Good morning! I’m so glad it’s finally camping weather again; we had a wonderful weekend camping at a local state park. The beginning of May seems late for our second camping weekend, but the cold, Iowa weather has kept us home until now.
The beautiful weekend has made up for the late start of the season though. We easily got a primitive camping spot, without electricity or water. It was tucked in by the woods; with no one else close by.
Despite a few unexpected, brief showers, we were able to hike and mushroom hunt. The husband found a few morels (and only 1 tick)-how fun! The youngest had friends spend the night and they saw a snake sunning while they were hiking.
I was able to try a few new campfire recipes. Sometimes, I don’t get to try any new recipes. This weekend, I tried 3 new ones- I am so excited! 2 are super easy snacks (that I’ll share soon) but one is a new Pie Iron leftover meal.
I love using leftover or even planned leftovers to make a pie iron meal. It makes camp food soo much easier.
This week, we had tacos, so I brought the leftovers with us camping. We tried Tortilla Taco Pie Irons for a quick camping lunch and they were soo yummy! I’m very excited to have 2 different pie iron meals that use leftover taco meat: Coney Dogs and now, Tortilla Tacos!
Now, when I make tacos at home, I can make a large batch and put a bag of leftovers in the freezer. Then, it will be easy to grab it for camping with no extra prep the day before camping
Tortilla Taco Pie Irons are very easy to make! I’ve heard of using tortilla as the crust in a pie iron, but haven’t tried it before. To me, a round tortilla pus a square pie iron pan equals a lot of food waste. There is some waste, but using the right sized tortilla helps to minimize it. The husband also says tortillas are cheap, so it’s fine. But I did find a good use for the leftover tortillas; I’ll share it next week!
Tortilla Taco Pie Iron Recipe
Oil
Leftover Taco meat, 1/4-1/3 cup per sandwich
Cheddar or Cojack Cheese
Flour Tortillas, small shells fold over to make one sandwich-but large ones can be trimmed to use
To serve: salsa, sour cream, lettuce, tomato, onion
Oil the pie irons, so the tortillas don’t stick while cooking.
Place tortillas in pie iron, a small tortilla can be folded over the filling to make 1 sandwich. 2 large tortillas can be trimmed and pieced to make 2 sandwiches.
Press 1/4 – 1/3 of cold taco meat into the tortilla and top with cheese. It needs to be full so there is good contact with the tortilla and the pie iron. Press meat in gently; try not to tear the tortillas.
Fold small tortilla down to make the top crust and seal with other half of a pie iron cooker. Trim off the excess that sticks out of the pie iron so it doesn’t burn.
Then cook on both sides over the fire until golden brown and crispy. I check them after a few minutes, and then flip and cook the other side when the first side is golden brown. If the edges stick, a knife or fork can be used to loosen them.
Cooking time depends on heat of the fire and how hungry or patient you are. Usually it takes just 5-8 minutes. Sometimes, I set them over the coals and other times, I will set them right in the flames.
Of course, this is why we have mostly cast iron pie irons, I am usually impatient and set them right in the flames. I have wrecked all our Teflon ones with the high heat. The cast iron ones are heavier but more durable. The weight is fine though, because we usually rest them on the fire grate or the edge of the fire ring when we cook.
When they are done, flip onto a plate to cool for a few minutes. Pie iron sandwiches are always smoking hot,even when I start with cold fillings, so wait to try them! You could serve the Tortilla Taco Pie Irons with lettuce, tomato and onion and eat them with a fork. We used our fingers and dipped them into salsa and sour cream-super yummy! Even the youngest’s visitors liked them, and they aren’t my usual guinea pigs.
A few of mine had a small 1-2 inch gap that didn’t seal with the edge of the pie iron. That was ok, not much cheese leaked out. I also tore one of the large tortillas, but it was fine.
I wish we would have tried tortillas sooner. The tortillas were much more forgiving than I imagined they would be.
The Tortilla Taco Pie Irons were good, but the tortilla crust was really, really good! It was so crispy! I’m glad we finally tried tortillas as pie iron crusts. With a new leftover pie iron recipe, hiking and finding mushrooms, we had a great camping weekend! I’m excited to finally start camping again this season and I can’t wait to share my other new campfire recipes with you!
Happy Camping (or cooking with leftovers!)
Frugal Campasaurus