ingredients for a scramble, and served it with thick cut bacon, hot coffee and lots of fresh fruit. This recipe contains two “super foods” – spinach and tomatoes. Lots of nutrients and antioxidants in these, and of course garlic and onions are high on my list for both flavor and health benefits. Egg whites can be substituted for eggs if you are looking to lower cholesterol intake. We use organic, free range, local eggs.

Ready to start cooking

Put just enough extra virgin olive oil in your skillet to coat. Sauté the spring onions until they just start to caramelize. Add the spinach and garlic and cook until fragrant and just wilted. Add the eggs and cook until done. Transfer to plate and top with cheese, tomatoes and parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste. *Note: feta tends towards the salty side, so adjust accordingly.

Onions smell so good cooking over a fire

Onions are caramelized

What’s your favorite family camping breakfast?

And now, the recipe:

For every person:

2 eggs, scrambled

1 spring onion, sliced

A handful of spinach, coarsely chopped

1 clove of garlic, minced

To garnish:

Finely chopped fresh parsley

Diced fresh tomato

Crumbled feta cheese

Salt and pepper to taste