Cooking on the Go
By Janet Groene, F47166
July 2005
Make summer trips with kids more entertaining by inviting the youngsters to participate in your meal planning. Children can help prepare some of these recipes; all are tasty treats that they’ll enjoy.
Pineapple Drumsticks
12 small or six large chicken drumsticks
1/3-cup soy sauce
3 teaspoons minced garlic
10-ounce jar pineapple jam or preserves
1/4-cup soy sauce
1 jar strained plum baby food
1 jar strained apricot baby food
Place the chicken in a large resealable bag with the 1/3-cup soy sauce and the garlic. Seal and refrigerate for several hours or overnight, turning occasionally. Using tongs, remove the chicken and discard the marinade and bag. While a grownup grills the drumsticks, kids can put the pineapple jam, the 1/4-cup soy sauce, and the baby food in a bowl and mash it with a fork until everything is well mixed. After the grownup has finished cooking the chicken and placed the pieces on plates, carefully spoon the sauce over each drumstick. This recipe makes six servings.
Quick Quesadillas
Young people who live with diabetes need to learn how to eat both wisely and well. Now, with the help of America’s Best Cookbook For Kids With Diabetes by Colleen Bartley ($18.95, Robert Rose Inc.), they can enjoy healthful foods that taste good. The book’s recipes, many of them family-size, are kid-friendly both in taste appeal and preparation. A complete nutritional breakdown is given for each recipe. This one makes two servings, each providing 225 calories and 11/2 each starch and medium-fat meat exchanges.
2 8-inch flour tortillas
2 tablespoons salsa
1 tablespoon chopped green onion
1/4-cup 1 percent cottage cheese
1/4-cup shredded part-skim mozzarella or cheddar cheese
Place one tortilla on a microwave-safe plate. Spread it with salsa, sprinkle with cheese and onion, spoon on the cottage cheese, and top with the second tortilla. Microwave the quesadilla uncovered on medium-high (70 percent power) for 40 to 60 seconds or until the cheese melts. Cut into quarters and serve.
Pennsylvania Dutch Straw Stacks
Don’t assemble this until everyone is ready to eat. The crunchy crackers contrast with the tender rice.
1 sleeve saltine crackers, crumbled
1-1/2 cups water
1-1/2 cups instant rice
2 cans chili without beans (approximately 4 cups total)
4 plum tomatoes, diced and drained
8-ounce package shredded Cheddar cheese
Crumble the crackers with your hands and set them aside. Bring the water to a boil in the microwave oven or in a medium pan; add the instant rice; cover; and let stand for five minutes. Heat the chili in a pan or in a microwavable container until it’s bubbly. When everything is hot, set out four to six dinner plates (six for light eaters) and place a mound of rice on each. Top with approximately 1/3-cup cracker crumbs, a sprinkling of diced tomatoes, the chili, and the shredded cheese. Let the food stand for a minute or two until the cheese melts and you’re ready to eat.
Sweet Treat Sweet Potatoes
32-ounce can sweet potatoes, drained and cut up
1 can apple pie filling
1 store-bought graham cracker pie crust
Place the well-drained sweet potatoes in a microwavable casserole dish. Carefully spoon the apple pie filling over the top and mix gently. Crumble the graham cracker crust coarsely with your hands and sprinkle it on top. Microwave the casserole until it’s heated through.
Corny Corn Chowder
Make sure you have plenty of napkins available when you serve this soupy treat. You’ll end up eating the corn on the cob with your hands.
2 15- or 16-ounce cans cream-style corn
2-ounce jar real bacon bits
13-ounce can evaporated milk
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Pepper as desired
3 ears frozen sweet corn, thawed (broken in half)
6 pats real butter
In a large pot combine the creamed corn, bacon bits, milk, thyme, and pepper. Cook on low until the mixture is heated through, stirring often. (Corn and milk both burn easily.) When the chowder is steaming, add the corn on the cob halves; cover; and cook until the ears are thoroughly hot. Set out six soup plates and, using tongs, place an ear of corn on each one. Add a pat of butter to each plate, then ladle on the chowder.
Thirty-Minute Chicken And Rice
This recipe is from a handsome new cookbook titled Recipes From The Road by the “Cooking Ladies,” Phyllis Hinz and Lamont McKay, F175089 ($17.95, Ten Speed Press). This slick volume is filled with color photographs, delicious recipes, and charming travel tales. Older kids who are able to safely use the stove can whip this up for two, or the ingredients can be doubled or tripled to make enough for a larger family. Smaller children can snip the apricots using child-safe scissors that have been washed.
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup diced dried apricots
10 ounces low-salt chicken broth
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/4-teaspoon black pepper
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3/4-cup instant rice
In a roomy skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Put the onions and apricots in the skillet and cook for three minutes. Add the broth, soy sauce, and black pepper; stir. Add the chicken breasts to the pan; cover; and cook for 20 minutes or until tender. Stir the instant rice into the liquid; cover; remove from heat; and let stand for five minutes. Stir and serve. This recipe makes two servings.
Bird On A Nest
You can use plain marshmallows in this recipe, but to make “real” bird nests you need Peeps, the bird-shaped marshmallow candies that are so popular around Easter.
Green food coloring
Canned coconut
Squeeze bottle of chocolate syrup
Crisp potato sticks (from a can)
Canned peach halves
Whipped topping
Peeps candies or marshmallows
First, place three drops of green food coloring in a large quart-size jar. Add a 10-ounce can of coconut and shake vigorously until the color is evenly mixed. Add another drop or two of coloring if necessary to make the coconut look like green grass. Set out a dessert plate for each person and carefully make a grid design on it using thin lines of chocolate syrup (don’t overdo it). Place a tuft of coconut on each plate and form it to resemble a nest, saving the leftover coconut for another time. Place the potato sticks in and around the coconut to further resemble a bird’s nest. Put a well-drained peach half on each nest, cut side up, and squeeze a few drops of chocolate syrup in the hole. Fill with a tablespoon of whipped topping and place a Peep or marshmallow on top. Serve at once.
Pita Pizzas
The best thing about this make-your-own pizza recipe is that you can leave out the ingredients you don’t like. Make sure to have plenty of toppings on hand and pile on only what you like.
6 pitas
1 can pizza sauce
Favorite pizza toppings (pepperoni, cooked ground meat crumbles, chopped vegetables, sliced black olives, diced plum tomatoes, etc.)
12-ounce package shredded mozzarella cheese
Put each pita on a paper plate and, using the back of a spoon, top with the pizza sauce. Don’t spread the sauce all the way to the edge and don’t use too much, or the pizza will be sloppy. Dot the top of the pita pizza with your favorite toppings and sprinkle with cheese. Microwave the pitas, one at a time, just until the cheese melts. Using a pizza cutter, slice each into quarters and serve.
Smothered Baked Potatoes
4 large baking potatoes, scrubbed
2 cans chicken a la king (approximately 13 ounces each)
Squirt bottle of margarine
4 pieces string cheese
Small can chow mein noodles
Prick the baking potatoes with a fork in a few places, wrap in a paper towel, and microwave, one at a time, for four to five minutes or until tender. Set aside and cover with a folded kitchen towel to keep warm. Put the chicken a la king in a microwave-safe container and heat until it is bubbly. Working quickly, place each potato on a plate; split it down the middle; squiggle with margarine; and place a piece of string cheese in the crevice. Ladle the hot creamed chicken over the top of the potato and crown it with a few crunchy chow mein noodles. This recipe makes four servings.
Banana Pancakes
1 heaping cup biscuit mix
Dash cinnamon
2 very ripe bananas, mashed
Milk or water
Oil for frying
Vanilla yogurt
Put the biscuit mix and cinnamon in a bowl and stir in the mashed bananas. Add enough water or milk to make a thick batter. Do not over-mix; it’s okay if the batter is a little chunky. Heat a small amount of the oil in a large, nonstick skillet and spoon out tablespoons of the batter onto the skillet, making bite-size pancakes. Add more oil if needed. Set out four plates and put a serving of vanilla yogurt in the center of each. Surround with the pancakes. Pick up the pancakes with your fingers, dip in the yogurt, and eat.
Chicken Nuggets And Rice
16-ounce package chicken nuggets
1/4-cup barbecue sauce
1/4-cup pancake syrup
1-1/2 cups instant rice
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup water
1/2-cup orange juice
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
Thaw the chicken nuggets and put them in a plastic bag. In a paper cup, stir together the barbecue sauce and pancake syrup and pour over the chicken nuggets. Seal the bag and toss gently to coat the chicken nuggets. Put the instant rice in a bowl with the sugar. In a microwavable bowl or cup, heat the water and orange juice just until the liquids boil. Pour over the rice; cover; and let stand for five minutes. Set out four microwave-safe plates and place a nest of rice on each one. Top with black beans. Use a draining spoon to serve the chicken nuggets, arranging them on top of the rice nests. Microwave each plate, covered with wax paper, for two to three minutes to heat everything through.
Books for cooks
Motorhome cooks are going to have a lot of fun with a new series that suggests 101 new twists on a familiar theme or ingredient. Published by Gibbs Smith, these books are compact, spiral-bound to lie flat, and protected with a plastic cover. Did you ever think of using tortillas instead of lasagna noodles, or to make apple strudel? That’s just a sample from 101 Things To Do With a Tortilla by Stephanie Ashcroft and Donna Kelly. Want to make a simple smoker box, a kicky new barbecue sauce, or dessert on the grill? These ideas are covered in 101 Things to Do With a BBQ by Steve Tillet. Look for new books in the series as they come into the marketplace. Already available are “101” books on cake mixes, the slow cooker, and the potato.