By Janet Groene, F47166
July 2018
Whip up tasty dishes anytime using a variety of kitchen staples.
“Be prepared,” said Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts.
“For what?” asked an observer.
“Why, for any old thing,” Baden-Powell cheerfully replied.
One of the best things about having a family RV is the spontaneity. Take off after work to have dinner overlooking the sunset. Grab a weekend away, then extend it into Monday. When you meet interesting people in the campground, at the rally, or in the infield, invite them for an impromptu meal.
And if the campground has a potluck, be ready to make a 10-serving dish. All it takes is an ample pantry. Here are meals that can be made anywhere, anytime, with canned and packaged emergency provisions from the back of the cupboard.
Miracle Muffins
These easy muffins can be made plain and doused with butter and jam. Or, add raisins, nuts, and spices. Made plain without sugar and perhaps with a pinch of dill weed or thyme, they also make a good base for creamed tuna, chicken, or eggs.
2 cups self-rising flour
¼ cup sugar (optional)
½ teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1 small can (2/3 cup) evaporated milk
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
Mix everything together and fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake 16 to 20 minutes at 425 degrees. Makes six to 12 muffins, depending on size.
Bonbons
This is a fun activity for little hands as soon as a parent makes sure the mixture is cool enough to handle.
1 (24-ounce) jar of crunchy peanut butter (3 cups)
½ cup Crisco Butter Flavor OR 1 stick butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 bags or boxes, 16 ounces each, powdered sugar
3 cups crisp rice cereal
Put the peanut butter and Crisco or butter in a pan and heat gently until melted. When smooth, stir in the vanilla. Combine one box or bag of powdered sugar with the rice cereal. Mix with the peanut butter mixture. Form into balls. Arrange the balls on paper plates or wax paper to cool them completely. Roll the bonbons in the remaining powdered sugar. Makes three dozen.
Fruit Fluff
1½ cups packaged fruit such as Craisins, golden raisins, dried plums, dried cherries, or cut-up apricots. The more variety, the better.
¼ teaspoon salt
1½ cups water
24 regular-size marshmallows
Bring the fruit, salt, and water to a gentle boil in a large pan. (You’ll need space for the marshmallows you’ll add later.) Cover the pan, reduce the heat, and simmer for 30 minutes until the fruit is plump. Turn off the heat and stir in the marshmallows. Cover the pan and let it stand a few minutes to allow the marshmallows to melt. Stir. Spoon into dessert dishes.
Optional: Drizzle chocolate syrup or French vanilla coffee creamer over the mixture.
Makes six servings.
Celebration Noodles
Here’s a way to turn dried noodles into a colorful, complex side dish using only ingredients from the pantry.
1 (14.5-ounce) can fruit cocktail
3 cups water
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups wide noodles
1 can heavy cream such as Nestlé
½ cup raisins
½ cup chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
½ cup dry bread crumbs
Drain the fruit cocktail, reserving the juice. Add 3 cups of water and the vanilla to the juice. Bring it to a boil and cook the noodles. Drain the noodles and fold in the cream to taste (you may not want the entire can). Fold in the raisins, nuts, and fruit cocktail. In a small skillet, heat the oil and stir in the bread crumbs until they are toasty. Sprinkle over the noodles. Makes six servings. Complete the meal with fried Spam slices.
Baked Ham
Two-pound and 3-pound canned hams are available refrigerated or on the shelf. Both types keep for months. Both are fully cooked, so they can be roasted or sliced for sandwiches.
1 (2-pound) canned ham
2 tablespoons Dijon-style mustard
1 can whole-berry cranberry sauce
1 small can pineapple tidbits in pineapple juice
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
Remove the ham from the can. Save the juices, but scrape off and discard any excess fat. Pat the ham dry with a paper towel and “butter” the ham all over with the mustard. Bake for 25 minutes at 325 degrees.
In a bowl, mash the cranberry sauce with the pineapple, spices, and any juice from the ham.
Spoon the mixture over the ham and continue baking another 20 minutes. To serve, remove the ham to a cutting board for slicing. Thin the juices in the baking pan with fruit juice or a sweet wine, and serve as a sauce. Complete the menu with canned sweet potatoes. Makes six to eight servings.
Seafood Festival
Canned seafood and raw rice are two pantry ingredients with long shelf lives. Ready-to-serve rice is also a good standby in case you are short on stove fuel. Today’s choice of seafood types and sizes is better than ever: pouches or cans; salmon canned whole or in meaty chunks; sardines in olive oil or tomato sauce; baby shrimp, crabmeat, oysters — even canned lobster.
1½ cups cooked rice (3/4 cup raw rice)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1½ cups mixed seafood, drained (e.g., a can of salmon and a can of crabmeat)
1 (4-ounce) can mushrooms, drained
1 can Veg-All mixed vegetables, drained OR 1 can peas and carrots, drained
1 cup salsa (hot, medium, or mild) or more to taste
½ cup (or more to taste) French’s Crispy Fried Onions
Stir the Worcestershire sauce into the rice and fold in the remaining ingredients except the onions. Heat gently in a covered saucepan or bake at 350 degrees to heat through. Top with the onions. Makes three to four servings.
Snappy Spirals
Some tortillas stay fresh on the shelf for weeks without refrigeration. Use them to make tasty wraps with foods from the shelf or spread them with a creamy cheese, and then roll them up and cut them in spirals to serve as finger food. All ingredients for these fillings come from the pantry shelf.
Spiral Filling #1
1 jar Kraft Old English cheese spread
2 tablespoons pickle relish, drained
¼ teaspoon chili powder
Dry white wine (optional)
2 tablespoons real bacon bits from a can, jar, or package
2 burrito-size flour tortillas
In a bowl, mash the cheese spread with the relish. Mix in the chili powder and a few drops of white wine as needed to make a creamy spread. Mix in the bacon bits. Slather the spread onto tortillas, roll them up, and chill. Cut into 1-inch slices and arrange them on plates. Makes 24 spirals.
Spiral Filling #2
2 burrito-style flour tortillas
1 jar of Amish-style apple butter
2 (4.25-ounce) cans Underwood White Meat Chicken Spread
1 can of baby corn, drained and rinsed
1 teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Lightly spread apple butter on the tortillas (you won’t need the whole jar). Spread the chicken on the tortillas. Lay a single line of baby corn across the center of each tortilla (save the surplus corn for another use). Mix the sugar and cinnamon and very lightly sprinkle it on the corn. Roll up the tortilla, chill, and cut into 1-inch spirals. Makes 32 spirals.
More spiral ideas using shelf foods: peanut butter and jelly; cream cheese and chopped olives; hummus with chopped walnuts; Velveeta cheese; refried beans mashed with salsa; or canned Underwood spreads such as chicken, deviled ham, liverwurst, or roast beef.
remaining powdered sugar. Makes three dozen.
Snow Day Sloppy Joe
2 cans roast beef in gravy
1 can condensed lentil soup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 (14.5-ounce) can of diced tomatoes with onion and green pepper
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Place the roast beef and gravy in a pan and twist a fork in the meat to shred it. Add the soup and Worcestershire. Drain the tomatoes and stir the cornstarch into the juice. Add the juice to the pan along with the tomatoes. Heat, stirring, until it thickens. Serve in buns or over rice, baked potatoes, toast, biscuits, or what have you. Makes six to eight servings.
About Shelf-Stable Provisions
*The supermarket offers many off-the-shelf foods. When provisioning the RV’s emergency pantry, look at aisles you may have bypassed before.
*Observe use-by dates. Reprovision and rotate once or twice a year.
*Often it’s useful to bundle emergency ingredients together in kit form, such as a box of spaghetti, a can of sauce, and a shaker of grated Parmesan.
*Flavored coffee creamers are available in shelf-stable liquid or powder form. They make a delicious garnish on a plain dessert or canned fruit.
*Put a quick ruffle on a plain dessert with fruit-flavored syrups, canned cream, or ice cream toppings in a jar. Easy garnishes on the savory side include caviar in a jar, almond butter, pesto, and tapenade.
*Gourmet crackers and microwave popcorn go a long way in entertaining. Burrito-size tortillas are a compact bread substitute.
*Long-life milk, which uses ultra-high-temperature processing, or UHT, is one choice for the emergency pantry; powdered milk is another. Neither tastes like fresh, but a little chocolate syrup can make them more palatable.
*Canned corned beef hash is the camper’s best friend. Fry it until it’s crispy and serve as is or topped with fried eggs, and pass the ketchup. Two more reliable favorites, according to my reader mail, are Dinty Moore Beef Stew and Swanson Chicken a la King.
Cont.
*Jiffy cornbread mix has been a camping essential for years. Make it as cornbread, or drizzle the batter over hot chili and then cover and cook until a firm, puffy blanket forms over the chili.
*Biscuit mix can make biscuits, pancakes, muffins, scones, dumplings, and quick breads.
*Condensed cream soups can bind a casserole or make gravy, sauces, or soup. To make canned soup taste more like homemade, sauté a chopped onion in hot oil, then combine two flavors, such as chicken with stars and chicken gumbo; split pea with cream of tomato; or bean soup plus minestrone.
*Spam is a reliable pantry food. Slice it, dice it, or grate it on a coarse box grater.
*Canned pork and beans has long been a good choice as an emergency meal. Cook up a packet of sausage gravy mix, add canned pork and beans, and spoon it over biscuits or baked potatoes.
*Canned oysters and canned milk can add up to a pretty good oyster stew. Knorr makes fish-flavored bouillon cubes, a substitute for clam broth or court bouillon.
Share your favorite recipes. If you have a recipe you enjoy making in your RV, share it with Janet at janetgroene@yahoo.com (put FMCA in the subject line). Visit Janet at CampAndRVCook.blogspot.com, where new recipes and tips are added weekly; a subscription for e-reader devices is available at http://amzn.to/1DsP67t. Janet’s books, including the second edition of Cooking Aboard Your RV, are available in bookstores and at Amazon.com.