Overtly Oven

Easy enchiladas

1 pack of torillas
About 1/2 a cup of meat (or however much you would like)
Sourcream
Salsa (chip aisle of walmart) or picante sauce
Texas chilli style beans (can use other flavors for different taste)
Grated cheese (i recommend fiesta blend)

1)Preheat oven to 400F
2)Warm up the beans in a microwave safe bowl, following the directions on the can. Set aside. Chop up the meat to your liking.
3)Lay out the first tortilla on a flat surface and spoon onto the torilla a small amount of the beans, the meat, a couple of spoonfuls of sourcream, a couple of spoonfuls of salsa and put a small amount of grated cheese on top. Roll and place in a baking pan. Repeat until you have the desired number of enchiladas.
4)sprinkle with cheese and put in the oven.

Variations: Cover with a can of chilli before putting in the over, cook and add in a few veges for added nutrition, Use BBQ beans and sauce for a BBQ style enchiladas.

Lesley's Bangers and Mash

Lesley's Bangers and Mash (or biscuits)

1 packet Bratwurst
2 packets of brown or mushroom gravy
2 cups water
chopped mushrooms
chopped onion
1 packet of mashed potato or 1 baked potato mashed.
grated cheese


1) Chop up onion and mushrooms and place in the bottom of a baking pan or dish.
2) Place bratwurst on top
3) Mix up the two packets of gravy mix and 2 cups of water. Pour into the baking pan or dish.
4) Cook at 350 F or 180C for 45 mins.
5) Serve with biscuits or mashed potato.

Variation:
Slice open the sausages place a spoonful of mashed potato between the halves and put cheese on top.

Pacifika Fish

Pacifika Fish

2-3 fillets of fish of any kind
2 tablespoons of butter
1 tablespoon of garlic (optional)
1 large tomato
onion
Approx 1/2 - 1 cup of milk

1) In a pan place the fish fillets.
2) Chop onion and tomato an spread evenly on top.
3) Add in butter and garlic.
4) Pour milk on top
5) Bake at 350 f or 180 c for 40 - 45 mins or until cooked through.
 

The Microwaver

Rice

serves 3
-Rice-a-roni or a small bag of rice
-veges and/or meat

Use an oven safe rice cooker or a gallon size microwaveable bowl. Cook up some rice or a packet of rice-a-roni. Add in some sauteed veges or some meat (this includes diced sandwich ham).

variations: Make up some cheese sauce or gravy from a packet from the gravy section for some added flavor. Alternatively by a frozen vegetable steamer bag of broccoli and cheese and that.

Pasta

Serves 3
-A box of pasta ( I find the bowtie kind cooks best, but macaroni, fettucini or plain old spaghetti will work too)
-Pasta Sauce (In a comparison of Jars of sauce to the packets, the packets do produce a nicer thicker sauce, however the jars are about the same price, more convenient and quicker to cook.)
-Any other ingredients (rotel, veges, meat,)
-Cheese

Place pasta in a microwave safe bowl or a rice cooker with the lids removed. Put enough water in so it sits about an inch above the pasta level and cook for approximately 11 minutes, stir every 5 minutes of cooking.
Strain and add in the pasta sauce and any other ingredients. Cook for another five minutes then add in some cheese and stir.

Baked Potatoes

serves 1
-Potato

Wrap a potato in glad wrap and then cook it in the microwave on the potato setting or for around 11 minutes.

Variations and uses: These can be eaten as is, cut up and made into potato salad, added to curry or mashed.

Microwave Pizza

Serves 2
-A defrosted store bought pizza
- The bacon plate (see tools and techniques)
- Paper towel

Place a paper towel onto the bacon plate on the grill side, this will help absorb any excess moisture. Place the defrosted pizza on top and microwave for 6-12 minutes depending on the size of the pizza. or until the center of the pizza is cooked. Cut and serve.

Variation:
Fold the pizza in half for a p'zone to go, add extra toppings or start from scratch using a tortilla as a pizza base.

Kraft Mac and Cheese original microwave recipe

I believe this may need some explanation. Kraft Mac and cheese boxes used to have a microwave recipe on the side, but for whatever reason they removed it.

Serves 2
- 1 box Kraft Mac n Cheese
- 4 Tablespoons butter
- 1 and 3/4 cups of water
- 1/4 cup milk

In a microwave safe bowl place the pasta and the water. Microwave for 5 minutes. Stir. Microwave another 5 minutes or until pasta is al dente (soft). Use a fork to break apart any stuck together pieces. Strain (you can use a plate or even a glad box lid for this) and then mix ingredients in to taste.

James Tomato Soup

1 Tablespoon Italian Herb Mix
1 Tablespoon Seasonall seasoning mix
1 can of condensed tomato soup
1 can of milk
Feta cheese (optional. Add as much as you like)

In a microwave safe bowl place the Italian Herb Mix, the Season-all seasoning, condensed tomato soup and another can of milk. Microwave for 3 minutes. Add Feta Cheese to taste.

 Breaded wings

 1 back of chicken pieces
 Hot wing sauce, BBQ Sauce
Ranch (optional)

Place the desired number of wings in a glad container or on a microwave safe plate (spread out on a paper towel). Cook for 2-3 mins. Cover in sauce in a glad container and shake to cover. Serve.

 

Chilli potato

1 can of chilli
2 potatoes
cheese
2 tablespoons butter
sour cream (optional) 

Bake two potatoes in the microwave  - follow the instructions for baked potatoes and then mash or dice them. Mix in approx. 2 tablespoons of butter. Cook chilli in microwave for 3 mins. Add to potato. Add cheese and sour cream and mix it all up.

Oodles of Noodles

Recipes for the noodle lover

Noodles with Tuna Fish

Serves 2 
Noodles
Tuna fish

Make up two packets of ramen noodles and add a can of drained tuna fish.

Variations:
Add Crackers and/or sauteed veges (see techniques) for added flavor.

Noodles Alfredo

Serves 1 
Noodles
Sour Cream

Make up one packet of ramen noodles, drain off any soup and mix in two spoons of sour cream.

Variations:
Add in some meat, veges or spices for added flavor. 

Ham and Cheese Noodles

 Serves 1
Noodles
Ham
Cheese

Make up one packet of ramen noodles, drain off the soup and added diced ham and grated cheese.

Ramen Breakfast Burritos

2 cups water
1 pkg ramen noodles, any flavor you like
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup shredded cheese
hot sauce- (We use Franks)
flour tortilla

Bring water to a boil, add ramen. While ramen is cooking slowly pour in beaten egg, add seasoning packet (Cook for 3 minutes). Drain, reserving about 1 T. of water. Add cheese & Hot Sauce (to taste preference). Fill a warm flour tortilla, wrap and enjoy. This makes a fast, hearty breakfast on the go for 2 people.

Variations:  substitute egg or add in a cubed baked potato (see Microwave section), add in ham, replace hot sauce with ketchup.

Ramen and Salsa

1 pkg Ramen Noodles, any flavor (save the seasoning for another day)
Salsa (any brand)

Break the ramen noodles into chunks, dip into the salsa and munch.

Tongan Ramen

Ramen

Break up the ramen in to pieces, add in the sauce packet, shake and eat as a snack.

Hawaiian Ramen 

Serves 2
2 oriental flavored ramen Noodle Packet
1 tbsp. olive oil or butter
1 can diced pineapple
1 lb diced ham
1 can red beans (optional)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro

Make up  2 packets of Ramen without the seasoning packet. Drain and set aside.  in a small container or bowl put in butter/oil, pineapple (save the juice) and ham and microwave (borrow the truckstop's) for 4-5 mins. Mix the pineapple, the ramen and drained red beans (optional) and chopped cilantro along with the oriental seasoning packet into the pineapple and ham mix. Cook for a few more minutes until the sauce sticks to the noodles.

Setting up your kitchen

The Prep Area

There just isn't much space is there? I recommend keep a medium size wooden cutting board on your truck. This will function as your prep area. You can use it on the bed or place it on the pull out desk.
I keep my knives in the cavity normally used for pens and put a folded towel underneath to prevent that cavity from getting dirty.
I have a large cabinet above this area which I keep my dry goods in and in the side door of this I keep my spatulas, scissors, pizza cutter, etc.

Microwave

Put them on your bed side table, velcro them to your fridge, bolt them to your top bunk, but for the love of God (or you might be seeing him soon) please secure them. I know from experience that in an accident if these are not secured they will be the first thing that hits you.

Refrigerator/Freezer(?)

You can install one of these in your truck with a lot of hard work. Rip out your cabinets (the ones not attached to your apu or light switches) and install a fridge or fridge/ freezer. I am currently unsure of how to do this, but will attempt to do a follow up post with photos. You will need some heavy duty hinges and some method of attaching them to the fridge and wall of your truck. Alternatively you can have a cooler, but in my experience they don't work too well.

Oven

Only place to store one is on the top bunk. Be aware that you cannot secure these so you are taking some risk, but they are heavy enough to stand large amounts of breaking power. The reason you cannot secure them has to do with safety during use. They needed to be moved away from the edges of the bed so that you can pull stuff in and out without burning yourself (i have scars).

Extra Dry Food storage locations

If you shop in bulk for certain items (noodles, soup and paper towels, etc) store the extras underneath the bed. If you run out of space then grab yourself a big plastic storage box from walmart (they are cheapest at Christmas).

Techniques and Tools

I'm going to  open this blog with some techniques and substitutions, before I get into actual recipes. These next few posts will be subject to changes.

Tools

-Plug in water Jug
For those who loooove noodles....

-Microwave
For Nuking on the go...

-Freezer
Storing meat and frozen dinners.

 -Refrigerator
Storing everything else that needs to be cold.

-Oven
For the slightly more daring. A small convection oven can be safely placed and run on a top bunk (with the matress removed). Can be used while the truck is moving provided a space is cleared around it, however most of the recipes will need to be cooked while the truck is not moving because of the amount of liquid.

-Electric Skillet
You can keep a small skillet on your truck. You have the choice between the regular wall plugin or the cigarette lighter plugin . Not recommend to be used while driving.

-Grill
Yes! You can in fact use a small George Forman Grill in your truck. Open your windows, plug it in and your good to go. They wipe down easily with hand towels or shop towels and your good to go. If you use these make sure you put something beneath it (a cutting board or something similar).

Other Useful Items

-Freezer Bags
Pre-cook and spice you meats and put them in single serving freezer bags for easy defrost and cooking.

-Steamer Bags
You can purchase these at any walmart or equivalent store. You can steam almost any vege.

-Its called a bacon plate
It's a plastic plate with a flat side and a grill lined side that you can put in the microwave and cook just about anything on (including bacon!) . We have used this for cooking pizzas on in the microwave - Totino's brand is the cheapest and because of the smaller size comes out the best. You can also cook Buffalo wings, hot dogs, etc on it.

-Plastic Rice cooker
These are great. You cook rice and pasta in it very quickly compared to just using a glass bowl. Can also be purchased at walmart.

-The Omelette Maker
Great for cooking eggs in the microwave. If you don't have access to meat they are a great source of protein. The stores sell eggs in a cartoon so you don't have to worry about your eggs breaking. sold at (guess where?) walmart.

-The spice rack
I love my spices, in fact I like to cook curry so I have looked for several ways in which to store them. I may do a post later on in which I come up with a final solution. Currently I have a large glad container in which i stand up their individual bottles in.

Techniques

1)Sauteing
You can saute a variety of items in the microwave.
You will need:
- a plastic container
-some butter (yes you can use the ones from restaurants with a bit of effort).
-whatever you would like to sautee ( I would not try uncooked meat, but have been told it possible). Ideas include: onions, bell peppers (capsicum), fresh mushrooms, broccoli.

2)Freezer bag cooking
This is a technique the army uses in there meals. You can put meat, spices, onion, butter or oil in a freezer bag and add almost boiling water and leave it to sit. I would recommend using pre-cooked. If you have pre-cooked meat stored in a freezer then defrost that meat and then add in sauted ingredients and let set for added flavor.

3) Sprucing up a box dinner
Various stores sell box dinners - some complete with meat. These are usually fairly boring, mundane and incredibly tasteless, however the one thing they do have is that they cook quickly (and as I said before meat that can be stored without a fridge). These dinners can be greatly improved by using the two previous methods to add in some important vitamins and veges (and meat if it doesn't have any). Also you can add canned veges to these meals my favorite would be rotel, a mix of peppers and diced tomatoes which adds spice.