Fresh produce heralds the arrival of the new season.
By Janet Groene, F47166
March 2020
Songbirds are returning to campgrounds and spring breezes are whispering a soft welcome to green-up time. Springtime brings still-chilly nights around the campfire, dewy scallions to the roadside farm markets, early strawberries to the fields, and tender leaf lettuce to the garden. Here are time-saving recipes to put spring in your step.
Low-Fat Creamed Pea Soup
If you buy or grow fresh new spring peas in the pod and shell them yourself, you get extra credit. This creamy blend with whole peas has no kinship with split pea soup. Dry milk is always a wise staple for RV travel. It saves money, space, and weight and can be used in so many ways.
1 bunch scallions
3 cups baby peas, thawed if frozen
2 ribs celery, finely diced
32-ounce carton chicken broth
1 cup dry milk powder
3 tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon, thyme, or chives
Milk or cream (optional)
Sour cream or creme fraiche (optional)
Finely cut up the scallions, discarding the tough green parts and saving some of the tender green parts for garnish. In a large pan or kettle, combine the scallions, peas, and celery with two cups of the broth. Bring to a boil for two minutes.
In a bowl, combine the milk powder, flour, salt, pepper, and herbs. Whisk in two cups of cold broth until well combined and quickly stir into the hot peas over medium heat, stirring until thick. Thin the soup with milk or cream if you wish. Ladle into bowls, add a dollop of sour cream or creme fraiche, and sprinkle with scallion bits. Makes four to six servings.
Variations: sprinkle with real bacon bits or crumbled blue cheese.
Shortcut Scandinavian Fruit Soup
Serve it warm or cold as a breakfast, first course, or dessert. The fruits can be varied, using what you have on the shelf, in the freezer, and fresh from the supermarket. Pitted sweet cherries are sold frozen or canned. If fresh strawberries aren’t available, thaw frozen berries.
½ cup raisins, dried cranberries, or dried currants
½ cup snipped dried apricots
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups water
12-ounce can lemon-lime soda, regular or diet
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 can peaches in their own juice, cut in bite-size pieces
1 can pears in their own juice, cut in bite-size pieces
1 can mandarin oranges in their own juice
2 cups pitted sweet cherries OR 2 cups cut-up strawberries
Sweetener of choice
Bring the dried fruit, cinnamon, water, and soda to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until the fruits are soft. Place the cornstarch in a small bowl and add some juice from the canned fruit to make a cornstarch paste. Add the fruits and their juices to the pan and stir in the cornstarch mixture. When it thickens, sweeten to taste. Ladle into bowls and serve warm or chilled with yogurt and/or granola. Makes eight servings.
Warm Asian Salad
2 packets ramen noodles
16-ounce package shredded cabbage coleslaw mix
1 bunch scallions, trimmed and sliced
1 cup roasted, salted sunflower seeds
1 cup sliced almonds
Dressing:
Seasoning packets from ramen
2/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
In a big bowl, break up the ramen; toss with the coleslaw mix, scallions, sunflower seeds, and almonds. In a saucepan, heat the dressing ingredients and mix until dissolved. When lukewarm, toss the dressing thoroughly with the salad ingredients. Serve at once or chill. Makes eight servings.
Grandma’s Spring Lettuce Dressing
This simple dressing gently complements the first leaf lettuce picked fresh from the spring garden.
Small can evaporated milk (2/3 cup)
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons white vinegar
In a small saucepan over low heat, stir the milk into the sugar, salt, and pepper until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and stir in the vinegar. Fill a bowl with torn leaf lettuce and toss with the dressing. Use the dressing warm to wilt the lettuce; or, chill the dressing and stir before using. Makes about 3/4 cup.
Shortcut Turkey Newburg
1½ pounds turkey breast deli meat such as Boar’s Head
½ stick butter OR 1/4 cup bacon fat
1 pint sliced mushrooms
3 cups turkey gravy
1/4 cup cooking sherry (or more to taste)
Ask the deli to slice the turkey on the thickest setting. Cut it in strips, then dice. Set aside. Heat the butter or fat, and fry the mushrooms until brown. Stir in the turkey, scraping up brown bits from the pan. Add the gravy and heat through. Stir in the sherry. Spoon hot over toast, grits, mashed potatoes, rice, noodles, toaster waffles, or a starch of your choice. Makes six servings.
Creole Caviar Dip
15-ounce can black-eyed peas, drained
11-ounce can white shoepeg corn, drained
2/3 cup minced cilantro
Small bunch scallions, trimmed and sliced thin
2 medium Roma tomatoes, diced and drained
2 Hass avocados, cut in small dices
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Creole seasoning
Mix the peas, corn, cilantro, scallions, tomatoes, and avocados. Whisk the oil, white wine vinegar, and seasoning and toss with the other ingredients. Makes about 4 cups of dip. Serve with scoopable tortilla chips.
Cheesecake Bar Cookies
This unusual recipe is easy to bake and take on an RV trip, because it forms its own showy frosting.
3 eggs
1 stick butter, melted
1 box two-layer cake mix, any flavor
1 cup chopped nuts
16-ounce box powdered sugar
8-ounce brick cream cheese, diced
Line a 9-inch-by-13-inch baking pan with nonstick foil, leaving overhang for easy removal later. Spray the foil with nonstick spray. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees. In a bowl, use a fork to whip one egg, then mix in the melted butter, cake mix, and nuts. The mixture will be crumbly. Press evenly in the bottom of the pan and set aside.
In the same bowl, whisk two eggs with the powdered sugar and beat in the cream cheese. Spread over the crust and bake 35 to 40 minutes or until the top is golden. Cool 10 to 15 minutes, and then use the foil “handles” to lift from the pan. Cool and cut into squares. Makes 16 to 20 pieces.
Nutty Strawberry Crisp
2 quarts strawberries, cut up
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar
1½ tablespoons minute tapioca
1 cup crisp rice cereal
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ cup sugar
½ cup almond or pecan meal
1/3 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup canola oil OR ½ stick butter, melted
Set the oven to 350 degrees and grease a deep 9-inch-by-13-inch baking pan. Mix the strawberries, lemon juice, sugar, and tapioca in the pan. Mash down slightly. In a bowl, mix the dry ingredients and sprinkle over the fruit. Drizzle with canola oil or butter. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until the strawberries are bubbly and the top is toasty. Makes eight servings.
Spring For These Time-Saving Tips
*Parboil medium pasta shells, stuff them with hummus, and serve with your favorite pasta sauce.
*Slice a 1-pound, fully-cooked smoked sausage, such as kielbasa, into coins. Heat it in a sauce of 2/3 cup blackberry jam and 1/3 cup barbecue sauce. Serve with toothpicks as a snack or appetizer.
*Make richly flavored chicken broth using a deli rotisserie chicken. It’s already seasoned, browned, and fully cooked. Boil or pressure cook the chicken in 4 to 6 cups of water. After the broth forms, dice the meat for soup or other uses.
*Soften a quart of vanilla ice cream just enough to stir in a cup or two of cut-up fresh fruit and refreeze it enough to serve.
*Make extra peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches. Dip them in eggs and milk as for French toast, and serve for breakfast.
*Cook up a packet of country gravy mix according to the package directions. Stir in a can of baked beans and spoon over campfire-baked potatoes.
*Turn plain vanilla cake into coconut cake. Bake a cake in a 9-inch-by-13-inch pan and make holes with the round handle of a wooden spoon. Bring 1 cup sugar and ½ cup milk to a rolling boil, and then stir in 1 teaspoon of coconut extract. Pour the liquid over the cake. Whisk together ½ cup sugar and 1 cup sour cream with shredded sweetened coconut to taste. Spread over the cake.