Best Of

I have yet to have an inaugural trip with my new T@G but was able to finally spend my first night "day camping" in the driveway... mostly to get Bandit acquainted with a new sleep setting. A super comfortable night (despite the glaring glow from the radio clock) and we slept like rocks. I was not plugged into electricity from the house so I just used some lights for reading and the usb charger for the phone..... forgot the 110 outlets don't run off the battery. I'll have to figure out a way for watching dvd's on the television or plugging in the laptop without any hook-ups at the camp-sites that I have booked this summer.

Moulles (Mussels in wine and garlic sauce) and Pommes Frites with local wine at Aigue Mortes on the Mediterranean...

Just because tiny campers don't haul loads of stuff doesn't mean we need to grub for cast-off rutabaga's. One of my favorite pastimes while on the road is experimenting with the limited resources of my kitchen. To that end, I've developed a healthy repertoire of faire that would suffice to serve wayward passing Princes. Coming into "trailer life" from the more rough and rugged camping out of a motorcycle sidecar, I felt I was well-versed in one pan meal prep over a single burner. To my delight, I found that with a bit of creativity and a lot of trial and error I could put on a pretty good dog, Gastrically speaking.

I thought it would be a fun thing to start a thread to share tips and tricks for the more savvy chef out there. I'd also be eager to hear how others do that as well.

My first hot tip (pardon the pun) is my undying affection for the Rice Cooker. It's a wonderful tool for the traveling camper. It's a Rice Cooker, Soup maker, vegetable steamer, bean warmer etc, etc. Did you know you can quite easily cook Rice-A-Roni in it? Granted, it doesn't provide the browning that the extra step of stovetop cooking does, nevertheless, you can just prepare your rice sidedish "all-in-one" by dumping all the ingredients in there and letting it cook. It's even smart enough to shut down when the rice is done. In addition, I put my rice-based side dishes in there and then add ingredients as it cooks. For example, I throw in some spinach while it cooks or cut up some hot dogs and drop them into the mix. When cooking one-pan meals in it, be sure to give things a stir and add an extra 1/2 cup of water.

Salton Sea Jambalaya

Use one package of Zatarain's Jambalaya (basically, a one-package, super rice a roni) put it in the rice cooker with what the package calls for plus 1/2 additional cup of water. Let it cook while you thinly slice two bratwurst-sized Italian sausages. Fry them on the stove for a few minutes until brown. Put them into the Rice Cooker with the Jambalaya mix and let it finish. Voila! A one pan meal for two! Variations include adding frozen shrimp or a mix of shrimp and sausage. Sprinkle in a few leaves of spinach.

Next time: Preparing and using frozen meat.

WilliamA