Cowboy Independence Day Breakfast

Independence Day is next Tuesday, July 4, 2006. It's Day 3 of Northern California FC Camp in Felton. What better way to start the day that a cowboy breakfast.

Here's the plan:

• Serve breakfast from cast iron Dutch ovens and skillets.
• Fire from charcoal briquettes will cook the breakfast.
• Use the planned menu -- no need to change the meal. Tuesday's menu easily converts to a cowboy breakfast.
• Attire cooks in straw cowboy hats and red bandanas.

The menu:

Fruit cups
Scrambled eggs
Buttermilk biscuits
Sausage gravy
Hot chocolate
Cowboy coffee (the real stuff!)

It's a simple breakfast that the campers will enjoy. The eggs and potatoes fit into large range-sized skillets. Dutch ovens make the perfect cooking vessel for the biscuits and gravy. A stock pot will hold the hot chocolate and a Navy-surplus coffee boiler is a perfect match for the joe.

Ring the dinner triange, holler "Come an' get it" and hide the breakfast cereal bowl packs and bananas. This meal's all about gut fillin', rib sticken' grub.

The picture to the left shows my favorite piece of cast iron at Daybreak Camp. This is a 2004 shot of a roux slowly browning over the rangetop.

I'll report back next week. July 4th opens with a cookout. We end the day with grilled chicken on the barbecue and scalloped potatoes and apple crisp in Dutch ovens.