Vegan Camping = Coffee and Hobo Pies

Hobo Pies are my favorite camping creations.

Everyone should make hobo pies all the time. They are so easy and so versatile. You can put absolutely anything in them. Leftover pasta or vegan chili? Hobo pie. Pieces of basil and melty vegan cheese? Hobo pie. steamed vegetables and curry sauce? hobo pie. Butternut squash and cinnamon? Hobo Pie.

The possible combinations are endless. You can use any type of bread, but english muffins and tortillas work well because they are more or less the same size as the pie iron.

For these particular pies, we used mashed potatoes, refried beans, tvp chili, tomatoes, cilantro, onions, and corn tortillas.

Coat each side of the pie iron with vegetable oil or vegan margarine and slop whatever ingredients you have in between two tortillas. You may need to slice the end off one tortilla to create a flat edge where the hinge is.

Close the pie iron and heat each side over a flame for a few minutes. Check it periodically. When each side is browned, cut the burnt edges off with a knife, wack each side, and flip it onto a plate.

Viola! The tortillas singe together to form a warm, crispy pocket of goodness. It seriously takes about 5 minutes.

As for coffee…for some reason, camping coffee always tastes better than regular coffee. I wouldn’t recommend our method of making coffee, but this is how we ended up doing it:

• Boil coffee grinds in pot of water over grill
• Cut the bottom off a plastic water bottle, and attach coffee filter to bottle with rubber-band
• Balance water bottle on handle of cooler
• Pour coffee slowly through water bottle into cup. Hope it doesn’t fall over before the process is finished.

Who cares if it took an hour to make? It was the best cup of coffee ever.