But I never paid attention to what she was doing. Her wonderful meals seemed to appear magically out of thin air, even without resources such as refrigeration and running water.

Now, when I go camping with friends, I can pitch a tent, recognize constellations, and build a decent fire.

I just can't cook over one.

So, with a sink-or-swim attitude, I recently invited three friends along on a camping trip to French Creek State Park. I was determined to serve something other than the standard franks-and-beans.

I scoured Internet databases and barbecue cookbooks for dishes that could be prepped in advanced and tailored on-site to individual diets. Overlapping ingredients, easy cleanup, and minimal kitchen utensils were musts.

Also, I wanted to use more unusual cooking techniques such as foil packets and plastic bags on this trip.

Dinner would be bruschetta, nachos, grilled vegetables with bison or halibut, and simple fruit kabobs for dessert.

Breakfast would be muffins baked in orange-peel cups and omelets cooked in a plastic bag. (See accompanying recipes.)

We were either going to waddle home, or starve.

For fresh, local ingredients I headed to Reading Terminal Market. The remaining items were available at Whole Foods.

Preparation would be the key to our survival.

Before leaving home, we covered the bison in our homemade marinade and put it on ice; we packed the cooler with perishables and loaded up my Subaru wagon.

After pitching the tent and collecting firewood, I assembled my three sous chefs and went to work.

First up: bruschetta. The recipe called for small cherry tomatoes, but medium-sized tomatoes were more practical for camping because they can be roasted slowly atop a grate or directly along the edges of the fire. The finished product had a subtle, smoky flavor punctuated by the crunchy bread and sweet tomatoes.

The most challenging part of the bruschetta recipe was extracting the tomatoes without burning myself. Although we made do with short kitchen tongs wrapped in newspaper, I would recommend investing in long-handled tongs or fire-resistant gloves.

Our second appetizer, the nachos, did not come out as well as the bruschetta. Preparation and cleanup were a snap, but the cheese burned instead of melting. The result was something akin to a hockey puck wrapped in foil.

In contrast, our foil entrees were delicious - the vegetables were moist, the bison tender, and the fish flaky.

Here are some tips to make campfire cooking work for you.

When cooked directly on the grill over an open flame, bison, which has a lower fat content than beef, becomes tough and chewy. But a foil packet traps the moisture, producing a succulent meal.