Copyright Janet Groene, all rights reserved
Camp Meals Are Clean, Mean & Green
With These Recipes and Tips
CAMPING & RV RECIPE OF THE WEEK
Toaster Oven Sesame Bread for Two
A small toaster oven is a perfect choice for car camping and other lightweight trips. It’s a fraction of the cost and weight of a microwave. It can toast, broil, bake, dehydrate or TV dinners. My toaster oven cost under $40 and it can produce six cupcakes, muffins or cookies, four big burgers or two broiled strip steaks.
1 cup biscuit mix such as Bisquick
1/4 cup water
Soft butter
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Use a fork to mix water and biscuit mix to make a soft, but not sticky, dough. Grease a small baking pan and set toaster oven to 400 F. On the greased pan, coax dough into a 5-inch square about ½ inch thick. Brush with soft butter and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake 9-10 minutes or until toasty and puffy. Cut in four squares to serve two.
Tips for the Camp Chef
* When making soup or stew, substitute a rib or two of fennel for some of the celery.
* To make canned soups look and taste more like homemade, start by sizzling diced onion in butter, then add a splash of red or white wine and two or more different canned soups such as beef vegetable & beef barley or chicken rice, chicken gumbo & chicken noodle.
* Make boneless Buffalo “wings”. Break up a can a drained chunk chicken and add hot sauce and chunky blue cheese salad dressing to taste. Serve warm or cold on crackers.
* Mix a little instant coffee powder with your favorite dry rub for meat or chicken.
TRAVEL EMERGENCIES HAPPEN
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. Trips are delayed. Refrigerators fail. Supply chains halt. Stuff happens. Be prepared. . http://amzn.to/1WdYqbe Travelers have limited storage space for emergency food. Survival Food Handbook is just for campers, truckers, RV travelers and boaters. 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 Couples Recipe of the Week
CampOut Cheez-Zoup for Two
No freezer? Frozen peas may thaw in the ice chest but they'll stay usable for up to three days if kept well chilled. Ready-to-serve mac and cheese comes frozen and also in cans, tubs or pouches.
2 servings ready-to-serve macaroni and cheese
Small can (2/3 cup evaporated milk)
1/3 cup water or skim milk (or more to taste)
Small can chunk ham
1 cup frozen peas, thawed (optional)
Optional garnish: minced greens, grated Parmesan, crumbled feta or bleu cheese, oyster crackers or small pretzels
Combine everything in a small saucepan or micro-ware dish, breaking up ham with a fork. Heat gently, stirring to mix, until it’s heated through. Add more milk for a thinner soup. Serve in soup bowls as is or with the garnish of choice. Serves 2.
Campground Potluck Recipe of the Week
Serve this cake plain with a choice of toppings so folks with special diets or allergies can choose the one that works for them
Vegan Chocolate Cake (no dairy, no eggs)
2 cups flour
1 ½ cups sugar
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup applesauce
½ cup water
½ teaspoon vinegar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 ½ teaspoons instant coffee
1 cup very hot water
Put dry ingredients in a clean bag and jostle to mix. Grease a 9 X 13-inch baking pan. Set oven for 350 degrees. Put applesauce in a bowl with the water, vinegar and oil. Stir instant coffee into hot water and add to the wet mixture.
Mix well, then dump dry ingredients into wet and mix until everything is evenly moistened . Pour batter into a greased pan. Bake 35 minutes or until the cake is firm and springy to the touch. Cool and cut in squares.
Skillet method: No oven? Generously grease a cold , heavy, 10-inch skillet (preferably cast aluminum). Add batter. Cover tightly and cook over low-medium heat until cake pulls slightly away from edges of the pan and is springy to the touch in the center.
Cook's note: Reduce the amount of sugar if the applesauce is sweetened.
Freeze-Ahead Recipe of the Week
Goof Proof Meatballs
1 1/4 cups water
2 eggs
1 box Stove Top stuffing for chicken or pork (not cornbread stuffing)
3 pounds ground beef, pork, turkey or a mixture of ground meats
In a bowl whisk eggs and water. Stir in stuffing mix and meat. (I use disposable plastic kitchen gloves and mix this by hand.) Form firmly into meatballs and bake at 375 degrees until they test done at !65 F. for pork or beef, 170 F. for poultry. Cool, arrange separately on a tray and freeze solid. Then bag. In camp, remove and separate meatballs to thaw, then thread on skewers, drop in boiling broth or poach simmering spaghetti sauce.
To make a foil meal, make a bed of cooked rice on a greased center of a square of foil. Nestle meatball(s) in rice and cover with tomato sauce, cheese sauce or gravy, Gather four corners of the foil and twist to seal the packet. ( think of a large Hershey’s kiss.) Place on a grate over medium coals and heat through.
FREE YOURSELF! GO FULL-TIMING
The 4th Edition of the Groenes’ book Living Aboard Your RV, A Guide to the Full-Time Life on Wheels, is available from Amazon at https://amzn.to/3knbvll/
The book starts with making the complicated decision to go full-timing. Then it leads you through choosing and outfitting the RV as a home plus topics such as making money on the go, home schooling, finding affordable campsites and more. It ends with advice on easing out of full-timing, when and if that day comes.
Need a retirement gift for someone? A birthday? New divorcee or empty nester? Someone with job burnout? Amazon can wrap and ship it for you if you like.
LIFESAVER SAUCE OF THE WEEK
Save a dish that turns out too dry, too blah or too skimpy. Hide it under a boffo sauce. Here’s an easy one:
Brown Sugar Yogurt Sauce
1 cup vanilla or honey vanilla Greek yogurt
1 cup lemon or orange flavor yogurt
1/3 cup brown sugar
Whisk well until sugar dissolves. Serve at once or chill. Dollop on pancakes, bread pudding, French toast, granola, hot or cold cereal. Serve it as a dip with apple slices or use it as one of the layers in parfaits.
BLACK POT RECIPE OF THE WEEK
Quick-a-Leekie
Many versions of this Scottish classic claim to be the real Cock-a-Leekie. This is my shortcut version using canned chunk chicken.
6 leeks, rinsed and sliced
Medium onion, diced
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped fine
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon each salt, black pepper and dried thyme
1/4 stick butter
3 cans, 10 ounces each, chunk chicken
8 cups water
6 chicken bouillon cubes
8 dried plums, aka prunes, cut up
Melt butter in the pot and sizzle vegetables, gradually stirring in seasonings and canned chicken. Add water and bouillon cubes, Bring to a boil, reduce heat, add prunes and cook over low-medium coals until prunes are plump and vegetables are tender. Ladle into soup bowls. Serves 8.
Serving options: serve as is or over rice, noodles, smashed potatoes, cornbread , toast or biscuits.
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