Pizza Bagels at 65MPH

Now that we’re on day 6, I’m happy to report that this has been as much of a culinary adventure as a geographic one. Cooking in an RV adds a few unique constraints – only a 3 burner stove, a small oven and a microwave; limited space to store pots and pans; limited pantry space leading to limited spices and other staples, etc. Given our tight budget, we’re planning to limit restaurant meals to once per week – I can’t remember the last time we went more than 3 or 4 days without going to a restaurant or buying prepared food to eat at home.

Here’s a summary of the meals that I’ve prepared so far (interestingly, while I used to do only the meals for company when we lived in a bricks & mortar house, I’ve done all of the cooking so far on the trip). Mostly, the breakfasts have been cereal, but we’re planning to expand to scrambled eggs and fresh corn bread in the near future. Lunches have been sandwiches, pasta (CFO Josh sings the culinary and budgetary praises of Ramen noodles), leftovers and the below-mentioned pizza bagels.

Night #1, Shadow Brook Campground, Cooperstown, NY.
This was our first meal so we weren’t planning to be too adventurous:

Linguini in a sage-butter sauce
Farm stand-fresh green salad (lettuce, tomatoes, and an onion)

Reviews were mostly positive, biggest downer was we had to buy salad dressing at the campground store as we didn’t have oil and vinegar

Night #2, Shadow Brook Campground, Cooperstown, NY.
We had more time to plan, and so I decided to spend a little more time on the dinner. Unfortunately, because we got back to the campground late we ended up eating it in the dark and feeding the mosquitoes while we dined.

Pizza Chicken (chicken tenders coated with crushed Ritz crackers, then baked with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese on top)
Pizza eggplant (as a vegetarian, I sautéed some eggplant and then baked it with the sauce and cheese)
Parmesan Risotto (from a box, actually very good)
Steamed Broccoli au Beurre
Apple Iced Tea (bought a box of apple cinnamon tea at the dollar store, and brewed it up and added a lot of ice and a little sugar)

Day #3 lunch, along Interstate 90.
We had left Cooperstown later than planned so were hoping to make up some time by not stopping – while Wendy drove I defrosted some frozen bagels in the Microwave, cut them in half, slathered them with tomato sauce and sprinkled some shredded mozarrela on top, then baked them in the microwave. With Wendy’s steady hand on the wheel, I was able to have them piping hot by the time we pulled into a rest area to eat.


Night #3, Jellystone Park Campground, Niagara, ON.
We had about an hour to prepare and eat dinner and still make the 8pm shuttle bus into town to watch the fireworks over the falls. Nonetheless, we managed to put together a reasonably healthy meal.

Roast Salmon (marinated in the leftover campstore-bought Italian dressing)
Zucchini & Yellow sq uash stir fry
Tomato & Mozzarella salad (with olive oil & balsamic vinegar – no more store bought dressing!)

Night #4 & 5, Sewickley, PA
We stayed with friends just north of Pittsburgh who on the first night cooked up a wonderful meal with lots of fresh produce from their garden. We had a picnic in a local park on the second night.

Night #6, Buck Creek State Park, Springfield, OH.
Another late night (got to the campsite around 7:30, dinner ready by 8:30.

Ginger-Soy stir fry (Tofu, baby corn, water chestnuts, snow peas from the grocery, with a pre-made ginger soy sauce)
Jasmine rice
Fresh broccoli (from Patty & Harris’ garden)
Edamame
Pink lemonade (from a mix)
Gin & tonics (We were worried the mosquitos might be malarial, so we needed something as a carrier for the quinine)

That’s the first almost-week in a nutshell—no restaurants or take-out meals yet! I now have the Verizon broadband access via Blackberry working, so I have good internet at the campsite just by connecting my Blackberry to the PC. I uploaded Josh’s blog earlier as Wendy was driving west on I-70, and am finishing this up as the kids get ready for bed.

Ciao!