For a weekend trip, my boyfriend, Rob, and I ventured up the California coast for a surf safari/camping trip.

On the way up we stopped at San Onofre for a little of this action.

We made a few more pit stops along the way, at one of which my car battery decided to die. That wasn’t so fun, but what’s an adventure without a few things going wrong?

Finally, at dusk, we reached our destination at Jalama Beach, which is about an hour North of Santa Barbara.

Let me paint a quick picture for you: we were starving, tired, and we needed to set up our campsite in the dark… and in high speed winds.

Let me tell you, it’s not easy to set up a tent with raging winds blowing everything around. We probably looked like characters in an old slapstick comedy.

Good thing we had such kind neighbors who stepped in to help us out.

Luckily, I had some pre-made chili that I could quickly heat up for that first night. Home-made chili is such a great camping meal and it also serves as an ice pack if you have time to freeze it overnight before packing in the cooler. I learned that trick from my Momma. She’s a smart cookie.

For breakfast we had, banana coconut chia pudding, Baked Oatmeal Bars, and delicious French-pressed coffee, using freshly ground beans that were gifted to me by my little sister, Sarah, from her Guatemala trip.

Sarah came along for a day to hang out, provide some guitar tunes, and help cook some Campfire Hash. I love this little one.

She might kill me for this, but one of my favorite memories of the trip happened when we were exploring tide-pools. We were getting a little deep in the water, balancing on slippery rocks and discovering pretty starfish, and somehow she slipped off a rock and fell face first in the water. Oddly enough, she only got her face wet. To say it was a good catch would be an understatement. Literally, everything else was dry, just her face and hair were drenched. I’m dying just thinking about it.

The second night we made a tasty Campfire Hash, which consisted of peppers, onions, sweet potato, spicy jalapeno chicken sausage, and smoky paprika flavors. It’s a hearty meal and was an easy thing to throw in a skillet over the open fire.

The weekend consisted of the following things: road-tripping, exploring, tide-pooling, surfing, beach-walking, Frisbee-tossing, volleyball-peppering (with added push-ups as punishment for poor play…don’t ask why we did that), S’mores-making, smiling, laughing, and memory-making.

I love S’mores. I think I ate enough of them in a single night to cover a family of four. No shame there at all.

Guacamole is another thing that there can’t be too much of. Rob was on guacamole patrol and did a fabulous job. We threw some lime, tomato, garlic salt and pepper in with mashed avocados and it was a glorious combination.

The morning before we left, we took turns leading an early morning beach yoga session. I’m glad we didn’t have any spectators, because we looked ridiculous. By the end of our self-led class, our towels were buried in sand that the strong winds had carried over, and it was near impossible to do any balancing poses.

Despite the ferocious winds, the patchy sunshine, and the lacking waves, we had such a grand adventure. Three days and three washes later, my hair still smelled like campfire.

Note: you can enjoy this hash, with or without a campfire to cook it upon. But if you need an excuse to go camping in the great outdoors, then just tell yourself that you do indeed need a campfire to cook up this Campfire Hash.

Campfire Hash {with peppers, sweet potato, & spicy chicken sausage}

Print Recipe!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 orange bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 medium yellow onion, diced

1 large sweet potato, diced into small cubes

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 package (4-5 links) of cooked chicken sausage, sliced into rounds (we used Spicy Jalapeno chicken sausage from TJs)

1/2 tsp garlic salt, to taste

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:

Heat olive oil in a cast iron skillet (if cooking over an open fire this is recommended, or if cooking on a stove you can use a non-stick pan). Add onions, bell peppers, sweet potato, seasonings and cook for about 10-14 minutes, stirring occasionally. In the last 3-4 minutes of cooking, add the chicken sausage to heat through. The cook time will vary based on grill/stove/campfire, but when sweet potatoes are softened with a slightly crispy outside, they are done.

From the Little Yellow Kitchen,

Chrissy