What are you having for dinner?

[XERTYX]

I've got a few choices. Macaroni and cheese, rice a roni (the san fransisco treat), garlic and olive oil vermicelli, bacon and eggs, chorizo and eggs, frozen chicken biryani and rice, or chicken salad.

I think I'll go ahead and make the chicken salad and put it in the fridge to just get yummier overnight and have that for lunch tomorrow. I could use some meat in my life as I've been eating very little protein lately. I did have some large curd cottage cheese for dinner last night, but that's not meat. If I had some tortillas I think I'd make huevos rancheros and chorizo with refried beans. 

I think 3 eggs and about 1/3 pack of bacon. That's what I'll do.

So how about you? What's for dinner in your camp? Are you having a big meal? Eating lite? Reusing leftover meatloaf to make sloppy joes?

Nothing serious. Just for funzies and ideas for others.

 

[Seminole Wind]

i have a six pack of OG chicken legs thawed out. i will probably get lazy and just cook them in a pan with butter. i'll work on those caveman style tonight, the left overs for breakfast then make chicken soup with the bones for lunch tomorrow

 

[XERTYX]

Sounds great. Do you ever use fire to cook with? Or another fuel method? 

Anyone on the east coast that likes fried chicken can try the hot and ready type deli chicken from kroger. There is a recent recipe change I'm told. 

I've never had great success in cooking chicken.

 

[Seminole Wind]

yes, i always use fire, just tonight there will be a pan inbetween...;-) but i also carry a propane grill, i have a propane oven that i often bake the chicken in. and i have been know to tossa grill on an open fire to grill it that way. but today i am lazy, a stick of butter a pinch of salt along with the legs in the castiron pan on low/medium and walk away for a bit.

i have also taken chicken cooked like this, stripped the meat off and made sandwiches or tacos or even just tossed it into mac and cheese. the 6 packs of OG chicken legs are nice sources of protien and fat. might switch up to thighs but they are bit more pricey

 

[XERTYX]

That's grand. I prefer food cooked over a wood fire. I'm working on a dual chamber smoker/grill/plancha pieced together from scavenged bricks. Boneless skinless thighs although expensive are the finest cut on the yardbird IMHO.

 

[abnorm]

Chicken thighs...….. it's what's for dinner 

 

[Seminole Wind]

That's grand. I prefer food cooked over a wood fire. I'm working on a dual chamber smoker/grill/plancha pieced together from scavenged bricks. Boneless skinless thighs although expensive are the finest cut on the yardbird IMHO.

chicken thighs are the bomb, but i gotta have me skins. i could eat a whole bowl full of baked chicken skin...

 

[XERTYX]

Like my sister. I could take or leave the skins myself.

@abnorm.  Looks good.

 

[Seminole Wind]

is she single?

on second thought, never mind, i want the skins for my self...

 

[highdesertranger]

x2 on Doug's chicken, I can give a first hand review, it's finger licken good, 2 thumbs up. highdesertranger

 

[Dingfelder]

I've never had great success in cooking chicken.

I've had reliable success using the new-fangled digital cooking thermometers.  165F for breasts, 175f for thighs/drums(and they can actually go higher and be cooked too long without usually drying out, at least partly because they have lots of fat compared to a breast).  Also if you pull them out a few minutes early, they may still rise to the correct "safe" temp outside of the oven/off the stovetop.

Give it a try.  It's a quick, easy, and reliable way to do it.  Also, if yours are often too dry, try a marinade or even just a brine, and let the raw meat soak in it for a good while.  It will help keep a lot of moisture in while cooking.

 

[Dingfelder]

That's grand. I prefer food cooked over a wood fire. I'm working on a dual chamber smoker/grill/plancha pieced together from scavenged bricks. Boneless skinless thighs although expensive are the finest cut on the yardbird IMHO.

The meat texture is much nicer is you leave the skins on during cooking, then just take them off to eat, IMO.

 

[Dingfelder]

Nachos.

Also started a big bowl of quinoa going, and after it completely cooled for a couple of hours, added in onions, red pepper and other veggies, chopped pepperocini, grated swiss cheese and diced salami, some olive oil, lots of rice vinegar, and half a jar of marinated artichokes with oil. I do this every once in a while and am starting to make it a constant in the fridge. It makes for a nice high-protein cold salad that I can eat any time of day or for a snack, and I'll probably be eating away at it all week. Gotta love cold food in hot weather. Quinoa has become my thing now and I'm not even a hipster.

 

[XERTYX]

I tried quinoa when I worked at a health food store. We kept it on the hot bar along with 2 choices of rice and interestingly enough lots of things you wouldnt expect on the bar of a health food store like fried chicken, pulled pork, mac and cheese, pizza, etc. I didnt care for the quinoa but some of the best pizza I've ever had.

Last night I was lazy. Didnt make bacon or even my chicken salad for today's lunch. I wound up lightly frying some chopped hot dogs with hot dijon mustard and no preservative ketchup for dipping and finished of the last of my large curd cottage cheese. A strange meal but then again so am i.

 

[WanderingRose]

I like quinoa best cooked and cold, for breakfast with blueberries or sliced banana, and almond milk.

I had friends passing thru the area who were here for dinner last night, and they being mostly vegan I cooked pasta with lots of garlic, olive oil, butter, a little broth and pasta water, then a bag of baby spinach wilted in.

Cheese on top, homemade bread, strawberries and blueberries with fresh cookies for dessert.

Leftovers tonight. 

 

[XERTYX]

Sounds great. How do you make your homemade bread? In the build I plan to do I either want to find a vintage camper with a proper oven in or find an RV oven from a junkyard. I know you can bake in a dutch oven but I gave my brother my dutch oven with feet and flat lid for an open fire. I found trouble using it on a propane stove and now have one without feet and a rounded top so I dont think it would be well suited to baking. I'm meaning to buy a pressure cooker and I know you can bake in those if you line the bottom with salt and use a riser to put your bread or cake on the riser.

 

[XERTYX]

Btw for anyone interested this is a link to an Indian food channel I like who has a few videos on baking bread in a pressure cooker on stovetop. It's a good channel to learn Indian and indo-chinese cooking and recipes. 

 

[WanderingRose]

I do the no knead, Dutch Oven bread in my oven when I am home.

When traveling, I use the same dough, refrigerate it and do a piece at a time in a skillet.

 

[highdesertranger]

I use this bread recipe from Mother Earth News,

https://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/no-knead-dutch-oven-bread-recipe-zmaz07djzgoe

I cook it in a traditional campfire Dutch Oven with the legs and flat top. the bread comes out great.

an oven without the legs is an easy work around. even though my ovens have legs I use these trivets,

https://kentrollins.com/shop-1/Horseshoe-Dutch-Oven-Trivet-p84994751

BTW cowboy Kent Rollins has an excellent youtube cooking channel lots of Dutch oven cooking,

https://www.youtube.com/user/krollins57/videos?disable_polymer=1

so the legs are an easy work around but not having a flat lid is bit harder. you must be able to put coals on top of the oven to bake.

highdesertranger

 

[XERTYX]

Right. Yes I've never baked properly with coals on top but I know what it's used for thankfully. I'll likely get another one with flat top without the legs. A 4 quart with or without legs and flat top can be had locally at academy sporting goods for $20-25 last time I checked. 

When either my brother or myself use the Dutch oven at his place it's in a homemade non mortar brick smoker grill and repurposed junk stainless steel dishwasher facia as a lid so temps stay fairly even without need for coals above.

Another youtuber I like is intense angler I believe. He uses a regular boy scout type aluminum dutch oven from an off the shelf mess kit to bake cakes from store bought add water mixes and has great success. He frosts them with Nathan's (I think) single serve peanut butter, chocolate almond butter, cashew butter, almond butter, etc. A good way to have a treat while backpacking but maybe too pricey for regular use while camping but still all is shelf stable.