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Galley Recipe of the Week
Mexican Sloppy Joe
Adding potatoes to the filling stretches the budget and adds texture contrast to bunwiches, wraps and chimichangas. Some of these ingredients are high in salt content, so add salt only at the end if needed.
2 medium sweet potatoes peeled and finely diced
2 medium onions, peeled and finely diced
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
15-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon each crumbled dried thyme and oregano
½ teaspoon chili powder
8-ounce tin of diced green chilies, well drained
8-ounce can tomato sauce
2 cans, 12 ounces each, roast beef in gravy
1/4 cup dry red wine (optional)
16-ounce package shredded cheese such as Mexican blend
In a skillet or kettle, sizzle potatoes and onion in hot oil until browned. Drain tomatoes, saving juice. Add tomatoes, herbs, chilies and tomato sauce to the pot. Cover and simmer until vegetables are tender.
Add wine and canned beef and gravy, breaking up beef. Stir in cheese until it melts. If mixture is too thick, add juice from the tomatoes to taste.
If it’s too thin, stir a heaping tablespoon of flour or cornstarch into the juice and stir into the mixture over medium heat until it thickens. Serve in buns, over baked potatoes or in tortillas. Serves 8.
Tips for the Boat Chef
101 Ways to Use Sloppy Joe
First of all, you can make it with ground meat, turkey, pork, sausage or a mixture of meats. Use canned meats or no meat at all. Use soy meat substitutes, tofu or grains such as wheat berries. Second, you can make it different each time, using different vegetables, seasonings, more or less heat or with or without grated cheese. Third, use different toppings: a sprinkle of grated Parm on the pasta, sliced onion on the bun, chopped scallions atop the sauce, biscuits on the casserole.
Fourth, use it as a topping on hot dogs, tortillas, nachos, baked potatoes. etc. Bottom line: sloppy joe is a lifesaver to the boat cook. Make it, can it, freeze it any which way possible, but do take a shipload of it with you.
*Top with s layer of biscuits or Tater Tots and bake as a casserole.
* Add a quart of beef or chicken broth to two cups sloppy joe and one or two cans of Veg-All to make soup.
* Spoon over pasta, mashed potatoes, toast, crisp Chinese noodles, ramen, steamed vegetables.
* Wrap in soft tortillas of any size or flavor (spinach wraps are especially good) or spoon it into crisp corn taco shells.
* Serve in hamburger buns, hot dog buns, sliders. Bake it in pie crust. Top with mashed potatoes to make shepherd’s pie.
* Make it soupier by adding a can of diced tomatoes, bring to a boil and poach eggs in it. Cover eggs with the sauce.
Pantry Recipe of the Week
Like all recipes in my Survival Food Handbook, these weekly recipes can be made with no fresh food at all. Save them for emergencies, then re-stock the pantry for the next time.
Sweet ‘n Sour Spam
Spam is a faithful friend in the standby food locker, especially now that it comes in low sodium and a variety of flavors.
4 canned peach halves
12-ounce can of Spam, sliced in four pieces
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Peach juice plus water
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons tomato paste
A few shakes Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
Drain peaches, saving juice. Add water to make 1 cup. Brown Spam on both sides in hot vegetable oil until toasty. In a bowl whisk peach juice with brown sugar, tomato paste, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and mustard.
Spoon sauce over Spam, cover and cook over low heat until heated through and sauce is bubbly. Serve Spam and spoon the sauce over rice.
Wheat Berries
1 cup wheat berries, rinsed and drained
2 cups boiling water
½ teaspoon salt
Using a quart-size thermos bottle, preheat the thermos with a little hot water. Discard this water and fill bottle with 1 cup wheat, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 2 cups boiling water. Close tightly, tip gently (do not shake bottle) to mix and let stand at least 6 hours or overnight. Makes 2 cups.
Serve with milk, sugar and fruit as a hot cereal. Use instead of rice in hot or cold dishes. Use wheat berries as a substitute for ground meat. Mix wheat berries with egg, grated cheese, seasonings and vegetables and fry as patties.
Skillet Meal of the Week
Use the grain of your choice with the meat or meat substitute of your choice to make a one-dish meal. Early in the day, make thermos-cooked whole grains such as wheat berries, rice, barley or oat groats. Add a chicken or beef bouillon cube to the boiling water.
Whole Grain Pilaf
Your Way
½ stick butter
Medium onion, diced
2 ribs celery, diced
2 cups cooked whole grains, drained if necessary
2 cups diced, cooked meat, chicken or turkey OR
Canned chunk chicken or turkey
1/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts
1/3 cup snipped apricots, raisins, or dried cranberries
Salt, pepper to taste
Stir-fry onion and celery in hot butter. Stir in remaining ingredients in order. Heat through. Moisten to creamy perfection with water, sweet white wine or broth. Serves 4.
Variation: When pilaf is complete, press tightly into bottom and sides of the skillet. Cover and cook over medium-high heat until a crust forms on bottom and sides. It should slide out of a nonstick skillet in one piece. Cut in wedges.
Blog copyright 2018 by Janet Groene. Content protected by international law.
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Galley Recipe of the Week
Apricot Walnut Chicken
This sweet, snappy chicken meal cooks in skillet or bakes in a disposable foil pan. Children love it for its sweet taste; boat chefs love its simplicity.
6-ounce package long grain and wild rice mix
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons golden raisins
8 dried apricot halves, snipped into small pieces
12-ounce can apricot nectar
Water
4 to 6 portions skinless chicken
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Oven method: Set oven for 350 degrees. Spray pan and put in the dry wild rice mix with its flavor packet, raisins, apricots and 1/4 cup nuts. Add water to nectar to make two cups liquid and pour over casserole. Nestle chicken in rice. Cover with foil. Bake 30 minutes, then uncover and bake 10 minutes more. Rice should be tender and chicken should test 175 degrees for doneness.
Plate chicken pieces. Stir rice mixture and spoon over chicken. Sprinkle with remaining walnuts and serve. Serves 4 to 6.
Stovetop method: Bring liquid to a boil in a deep skillet and stir in rice mix, raisins and dried apricots. Top with chicken pieces. Cover and cook over low heat 30 minutes or until rice is tender and chicken tests done (175 degrees). Stir to cover chicken with rice mixture and cook a few minutes more until any excess liquid evaporates. Sprinkle with ½ cup nuts, and serve.
Survival Food Handbook is a guide to shopping the supermarket for shelf-stable foods to stock your boat for long cruises or everyday emergencies. Every recipe can be made with no fresh ingredients. No high-priced, 20-year-storage foods required. Go to http://amzn.to/1WdYqbe
Pantry Recipe of the Week
All these ingredients keep in your food locker until needed. Use these pantry recipes for for convenience or emergencies.
Cajun BBQ and Rice
1 ½ cups rice
3 cups water
2 beef or chicken bouillon cubes
1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning (such as Tony Chachere’s)
12-ounce can roast beef, chopped up
Small can diced chilies, drained
½ cup bottled barbecue sauce (or more to taste)
8-ounce can whole kernel corn, drained*
Hot sauce
In a large pot bring water to a boil and stir in bouillon cubes, seasoning and rice. Cover the pot, reduce heat and cook until rice is tender. Over low heat, stir in beef, barbecue sauce, chilies and corn. Heat through. Stir and serve. Pass the hot sauce. Serves 4.
*Use juice from the corn as part of the water measurement. I discard juice from the chilies.
Tips for the Boat Cook
* Drying dishcloths is always a challenge in the small galley. Ditch the dishcloth. Wash dishes instead with a nylon shower puff. Rinse, shake dry. It won’t sour and it’s safe for scrubbing delicate and nonstick kitchenware. http://amzn.to/1T6ziTV
* You’ve seen these retractable clotheslines in hotels. Can you use a temporary line in the galley and/or head? http://amzn.to/1QJCMVQ
*Use powdered chicken bouillon instead of salt when cooking vegetables, potatoes, pasta for intense flavor.
* If your boat’s sinks and shower drains belch stale odors, put a teaspoon of baking soda in them each evening. If the problem persists you may have a vent problem in your plumbing.
* Mix ketchup half and half with hoisin sauce to glaze pork or chicken on the grill.
* Here’s the easiest lighting yet for those dark spots in the cockpit when you’re cooking or serving after dark. Move, position and remove as needed. These bulbs hang up almost anywhere, can be used at three brightness settings and are waterproof. http://amzn.to/2ik0jTp
* Make your own dried herbs. Remove stems from fresh herbs, microwave between layers of paper toweling. Keep cool and dry.
* Keep extra twist ties on hand, not just to close plastic bags but because the tiny wire in them is handy to poke out dried-on bits in grater holes and other tiny places. Lose a screw to your eyeglasses? Use this wire to make a temporary repair.
Skillet Meal of the Week
Bistro Choucroute
Your shortcut is bagged cole slaw mix and boneless pork chunks. Cook this meal in a skillet, slow cooker or pressure cooker.
2 pounds lean, boneless pork in bite size cubes
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup dark Karo syrup, Lyle’s syrup or molasses
1 teaspoon rubbed sage
Large onion, diced
Large tart apple such as Granny Smith, peeled and diced
16-ounce bag shredded cabbage (cole slaw mix)
12-ounce bottle dark beer
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
In a large, deep skillet or kettle brown pork in hot oil. Drizzle with syrup or molasses and add sage, onion, apple and cabbage. Drizzle with beer and vinegar. Sprinkle with caraway seeds. Cover and cook over low heat until pork is tender.
Longer, slower cooking is best for flavor Stir and serve in soup plates with buttered rye rolls. Serves 6.
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Galley Recipe of the Week
Quick Sherried Fruit
The best part of this side dish/condiment is the fruit juices you’ll have left over to make rum punch. Serve the fruit alone or over steamed rice with ham, chicken or pork chops
4 cans, 15-ounces each, different fruit in their own juice (pitted sweet cherries, sliced peaches, gooseberries, pineapple tidbits, sliced pears, apricot halves, fruit cocktail)
1 jar spiced apple rings
1 stick butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup sherry
Pour off fruit juices and save them. Cut apple rings and any other large pieces in bite size pieces. In a saucepan, melt butter and stir in flour. Slowly stir in sherry. When the sauce thickens, fold in fruit. If mixture is too thick, add fruit juices to taste. Heat through. Serves 8 to 10.
Survival Food Handbook is a guide to provisioning your boat with affordable, familiar, shelf-stable supermarket foods for the long haul and for emergencies. Order here http://amzn.to/1WdYqbe
Pantry Recipe of the Week
Our weekly pantry recipes require no fresh foods.
“Loaded Baked Potato” Soup
4 servings (2 cups) mashed potatoes, made according to package directions
4 cups water
4 teaspoons powdered chicken bouillon
Small can chunk ham, broken up
Real bacon bits
Dried parsley flakes
Make instant potatoes in a large saucepan. Stir in water and whisk over high heat to mix well. Reduce heat, add bouillon and ham. Cover and simmer to blend flavors. Ladle into soup bowls and sprinkle with bacon bits and dried parsley. Serves 4.
Tips for the Boat Chef
* Make easy toast topping for French onion soup. Cut bake ‘n serve dinner rolls in half. Butter, sprinkle with grated cheese. Toast in the toaster oven or use a kitchen torch.
* The easy way to break up canned chunk chicken, turkey, ham, tuna is to leave it in the can and jab with a fork, using a twisting motion. When you turn it out of the can it will be shredded.
* Bottled juices are heavy and take up a lot of space. When making cocktails that call for cranberry juice syir in a shot of whole berry cranberry sauce instead.
* If a slow cooker meal is looking too soupy, remove the lid for the last 30 minutes of cook time.
* Water chestnuts are one of the few vegetables that stay crunchy after canning. Keep some on hand as a celery substitute in chicken salad, etc.
Skillet Meal of the Week
Seafood Surprise
½ stick butter
Small red sweet pepper, seeded and diced
Small onion, diced
Small green pepper, seeded and diced
Small can crabmeat, drained and picked over
Small can shrimp, drained
2 cups stuffing mix for chicken
1/3 cup mayonnaise, salad dressing or ranch dressing
Water or broth
Melt butter in a skillet and stir-fry onion and peppers until they soften. Stir in seafood and stuffing mix and mayonnaise or dressing. Add enough water to moisten. Cover and heat through. Serves 4.
See Janet Groene’s easy recipes for camping, RV travel, boating and any small kitchen at https://campandrvcook.blogspot.com
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Galley Recipe of the Week
Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Cake
1 ½ cups boiling water
1 cup quick oats, also called 3-minute oats (not instant, not steel cut)
1 stick butter, margarine or butter-flavor shortening (1.2 cup)
1 cup white or brown sugar, or some of each
2 eggs
1 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
In a bowl combine boiling water, cut-up butter and oats. Stir to melt butter. When it’s lukewarm, stir in eggs until well blended. Put flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon in a clean bag and jostle to mix. Dump into wet mixture and mix until no dry spots remain. Do not over-beat.
Oven method: Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease an 8-inch square pan and add batter. Bake about 30-40 minutes or until cake tests done with a toothpick. Middle will be springy to the touch.
Stove-top method: grease a cold, heavy skillet, add batter and cover. Cook over low-medium heat until cake tests done with a toothpick. It will be moist and will brown on bottom and sides but not on top.
Serve with vanilla sauce, frosting, whipped cream or applesauce. Serves 8 to 9.
Tips for the Boat Cook
* In a nonstick skillet, heat thawed waffle-fried potatoes until crispy. (Ore-Ida is one company that makes them). Use them as the “bread” to make sliders.
* Stir-fry vegetables such as broccoli florets, onions and pepper until crisp tender. Stir in a tub of barbecue pulled pork or chicken and soy sauce and hot sauce to taste. Serve over rice.
* After cleaning and drying a waste basket, sprinkle a little 20 Mule Team borax in the bottom. It will discourage bugs and make it easier to clean the container next time. Borax, a laundry booster that is very inexpensive, kills roaches on contact. Sprinkle lightly in damp sinks each night. Roaches come for the moisture and die. Too, the daily dose of borax cleans the sink and sweetens drains.
* This heavy duty fruit corer bores through with ease, then opens to eject the core. You’ll use it on apples, pears and other fruit. Core cucumbers and stuff with tuna salad. Core zucchini, stuff with ground meat and roast. Core a scrubbed potato, put a hot dog in the hole and bake until the potato is tender. See it here http://amzn.to/2v8lgve
* When making spinach and bacon salad, stir 2 or 3 tablespoons of red currant jelly into the hot bacon fat until it melts. Then add vinegar, spinach and so on.
* Rehydrate any flavor ramen and drain well. Whisk 2 to 4 eggs, stir in ramen and cook as an omelet. Broth can be discarded or thicken it to make a sauce.
Pantry Recipe of the Week
Janet Groene has lived for months at a time without refrigeration while cruising. Each week, see a new recipe here that requires no fresh foods.
Janet’s Survival Food Handbook is a guide to choosing and using supermarket foods for the boat pantry. See hundreds of delicious ways to use familiar, affordable, stowable food supplies. No high-priced survival rations required. See it here http://amzn.to/1WdYqbe
Caramel Onion Quiche
To store fresh eggs without refrigeration, coat them with butter or shortening. Keeping times depend on many factors such as how old the eggs were when you bought them. Today’s supermarket also has many good alternatives for fresh eggs including powdered eggs and botanic blends preferred by vegans.
1/3 cup solid vegetable shortening or butter
Scant cup flour, more or less
2 jars or cans, 12-ounces each, whole onions (sometimes called Holland onions)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon sugar
5 raw eggs or equivalent
1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Small tin (about 2/3 cup) cream or evaporated milk
½ cup grated dry cheese
Real or vegetable bacon bits (optional)
Dried chives (optional)
Melt fat in a 9-inch pie pan and use a fork to stir in flour until it clumps. Use floured fingers to press dough to bottom and sides of the pan. Flute edges. Set aside.
Drain onions, slice in half and drain again, cut side down. Fry onions in hot olive oil, sprinkling with sugar and stirring until onions turn rich brown. Place onions in the pie shell.
Whisk eggs with milk, salt, pepper and nutmeg and pour over onions. Sprinkle with cheese, bacon bits, chives.
Oven method: Bake at 375 degrees until crust browns and filling sets. Makes 4 large or 6 medium servings.
Stovetop method: place pie pan on a shallow rack in a large, covered, pre-heated skillet. Cover tightly and cook over high burner (don’t peek too often) until crust is golden and filling set. Crust made with butter will brown more readily in this moist heat than crust made with shortening.
Skillet Meal of the Week
Jamaican Goat Curry
2 pounds lean goat meat, beef or lamb, cut in bite size
2 tablespoons curry powder
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 to 3 medium potatoes, scrubbed and diced
2 to 3 plantains or green bananas, peeled and cut in chunks
Large onion, diced
2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
Pat meat dry and toss it in a clean bag with curry powder to coat well. Discard bag. Heat oil in a large skillet or wok. Brown meat over high heat, gradually stirring in onion, plantains and potatoes to brown them. Add water and salt.
Cover, reduce heat and cook until meat is very tender. Serves 6 to 8.
Galley Recipe of the Week
Chicken Aloha
Serve this simple sweetie with buttered Hawaiian rolls. You choose the type and size of the chicken portions.
Small can sliced pineapple in its own juice
Soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown or white sugar
4 portions skinless, boneless chicken
2 thick bacon slices, cut up
Drain pineapple and add an equal measure of soy sauce to the juice. Bring to a boil in a large, nonstick skillet and stir in sugar to dissolve. Pour into a container and set aside. In the same skillet, fry bacon pieces until crisp. Push them aside and brown chicken in the hot bacon fat. Top each piece of chicken with a pineapple slice. Put bacon bits in the center. Drizzle with reserved sauce.
Cover and cook over low-medium heat until chicken tests done. Place chicken on plates and drizzle with pan juices.
Tips for the Boat Cook
*Make rice pudding with one of the nut milks such as cashew or almond. Ditto oatmeal.
* Use a vegetable peeler on a Hershey bar to make curls to trim a dessert. The peeler can also make coconut curls from fresh coconut. Bake until golden.
* Slice a hot dogs in half lengthwise, curl in a coil and thread on a stick around a small, thawed meatball. Grill to heat through. Place coil on a round bun with the meatball in the center. Add your favorite toppings.
* Add a compact, efficient, portable icemaker to the small galley and you’ll never be without ice for drinks or the ice chest.
* To remove stains from melamine dishes, try a paste made from 1/4 cup baking soda or cream of tartar and 1 tablespoon hydrogen peroxide. Smear on stains. Let dry. Wash as usual.
* Mash a little French vanilla liquid coffee creamer into boiled sweet potatoes.
* Make an easy Florentine sauce to serve over meat, fish, vegetables or rice. Chop two handfuls of baby spinach. Heat a can of condensed cream of chicken soup with half a soup can of light cream and ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg. Stir in spinach and cook two minutes or until spinach is tender.
* Peel, quarter and freeze onions. Use a sharp knife and cutting board and they can be chopped while frozen. No tears.
Pantry Recipe of the Week
Skillet Enchiladas
Tortillas are available in frozen, fresh and in shelf-stable packages that last for weeks. You can always have them on hand in the pantry if you watch use-by dates and rotate supplies regularly. Of course you can also make your own as needed.
6 6-inch flour or corn tortillas, warmed
6-ounce can chunk chicken, drained
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 teaspoon chili powder
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, well drained
1 jar picante sauce
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Warm tortillas enough that they can be rolled up. In a bowl, break up chicken and stir in soup, chili powder, tomatoes , cheese and 1/3 cup of the picante sauce. Fill tortillas, roll up and place seam side down in a single layer in a greased skillet. Drizzle with a cup of picante saute and sprinkle with remaining Parmesan. Cover and cook over low-medium heat until heated through. Pass remaining picante sauce at the table. Serve 3 to 6.
Canned salmon is one of the most versatile foods to have in your emergency pantry.
Skillet Recipe of the Week
Salmon Rice Romanoff
16-ounce can salmon OR
2 cooked salmon fillets
1 ½ cups cottage cheese
1 cup sour cream
3 cups cooked rice OR
3 packets, 8 ounces each, ready-to-serve rice
½ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup peas, thawed (optional)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Medium onion, diced
1 teaspoon minced garlic
Salt, pepper
Minced parsley (optional)
Hot sauce
Drain and shred canned salmon or shred cooked fresh salmon. In a plastic bag, moosh together salmon with rice, cottage cheese, sour cream, peas and shredded cheese.
Heat oil in a skillet and saute onion and garlic until softened. Add to salmon mixture and moosh bag to mix well. Return mixture to the skillet and adjust seasonings. Discard bag. Cover and cook over medium heat until hot. Serves 6. Garnish with parsley and/or pass the hot sauce.
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Galley Recipe of the Week
Master Recipe for Chili
Chili contests. Chili recipes. From vegetarian to venison, the world is awash in chili recipes. Let’s cut to the chase with one master chili recipe.
Worcestershire sauce? Bacon bits? Poblanos, serranos, chili powder, herbs? What kind of hot sauce? Toppings? Stockpot or slow cooker? Campfire, camp stove or RV range? Chili beans, kidney beans, black beans?
Here are the basics. The rest is up to you.
3 pounds ground meat (beef, pork, chicken, turkey, venison, buffalo, sausage, preferably two or more)
3 medium onions, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 ribs celery, diced
1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
2 cans, 28 to 32 ounces each, diced tomatoes, undrained
4 cans, 15 ounces each, beans, preferably two or more types, undrained
In a large pot brown meat, gradually stirring in onion, garlic, celery and green and red peppers. Add tomatoes and your own secret ingredients. Cover and simmer long and slow while flavors blend. Stir in undrained beans and simmer some more. Serves 12 to15.
Are you prepared for a weather delay? A bridge that won’t open? A check that is delayed, leaving you broke in a strange port? An engine that won’t kick over?
Even on a day sail or a quick fishing trip, stuff happens. Food is the ultimate boating insurance. Janet Groene’s Survival Food Handbook is a guide to provisioning your boat with shelf-stable supplies from the supermarket. No pricey survival rations required.
Here’s a recipe made entirely from ordinary stowed ingredients. If your supermarket doesn't carry True Lemon, order it online.
Shrimp Linguine Alfredo
1 packet True Lemon lemon crystals
½ cup water
1 tablespoon dried diced onion bits
1 teaspoon dried garlic granules
2 to 3 cans shrimp, drained and picked over
12-ounce package linguine, cooked according to package directions
24-ounce jar Alfredo sauce, regular or lite
Small jar diced pimento
Dried parsley flakes (optional)
Mix lemon powder with water and soak dried onion and garlic granules 30 to 60 minutes. Drain and save the liquid. Add soaked onion and garlic to the boiling water when cooking the linguine.
Drain linguine and fold in Alfredo sauce. Stir in 1-2 tablespoons pimento and heat gently. Adjust seasonings, adding some of the reserved lemon water to taste. Sprinkle with parsley flakes. Serves 5 to 6.
Skillet Recipe of the Week
Hashed Brown Skilletopia
One skillet makes a big breakfast, lunch or supper.
12 eggs
1/3 cup milk or cream
1 teaspoon each salt, white pepper
16-ounce package hashed brown potatoes, thawed
2 tablespoons each butter and vegetable oil
8-ounce can peas and carrots, drained
Optional toppings:
Chopped scallions, chives or parsley OR
Shredded cheese OR
Real bacon bits OR
Salsa, ketchup or tomato sauce
Whisk eggs well with milk, salt and pepper. Melt butter and oil in a large, deep, nonstick skillet. Tilt to coat bottom and sides of skillet. Press potatoes into bottom and sides to form a crust. Use the back of a large, wet spoon to press into an even layer.
Cover and cook over medium heat until potatoes are beginning to brown on the bottom. Carefully pour in eggs and sprinkle with peas and carrots. Cover and cook just until eggs set but are still moist. Slides out onto a cutting board and serve in wedges. Serves 6.
Cook’s note: This is also good when made with frozen O’Brien potatoes, which include onions and red and green peppers.
Tips for the Boat Cook
* To make hush puppies, mix Jiffy corn bread batter according to package directions but use only enough milk to make a stiff dough. Stir in very finely chopped jalapeno and onion. Deep-fry in walnut-size blobs.
* Soothe seasick stomachs. Stir a sachet of dried ginger honey into hot water or tea.
* One of the most popular, space-saving spice blends is Italian seasoning. When you make your own you can fine-tune the mix to your own tastes. Here’s a start: 5 tablespoons each dried, crumbled oregano and dried, crumbled thyme; 2 tablespoons each dried basil and crumbled rosemary; 1 tablespoon each freshly ground peppercorns and rubbed sage. Optional: ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper. Keep cool and dry.
* Many classic meatloaf recipes call for a can of condensed cream of tomato soup. For a change, try the same recipe with another condensed soup such as chicken gumbo, alphabet, beef vegetable or creamy onion.
* Drain a jar of stem-on maraschino cherries. Save the syrup and fill the jar with gin, rum or bourbon. Refrigerate overnight. Drain off booze and mix it with the reserved syrup to spoon over ice cream or pound cake Pat cherries dry with paper towels, dip in melted chocolate and serve as an after-dinner lagniappe.
* Bacon burgers will be easier to serve and eat if you cut up the crisply cooked bacon and mix it with the ground beef. Every bite will burst with bacon goodness.
To donate $5 per year in support of this blog use your Paypal account to send to janetgroene@yahoo.com
Galley Recipe of the Week
Cape Horn Corn Cakes
The beauty of this simple recipe is that it goes one way for breakfast and another way for lunch or dinner.
2 eggs
1 cup milk or water
2 cups biscuit mix
15-ounce can whole kernel corn, drained*
Whisk eggs and liquid well, then stir in biscuit mix. If batter is too thick, add more water or milk. Add corn. Fry on a lightly grease griddle as for pancakes. Serves 4.
Breakfast options: Add crumbled, cooked bacon to the batter. Serve with pancake syrup. Serve with sausage gravy. Top with fried or poached egg.
Lunch or dinner options: Use corn with red and green pepper bits. Serve with marinara or tomato sauce, gravy or cheese sauce. Top with corned beef hash.
*Liquid can be used as part of the water measurement.
Tips for the Boat Cook
* Add vitamins, cut carbs when you serve bolognese or marinara sauce over wedges of steamed cabbage instead of spaghetti.
* Rule of thumb: plan two ounces of pasta per person.
* You know that beer batter that you use for fish? Try it on asparagus spears, onion rings, whole green or wax beans or red or green red pepper rings. Deep fry as usual. For dessert, dip banana and pineapple chunks in it.
* Stir a little white miso paste into corn chowder. Go by taste, starting with one teaspoon. Add a few drops of toasted sesame oil to complete the Asian persuasion.
* Mix 1 part bottled pesto with three parts soft butter. Chill and slice. Put pats on sizzling hot fish or steak from the grill.
* When provisioning keep in mind that microwave popcorn costs three times more than kernels and takes up ten times more space. For tips on getting the most nutrition into your emergency food locker see Survival Food Handbook, a guide to stocking your boat with familiar, affordable supermarket staples for everyday or emergencies.
Pantry Recipe of the Week
This is this week’s recipe made entirely with shelf ingredients. Sunflower “nuts” are shelled, salted, roasted sunflower seeds.
Red Pepper Pasta
1 tablespoon powdered chicken bouillon
12-ounce package pasta
10-ounce jar roasted red peppers, drained*
½ cup grated Parmesan
Packaged, salted sunflower “nuts”
Add bouillon to the pasta water and cook pasta. Drain, saving liquid. Fold in chopped peppers and grated Parmesan. Add pasta water to moisten to taste. Put on plates and sprinkle with sunflower “nuts”. Serves 6.
*Can be added to the pasta water
Skillet Recipe of the Week
Peachy Sweet Sausage Skillet
Save excess the peach juice to use in fruit punch.
1 pound bulk mild Italian sausage
Medium onion, diced
15-ounce can diced peaches, drained
2 cups Tater Tots, thawed
Fry out sausage, gradually adding onion. When sausage is crumbly and browned, spoon off any excess fat. Stir in peaches and some of the juice. Cover and cook 5 to 10 minutes to develop flavors. Arrange Tater Tots on top, cover, heat through and serve. Makes 4 portions.
See more of Janet Groene’s shortcut recipes at campandrvcook.blogspot.com
*Top with s layer of biscuits or Tater Tots and bake as a casserole.
