Pudgie Pie Makers: Camp Food

Pudgie Pies: Welcome To the Rest of Your Life

Since I'm on the camping kick, I thought I'd introduce to you my favorite camping tool...the pudgie pie maker (or the much more boring camp cooker). It is a brilliant invention to make delightful camping food. Pudgie pies have been a Tenpas family tradition since I can remember. We used to make pizza pies and fruit pies. That was it. Now that I'm all growed up, I like to be a little more creative than that--and use whole wheat bread--to make my own pudgie pies, wow crowds of campers, and get quizzical What-The-Heck-Is-That? looks from friends who (sadly) have never pudgie pied in their lives. Here's a little summary:

1. You take 2 pieces of bread and butter them on 1 side.
2. Open up the pudgie pie maker and lay the bread in the metal square, butter side down.
3. Put your desired ingredients on 1 side of the bread only. My favorite? Pizza ingredients.
4. Carefully shut the pudgie pie maker when you're satisfied.
5. Hold directly in the flames of the campfire.
6. If you don't already have a campfire built up, GO DO IT and then go back to step 4.

Warning: They Do Melt

Yes, who woulda thunk it that a pudgie pie maker, made of metal and created to put DIRECTLY IN THE FLAMES OF A CAMPFIRE would melt. Well, we found it out the hard way when I was in high school. We ran out of bread--or perhaps the rogue band of raccoons ate the Wonder Bread along with the Pop Tarts--so we all decided to go to the store to buy more. I mean, we HAD to eat pudgie pies. It was the whole reason to camp back then. So we stuck the pie maker in the fire to keep it warm. (We didn't want to waste a single second heating the darn thing when we came back.) Well...when we returned, one of my brothers pulled the sticks out of the firepit. And, lo and behold, NO METAL SQUARE!!! We were dazed and confused for sure. What happened? Who took it? Why would they be so cruel? What could they possibly want with 2 square pieces of metal?

The next morning, after putting out the fire, we found a beautiful blob of melted silver in the ashes. Mystery solved.

And PS. You will get a nice, shiny, silver pudgie pie maker. It won't stay that way for long. They'll be black in no time...for all time.

Creative Camp Cooks

My friends and I have tossed around the idea of a pudgie pie camper's cookbook. But, it's probably already been done. We were dreaming up ways to make

• You can spray non-stick cook spray in the pie maker and put in pancake mix for breakfast.
• Tortillas and scrambled eggs with a little cheese, mushrooms, sausage, and salsa for breakfast burritos. Please roll your R's like a Spaniard when saying buRRRRRito. It makes them taste better.
• Nutella, bread, marshmallows: the perfect squishy, melted s'more.
• Pillsbury Crescent Rolls (as pizza dough) stuffed with pizza toppings. Yuuuuuuummmmmm.
• The list could really be endless. These are just a few to get your creative pudgie pie juices flowing.

Now go. Go buy a pudgie pie maker. If you don't like squares, don't let that stop you. They come in round AND waffle iron varieties. I don't want anything to come between you and the pudgie pie.