Good morning, morning! A morning campfire and a Pie Iron Breakfast Tortilla- what a great way to start a hot, hot weekend!
Even though the predicted temperatures are 90-97 degrees, we decided to go camping this weekend!
Usually, we don’t camp in hot weather, but that means no camping in July or August. The camping season goes by so quickly that we hate to miss 2 whole months.
This weekend, I’m going to enjoy the cooler mornings with a campfire and camp cooking. I’m also going to try to enjoy the afternoons inside with air conditioning.
We like primitive, non-electric sites and I love being outside when we are camping, but that is not always practical or even safe. My family also says I get grumpy when it’s hot. So we got an electric site and I’m going to try to stay inside during the hot part of the day. Maybe, if this weekend is fun, despite 90 degree weather, we can camp more often in July and August.
I’ve had a great, relaxing start to the weekend.
We heard an owl as the husband left early for work, then I heard a woodpecker and someone singing in the shower house. I am pretty sure they didn’t realize that the bathrooms echo a lot, but it sounded nice and they sounded happy to start the weekend also.
I love cooking over the campfire and Pie Iron Breakfast Tortillas was an easy, quick breakfast that I enjoyed before the day heated up.
Half of our pie irons needed care since our last camping trip was in early June, but I found a few good ones to use. I cleaned and seasoned the others after breakfast as the fire died down.
Pie Iron Breakfast Tortillas is a scrambled egg pie iron sandwich and there are many variations. You can use leftover scrambled egg, leftover breakfast meat, vegies, sliced bread, probably even Bucket O’Bread.
I used tortillas-they were quick, yummy and crispy!
I made new scrambled eggs in the microwave since I didn’t have leftovers.
I also didn’t have leftover sausage or bacon, so to keep breakfast quick I used some shaved ham I had bought for sandwiches.
For years, I did not use tortillas in a pie iron. We make and enjoy breakfast burritos in the cast iron skillet but I thought folding them would make a thick chewy spot and cutting them to fit was a waste of food.
Actually, it was a waste of time-mine!
Neither of my concerns were true- I can make snacks if I cut the big tortillas and folding does not make a tough chewy spot. We could have been enjoying crispy tortilla pie irons for years!
This morning, I used medium-sized tortillas with my ham, scrambled egg and cheese. When I folded them up in the pie iron, there was a small quarter-sized gap. I tore a small patch from the folded over part of the tortilla. It worked great-none of the cheese leaked out.
Pie Iron Breakfast Tortilla Recipe, for 1 pie iron sandwich
1 egg, scrambled and cooked
1/2-1 slice of American cheese
2 Tablespoons shaved ham-or any leftover breakfast meat
1 flour tortilla
options- onions, green peppers, mushrooms or cherry tomatoes might be good also
*****
Lightly oil the pie irons, so the tortillas don’t stick while cooking. Place tortilla in one half of the pie iron, centering it.
Press scrambled egg and cut up ham into the tortilla and top with cheese. It needs to be full so there is good contact between the tortilla and the pie iron.
Press in gently; try not to tear the tortillas. I have tore some and still used them, sometimes the cheese leaks out but the pie irons are not too hard to clean. Fold tortilla sides in, overlapping them. I had a small gap where the medium sized tortillas didn’t meet,so I tore a patch from the folded over part and it worked great.
Close the other half of the pie iron cooker. Since the tortilla is all folded in to make the crust, there shouldn’t be any extra that sticks out of the pie iron.
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.
The cooking time depends on the heat of the fire. This morning I had a smaller fire, so I couldn’t leave the pie iron on the campfire grate shelf-it wasn’t getting golden. So, I held it in the flames.
Of course, I usually cook right in the flames since I am impatient. This is quicker, but I check the sandwiches more often so they don’t burn. It also ruins the Teflon pie irons, so I prefer cast iron pie irons. They are heavier, but hold up to the heat better than the Teflon pie irons we used to have.
It is good that both kinds are easy to clean-since we haven’t camped for over a month, I had 6 extra ones to do!
I wash the inside of pie iron cookers, and then dry over the coals. After they are dry and coolish, I lightly oil and store in our Pie Iron Storage Bag. I don’t worry about washing the sooty outside of the pie irons; the bag contains them all and keeps the soot away from anything else.
Pie irons are so easy to cook with and so easy to clean, I really only have one problem-they take sooooo long to cool down to eat! Well, at least it can seem long but it really is only a few minutes. My first one was so yummy, that like the husband says ‘it tastes like another!’ At least making the second pie iron kept me busy while the other cooled.
I am hoping to enjoy the rest of this hot, hot weekend as much as I did the morning campfire and easy breakfast, the Pie Iron Breakfast Tortilla. Hopefully, you can enjoy a Pie Iron Breakfast Tortilla soon!
Happy Camping (even in hot, hot weather?)
Frugal Campasaurus