Being Creative in the RV Kitchen

Before we decided to live fulltime in our RV, we used our last motor home for weekends and the occasional week of vacation. My experience in the kitchen was limited to preparing breakfast and any sides for whatever Dan had grilled that day. My how the times have changed since we’re now living in the RV. I’ve learned a great deal but mainly that you can cook just about anything in a tiny kitchen if you put your mind to it.

That said, I do have to admit we’ve enjoyed trying the local flavor from the communities we’ve visited. Some of our favorites include Navajo Tacos from the Indian Village in Cave Creek, AZ, all-you-can-eat crab legs from the Fort McDowell Casino buffet, fried chicken at Lo-Los’ Chicken and Waffles in Scottsdale, and New Mexican cuisine from La Plancha de Eldorado in Santa Fe.As for our home-cooking experiences, sure, we’ve grilled or made ‘camp’ foods a number of times and it’s been delicious. Burgers, bacon-wrapped hotdogs, steak, grilled peppers, and chili have made our menu. And no Texas chili made with New Mexico chili powder would be complete without Texas Fritos and no hotdog would make the cut without a Texas Shiner Bock beer.Grilling aside, I consider it a challenge to create a culinary experience in such a small kitchen but I also want the kinds of tools I like to use in order to make it easy on me. I don’t currently use our oven, except to store pots and pans. Instead, I prefer our toaster oven. We also have a crock pot and an electric pressure cooker, along with our propane stove, residential refrigerator, full pantry, and convection oven/microwave, we’re set. Sure these items take up valuable space in our storage but they work for us.

I love making breakfast, even for dinner. We’ve enjoyed buttermilk biscuits, omelets, hash browns, French toast, and waffles. Of course, a southern girl like me has to have sausage gravy with biscuits occasionally. So good!  As for main courses, I’ve experimented with a number of things, some working better than others. We joked about having rice and beans at every meal when we first started out. So far, that hasn’t happened, though we have indeed made them. Favorite items so far have been fried rice, homemade pizza, individual meatloaf with cream peas and potatoes. A side note, if you can get to the local farmer’s market in whatever town you’re visiting, I highly recommend it. We purchased peas and potatoes from the Santa Fe Farmer’s Market and they were so good. And, of course, not every meal has been something difficult or time consuming. We’ve had sandwiches, including tuna salad, pimento cheese, egg salad, and BLT’s, all homemade, easy to prepare, and yummy.And this Texas girl has a big sweet tooth so desserts are on the menu fairly often. Dan likes the occasional dessert, too, so I try to keep a little something around for the two of us. I’ve made easy four-ingredient microwave peanut butter fudge, but my favorite and most successful homemade desserts so far have been Pineapple Upside Down Cake, Cherry Pie from New Mexico cherries, and Strawberry Pie. Oh, and the cherry pie was actually baked in the toaster oven. It’s funny. When we bought our stick and brick house, one of the main reasons for purchasing it was because of the huge kitchen. Unfortunately, it wasn’t used that often because I was working fulltime. Now, I cook more than I ever have and I love it.

Don’t be afraid to try new things in your RV. In the end, everyone benefits from your efforts.