Pot Lucks: What I learned about ravioli

By Janet Wilder
I knew that my pot luck repertoire was sorely lacking the first time I brought ravioli in tomato-basil sauce. I'm a Jersey-Girl, raised with wonderful Italian cuisine on every corner. How was I to know that, to most people, ravioli was something that usually came from a can? I quickly got my pot luck act together deciding "Middle America" works best. If I wanted to impress people with my culinary skills, I invited them to dinner in the rig. The masses get mass-pleasing food.

The other thing we learned about pot lucks is to get the biggest plate you can find. Our first experience at a pot luck was at a New Jersey Good Sam rally. I was completely surprised by the number of people who had opened a can of pork and beans and dumped it into a dish for their contribution. I also learned that these were the people with the biggest plates. We had average-sized paper plates, figuring we could get enough to eat on them and come back for more if we were still hungry. Stop laughing!

There is one opportunity at a pot luck and one has to seize it. The next time a Camping World catalog came to the house we ordered those cafeteria-sized divided trays. We bring them along with a salad-sized paper plate for desserts. We still call those Camping World trays "The Good Sam plates." Friends of ours are great eaters. They purchase disposable trays at Sam's Club for their pot luck forays.

Pot lucks are wonderful opportunities to sample regional dishes and I've learned about some unusual foods and cooking techniques from attending them. I've collected some awesome pot luck recipes over the years and I’ll be sharing them over time.

Here's one that is very easy and even those who think ravioli only comes in cans will be impressed with it. It's white and most people will try anything the color of potatoes.

1 bag frozen cheese tortelini, the smaller the pasta the better
1 jar Ragu brand Low-fat Alfredo sauce
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Cook pasta in boiling water as the package directs and drain well.
Place in a casserole dish and add Alfredo sauce. Stir gently. Top with cheese if desired.

Carry it into the pot luck and wait for the compliments.

Pico De Gallo

By Janet Wilder
Hi RVers! It has to be 4 PM somewhere so it’s Happy Hour.

One of the things I love most about RVing is, after setting up in a new campground, meeting the neighbors and getting together for Happy Hour. Everyone brings their beverage of choice and a snack to share. We have made so many wonderful and cherished friends at these little get-togethers.

When we were full-timing we spent winters in the Lower Rio Grande Valley and loved the area so much that it’s now our home. Living only six miles from the Mexican border, I’m exposed to lots of local culture and cuisine.

When you go to a local Mexican restaurant on either side of the border, there is nothing on the table that resembles the salsa that comes in a jar. Not even the kind that isn’t from New York City. What is usually on the table is a bowl of fresh Pico de Gallo. In English it translates to “beak of the rooster” but no one has been able to tell me why. The nice thing about this dish is that it’s fresh and can be made as spicy or as bland as you like it.


12 Roma tomatoes, peeled and seeded -- chopped
12 jalapenos, seeded, membranes removed, and rinsed -- chopped
1 large sweet onions -- chopped
1/2 bunch cilantro -- rinsed & chopped
4 Mexican Key Limes -- freshly squeezed
salt -- to taste

Place tomatoes in boiling water for 30 seconds then dunk into cold water. Remove skin.
Mix chopped tomato, jalapeno and onion. Add cilantro, lime juice and salt. Drain in a strainer, if desired. Taste everything and adjust it to your standards. Chill for an hour for the flavors to blend. Serve in a bowl with corn ships on the side.

ALWAYS wear some kind of gloves when working with hot peppers. If you don’t have any gloves, put small plastic sandwich bags on your hands. The oils from the peppers get on your skin and are difficult to wash off. If you rub your eye with the finger that has pepper-oil on it, you will have a mucho-unhappy experience.

Use less jalapenos if you want a less spicy salsa. Leave the seeds and membranes for the heat.

If you don’t want to mess with the tomato skins, you don’t have to. Just make sure you seed the tomatoes before chopping them. Also, the food processor doesn’t work well for this recipe. Everything gets too mushy and tastes more like the jarred stuff. Use one regular lime if you can’t get the tiny limes.

Pico de Gallo makes a lovely side dish for grilled chicken breasts, too. Add some extra lime and some peeled and deveined diced raw shrimp and refrigerate it overnight for ceviche so you can be the star at the next day’s Happy Hour.

Beer Bread: Dont pay for a recipe. Here's one for free

By Janet Wilder
The first recipe I want to share with you is for Beer Bread. You usually see the mix for this packaged in fancy tourist-bait shops for at least $4 per bag. As much as I hate to put a dent in the tourist junk industry...

I got this recipe in the late 1980's from a lovely elderly lady we met in a New Jersey Campground. She took a liking to me and wanted to give me a gift but I really didn’t want to take anything from her so I asked her for a recipe. She was thrilled that I had asked. I’ve been making it ever since. I can’t remember her name or even her rig, but I can picture the smile that lit up her face when I asked for a recipe.

Beer Bread

1 can beer -- 12 oz room temp.
3 cup self-rising flour
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp butter-- melted(optional)

Measure flour and sugar into a medium-sized bowl. Add beer and stir well until a batter is formed. Let stand 5 min. Grease a loaf pan with cooking spray. Brush top of loaf with butter, if desired. Bake at 350 until top is light brown and bottom of loaf sounds hollow when rapped (approx. 35-40 min.) Turn out loaf and cool before slicing. A serrated bread knife works best.

Light beer, non-alcoholic beer or regular beer work fine. The recipe works in an RV propane oven and an RV convection oven.

This recipe is so easily adapted. Put in some grated cheddar or Parmesan cheese and herbs for cheesy herb bread. Add some extra sugar and some cinnamon then top it off with more for a nice coffee cake. Beer bread is very dense. It makes a great accompaniment to a bowl of hot chili or home made soup.

Here’s a tip for users of a propane oven: get a small pizza stone or unglazed tile and put on your oven shelf. Place your regular pan on the stone. I liked the air-bake pans best when baking in the propane oven. That extra cushion of air helps things brown more evenly. The pizza stone makes all the difference in the world if you’ve experienced hard bottoms on your biscuits baked in the propane oven.

I use an oven proof glass loaf pan in the micro/convection oven but lots of folks have had great success using the new silicone pans, too.