Copyright Janet Groene 2025. This blog has had more than 284,000 views. To place your ad on all six Groene sites for one low rate, email janetgroene (at) yahoo.com
 |
| Foil Dinner of the Week? Scroll Down |
DESPERATION DINNER
Do you like or dislike this new feature for campers, glampers and RV travelers who are hungry, lost, quarantined, broke, evacuated due to a sudden fire or flood, stranded or stuck somewhere waiting for parts?
Focus is on dinners that cost little, cook quick, use ingredients you probably have in your grub box yet also provide solid nutrition in a pinch.
Vegetable Souffle'
2 to 3 cups croutons or diced stale bread*
1 cup process cheese
2/3 stick butter or oleo
1 large +1 small can evaporated milk
4 eggs or equivalent
Optional seasonings: ½ teaspoon each black pepper, dried parsley flakes, dried onion bits +
2 cups drained canned or cooked mixed vegetables
Butter a deep 8-inch skillet and let remaining butter soften. Cut Velveeta in small dice. Whisk eggs, canned milk and softened butter. Add seasonings if using. Fold in bread, diced cheese and vegetables. (If using cheese from a jar, use two spoons to distribute it in small dollops. Mix well to make a heavy dough.
Spread evenly in skillet. Cover. Cook until it’s puffy and set as for custard. Serves 4 to 6.
* Cook’s note: You may have to use more bread if it’s thin, white sandwich bread or less bread if using a hearty artisan loaf. Velveeta is a good emergency ingredient because of its extended shelf life. Watch use-by dates.
THUMBNAIL RECIPE OF THE WEEK
Potato Scallop “Helper”
Remove dried potatoes and flavor packet from a box of Betty Crocker or Idahoan scalloped potato mix. Snip a small jar of dried chipped beef into shreds. Put potatoes and beef in a zip-top bag with, 2 T. dried onion bits, 1 T each low sodium beef bouillon & dried parsley flakes + 1 packet chicken gravy mix. Seal bag and keep cool and dry. In camp, bring 3 1/2 cups water to a boil. Add helper + a pat of butter. Reduce heat. Simmer , stirring occasionally until potatoes are tender and sauce creamy. (Add more water as needed.)
Optional: stir in thawed peas for the last 2 minutes.
Don't miss weekly posts at https://solowomanrv.blogspot.com/ Each post has a brief, helpful feature + just-in news briefs about campgrounds and parks from local sources U.S. & Canada. Get the inside scoop on opening, closing and future RV parks and campgrounds plus dated RV events.
How much food will you need for a week in the woods for two adults and two kids? A month in a fly-in fish camp? A two-week power outage in your forest cabin? See Survival Food Handbook for lists, tips on buying and stowing, and recipes that need no fresh ingredients. Stuff happens. Be prepared. https://amzn.to/1WdYqbe
Travelers have limited storage space for emergency food. Survival Food Handbook is just for campers, truckers, RV travelers and boaters who need to make the most of every ounce, inch and dollar. Have a stash of staples you will use and replenish. Always have balanced meals for a few days during an surprise evacuation, fridge failure, shelter-in-place order or other unplanned speed bump on your journey. http://amzn.to/1WdYqbe
Campground Potluck/Tailgate
Recipe of the Week
Shortcut Sliders
 |
| Finger foods are tailgate favorites |
The work is all done after you assemble these bite-size sandwiches. You’ll need the kind of dinner rolls that are sold 12 to a package, all hitched together.
2 packages, 1 dozen each, fully baked dinner rolls
1 jar apricot jam
1 bottle Dijon mustard
12 ounces (or more to taste) thin-sliced deli ham or turkey
8-ounce package grated Cheddar cheese
Remove rolls from the package in one piece. Carefully cut the top half off the entire baked piece. For now you are making one big sandwich that will be easy to handle. Carefully spread one cut side generously with jam and the other cut side with mustard. Set the bottom half on large piece of foil and sprinkle the cut side with grated cheese. Add a layer of meat, then another sprinkling of cheese. Top with the other half of the roll. Bring foil up to wrap the package.
Repeat with the second dozen rolls. Packages can now be frozen or refrigerated. To proceed, thaw package and place on medium grill or oven. Heat a few minutes on each side, turning several times just to heat through and melt the cheese. Use a long, serrated knife to cut rolls apart. You now have 24 sliders.
CAMPGROUND POTLUCK RECIPE #2
You’ll need a large, 2-gallon size zip-top bag for this potluck pleaser.
Bag ‘O Broccoli Salad4 cups broccoli florets cut in small bite size
Medium sweet onion, cut in crescents
8- to 10-ounce can sliced mushrooms, drained
Small can sliced black olives, drained
8-ounce can sliced water chestnuts, drained
1 1/4 cups Italian dressing
Put everything in the bag and refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight. Cut a small hole in a bottom corner of the bag and drain liquid. (Don’t drain in the RV sink. Oils gum up the gray water tank..) Unzip the bag and pile the salad into a bowl to serve 8 to 10.
Variation: Do not drain the bag. Instead, empty the marinade and vegetables over 2 to 3 cups cooked medium pasta, such as rotini. Toss to mix well and add more dressing ifs needed. Serves 12 to 14.
COOKING ABOARD YOUR RV
For yourself or a gift, Janet Groene's timeless RV cookbook is packed with shortcuts, tips and 270 easy, delicious recipes to cook inside the camper or outside on the campfire, camp stove or grill.
https://amzn.to/3nNndWY
Need a last minute gift for any age or gender ? Let Amazon wrap and ship the book for you They will even supply a gift card.
Tips for the Camp Chef
* Rules of thumb: To make egg salad sandwiches (no celery) for 25 people you need 4 dozen eggs. For chicken or turkey salad sandwiches with celery, start with 5 cups cooked poultry.
* Add toothsome texture to instant pudding by topping with Grape Nuts, maple granola or fine chopped toffee candy bars.
* Can’t get stubborn smells out of plastic food storage containers? Wash, dry and put them in a clean, empty ice chest. Sprinkle with baking soda. The next day, wipe away the soda with a clean cloth.
* Old-fashioned electric heating pads are a plus in camping when you have electric hookups. Pre-warm beds for humans and pets. Keep a heating pad handy for backaches, ear aches, cold feet. Stack dinner plates between two heating pads, cover with a dish towel and pre-heat before serving a hot meal on a cold night.
FOIL DINNER OF THE WEEK
Customize each packet to suit everyone just right. Then eat out of the foil and there's no dishwashing.
Chicken Oahu
For each packet:
1 bone-in, skin on chicken breast half
Salt, pepper
1/2 to 2/3 cup cooked rice
1 teaspoon shredded cheese
2 teaspoons low sodium soy sauce
Thin slice sweet onion
1 slice pineapple, drained
Set out a square of foil for each packet. Spray center of foil with nonstick spray. Place chicken here, skin side down. Lightly season chicken with salt and pepper.
Mix rice with grated cheese and pack into chicken cavity. Drizzle with some of the soy sauce. Top with onion slice and pineapple slice and a little more soy sauce. Seal foil and cook on well-started coals starting with the chicken side down. Turn often for 20-25 minutes until chicken reaches 170 F.
Camp and RV Recipe of the Week
ChickaLentil Stew
Make this hearty bistro favorite to serve eight campers now or to freeze in smaller batches according to your crew size.
8 meaty chicken parts
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon canola oil
Large onion, diced
Large carrot, diced
Medium bunch celery, diced
3/4 cup lentils
1 ½ cups water
1 chicken flavor bouillon cube
14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning mix
Salt, pepper to taste
In a large skillet, pot or Dutch oven, brown chicken in hot oil, gradually stirring in
garlic, vegetables and lentils. Add water, bouillon, tomatoes and Italian seasoning. Bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve bouillon. Cover and simmer over low heat 30-40 minutes or until lentils are tender. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve as is or over rice. Makes 8 portions.
Love Sea Travel? Discover Yacht Yenta Cozy Mysteries
People are dying in Okecoochie County FL, but nobody can guess how the deaths are connected. Meet Farley Halladay, a salt-cured sailboat widow who has an online charterboat booking business. She dodges a wayward sister, cares for an old Navy SEAL veteran who was her late husband’s mentor and wrangles a large circle of wacky friends. She cooks, copes and solves crimes in this unusual cozy mystery series. Check your favorite e-book seller for all formats or go to Kindle, https://amzn.to/3bB5XPh
Bonus points: Throughout the books, Farley shares shortcut recipes from the days when she was a charterboat cook.
FLEXIPE OF THE WEEK
This feature is any recipe that begins with one, basic set of ingredients that are easy to keep on hand. Then you vary it to look and taste different every day.
Skillet Quiche
1 unbaked pie shell in foil pie plate, thawed
(optional) coconut oil pan spray for faster browning
Basic Filling:
3 large eggs
12-ounce can evaporated milk
1/4 cup water or milk
½ teaspoon each salt, pepper, ground nutmeg or paprika
2/3 cup shredded cheese (Parmesan, smoked provolone, Cheddar, gouda, etc.)
Add-ons: 1 ½ cups sliced, crisp-cooked asparagus + 1/3 cup real bacon bits OR
1 can baby carrots, drained + thin-sliced hot dogs OR
1 cup shredded barbecued chicken or pork + ½ cup drained salad olives OR
1/2 cup cooked rice, quinoa, wild rice or barley + 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese OR
Small can diced chilies, drained + 1 teaspoon chili powder OR
1 can tuna, drained and broken up + 1 cup drained canned whole kernel corn OR
1 ½ cups cooked, very well drained spinach or other cooked greens + ½ cup cooked, cut up cooked smoke sausage such as kielbasa
To Proceed: Lightly spray pit shell with coconut oil. Preheat oven to 400 F. or heat your stove-top oven/Dutch oven. Pre-cook pie shell about 6 minutes.
Beat eggs with seasonings. Scatter your chosen add-ons in pre-baked crust and add egg mixture. Bake 25 minutes or until set, as for custard. Let stand 5 minutes. Cut in wedges. .
Cook’s note: To make a quick pie shell melt a stick of butter in the pie pan and use a fork to work in a cup of flour. Add more flour as needed. Press dough around bottom and sides of the pan. Flute edges. Omit coconut oil spray.
WHY WAIT TO RETIRE?
Do you dream of living, traveling (and perhaps earning a living) in a complete home on wheels? We did. Living Aboard Your RV, 4th Edition by Janet Groene & Gordon Groene is a total guide to the full-time life on wheels. Should you sell the house or rent it out? Downsize possessions or put them in storage? Too young to retire? See the chapter on ways to make a living anywhere. Kids on board? We cover home schooling and also an exit strategy if and when the time comes to settle down. Order at any book store or let Amazon gift wrap and ship it for you. https://amzn.to/29XFEk
Snacks are better, cheaper, healthier when you make them by the gallon, then package in snack bags one cupful at a time. Eat on the go anywhere, anytime. Never be without a healthful snack in your day pack. See http://www.CreateAGorp.blogspot.com
BLACK POT RECIPE OF THE WEEK
Continental Beef Ragout
2 pounds beef for stew, cut in bite size
2 tablespoons vegetable oil or butter
Large onion, diced
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
Large Granny Smith apple, peeled and diced
1 teaspoon each minced garlic, dried thyme, anchovy paste
½ cup each dry red wine and water
2 beef flavor bouillon cubes
Salt, pepper
Split and spread campfire baked potatoes to make a perfect plate for serving this stew
Brown beef in hot fat. Add remaining ingredients and stir to dissolve bouillon cubes.
Cover pot and cook over well-start coals 1 hour, stirring occasionally and adding water as needed. Season to taste. Serve over campfire- baked potatoes. Serves to 8.
LIFESAVER SAUCE OF THE WEEK
Creole Tomato Sauce
Wake up a dish that is just too bland, too pale, too blah. This sauce adds color. Cloves add hidden heat and zing.
1 onion1 rib celery
2 tablespoons butter
15-ounce can or jar meatless spaghetti sauce
8-ounce can tomato sauce
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves (or more to taste)
Salt, pepper
Chop onion and celery fine and sizzle in melted butter. Add sauces, bay leaf and cloves. Simmer until vegetables are tender. Adjust seasonings. Discard bay leaf. Spoon over steamed rice, fried potatoes, stuffed peppers, salmon patties or any plain meat or fish from the grill.
Will you sleep tight in your RV campsite next summer? Get the jump on reservations at new, expanding or upgraded campgrounds and RV parks. We gather just-in news briefs from local sources. See CAMPGROUNDS GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS at https://solowomanrv.blogspot.com
