Silver Turtles

We went camping this past weekend with Joshua's Cub Scout troop and made "Silver Turtles," (foil packet meals) for dinner. You don't have to go camping to enjoy these...just fire up your outdoor grill.

Set up your outdoor campfire (or grill) with a nice layer of charcoal. Let that burn for a good 20-30 minutes until you have white coals.

Lay out a large sheet of heavy duty foil. Fold it in half, and then at the crease, make another fold about 1 inch wide. This creates a "expansion joint" so as the food cooks, any steam will be contained, but not so much that it makes the packet burst open.

The Den Leader had all the ingredients set up on the table, and here's what I put in mine-- a hamburger patty (well-seasoned on both sides with seasoned salt), canned tomatoes, potatoes, corn, green peppers, and onions. If you look closely, you can see how the foil is folded in the middle.

Lay the foil packets folded side up and let the cook for about 15 minutes. You should start hearing it sizzle after this time is up. Turn it over and let it continue to cook until the potatoes are done. You may have to check it a couple of times. Most of them were done after about 20 minutes, but others took longer. It really depends how hot the coals were, so your cooking time may be very different.
You could use chicken breasts if you wanted too...but I know the hamburger patties were probably cheaper to buy in bulk. Some other ingredients available that I didn't put in my packet (but did in my second packet) were jalapenos, cream of mushroom soup, celery, baby carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and canned tomato soup.

Fold the foil over all the raw ingredients, making sure to close up all the edges. You want all the cooking liquid and steam to stay inside so your meal stays nice and moist. Use a permanent marker and write you name on the outside of the packet--after all, you don't want anyone else to eat your creation!


We had so many foil packets, we had 2 fires going. Here's my hubby monitoring one of them.


When it's done, carefully open the packet--the steam will be VERY hot, and let it cool for about 5 minutes before digging in.

All the kids enjoyed making these...since you get to decide what to put in the foil. There's no complaining about dinner if you made it yourself, right?

I'd love to experiment with these some other time. I'll bet some sweet potatoes, smoked sausage, salsa, or fennel would taste great (not all together necessarily!).

Hope you have a chance to try this out sometime!

God bless your camp tonight!