Eating sensibly while travelling and doing so on a tight budget isn't always easy... but it can be quite delicious. Every road trip we take I really try to plan what we are going to eat for the 3 to 5 days that we are travelling well in advance. Travel days are the worst when it comes to meals, mostly because I always seem to make us late for our departure time. So breakfast tacos and salty snacks and fruit seem to be our meal plan during the actual drive.
By the time we get to the hotel, it's usually dinner time. Rather than take the easy way out and pick up a greasy bag of fast food, I prefer to cook if I have any strength left in me. This is why I LOVE my
rice cooker. In all honesty, I wasn't crazy about it when my husband got it. I thought to my self, "great, an appliance that makes one thing and one thing only." But, the more we travel the more things we learn to cook in it.
This trip's recipe is one pot pasta dinner that can be enjoyed cold with a fresh salad the next day. The ingredients can be purchased at most grocery stores pretty readily. Since we were headed to Sulphur Springs this trip and I wanted to make sure I had the supplies I needed as soon as we got to the hotel, I packed the dry ingredients I'd be needing in the "kitchen box". The kitchen box is a Rubbermaid tote that is filled with the basics for cooking on the road. The veggies and the proteins traveled frozen, in a small cooler. We packed the bag of organic greens on top so it stayed cool enough to keep them from wilting.
For this dish you will need the following...
1cup whole wheat rotini pasta (gf or regular is fine too)
1 9oz container of crushed tomatoes (don't forget a can opener if you buy canned)
8oz water
1/2 tsp dehydrated/freeze dried minced onions
1tsp paprika
1/2tsp Kosher salt
1/8tsp garlic powder
1tsp olive oil
3/4 c vegetarian chick'n (Quorn is my protein of choice) or diced cooked chicken
8 oz of frozen vegetables Mediterranean Blend
Garnish
10 Cherry Tomatoes, halved
1Tbsp Parmesan Italian spice blend
Into the rice cooker pot, add the pasta, crushed tomatoes, olive oil, water, freeze dried onions and spices. Flip the switch to "Cook" and stir the ingredients before covering. About 10minutes into your cooking time, check the pasta and stir in the frozen precooked protein of your choice and the frozen vegetables. Cover the pot and let it cook until the switch flips back to "Warm". Let it sit for another 5min in the cooker on "Warm". Any residual moisture should be absorbed into the pasta without it overcooking.
We got 2 servings from this as our hot meal on Thursday. I really wish we hadn't been so hungry after that 7hr drive... 'cause I forgot to take a picture for you. We did get two additional servings with a salad and fresh made pita chips the next day.. which are the pictures you see in this post. The crushed tomato will make for a lighter sauce, which means it's perfect as a cold pasta salad too. The cost of 4 servings came to under $12 total. Not too bad, considering that we would have spent at least $7 each for fast food meals. We also had enough frozen veggies, Quorn, pitas, tomatoes and fresh veggies for the next day's dinner.
When you try this, don't forget to share your spin on this recipe. We'd all like to know how it turns out for you.
I'll post the "home made pita chips" in a few days.
No comments:
Post a Comment