Recipes on the Road: 5 recipes you can cook in a camper — Local Color XC (2024)

You know that old saying working to live, not living to work? Well, I think it applies to eating, too. Sure, Carson and I love an extraordinary meal from time-to-time. But foodies we are not. I like a cold sandwich as much as I like spaghetti. Or a $30 hamburger. Don't get me wrong -- we love food. But we aren't fancy connosieurs. And so this has made cooking on the road super easy for us. Here's some revelations we've had in the kitchen over the last 6 months.

I've posted about this before so I won't rehash too much, but I love making pretty much anything out of baking mix. It's easy to keep on hand, and the scones taste just about the same. It's a win win win.

• 2 1⁄2 cups baking mix
• 1⁄4 cup sugar
• 1⁄4 cup margarine or butter
• 2 eggs
• 1⁄4 cup milk or almond milk
• 1/2 cup berries, fruit or chocolate chips
• flour for work surface

Glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 t milk
• 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Whisk together the baking mix and sugar in a large bowl.
3. Mix in the butter with your hands until the butter is the size of peas.
4. Beat the eggs well with the 1/4 cup milk in a small bowl.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and combine until just blended.
6. Fold in berries or chocolate chips.
7. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and pat into a 3/4-inch thick square.
8. Cut into 4 squares, then cut each square into 2 triangles.
9. Arrange the scones on an ungreased baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove to a wire rack and let cool a bit before glazing.
10. For Glaze: Whisk together the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth.
11. Pour evenly over the warm scones.

Recently we've been on a big sweet potato kick. Both Carson and I agree: we did not take advantage of this veggie when we were in high school / college. It always seemed like something reserved for grandma's weird sweet potato casserole. Which, btw, we both love now! Who wouldn't love sweet potatoes and marshmallows and butter and brown sugar? If only we'd been able to communicate this to earlier-years Carson and Mel.

Anyway, sweet potato stir fry is a mainstay in the Vaughan-Dohmen trailer. Here's our recipe:

• 2 sliced fresh jalapeños
• 1/2 diced medium onion
• 1 t red pepper flakes
• 1/2 t seasoning salt
• 1/2 t garlic salt
• 2 diced, boiled sweet potatoes
• Handful of sliced baby carrots (optional)
• Small crown cauliflower, diced (optional)
• Handful of fresh spinach (optional)
• 2 servings fettuccine noodles or any noodles of your choosing
• 1 small broccoli crown, diced
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 T soy sauce

1. Boil the noodles and sweet potatoes until tender. We like to do them in the same pot at the same time. Saves space and doesn't waste an extra dish. Scandalous, we know.
2. In the meantime, sauté the onions in olive oil. Add jalapeños and diced broccoli halfway through. If using carrots and cauliflower, add them at the same time you add the broccoli.Cook until broccoli / cauliflower / carrots are cooked but still a little crunchy.
3. Add spinach, if using, and spices. Sauté until spinach wilts.
4. Strain potatoes & noodles. Add soy sauce, noodles + boiled sweet potatoes and stir well. Turn off heat, enjoy!

Carson and I make a mean homemade pizza, but it just takes so many dishes and a lot of time in the trailer. So we make an easier version: toaster muffin pizzas!

• 1 small jar pizza sauce or spaghetti sauce (we can't really tell the difference)
• 1 bag shredded mozzarella
• 1 package English Muffins, we like the whole wheat 100-calorie kind.
• Spinach
• Peppers, jalapeños, banana peppers
• Parmesan
• Seasoned salt, garlic salt, pepper

1. Preheat the toaster oven to 400 degrees OR use the pizza setting. In the meantime, build pizza adding sauce first. Sprinkle seasonings on top of the sauce as desired. Add spinach and pepper toppings. Finish off with cheese.
2. Cook for about 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bread toasted.
3. Voila - enjoy!

I am not a huge cookie fan. I don't really ever choose cookies. But I do like oatmeal a lot. And bananas. And so I make this thing called Power Cookies. It's something I kind of made up based on other similar recipes. I like them for breakfast or as a dessert snack. They are healthy, no sugar (okay, except the chocolate chips) and are pretty darn delicious.

• 2 medium ripe bananas
• 2 flax eggs (2 Tbsp flaxseed + 5 Tbsp water)
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 t vanilla
• 3 T honey
• 1 1/4 cup gluten free rolled oats
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 cup ground flax seed
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

1. Mash the banana with a fork until there are no longer large chunks. Set aside.
2. Combine flax seed and water in a medium sized bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes. Will make an eggy texture.
3. Add peanut butter, honey, vanilla, banana and stir well. Add the oatmeal and stir well. Add the ground flax seed and flour and mix well. Add the chocolate chips last.
4. I kind of make this recipe by feel, so if it's looking a little to watery, add more oatmeal or flour. If it's not "wet" enough, add a little milk or water.
5. Spoon onto a baking sheet, about 1 T sized balls. Bake at 325 for 10 minutes. These will not really expand or "rise" a lot. Your'e really just baking them to keep it all together.

Let cool and enjoy! You can substitute all sorts of stuff in this recipe and make adjustments, too. Sometimes I add a 1/2 c natural applesauce instead of the flax bombs. Sometimes I add cinnamon or nutmeg. Sometimes I add more of this, less of that. Experiment. You can't really mess these up!

Remember how I told you we were on a sweet potato kick? I wasn't lying. I am SO happy we decided to try this very simple vegetarian version of tacos. We both love tacos and have them a lot. Very easy food in the trailer and on the go. But we don't always have meat on hand. This was hearty enough to make even Carson happy and he loved the flavor.

Filling:

• 2 small sweet potatoes, diced and boiled
• 1 can black beans or great northern beans, whichever you prefer
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
• 2 jalapeños, sliced
• Taco seasoning
• 1/2 C water
• Red pepper flakes
• 1 T olive oil

Shells, Toppings:

• Taco shells
• Salsa
• Shredded cheese
• Sour cream (Carson can't have a taco without sour cream)
• Fresh spinach

1. Boil diced sweet potatoes in salted water until tender.
2. In a frying pan, sauté onion and jalapeño in olive oil for 3-5 minutes.
3. Strain beans and rinse well with water. Add rinsed beans to the frying pan with the onion and jalapenos. Sauté for 2-3 minutes.
4. Strain sweet potatoes, add them to the frying pan. Bake taco shells / put them in the oven now.
5. Add taco seasoning, red pepper flakes and water. Simmer until water is absorbed. About 5-7 minutes.
6. Serve sweet potato filling in taco shells with salsa, cheese, sour cream for a Carson-style taco. Or put down a fresh bed of spinach, cheese, salsa on a plate. Add sweet potato filling and crumble a taco shell on top for a Mel-style taco.