Add the oats, liquid and flavouring extract to one pan and the frozen berries and chia seeds to another. If you have only one hob, allow the oats to soak whilst cooking the fruit down first.
Stir both pans continuously on a low heat as they cook.
Once the fruit has boiled down and turned into a jammy consistency, allow to cool.
Once the oat consistency is thick and creamy (or you feel like you’re doing an arm workout).
Serve up.
Add all and any extra toppings you desire alongside the freshly boiled down jam.
Although this recipe has a lot of ingredients, it is definitely worth the effort. Best of all you can use up any leftover veg and mix it up whenever you want. Us vanlifers are entitled to a gourmet lifestyle too!
Start by heating oil in a large pot and add onions, carrots, celery and garlic.
Leave to sweat for around 10 mins.
Add the red wine and cook until reduced, about 10 mins.
Then add the stock and tin tomatoes.
Add in the fresh herbs and chilli flakes. Leave to cool for around 20 – 25 mins.
Once this has cooked add in the Tin of drained cannellini beans, kale, rip up the bread into small pieces and add this in along with the parmesan.
Cook until heated all the way through and bread has softened.
For the gremolata
Put all gremolata ingredients in a blender and blitz until smooth. Season the Italian Ribollita stew and serve with a small amount of grated parmesan and a swirl of gremolata.
Looking for a super easy versatile dessert or breakfast? Look no further than this charming chia pudding. Top with whatever you fancy, or whatever you have in the van. Most fruits are a definite winner! This vegan friendly recipe is ideal for vanlife as it only needs 3 ingredients. Chia seeds are also really easy to store in the van, and have a good shelf life.
Charming chia pudding
familywellnesswanderers
Vegan, Vegetarian
This is a fun and easy treat you can eat for a breakfast or as a dessert. And its super healthy, with no added sweetener. We used to buy this from our favorite café. But it is really simple to make which is great if you don’t have any extra time.
5 from 1 vote
5 ingredients or less – Family friendly – Less washing-up – No cook – No water
These topped avocado halves are easy to make and need very few ingredients. They can be prepped ahead of a trip away in the van. If you want to make your own sauerkraut, there is a great recipe right here, it only needs 2 ingredients. The great thing with these is that you can add whatever toppings you like!
Topped avocado halves
familywellnesswanderers
Vegetarian
This is a fun and yummy meal on the go. The avocado halves are easy to make and don’t require much to make. We bring them along in a container on picnics or on long drives.
5 from 1 vote
5 ingredients or less - No water - Prep ahead - Solo travel
Next, set on a plate and bring out the filling. You can use almost anything you want. We like sauerkraut.
Or if you would like to use an egg, set oven at 350.
Crack the raw egg in the avocado and set it in the oven. After about 10 min. bring it out of the over, sprinkle with salt and enjoy! To bring with you put in a container.
20Olives, sliced vertically (black, green, or kalamata)
Instructions
Heat a large 12” nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and add 1 tsp of olive oil. Add the mushrooms and season with salt. Sautee for a couple of minutes then transfer to a holding plate.
Return the skillet to the heat and Sautee the pepperoni for a couple of minutes, careful not to burn. Transfer to the same plate as the mushrooms.
Return the skillet to the heat and add the remaining 1 tsp of olive oil, then add the onions along with salt for seasoning. After sautéing the onions for a few minutes add the garlic and cook for another minute or so. Next, add in the ground meat and mix well to combine with the onion and garlic mixture. Continue to brown the meat, mixing often, until cooked through.
Add the tomato paste and seasoning into the meat mixture and mix to combine. You may need to add a touch of water here to help the seasonings distribute (especially if your meat is very lean). Add the green peppers and cook for 1-2 minutes.
Add the pepperonis, mushrooms, and olives to the pan. Stir well to combine and let everything heat through.
Season both sides of chicken with salt, pepper, and oregano.
Heat medium/large skillet over medium/high heat. Add 2 tsp olive oil and heat until hot. Sear both sides of chicken, then transfer chicken to a different plate.
Add remaining 2 tsp olive oil to the same pan and add onions, cooking a few minutes until soft. Add garlic and cook another minute. Next, add tomato paste and combine it into the onion and garlic mixture.
Add the chicken bone broth or stock and the coconut milk and heat until soft boil. Reduce heat to simmer and simmer and let reduce down 5 minutes
Add in the sundried tomatoes, artichokes, capers, vinegar, chicken, and any juices. Let simmer about 5 minutes until warmed and fully cooked through.
In a small airtight container, combine the olive oil, lime juice, salt, pepper, cumin, and coriander. Mix vigorously until well combined.
Place the shredded cabbage in a large mixing bowl along with the snap peas (reserving the garnish pieces), green onion, jalapeno, and dressing. Mix to combine and coat all of the vegetables with the dressing
Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with the halved snap peas
I like to serve this creamy pepper sauce with mushrooms over a freshly roasted piece of beef. However, the sauce itself is vegetarian. You can put it over pretty much anything. In fact it’s so tasty you may want to even eat it on it’s own! You can find my other recipes here.
Creamy pepper sauce with mushrooms
@forestfoodstories
Vegetarian
This goes well with with a meaty dish The key to getting the most “pepperiness” from your peppercorn sauce is to toast the pepper gently with the mushrooms and garlic before adding the cream. Fresh thyme, bay and a squeeze of lemon add all the right flavours and you’re done.
Add a spalsh of sesame oil to a medium pan and add the chopped onion. Cook for about 5 minutes until soft.
Add the sliced garlic.
Add 1 tablespoon of garam Masala powder.
Add the diced butternut squash and give everything a good stir to make sure the veg is coated in spice.
Add the chopped tomatoes, the stock and the chickpeas and stir.
Drop the pan to a low heat and leave to simmer for 20 minutes.
In a small pan over your second hob, add 1 table spoon of sesame oil on a low heat.
Add the pumpkin seeds and the chili flakes.
Toast for about 5-7 minutes
Whilst the curry is simmering and the seeds toasting, in a manual blender add the yoghurt, the mint leaves, squeeze the lemon wedge and season with salt and pepper. Blend it up with around 20 pulls.
For the last 5 minutes of the curry cooking, throw in a handful of fresh coriander.
Serve the curry in a bowl, the seeds in a separate bowl along with another bowl for the riata.
Sprinkle the desired amount of seeds in each serving bowl to add a little heat and some crunch.
This recipe is really all about the timing! It took some experimentation but we finally got it down to perfection. We use one pot and a 18″ cast iron skillet to whip up this delicious van favorite. Perfect for 2 and vegan and gluten free!
Begin cooking the quinoa (1/2 cup grain to 1 cup of water) in a separate pot first and it should be done just after your skillet of curried veggies.
Add coconut milk, lentils and 2 tbsp of water to the cast iron skillet and bring to a boil before reducing heat.
Chop carrots into large pieces and add them to the cast iron with the lentils. Set timer for 20 minutes.
While the carrots and lentils cook, chop large pieces of sweet potato and broccoli and add to skillet when the 20 minute timer is up. Set a timer for an additional 10 minutes.
Back home we have amazing seafood since we are on an island in the Mediterranean and sometimes we crave some prawns and mussels so we decided to head to a fish shop.
For egg pasta dough, combine flour and 1 tsp salt. Add egg yolk and olive oil, and process until dough comes together. Add water and knead to a smooth dough, dusting with extra flour if a little sticky. Set aside to rest.
For the filling
Sauté onion in oil and half the butter in a pan over medium heat until onion is tender and starting to caramelise (10-15 minutes). Add garlic, stir until fragrant (1 minute), then remove mixture from pan and set aside. Add remaining butter and pumpkin to pan, and cook uncovered until just tender add water if needed (8-10 minutes).
Add wine and 100ml water, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until liquid has evaporated and pumpkin is very tender (5-8 minutes). Add sage and salt n pepper, return onion and garlic to pan, then set aside to cool (30 minutes). Add parmesan, creme cheese, lemon juice, season to taste and stir to combine.
Roll out the pasta dough into thin sheets. Drop the filling mixture on the dough by teaspoonfuls about one inch apart. Cover the filling with the top sheet of pasta, pressing out the air from around each portion of filling.
Press firmly around the filling to seal. Cut into individual ravioli with a knife or pizza cutter. Seal the edges.
Sage brown butter
* butter
* sage leaves
For sage butter, melt butter in a saucepan until brown (1-2 minutes). Add sage, remove from heat and stir gently until crisp (10 seconds). Transfer to a bowl.
Cook ravioli in batches in a large pan of boiling salted water until al dente (2-4 minutes).
Transfer with a slotted spoon to warm bowls. Drizzle with sage brown butter, scatter with parmesan and serve immediately.
Notes
If you have an oven then you could use the leftover egg white to make meringues. Otherwise why not make a fluffy egg white omelette for a tasty breakfast or snack
This cheesey and tomato risotto is a great recipe from one of our featured vanlifers @silverjaney. As well as this risotto recipe, Janey has been featured on our website which you can read here. She also wrote a step-by-step guide for how to sprout in your van, which you can read right here!
Cheesy Tomato Risotto
silverjaney
Vegetarian
My guest blog post on here explains how easy it is to sprout beans when on the road, this is one of the many recipes I include them in.
Soak the dried sun-dried tomatoes in the veg stock cube and water and add the plum tomatoes. Leave to one side.
Heat a drizzle of oil in a pan and fry the onion. Add the garlic, tomato puree and cook for about 1 min.
Stir in the rice and cook for 4-5 mins.
Slowly and gradually add the tomato stock water stirring until all the water has been absorbed allowing the soaked sun-dried tomatoes and baby plum tomatoes to mix with the risotto.
Toss the watercress, rocket and mung beans in some truffle oil and serve on the side.
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Husk the tomatillos and place them in the boiling water along with the chiles. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until the tomatillos change from bright green to yellow green.
While the tomatillos are boiling, sauté half of the garlic and onion with olive oil in a hot pan. You can also sauté a minced jalapeño for a little extra spice. This will be added to your salsa verde after it is blended.
Once the tomatillos and chiles are cooked, blend them with the remaining half of the raw onion and garlic. Add water to the salsa if it is too thick. Add cilantro if desired and salt to taste. In the van I use a small hand blender and blend everything directly inside a wide-mouth mason jar. This method works really well, just be mindful of the occasional splash.
Once the sauce is fully blended, add the sautéed garlic and onion from the pan. Store in a mason jar for 2 weeks maximum.
Chilaquiles
Start with a bed of tortillas chips.
Add your desired protein: eggs, chicken, tofu.
Pour salsa verde over the entire plate. Don’t be afraid to smother them! The more sauce the better.
Garnish with a side of beans, queso fresco, onions, or avocado.
You need:200-250 grams of flour, 1 tbsp of oil, 125ml water, some salt and if you like you can add garlic powder. You need a big bowl and a little wet towel
Basically you mix all the ingredients in the bowl and mix them up! Be prepared to get messy hands. Sometimes if the dough is too wet just add more flour.
Mix it until it’s a big ball. Let it rest for 30 min under the wet towel. In the meantime make the filling. We explain it below.
After 30 min, you divide the big ball of dough into little ones. Make them as small or as big as you like. (We made little ones). You roll them out we don’t have a rolling pin so we use a soda can!
Then you heat up a pan or a cooking plate and bake the dough for about 1 min each side. Turn when they get bubbles.
For the fillings
Time to make the filling! This time we made pulled chicken. But you can also make it with other meat or even fish. We eat tortilla wraps at least 2 times a week because it’s easy and you have a lot of options.
You can boil the chicken for 12-15 min. After that let it cool down before you start pulling. We use 2 forks to pull it.
After you mix it with some Mexican spices. We used: 1 clove of garlic, pinch of salt, good pinch of cumin powder, a little bit of chilli pepper and lots of paprika powder.
After mixing we heat up a different pan with some oil. Mix the chicken with some corn, beans and a little tomato sauce. Put the filling in the tortilla with some lettuce and spicy sauce!
This pizza dough is super quick to make. Easy to cook in a pan so you can even cook outside - no oven required. This Van Pan Pizza can have whichever toppings you choose, so load it up and enjoy!
Knead into an elastic, soft ball and divide this ball into four smaller balls.
Take a piece of aluminium foil and sprinkle with a little bit of self-raising flour.
Press each ball to an approx 0.5cm flat naan bread. Heat a dry frying pan on high heat and put the naan bread in it.
Bake for two minutes on 1 side and flip it over to the other side and bake for 1 minute. Heat all the sliced veggies
Then it is time to decorate your pizza with whatever you like. You start with the tomato sauce, followed by the cheese and add as many veggies you like.
Topping ideas:-1 jar or homemade tomato sauce-6 mushrooms-1 hand of spinach-1 onion-1 paprika-a piece of leek-1 small can corn-1 small can of tuna-150gr grated cheese
As a Australian school kid I remember being taken to the local park and learning how to make Damper and Billy Tea, there are many recipes, some use milk, even lemonade or beer, this is a simple one with only water. They are traditionally baked in a Camp Oven in the coals of a open fire. The addition of garlic powder makes it a perfect accompaniment to pasta
5 from 1 vote
5 ingredients or less - Family friendly - One-pan - Open fire
Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs, add the garlic powder and salt
Add the water gradually, incorporating with the blade of a knife until a dough can be formed, lightly knead on a floured board for a only a minute or two and form into a ball, the top can be scored with the knife
Line the Camp Oven with baking paper and spray with oil or flour, place the damper in and place lid on top, set into coals, and also place a few coals on top on Oven, the damper will normally be ready in 30 mins
The damper can also be placed on a paper lined tray in a pre-heated conventional oven for 30 min on 200 c
At home, before you go camping, process the flour, butter, garlic powder and salt in a food processor until all combined
Place all in the zip-lock bag or container and refrigerate. When the damper is required, as water and follow instructions as above
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site you are consenting to these cookies.OkPrivacy policy