Hobo Dinner with Farmer Sausage

Our family has camped for years at the same campgrounds, known as Manning Park.  I keep saying they were almost all born there.  Some of the traditions that had begun 30 years ago are still some of their favorites.  They have all looked forward to the traditional 'hobo dinner' a dinner without plates or dishes.  This year I decided to change things up and instead of wrapping them in tin foil, I used aluminum pie plates and covered them with tin foil.

Ingredients ~ serving for 8 people

• 3 pounds smoked farmer sausage (1 1/2 rings)
• a medley of garden vegetables: potatoes, carrots, beans, onions, and garlic
• 8 medium potatoes, 
• 8 carrots, 
• 4 cups beans
• 2 large onions
• 8 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• salt & pepper.
• sprigs of summer savory 
• 8 aluminum foil plates/tin foil

Single serving: 1 medium potato, 1 carrot, 1/2 cup beans, 1/4 cup chopped onion, 1 clove chopped garlic and a 3"piece of sausage, 1 aluminum plate

Instructions

1. Cut up vegetables into bite-size pieces approximately 1 inch.
2. Pre-boil potatoes for about 5 minutes to start the cooking process.
3. Cut up the farmer sausage into bite-size pieces.
4. Drain potatoes
5. Combine all vegetables, sausage, and potatoes in one large bowl.
6. Add olive oil to mixture and season to taste.
7. Prepare your aluminum plates and grease generously with olive oil.  Also, grease the tin foil used for the cover.
8. Dish out vegetable mixture into foil plates. ( used 2 cups for child size portion and added 3 cups mixture for adult portions.)
9. Sprinkle onions, garlic, and a sprig of summer savory on top of each tin foil dish.
10. Cover tightly with aluminum foil.
11. Grill at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or wait till briquettes are hot and then spread out the coals and place tin plates over heated BBQ.  Remember the meat and potatoes have been cooked so it really needs to let the other vegetable juices cook and become nice and hot.

Tip:   The hobo dinners can be prepared ahead of time and stored in the fridge.  Because the potatoes have been cooked they do not discolor and therefore preparing them in advance alleviates all the chopping on a crowded camping table. Secondly, you don't need any extra dishes. And they are easy to customize. These hobo dinners were an exceptional hit this past week.  There are a few weekends left for camping...what are your favorite camping traditions?