Camper Cuisine: Kitchen Sink Quiche
This summer, I’ve been without electric hook up probably in the 5 to 6 week range. I am very lucky to have been in cool spots during those times because the only thing I would’ve needed electricity for is the a/c, and I am generally dead set against generators. I am pretty happy with my solar set up. There was a period of time though when my battery levels were not maintained (oops). I hadn’t really checked on the water level in the batteries for two years.
For reference, distilled water needs to be added to just cover the lead stuff in there. Early in the summer that batteries could hold out for about three days And I would have to hook up my auxiliary solar panel. After the distilled water addition, I’ve now been out in the forest existing with the one solar panel for nine days now.
Lesson learned: just add water.
Without a microwave I try to get a little creative with meals. What can I say has a single girl sometimes I take the easy way out with food prep. I also try to use everything in the fridge before it goes bad, again as a single girl this isn’t always so easy with an entire loaf of bread. With doing shows on weekends, I like to give myself a good breakfast so I don’t get hangry by lunchtime.
I don’t know where I got the idea first, but I bought some shredded frozen potatoes, aka hashbrowns. I also found a silicon square muffin pan, shallow like the kind that you could make “muffin tops” in. I have also just used round or square pans.
Hashbrowns go on the bottom, then I whip up a 3 or 4 : 1 egg milk mixture to pour over top. Then, it’s time to scavenge in the fridge for flavor components:
Onions, spinach, mushrooms, pizza/pasta sauce, salsa, cheese, S&P, a little of this, a little of that.
Another flavor note, I added Caesar dressing to the mushroom version, that worked to a delightful outcome.
OK, back to that trying-not-to-waste-things concept. Those bags of hashbrowns are just so darn big for one person. When it was time to put the RV in storage, I’d have half a bag left and would fry up the rest of them for diner just to get rid of them.
Then I got wise to my bread crust situation: What can I say, I toss the crusts of the bread.
But no more. Why buy the bags of hashbrowns, when I can save the crusts of my bread? I pop those babies in the freezer until I have enough to fill the bottoms of the muffin sections.
I usually end up freezing three or four of the egg quiche concoctions, and of course when I have electricity I can nuke them, or add some butter to a pan and pop it on the skillet when there is no electricity to heat them up.
Bake around 350-375 degrees for at least 20 minutes, but it all depends on the size of your pans. Did I take pictures of the final product? No!
*** Edit! I did find a picture of the final product.
