Next week, Steve, our friend Robin, and I will be leading an outdoor cooking unit for Camp Norwestor, a “twilight” Girl Scout camp. The girls will spend the evening with us, learning about fire safety, temperature control, and care of cast iron, by preparing and baking biscuits, gravy, finger pies, cornbread, chicken fingers, cinnamon monkey bread, honeybun cake, bacon wrapped pork loin, and more.
At one of the training sessions, I heard about “swaps” and instantly was interested. Here’s the official explanation:
Swaps, the tradition of Girl Scouts exchanging keepsakes, started long ago when Girl Scouts and Girl Guides first gathered for fun, song, and making new friends.
Swaps were widely exchanged at national Girl Scout Senior Roundups in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
In more recent years, some Girl Scouts describe the types of objects now preferred as swaps by calling them:
Special Whatchamacallits Affectionately Pinned Somewhere.
Swaps are still the perfect way for Girl Scouts to meet each other and promote friendship. Each one is a memory of a special event or Girl Scout Sister.
And I learned that the place to find ideas for swaps is on Pinterest, of course! After a minute, I immediately knew what I wanted to make for our girls. Tiny camp Dutch ovens! Our friend from the Prairie Dogs, Sue, had one at the LSDOS Big DOG in Canton and I knew it was the perfect swap to make for our Girl Scouts.
Here’s how I made them. I purchased 24 Cokes in plastic bottles with black caps, black wire, Super Glue, and 6/0 seed beads. I used a pair of needle nose pliers to cut and bend the wire and a black Sharpie to cover up the print on the Coke caps. 
I covered up the print on the top of the bottle caps with a Sharpie…
….then glued three beads on the bottom of the cap for the oven’s legs.
When the glue dried and the beads were set, I drilled two holes in the sides of each cap with a 1/16th drill bit. I cut a 3-inch length of the wire and attached it to the cap to make the bale of the oven. I attached a small dragonfly charm, like a Dutch oven identification tag, representing the name of the cooking unit, “Fireflies,” making it a special memory of our time together at Camp Norwestor.
I will add a small safety pin to the bale so that the girls can attach and wear it. I made extras to give away and look forward to sharing these cute little swaps with everyone!
Texas peaches are a sweet treat in the summer time, so when I spotted Julia’s recipe I knew I had to give it a try with a fun twist. Cognac! One of my favorite guides for finding ideas to add depth of flavor is Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg’s award winning The Flavor Bible. Since cognac and cinnamon are highly recommended for peaches, I added them to the recipe. Check out the results!
