Of Monkeys and bread...

    
Can you believe that the end of Summer is upon us?

    Where exactly has this year gone?! This morning as I sat down at the computer to download our vacation pictures I couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness. Our precious vacation now is down in the memory banks! Each year we take a week long break from the ordinary. Escape the routines and enjoy spending time together as a family! I remember the anticipation I felt as we prepared to live out of our trailer for nine days! Nine Days! How on earth would we survive such close quarters for such an amount of time! How would I keep the kids from killing each other? Would the baby sleep? Or would we have a weeks worth of all nighters! The anxiety almost unbearable as we pulled out of the drive way and onto our adventure!

    What happened within those nine days in paradise was nothing short of a miracle! We grew closer than we already were, and learned so much from one another! We shared laughter and knew in our hearts this was indeed a special time! In fact the time went by so fast we were sad to see it end! We visited places we had never seen! Experienced new and exciting adventures! Jumped into rivers! Bathed in streams! Ate like wild little animals...

 Speaking of food!

    We tried many new and different camp style dinners on our trip! Campfire Mac and Cheese, camp quesadillas, chicken and sausage foil packets... Our favorite however had us searching for a grocery store so we had supplies to make it again!

    Bacon Cheddar Monkey Bread

I found this recipe on the Rhodes rolls website! With a few tweaks of our own it is now a camp favorite!

You will need:

24 Rhodes frozen rolls

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup Parmesan

1 package thick cut bacon

1/2 cup jalapenos (optional)

1 dutch oven liner

Directions:

    Cut the bacon into bite size chunks and brown. We used a liner for this process. Once bacon is browned remove from dutch oven. Remove about half of the bacon grease and discard. Layers the rolls in the bottom of the liner on top of the remaining bacon grease. There should be no gaps. Once the rolls are covering the bottom, top the rolls with cheeses and bacon, making sure to get in the nooks and cranny's! Your dutch oven is warm from browning the bacon, so put the lid on and allow the rolls to rise until double in size! Once doubled place your coals, or begin baking on your camp stove. Bake for approximately 30 minutes checking often that the bottom is not burning. We use our camp Chef so this was more of an issue than if you are using coals top and bottom! Once cooked, using the liner in the dutch oven remove rolls and devour!

    I hope yours was a summer to remember! Children are only children for so long! Cherish the road trips! Embrace the bickering! Enjoy the laughter! Hug and kiss their sweet little faces...