Tin Foil Dinners and Frugal Living NW

First off, what fun to have been the featured menu on Menu Plan Monday this week on the Frugal Living NW website! That was so exciting to see all the activity on my little blog from seemingly out of nowhere! I welcome any new readers who may have found me via that post. It's fun to reach new people. Feel free to comment or ask questions on any recipe or topic!


Now, for dinner this week, there have been/will be a couple of repeats that I will just include at the end of the week in the menu/shopping list with the link to the original post. No sense in reposting it or anything. This is the first time I've even approached repeats since starting this blog back in January! So, 3 months straight of dinners without a repeat is pretty darn amazing, I think! 

The old tried and true tin foil dinners are what's on the table this time. NOT just for camping! Did ya know that? There's a couple of easy additions to making dinner in a tin foil packet that give it an extra "oomph" of yumminess and enhance flavors. Without them, it can be a little bland and you end up having to smear ketchup all over the finished product. Of which, I am not a fan. Ketchup smells. Or stinks, rather, in my humble opinion. So, what are those easy additions?? Well, you gotta read on, of course!

What you need: These are for our family of 2 adults and 3 small children. Adjust to your numbers. 

Whoops, again. Cauliflower and seasoning salt, not pictured. But whatev....it's hard to remember everything when you've got a 10-month-old throwing all the tupperware at you from the bottom drawer, a 4-year-old shooting you from across the room with foam darts, and an 8-year-old reciting spelling words looking for approval...

1/4 pound ground beef per person, (or individual frozen hamburger patties, 1 per person)
1 onion, sliced
(Any old veggies you like. Today was as follows):
4 potatoes, peeled and sliced or diced
frozen green beans, 1/3 C. per person
cauliflower, sliced
Garlic salt
Seasoned salt
Olive oil
Pepper
Aluminum foil


How you make it:


Preheat oven to 425°F. 


Place large piece of aluminum foil on the counter and put your piece of meat in the center. Still frozen is fine. Sprinkle with pepper and garlic salt. 


Place onion pieces on top of meat. Then add in any other remaining veggies you have prepared. Sprinkle the whole heap with seasoned salt and pepper. Then drizzle on some olive oil. 


The garlic salt, pepper, seasoned salt, if used, and olive oil are the little additions I was talking about. They may not seem important, but they really help infuse all the flavors and make it awesome. 


Now, fold over the right side, then crease closed the top and bottom sides to make a sort of packet almost. Then bring the left side over the whole thing and seal down as best as you can. You will probably want to do another whole wrapping with a another piece of foil for an extra layer to seal in the steam and heat and juices. 
I like to make 3 packets for our crew. One for each adult and one for the kids that they share. But you can do one per person or whatever. It's fun because people can get involved and customize it to whatever combos of veggies they want. Carrots are good in there, but we were out. Also, broccoli, green onions, bell peppers, zucchini or squash too. The possibilities are endless and flexible.


Place the packets on a large baking tray or pan and put in oven for about 30 minutes, depending on how stuffed they are.  Just peel one open and pierce the veggies to see how soft. And try and cut through the meat to see if it's cooked through as well, with no pink. 
There you have it. You could serve it with bread or rolls and some fruit. We just had some extra watermelon lying around that we munched on while we waited for dinner to cook. And that was that! Enjoy 'em! No campfire or tent-putting-up required! Oh, and the best part---no pots and pans to clean, of course!!