Camping Recipes to Fall For

Copyright Janet Groene 2024. To ask about placing your ad on all six Groene sites or permission to use my content in your own publication, email janetgroene@yahoo.com

 

Let's load that picnic table with great food!

THUMBNAIL RECIPE OF THE WEEK
Cold  Oven Cookies

    Fill a zip-top bag with 2 c. dry milk powder, 1 cup powdered sugar,  ½ c. golden raisins. In camp, stir with 1 c. applesauce + ½  t. vanilla. Drop by heaping teaspoons on wax paper. Let dry 1 hour. Eat as is or roll in sifted powdered sugar.

CAMPING & RV RECIPES OF THE WEEK
Butterscotch Appledore

Are you weary of cinnamon-based apple desserts? Here’s an alternative from the village of  Appledore, Devonshire, UK.  

 

4 cups diced apples OR
2 cans pie-sliced apples
1 tablespoon flour
½ cup brown sugar
2/3 cup light cream
Topping:
2/3 cup flour
½ cup rolled oats
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 package butterscotch  cook-and-serve pudding mix
1 stick butter, melted

Arrange apples in a 9 X 13-inch baking pan. Whisk brown sugar, flour and cream. Pour over apples. In a bowl mix flour, oats, brown sugar and pudding mix. Sprinkle over apples and drizzle evenly with melted butter. Bake at 350 F. Until filling is bubbly and topping is toasty. 

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 outdoors on the campfire, camp stove or grill. https://amzn.to/3nNndWY

 

 

 

 

 RAPID RAPPIE PIE

A beloved tradition in maritime Canada, Rappie (say RAHpee) Pie is an ordinary meat-and-potatoes dish made special by the use of freshly grated potatoes. Recipes vary from cook to cook. Some cooks add bacon, carrot, celery and/or salt pork.

Made from scratch, it’s a long process of stewing a chicken,  making rich stock, grating potatoes and baking for hours. Here’s our shortcut version.

 

I

6 cups hashed brown potatoes, thawed
2 cups finely chopped onions
2 cans 10 ounces each, chunk chicken
2 cups seasoned  chicken stock
1/4 stick butter

Oven method: Layer chicken, potatoes and onion in a baking dish, ending with a layer of the potatoes. Pour stock over all.  Bake at 350 until the top layer of potatoes is crisp and toasty.
No oven?  Layer potatoes, chicken and onions in a heavy skillet or Dutch oven, reserving 2 cups of the hashed browns. In a separate skillet, cook them in butter until brown and crispy. Cover and heat the rappie over low/medium heat until onion and potatoes are tender. Just before serving, top with the crisp potato topping. Serves 6.
 
Campground Potluck Recipe of the Week
Smoked Turkey Skillet

Smoked turkey breast is available in some supermarkets all year. Others carry it only during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. It’s a wonderful ingredient and is budget priced. Cook this dish in a big skillet that goes from stove to table.

1/4 cup vegetable oil
½ stick butter
4 large potatoes, scrubbed and diced
Large onion, diced
2 Granny Smith apples, diced
3 to 4  cups diced smoked turkey
2 tablespoons prepared horseradish
8-ounce carton Greek style plain yogurt
1 teaspoon each dried chives, dried parsley flakes, dillweed
1 can whole berry cranberry sauce

Heat oil and butter in a large skillet or stove-to-table pan. Brown potatoes, gradually stirring in onion, then apple, then turkey. Cover and cook over low heat until potatoes are tender.

Whisk horseradish, yogurt and herbs. Fold into the hot skillet and heat through.  Keep warm. Just before serving, use two teaspoons to place dainty dollops of cranberry sauce around the edge. Makes 10 potluck servings.  

                                  

 

Trail mixes are better, cheaper, healthier when you make them at home and 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

Women in the RV lifestyle get together at Solo Woman RV.

VEGETARIAN CAMPING
Emerald  Lentil Stew

Your secret ingredient is shredded coconut, adding nutrition and texture contrast to a nourishing, vegetarian main dish. If you want to add meat, break up a can of chunk ham in the stew.

 

10-ounce package chopped spinach, thawed and drained well
Large onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 bay leaf
2/3 cup shredded coconut
2 ½ cups water
3 bouillon cubes (vegetable, chicken or beef)
15-ounce can diced potatoes, drained and rinsed
2 cups green lentils, picked over and rinsed

    Press the chopped spinach with paper towels until it’s very dry. In a large pot, sizzle the onion in hot vegetable oil until it starts to get tender, then stir in cumin and coconut to coat.  Add water, bay leaf, bouillon, potatoes and lentils. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer about 30 minutes or until lentils are tender. Stir in spinach and simmer 5 to 10 minutes more. Discard bay leaf.  Serve hot. Serves 8. Freeze in smaller portions if you wish.
  
Tips for the Camp Cook

    * Did the stew turn out too peppery for tame tastes? Just before serving, take a tip from cooks in
Aruba. Fold in a cup or two of peeled, seeded, shredded cucumbers.

* Bake a colorful “stained glass” fruit cake. Instead of dried fruit, fold small gumdrops into pound cake batter and bake in loaves. 

* Make your own dried herbs. Remove stems from fresh herbs, microwave between layers of paper toweling. Keep cool and dry. 

    * Keep extra twist ties on hand, not just to close plastic bags but because the tiny wire in them is handy to poke out dried-on bits in grater holes and other tiny places.If you lose a screw to your eyeglasses use this wire to make a temporary repair.
 

MAKE AHEAD RECIPE OF THE WEEK

    Multiply this delectable recipe and seal each portion in a boilable bag. Freeze, then grab as many are needed for each camp-out.  

Glaze browned chicken with apricot, then bake on a bed of rice

Apricot Walnut Chicken

6 cups cooked rice
6 meaty, bone-in chicken thighs
Salt, pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
½ cup apricot jam or preserves
12-ounce can apricot nectar

Place a layer of cooked rice in a buttered baking pan. Brown chicken in hot oil,  sprinkle with salt and pepper and gradually add garlic, walnuts and preserves. Arrange chicken over rice and spoon on the pan drippings. Pour apricot nectar over all. Cover and bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Then uncover and bake 10 minutes more.

Cool completely. Bag for the freezer, allotting 1 piece of chicken and a cup of rice per portion. You can also freeze the whole casserole to warm up in camp to serve a party of six.  

 

Variation: substitute orange marmalade for the apricot preserves and mango nectar for