Cooking Shortcuts for Camping and RV

Blog copyright janet groene 2021. This blog has had almost 208,000 visitors.  To donate $5 a year as a voluntary subscription use your Paypal account to janetgroene at yahoo.com

 

 

CAMPING AND RV RECIPE OF THE WEEK
Better Beer Bread

The old, two-ingredient beer bread recipe has been baked in my various ovens, regular, convection  and stove-top, countless times. It’s always quick, easy, yeasty and satisfying Here is a healthier version than the recipe made only with beer and self-rising flour. Make a quick mix at home by measuring all dry ingredients into a plastic bag. Seal. Add beer in camp and bake.

1 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
½ cup minute oats
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups beer, not flat, not too dark or heavy

Optional additions: ½ cup French-fried onions or shredded Cheddar or chopped scallions or chopped olives.  Optional herbs: 1 teaspoon dried dillweed or Italian seasoning or cinnamon plus 2 addtional tablespoons of sugar.  Or 2 teaspoons caraway seeds.
Note: Bread will rise as it bakes. Fill pan no more than 2/3 full.

    Put in a bowl and stir in 1 ½ cups  beer until everything is evenly moist. Turn into a greased pan sprinkled with cornmeal (optional) and bake 35-40 minutes or until golden brown at 400 degrees.
Stove top: Grease a heavy, deep 8-inch skillet and sprinkle with cornmeal. Add bread dough and cover tightly. For a taller loaf I bake this bread in a pressure cooker with the gasket and other rubberized components removed. Grease and sprinkle with cornmeal. It can also be baked in Dutch oven. When baked in a stove-top oven, top may not brown. Turn out bread on a cutting board, crusty side up. This makes a short, found loaf best served in wedges.

 

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  Tips for the Camp Cook

* A springform pan works for cold food too. Mold gels, icebox cakes/pies, rice, salads.

    * Add flavor and color to dishes made with ground chicken or ground turkey by stirring in a teaspoon of instant coffee.

    * Coffee filters make cheap, effective cushions between stacks of pots and pans and they are easily replaced when soiled.

* Check the liquor store for “nip” size bottles of liqueurs to use in cooking. A nip of brandy, applejack, Cherry Heering or Triple Sec adds a gourmet flavor to a sauce, batter or casserole.


BONUS RECIPE
Lox Mayonnaise
    Need a sumptuous sauce to perk up tonight’s fish dinner? Wow ‘em with this easy mayonnaise.

 

 2 cups good quality mayonnaise
½ cup finely chopped lox (smoked salmon)
2 tablespoons chopped capers, drained
2 tablespoons finely chopped sweet onion such as Vidalia

    Stir everything together and chill several hours while flavors blend. Spoon over hot, cooked seafood such as grilled fish steaks, beer-battered fried fish or crispy fish cakes. Optional: Serve lemon wedges on the side.  Sauce keeps in the refrigerator for up to four days.

    
CAMPGROUND POTLUCK

RECIPE OF THE WEEK
Mountain Dew Watermelon

 

Disposable serving bowl

     What could be simpler or more popular than watermelon for dessert at this time of year? Use a knife, ice cream scoop or melon baller to fill a big bowl (or watermelon halves) with bite-size  seedless watermelon. Sprinkle lightly with sugar and (optional) crushed ice. Then pour Mountain Dew over  everything. At the potluck table provide a scoop or spoon for serving in disposable cups. 

 

 

 

FREEZE AHEAD RECIPE OF THE WEEK
Asian Onion Chicken
4-pound rotisserie chicken OR
2 to 3 home-roasted chickens OR
About 8 to 10 cups canned chunk chicken
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 cup cooking sherry
3-pound bag onions
1/4 cup vegetable oil, bacon drippings, lard, butter or other fat
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 ½ teaspoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons each rice flour and sugar
1 1/4 cups water

  

  Cut cooked chicken bite size and put in a bowl. Toss with mixture of soy sauce and sherry. Set aside. Trim and dice lots and lots of onions. Cook onions in fat until softened, gradually adding garlic and ginger. Add chicken and continue to heat until onions are soft.  Stir rice flour and sugar into cold water and add to hot mixture.  Heat until sauce thickens. Cool and package for the freezer, allowing 2/3 to 1 cupful per portion.
    Heat and serve over rice, rice noodles or crisp Asian noodles.  Garnish with chopped fresh scallions. Pass the soy sauce. 

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Campground Cooking the Easy Way

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CAMP AND RV RECIPES OF THE WEEK: Salvation Sauces    
    An old joke says that doctors bury their mistakes and cooks cover theirs with mayonnaise. In camping and RV travel, disappointments can happen when a stove doesn’t behave or a recipe doesn’t turn out. These amazingly simple sauces can save the dish.

.
Apricot Sauce
1 cup apricot jam
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 to 1/3 cup orange or apricot liqueur or apricot nectar
    Heat jam gently and stir in ginger and liqueur. Serve over ham, chicken, brown rice pilaf or sweet potatoes.

 

 

No-Cook Asian Sauce
½ cup sugar
1/4 cup white wine vinegar or rice vinegar
1 cup low sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon each garlic powder and toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon hot sauce (more or less to taste)
    Combine everything but the hot sauce. Stir to dissolve sugar and let stand a while to blend flavors. Add your favorite  hot sauce to taste.  Use as a dip for smoky links, dim sum, chicken nuggets, egg rolls. 

 

No-Cook Sour Cream Sauce
1 cup sour cream (regular or lite)
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon each dried chives, dried tarragon, onion powder, dill weed
Salt, pepper to taste
    Combine and serve as a dip with chips or vegetables, sweet potato fries or corn dogs.

Tomato Soup Sauce
1 can condensed tomato soup
1 tablespoon grainy mustard
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
    Heat gently, stirring everything together until sugar dissolves. Serve warm on pork, chicken, brats, hot dogs or ham loaf. 

Sweet and Sour Sauce    
1 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup raspberry vinegar
1/3 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
    Stir or shake everything together until sugar dissolves. Let stand 30 minutes or  more while flavors marry.  Stir and spoon to taste over cooked vegetables or toss with raw spinach leaves. To make a main dish spinach salad, fill a big bowl with baby spinach leaves, 1/3 cup real bacon bits, 2 cups sliced raw mushrooms and some chopped, hard-cooked eggs. Toss with Sweet and Sour Sauce to taste. 

 

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Tips for the Camp Cook

* Porcelain-covered iron Dutch ovens look good and cook good but they can chip. Don’t use metal spoons.

    * Heat canned mac and cheese or Spanish rice and spoon over campfire roasted weenies in buns.

* If food burns on the bottom of a pot, remove it as soon as possible.  Do not add water or the taste of the scorch will permeate the food. If the food can be saved, remove burned portions. Let the pan cool and sprinkle with baking soda. Add 2 in. water, bring to a boil and burned-on carbon will loosen.

    * Make extra creamy scalloped potatoes. Prepare boxed mix using 1/4 cup extra water.  When done, remove from heat. Fold in 4 oz. cream cheese, diced. Cover, let cheese melt. Stir. 

 

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Campground Potluck Recipe of the Week

Bulgur Rice-a-Rific
    When it’s your turn to bring a side dish, this colorful rice dish is easy to make, easy to serve and it goes with everything. 

 

½ stick butter
Medium onion, diced
3 ribs celery, diced
Medium carrot, peeled and chopped
1 cup raw white long-grain rice
4 chicken, beef or vegetable bouillon cubes
5 cups water
1 cup bulgur
1 cup peas, thawed

    In a large saucepan melt butter and sizzle onion, celery and carrot until they soften a bit. Stir in rice to coat. Add water, bring to a boil and stir in bouillon cubes and bulgar. Stir to dissolve bouillon. Cover and cook over low heat 20 minutes or until rice is tender.  Fluff with a fork, stir in peas to heat through and serve hot. Makes 12 side dish portion or 6 vegetarian main dish servings.
    To make this a vegan dish, use 1/3 cup olive or other vegetable oil in place of butter and use vegetarian bouillon.


FREEZE AHEAD RECIPE OF THE WEEK
Chipotle Sloppy Joe
    Serve over campfire-baked potatoes, in buns or make tacos with the sloppy joe, shredded lettuce and cheese. 

 

 

3 pounds lean ground beef, pork, turkey or mixture.
2 large onions, diced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
Small can diced jalapenos, drained
3 to 4 chipotle  peppers in adobo, finely chopped
1/4 cup brown sugar, lite molasses or dark corn syrup
½ teaspoon dry mustard powder
1 1/2 cups salsa
1/2 cup minced cilantro or parsley

    In a large kettle, brown meat, gradually stirring in onions. When meat is done and onions tender, stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer over low heat until onions are done and flavors well blended. Freeze in the portions you need for camping, allowing ½ to 2/3 cup per portion.

 

 

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Cooking Easy in the Campground

 
Blog copyright Janet Groene 2021, all rights reserved. 

 

 

 

 

 Camp and RV Recipe of the Week
Chicken Olive You Truly
    Buy fully cooked chicken bites in the supermarket or use leftover or canned chunk chicken  in this dish. Or, buy a deli-roasted chicken and dice three cups of the meat.  

 

 
3 cups diced, cooked, bite-size chicken
Medium onion, diced
Small green pepper, seeded and diced
1 teaspoon minced garlic
3 large ribs celery, diced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cups water
14-ounce package spaghetti, broken
10-ounce jar salad olives, well drained
6-ounce package grated cheddar cheese

    In a large, nonstick skillet, sizzle chicken, onion, pepper and celery in hot olive oil until vegetables soften. Add water, bring to a boil and stir in broken spaghetti. Cover and simmer over low-medium heat until spaghetti is tender. (Stir once or twice and watch that it doesn’t boil over.)
    Stir in olives to heat through. Fold in cheese just until it melts. Serves 6 .     

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Tips for the Camp Cook

    *Save, wash and dry tuna cans at home. In camp nestle buttered tins in a skillet with water and poach eggs. Discard in the recycle bin. No dishwashing!

    * Just before serving chicken or tuna salad, fold in a handful of crisp Chinese noodles or Fritos.  

* Make a no-bake dessert. Stir over medium heat a 12-ounce package chocolate chips, 2 sticks butter, 2 eggs and 2 cups powdered sugar until smooth. Remove from heat Butter a 9 X 13-inch pan lightly  and line with a single layer of graham crackers. Fold 4 cups mini  marshmallows into lukewarm (not hot)  chocolate mixture and spread over crackers. Chill 24 hours. Cut in squares.

* Heat a can of stewed tomatoes and fold in a cup of dry stuffing mix just before serving.
    
Campground Potluck Recipe of the Week
    This is an easy, economical and always popular   bake-and-take potluck dish. It’s easy to throw together in camp if your RV oven has room for two pans. If not, many campgrounds have a common kitchen with oven.

Fruit and Nut Bread Pudding
    
1 loaf stale sandwich bread, diced
½ cup each raisins, snipped apricots, dried cranberries, chopped pecans
½ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
12-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
13-ounce can evaporated milk
Water
4 eggs

    Put bread, fruit, nuts, sugar and cinnamon in a clean bag and shake gently to mix. Turn out into two buttered 9 X 13-inch pans.  Mix condensed and evaporated milk and add water to make 4 cups total liquid. Whisk milk mixture and eggs. Pour half the mixture slowly over each pan,  allowing it to soak in. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand in a cool place not more than 1/2 hour or refrigerate several hours. Bake at 350 degrees until top is golden and center is “set” as for custard. Baking time will be longer if pudding was chilled.
    Cool. Cut in squares and serve with a pancake turner. Serves  24-30.


FREEZE AHEAD RECIPE OF THE WEEK
    Cook now, freeze in right-size portions and grab as needed for impromptu camping trips.
Date Squares
    Serve these moist, nutritious treats for dessert, snacks, trail food or slather with yogurt for breakfast. This recipe fills two 9 X 13-inch baking pans.

 

 1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter
4 eggs
1/4 up milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups chopped, pitted dates
1 cup chopped nuts

    Combine dry ingredients in a clean bag and jostle bag to mix. In a large bowl mix butter, eggs, vanilla  and milk. Gradually beat in dry ingredients. Fold in dates and nuts. Put in two greased 9 13-inch pans and bake at 350 degrees  25-35 minutes or until they test done with a toothpick. Cool, cut in desires size squares and wrap individually. Bag and freeze. 

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Camp Cooking Tips from Janet Groene

Blog copyright Janet Groene 202

 

 

Food is part of the fun and the art of camping. For many camping families the food is the star of the show

 

 

PRODUCT REPORT
    I have been field testing the new ThermaPen One from Thermoworks.com and I praise it highly. The latest in the family of quick-read food thermometers,  this one reports in one second. The digital read-out is easy to read, has a light and many sophisticated electronic features. Switch from Fahrenheit to Celsius. Read in tenths of a degree if you wish, store information and assure   that your food is cold enough or hot enough for safety and also cool enough to, say, feed the baby.
    The only minus is that it’s not a pocket size “instant read” wand like you’ve seen food inspectors use.  They take several seconds to register.  In exchange for its larger size, ThermaPen One  reads in one second with ease,  precise accuracy and it just may save you from illness or a culinary  accident at home and away. It’s $105 from thermoworks.com and comes with a certificate of calibration.
 

CAMP COOK TIPS OF THE WEEK
Two For the Show
   Combine just two or three ingredients and turn a so-so campground dish into something tastier.  Keep it your own secret and nobody will guess you took shortcuts.  Consider these dynamic duo’s:

    * Rinse and drain a can of chopped sauerkraut and mash it with a can of whole berry cranberry sauce. Serve as  hot dog relish.

    * Chop ½ cup candied cherries and mix them and a shot of bourbon into a can of coconut- pecan frosting. Frost any plain white or yellow cake. This reminds me of a holiday classic called Lane Cake.

    * Mix 1 cup mayonnaise and 1 ½ to 2 cups grated cheese. Spread on bread or crackers and watch carefully under the broiler until it bubbles and browns. This is also good on sliced tomatoes. If you don’t have a broiler, use a kitchen torch and work slowly until mixture browns.

    * Mash a can of whole berry cranberry sauce with a packet of dry onion soup mix. Mix into 2 pounds ground turkey to make turkey burgers. No other seasoning  needed.

    * Mince a big handful of cilantro and mix with a can of Rotel tomatoes. Choose hot, medium or mild Rotel and you have instant salsa. You can also heat a can of Rotel with a jar of CheezWiz. Nuke or heat over low fire, stir and you have a hot dip to go with raw vegetables or tortilla chips.

    * Unwind Twizzlers and let the children string Honey Nut or other sweetened Cheerios on the strands to make bracelets. Then eat the “friendship bands” for dessert. It keeps the kids busy while grown-ups have a more leisurely meal.
 
    * Stir raisins into chunky peanut butter and use the mixture to stuff celery for snacks or a light lunch. Or, mash drained salsa into softened cream cheese with a fork and stuff celery.

    * Fold miniature marshmallows into crushed pineapple and serve immediately as dessert.
 
    * Melt candy making white chocolate and dip whole, white marshmallows. Set on parchment or waxed paper to cool completely. Serve as dessert or a sweet snack.

    * Stir 2 to 4 cut-up, hardboiled eggs into a can of sausage gravy. Heat gently and spoon over toast, cornbread or instant grits.

Campground Potluck Recipe of the Week
Chicken Salad to Serve 25
    Do you know how much it takes to feed a crowd? This recipe does the math for you. The chicken can be from cans, or torn from two or three deli-roasted birds, or from scratch. Some supermarkets sell frozen packs of cooked, bite-size chicken bites.

 

8 packed cups cold, cooked, diced chicken
1/2 cup bottled French dressing
1 1/4 cups mayonnaise
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons pickle relish
6 hard-cooked eggs, diced
6 cups diced celery OR
6 cups halved seedless grapes
½ cup toasted sliced almonds

    Put chicken and French dressing in a large plastic freezer bag. Seal bag, mix well and chill several hours, turning occasionally. In a large container whisk together mayo and relish. Fold in chicken. eggs and celery or grapes. Serve now or chill.  Sprinkle with almonds just before serving.

FREEZE AHEAD RECIPE OF THE WEEK
    Best idea yet! Cook double batches of freezable dishes  at home and freeze portions in right sizes for your future campouts. If you don’t camp with a freezer, keep packages cold in the ice chest up to three days.

Dilly Bacon Corn Pone

3 cups flour
3 cups cornmeal
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons dried dillweed
3 cups milk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 cup cooked, crumbled bacon (or more to taste)

    Grease three 8-inch square baking pans. Set the oven  for 425 degrees.
    Put all the dry ingredients in a clean bag and   jostle to mix well. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients except bacon bits. Add dry ingredients and mix just until no dry spots remain. Stir in bacon bits and divide batter into the three pans. Bake until firm and springy to the touch. Cool completely, then cut and wrap in individual portions or freeze the entire panful.

Best Yet Recipes for Camping, RVing, Glamping

Blog copyright Janet Groene 2021

 

 

 

 

Here are some easy-breezy recipes to enjoy on summer camping trips.

 

 

CAMPING AND RV RECIPE OF THE WEEK
Bake All Day Beef
    No advance browning needed! Spread on a tangy sauce, put a pot roast in the slow cooker, oven or a Dutch oven nestled in slow coals,  and forget it while you enjoy your day.

Heaping  tablespoon each flour, Dijon-style mustard, ketchup and Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon each vinegar, sugar

Stir together to make a paste.

3- to 4-pound pot roast
Medium onion, sliced
3 medium potatoes, scrubbed and cut up
Carrots and  celery ad lib
1 cup water, broth or red wine

    Trim excess fat from pot roast.  Grease the cooker and add vegetables and broth. Use the paste to  “frost” the top of the roast. Put roast in pot over the vegetables, paste side up. Cover tightly and cook all day over low heat in a slow oven, campfire or slow cooker, adding water or broth if it boils dry. (Don't peek too often.)

 

 

 

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Campground Potluck Recipe of the Week
Choco-Cherry Coffee Cake
    Count on this treat to win raves at the campground coffee klatch. Cherry pie filling works OK but trust me, preserves are better here.
    
3 cups biscuit mix, regular or gluten free
2 eggs or equivalent
1 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ cups good quality cherry preserves
2 Hershey candy bars
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup coarsely chopped nuts
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 single serving packet instant cocoa mix
1/2 stick of butter, cut in bits

 

     Grease a 9 X 13 X 2-inch baking pan. Stir  biscuit mix, eggs, milk and vanilla until no dry spots remain. Batter will be lumpy. Put half the batter in the pan and use two teaspoons to dot the batter with preserves. Break the chocolate bar into squares and arrange over  the preserves. Cover with remaining batter.
    Mix brown sugar, nuts, cinnamon and cocoa mix and sprinkle over batter. Dot with bits of butter and bake at 400 degrees until it’s firm and golden brown.   It can also be baked in a microwave or MW-convection oven according to your oven’s directions.

 

Hot Dog! Camp Cook Tips of the Week

  

    * To make an easy dessert,  “butter” the inside of  hot dog buns with Nutella.  Lay in half a banana cut lengthwise.  Stuff with miniature marshmallows. Drizzle lightly with chocolate syrup. Wrap tightly in foil and heat over the grate. Open carefully. Steam will be hot.
 
    * For tastier weenies, cook them in sauce. Sizzle a chopped onion until crisp tender. Add a 14-ounce bottle of ketchup, heat with 1/4 cup pickle relish, a blob of mustard and some shakes of hot sauce. Simmer, add hot dogs and heat through. Remove hot dogs with tongs, place in buns and spoon on sauce to taste.

    * Make a few hot dogs go farther. Combine three cans of condensed soup in a kettle with 2 soup cans of water and a 12-ounce can of whole kernel corn with juice. Slice hot dogs into soup bowls and cover with the hot soup. 

    * Turn a simple meal festive. Thaw and heat corn dogs according to package directions Then set out a variety of dips such as honey mustard, ketchup,  ranch or Thousand Island dressing, Buffalo wing sauce, blueberry or maple syrup, etc. 

    * Make hot dog Sloppy Joe. Finely chop a package of hot dogs and cook with a can of condensed tomato soup, 1 tablespoon each steak sauce and mustard and 1/4 cup water. Serve in buns or spoon over split biscuits.

FREEZE AHEAD RECIPE OF THE WEEK

The Best Black Beans and Rice

    Cook ahead for that first night in camp. Use your favorite type of rice and cook the black beans from scratch if you prefer. Customize it to the max. Make it mild, medium or hot ‘n spicy. Use regular or low fat sour cream and regular or low salt cheese and tomato sauce. 

 

21/2 cups rice (5 cups cooked)
2 cans, 15 ounces each, black beans
2 cans, 10 ounces each, tomatoes with chilies (such as Rotel)
16-ounce can tomato sauce
16-ounce jar corn and black bean salsa
16-ounce carton sour cream
16-ounce package grated cheddar cheese

    Cook rice according to package directions. Rinse and drain black beans.  Fold all ingredients together and measure into right-size portions, allowing 1 ½ to 2 cups per person. Cool completely and freeze. Thaw, heat and serve as a main dish.

Garnish suggestions: corn chips, minced cilantro, lime wedges or additional cheese, sour cream or salsa.


 

Camping and RV Recipes Made Easy

 Blog copyright Janet Groene 2021, all rights reserved.  This blog has received more than 205,000 views. To ask about rates to place your ad for one year, one low rate on all six Groene sites email janetgroene at yahoo.com

 

 

 

 Heat Wave!
    Are temperatures climbing during your camping  or RV vacation? These recipes make life easier. Scroll down for a bonus chili recipe for those chilly nights.

Crunchy Bok Choy Salad
    It’s vegan, it’s delicious and it’s cold and crunchy. If the day turns chilly before dinner time, add mugs of hot soup and hot cornbread to the menu. Cashews are your meat substitute.  If you prefer to add cooked meat or fish you may want to reduce the amount of cashews. 

Small head bok choy
Small head iceberg lettuce, coarsely shredded
3 tomatoes, diced and seeded
Medium zucchini, diced
½ cup citrus vinaigrette
2 cups roasted cashews

    Thinly slice the white part of the bok choy and tear dark green leaves into bite size. Put in a large bag with the lettuce, tomatoes and zucchini. Add vinaigrette, seal to toss salad and use tongs to put portions on plates. Sprinkle with cashews and serve at once. 

 

 

 

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Campground Potluck Recipe of the Week

Couscous Carrot Salad
    Make this colorful  salad early in the morning and let it chill all day. It’s easily doubled. Three or four cups of cooked rice or orzo can be substituted for the couscous.  Simply combine cooked grain with raisins, cinnamon and carrots and add dressing to taste. 

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups couscous
½ cup raisins
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 1/4 cups water
12-ounce bag shredded carrots
Bottled French dressing

    Saute couscous in hot oil, gradually stirring in raisins and cinnamon. Add water, bring to a boil. Cover, turn off heat and let stand until water is absorbed, about 5 minutes. Stir in carrots and dressing to taste. Chill until serving time. Serves 8 to 10 as a side dish.

Tips for the Camp Cook

    *Disposable foil pans save time and but they can be floppy and dangerous when hot. Handling is safer if you place them in a metal pan or  on a baking sheet.

    * Whisk two eggs, ½ cup vegetable oil and a cup of apple butter. Stir in 2 cups biscuit mix and bake in a bread pan. Good when warm but slices easier if cooled and wrapped for several hours. Freezes well for future camp-outs.
 
    * To keep foods upright as they bake (such as stuffed peppers) put an inch of dry rice or small dry beans in the pan. Nestle pepper  into the bedding for balance. Crinkled foil can also work for some foods.
    
    * To make “evaporated milk” stir 2/3 cup dry milk powder into one cup water. Let stand two to three hours and stir again. It takes several hours for the milk to hydrate fully for that creamy texture.  

    * Make shortcut stuffed “cabbage” by rolling hot dogs or thawed meatballs in lettuce leaves. Add seasoned tomato sauce. Cook, devour.


Bonus Recipe
Vegetarian Chili for One
 

1-1/3 teaspoons olive oil
2 scallions, white part only, chopped
Miniature green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 teaspoon each chili powder and  ground cumin
Salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup water
2 small plum tomatoes, diced
1 cup drained and rinsed kidney beans AND/OR
1 meatless burger patty, chopped
2 ounces dairy or non-dairy cheese, sliced thin  

    Spread oil in a small pan and saute onion and green pepper until crisp-tender. Add seasonings, water and tomatoes. Cover and simmer over low heat to soften tomatoes. Stir in beans and/or burger and simmer over low heat until flavors blend. Put in a bowl and top with cheese. 

 

 

 

 

FREEZE AHEAD RECIPE OF THE WEEK
Guava Glazed Chicken
1 cup each guava jelly and chili sauce]
Juice of half a lemon
16 bone-in, skin-off chicken thighs

    Line  two rimmed sheet pans with nonstick foil. Spray foil with nonstick spray. Arrange chicken in pans. Pieces should touch but not overlap. Combine jelly, chili sauce and lemon juice and spoon liberally over chicken.  Bake at 375 degrees until chicken tests done. Cool and package, dividing pan juices among the potions.
Optional: Add ½ cup rice to each packet to make it a meal. Bonus points if you cook the rice in a mixture of guava nectar and water. Freeze in foil or in  boilable bags for easy reheating.

Example: to make 16 half-cup servings of Guava Rice you need 4 cups raw rice, 2 teaspoons salt and  two cups guava nectar plus six cups water.

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