Town Mountain at The Grey Eagle

Our 28th wedding anniversary, the "super moon", and Town Mountain's CD release party at The Grey Eagle all came together this weekend to create a spectacular time of fun and music. Talk about planets aligning? We couldn't have asked for a better anniversary present than a night at our favorite music venue listening to one of our favorite grass bands. The CD is great, check it out, it's called Steady Operator. It's released nationwide on May 12 if you weren't lucky enough to grab one at the Grey Eagle last night.

Here's a nice write up on Town Mountain and the new CD. The Laurel of Asheville

Dutch Oven Apple Brown Betty

Here's a quick and easy dessert that is delicious to eat. The dry ingredients can be mixed together and placed in a ziplock bag ahead of time if you want to fix this one while camping. To make things easier you can even prepare the apples before leaving home and put them in ziplocks in the cooler.

I used the recipe from Texas Treasury of Dutch Oven Cooking .

Grandma 20's Apple Brown Betty

Mix together: 6 cups tart apples, peeled, cored, and sliced. (I used Granny Smiths)
                     1/2 cup sugar.

Spread evenly over bottom of Dutch Oven.

Top with:  1 cup brown sugar
                1 cup oats
                3/4 cup flour
                1/2 cup softened butter
                1 cup pecans (I used halves)
                2 tsp cinnamon
                1 tsp nutmeg

Bake in 10" or 12" dutch oven using 8 briquets on the bottom and 14 briquets on the top for 20 or 30 minutes.
It's done when apples are tender and topping is brown. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

Dutch Oven Chicken Fajitas

I've been thinking about throwing this one together for a few weeks and finally got it in the pot tonight. It's a tasty and easy to cook meal which will feed the hungry family. I used a 12" camp dutch oven.

Ingredients:
2 lbs. chicken breasts cut into 1" pieces
2 tbs. olive oil
1 pkg fajita seasoning
1 red bell pepper, sliced and seeds removed
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced with seeds removed
2 onions sliced
4 small zucchinis, sliced
3 tomatillas, diced
1 lb. mushrooms, sliced
1 bunch cilantro, chopped

Preparation:
Start by firing up about 36 charcoal briquettes in the chimney starter.
When they are hot place a solid layer of briquettes underneath the dutch oven, heating the olive oil.
When oil is hot, lightly brown all sides of the chicken pieces.
Add 1/4 cup hot water and the fajita seasoning.
Add the veggies.
Put the lid on the oven.
Arrange briquettes so that about 12 are below the oven and the remaining 24 are on the top of the lid.
Cook for about 45 minutes.

Serving:
Eat them wrapped in tortillas or serve them over rice.
Some folks like sour cream and grated cheese with them.
We served them with salsa verde. Picante would be good.

The Verdict:
Pretty, colorful, and very good flavor. All the ingredients were perfectly cooked and tender. Black Betty and the kids liked them. I thought they were a little too wet. Next time I will omit the water.