Looking for a low carb breakfast or lunch that's high in healthy fats? I'm sure that's why this recipe was invented! Egg and avocado are a match made in heaven and in this simple recipe we fire things up with some cayenne pepper and paprika!
Pre-heat your mini oven to a medium heat. (around 160 deg)
Evenly cut your avocado in half and remove the stone. Place face up on a baking tray. With a sharp knife score vertical and horizontal lines inside the avocado. This is so the egg can seep into the avocado.
Break an egg over the top of each avocado half, aiming for the yolks to sit in the stone cavities. Break into a cup first if this is easier for you.
Sprinkle with cayenne pepper, paprika, thyme and nutritional yeast flakes.
This little bowl just bursts with coconut curry flavours. It's quick and easy to make and use your favourite stir-fry veggies or whatever veggies you have leftover in the fridge. Our version here is protein packed and makes two medium bowls.
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a nonstick pan over a medium heat. Add the diced tofu cubes into the pan and fry evenly on each side. Once golden brown remove from the heat and set aside on some kitchen paper.
To the pan add your selection of veggies or use a pre selected stir-fry pack if it's easier for you. Cook for 2-3 minutes and then remove from the pan.
Add another tablespoon of avocado oil to the pan and add the sliced garlic. Lightly fry for 1 minute and then add the curry powder, ground ginger and the tumeric. Stir continuously and cook the spices for 2 minutes and then add the coconut milk and bring to the boil.
Return the pre cooked veggies back into the pan and cook for a further 1-2 minutes. Taste the broth and add soy sauce and lime juice to your taste.
Remove from the heat.
In a second pan soak the vermicelli noodles in boiling water for 2-3 minutes until soft. Drain the water and split the noodles between the two bowls.
Add the veggies & coconut broth to the two bowls and top with the crispy tofu. Scatter a few cashew nuts on top of you like. You are salivating... Enjoy!
Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a pan and bring to a medium heat.
Add the can of chopped tomatoes, the tomato puree and the sugar, season with salt and pepper and give it a good stir and let simmer.
Meanwhile, peel and thinly slice the butternut squash. About 2mm slices or as thin as you can get it. Keep the slices and dispose of the peelings and seeds. Have a tidy up.
Finely chop an onion.
On your second hob, heat 1 tablespoon of oil and gently fry your onions until translucent.
Add the 2 minced garlic cloves.
Add the Vegan mince some salt and give it all a good stir. Cook for about 5 minutes.
Tip the pan of tomatoes into the mince mixture, add a handful of torn basil and let simmer.
Wash the pan that had tomato in it and then over a low heat combine 2 tablespoons of oil with 1/4 of a cup of flour. Mix for about 4 minutes into a paste.
Turn off the flame and add 1/3 of your milk to the paste and carefully stir until combined.
Turn the hob back on, add the next third of milk and switch to a whisk to stir the sauce. Once combined add the last third of milk and whisk until smooth and creamy.
Add the Vegan cheese to the sauce and give it a good mix until the cheese has melted into the sauce. It should be smooth and creamy. Add salt and pepper.
Remove the pan of meat sauce from the heat and drizzle some of the liquid into the bottom of the Omnia silicone insert.
Layer the bottom with your first layer of sliced of butternut squash.
Add your one layer of meat sauce.
Add a layer of cheese sauce.
Add a layer of butternut squash.
Add a layer of cheese sauce.
Sprinkle some dried herbs on the top and cook in your Omnia over a medium heat for 40 minutes.
We suggest serving with a peppery salad, flat bread or some garlic bread.
Fritatta's are a great way to use up any leftover veg. Choose any toppings as you like, but remember, the softer the toppings, the quicker the meal. Some topping combos we like:* Mushroom, Broccoli and Feta.* Tomato, Mushroom and red onion.* Cherry Tomatoes, Onion and Basil.* Multicoloured Peppers and Feta.
2tbspDairyIt doesn't really matter what you use, the point is to use up whats left
1handfulgrated cheese
1Handful of toppings. Whatever you have on hand and needs using up. I like; Mushrooms, Broccoli and Tomato
1sprinkleFeta
1pinchGarlic powder
Instructions
Crack the eggs into a bowl. Add your dairy of choice and salt. Whisk with a fork just until the egg yolks and whites are mixed. Add grated cheese.
Warm olive oil in your pan and add your toppings of choice and sprinkle some garlic powder and salt.
When cooked to your liking, add egg mix to the pan and stir with a spatula briefly to combine and distribute the mixture evenly across. If you are adding feta, now is the time to sprinkle it on top
Let cook till it looks puffy and jiggly in the middle. Normally this is cooked in an oven for the last 5 minutes, so instead, you can cover it so the top cooks nicely too. About 5 mins on a medium heat. And DIG IN
First, chop tomatoes, coriander and onion as tiny as possible.
Mix them together and add juice of one lime over it.
Season with salt to taste.
Now, rub some garlic on to your bread slices, a drizzle of olive oil, and toast on your pan for a couple of minutes.
Finally, lay out the slices of bread and add the mixture on top. Now crumble a bit of Feta over them and a drizzle of Balsamic cream to make this the best Bruschetta de Gallo in the world 😉
A definite favourite when it comes to vanlife breakfast or brunch!
*You can use normal eggs, but they will take a bit longer to cook, and you won't need as many*
Dice the onions and peppers as small as possible. Add to your pan with some olive oil.
Simmer them until soft (about 8 mins)
Add chopped garlic and spices and cook for an additional 2 mins.
Pour in the tomato, add fresh herbs and Worcestershire sauce and let simmer for 5 mins.
With a spoon, make a little pocket in the mixture and tip an egg in each hole. Let cook for a minute then sprinkle with feta.
I like adding little dollops of greek yoghurt and a few fresh herbs for garnish. Then spoon some on some bread or dip your bread in straight to the pan. YUM
A delicious simple one-pot Vegan chilli with pretty much zero prep time. Easy to cook on a camping stove when hiking, climbing, or even camping! Plus one pot means less washing up.
5 from 1 vote
30 minute meal - 5 ingredients or less - Less washing-up - One-pan - Open fire - Tinned food
Meet featured vanlifers Antoine & Alaena of @vantashjoey. They travel full-time in their van Joey and are currently between France and Spain. They have had their van for a year now, and are always making delicious looking food on their travels.
What is the kitchen set-up in your van?
As we have a Vito, there isn’t much space for a kitchen. We use a Camping Gaz Hob and cook on our slide out table outside.
What’s your favourite part of your van kitchen?
It is a very practical kitchen so we can move it to our convenience. If you have a fixed exterior kitchen it can be hard depending on the weather conditions. The good thing about ours is that we can cook wherever we fancy, even on the roof :)
Do you have a favourite vanlife kitchen accessory?
We don’t, but it is on our Christmas List. We would love to have an Omnia Oven! Although our home made chopping board is very precious.
What 3 food items do you always have in your van pantry?
Eggs – Always have eggs as it completes so many meals. Couscous – Such an easy and quick to cook carbohydrate to accompany so many meals. Greek Yoghurt – We have it for breakfast, sauce bases, salad dressings, dessert.. So many options!
What is your favourite / best meal you have made in your van?
We were very pleased with our Shakshouka, I have to say the fact of cooking in one pot makes it a favorite.
The one when the gear stick broke in half. The one when we got caught by the tide and had to swim with our basket on our head. The one when we had a siesta in Joey with another couple, and the faces of the people seeing us come out of the van one after the other. The one when we go stuck in the sand… We could start a comedy show :D
Have you had any van cooking disasters?
You should have seen us, we were in the middle of nowhere, somewhere far from civilization. We literally only had one packet of truffle ravioli left. Nothing else in our pantry. So we start to set up a nice dinner, ready exactly for sunset. Both of us suuuper hungry and excited for these raviolis. I (Alaena) was planning on taking some cool photos of said meal with said sunset. So, after counting down the minutes till the pasta was ready, Antoine goes next to the bushes to drain the water… 0.2 seconds. That’s all it took for our ravioli to be splattered on the sandy ground. All of them. How does this story end? We had to hand wash each ravioli, losing most of the lovely filling, and having a little extra crunch in every other ravioli :/
Be sure to check out Antoine and Alaena’s recipes on our website & follow them on Instagram @vantashjoey
Here at Vanlife Eats we have been very lucky to receive a bundle from Just Smart Kitchenware to review. Click here to go to the product review section on our website to read other reviews on their products.
This review is of the Just Smart Kitchenware bundle, the bundle arrived in a cute jute bag. A great idea to save on packaging and it can also be re-used. Either keep it in the van for your shopping, or use for packaging gifts.
Inside the bag you will find 2 large, square collapsible storage tubs, a collapsible multi-function bowl and a collapsible funnel.
A bit about Just Smart Kitchenware
If you haven’t read our other reviews you may not know about this company, so let us fill you in.
Just Smart Kitchenware is headed up by Jacquie, a lady keen on travelling. She travels Australia in her trailer. While travelling she realised there was a gap in the market for van kitchen storage and Just Smart Kitchenware was born. Items are available to purchase on Amazon as well as at www.justsmartkitchenware.com. (Scroll to the bottom for an exclusive discount code). They currently dispatch to the UK, Australia & Germany.
There are 3 main features of their products:
Space-saving
Multi-function
Quality materials
Smart tubs
We LOVE re-useable tubs in our van, it helps us reduce our waste and means we use less plastic.
As with the other Just Smart Kitchenware products these tubs are completely collapsible. This is ideal for life on the road, as when not in use they can be collapsed to use minimal space. Essential in a van kitchen. These tubs are made of silicone, meaning no chance of any breakages on the road. There is also the advantage of them being lightweight for those worried about weight.
See our previous review of a different set of tubs from Just Smart Kitchenware here. We enjoyed using them, but the main issue we had was that they weren’t leak-proof. Also we liked the minimalist look they have, but realise some people like more colour in their tiny space. The new tubs solve both of those issues!
They are definitely leak-proof. We put them through their paces and had no issues at all. These tubs are transparent with a little pop of colour, which actually fits our colour scheme pretty perfectly!
Just How Smart?
Here is what we did and didn’t like about the tubs. The fact these items are collapsible makes them perfectly suited to vanlife. This and the fact they are light means we are very happy to use them in our van kitchen.
We love that these are leak-proof, we have mentioned before that we are soup fans in the winter and these tubs are perfect to store it in! We have tried tubs that have unfortunately leaked, but no issues here. They are great for taking along on trips, picnics etc too.
We love the colours of these new tubs, they fit in with the Vanlife Eats van perfectly. The transparent tubs make it easy to see what’s inside with a quick glance. The only downside we found to this was that we noticed a slight stain after storing a curry in one. To be fair, we think the majority of transparent tubs would stain after having a curry inside. It hasn’t affected the use at all it is just something to bear in mind.
Bowled over?
Next out of the packaging was the multi-purpose collapsible bowl. Mark loves making 2 ingredient bread in the van (recipe here). He bought a mixing bowl for this purpose, and it was too big! Tiny kitchens with limited storage space and large mixing bowls do not mix.
This bowl isn’t very large but it’s an adequate size for a van kitchen. Mark managed to mix up his bread mixture with no issues. The best thing about it though, is that it is collapsible. When not in use, simply collapse it almost flat and put away. As with the other Just Smart Kitchenware it is made of high grade silcone. This means there are no chances of breakages.
After both of us using the bowl neither of us had anything negative to say about it. In fact we love it! We feel it is the right size for our van kitchen, a salad for 2, making up bread etc.
Funnel-ly..
The item we used least was the funnel. We think for vanlifers who like to make their own preserves etc then this would be really useful. It can also be used for disposing of cooking fat into a bottle, or when making orange juice.
As with the other products it is completely collapsible. It is also the same colour as the bowl, providing a bit of colour in your van kitchen cupboards. The top is fitted with a steel rim making it sturdy even though collapsible.
What did we think?
We loved everything about this bundle. Would we recommend it for vanlife? 100%!! There isn’t much better suited to vanlife than collapsible, lightweight kitchen products.
A couple of other things to mention, all these products are super easy to clean. Even after cooking in them or reheating food in a microwave, they still clean easily. This is such an important factor when picking van kitchen storage. Easy cleaning means less water when washing up. Water can be a limited resource in a van so using less is always best.
A second thing to mention is that these items can be used in the oven also. If you have an oven in your van, these are safe to use in there (apart from the lids). Ideal for baking or reheating leftovers.
Exclusive offer
If are reading this you think you NEED these in your van kitchen, then you are in luck. Just Smart Kitchenware are kindly offering 15% off this van kitchen bundle. Head to www.justsmartkitchenware.com and enter discount code ‘vanlifeeats’. Only valid for this bundle and not other Just Smart Kitchenware products.
Cooking in a tiny home can come with some challenges, and tiny homes do not come much smaller than a van! In this food diary from one of our trips over the summer, we highlight the challenges presented by cooking and travelling in a tiny home in one day.
6.30am
The sunshine trickles in through the windows awakening us from our sleep. I can hear the birds on the roof excitedly calling to their friends in the nearby trees. I roll over, open the curtain and take in the views before me. Finding park-ups like these make vanlife the best way to travel. Today we have woken up on a campsite that limits pitches to make it feel like you are in the wild. As luck would have it we are the ONLY ones here. We got here a little later than we would have liked to yesterday so we’re looking forward to exploring today.
6.45am
I fill up the kettle and put it on the stove to boil. Mark checks the water tank to make sure we have enough for later and don’t need to fill up – all good! The whistle of the kettle tells us it’s time for our morning cup of tea. The best way to start the day!
7.15am
We decide to head out and explore before having breakfast. The sunshine shines down on us as we walk hand in hand taking in the expanse of green before us. The grass is damp from the downpours of the day before and the smell of wet grass fills our senses. There is a small lake in the next field and we wander over to it. Canadian geese are gracefully gliding across the water, away from us, these strange creatures that have emerged from a van.
On the way back to the van we stop and pick some blackberries from the hedgerows. There doesn’t seem to be a great amount of ripe ones, and there is a little competition from some persistent wasps. We head back to the van with the goodies in our hands.
8.20am
When we arrive back at the van with wet shoes, Mark has wet socks too. We put everything in the sunshine in an attempt to dry it. We don’t want the van to smell damp.
Vanlifer breakfast
On the menu this morning is a breakfast wrap. We love making this because we can make it all in one pan, so there’s less washing up! This means less work and less water use! By washing up as soon as we eat it means food doesn’t dry onto the plates. We can clean them easily while using less water and energy (from our water pump)
We feel it’s important to try and create the least amount of waste we can. One because we want to work towards a more sustainable lifestyle and two because we only have a small bin! Breakfast wraps are great for using up whatever leftovers you have!
We get the leftover veg from last night, potato and some spring onions, from our cool box. Not having a large fridge can be a bit of a pain and means we have to shop for fresh produce more regularly. We don’t have a freezer either so plan our meals carefully to minimise waste. Our 3 way coolbox has done us well so far though.
Once the veg has been chopped we add them to our pan with some olive oil. Mark starts slicing the bacon and we add that too. Once nice and crispy, we push it all over to one side of the pan and crack in 2 fresh eggs. We managed to buy some on the drive down from a driveway with a little honesty box outside, so they are super fresh. We stir them round til we get some perfect scrambled eggs. Then for the fun part – the assembly! We place cheese in the tortillas into and load them up with the scrumminess from the pan. Add a squirt of ketchup and wrap them up!
9am
I do love a smoothie with breakfast. I feel like I can get in lots of nutrients and it leaves me feeling revitalised and full of energy. We are lucky enough to have a blender in our van but it does use a lot of energy. There isn’t a hook up at this campsite, we need to be careful with our battery use as we want to use our oven later. Luckily we have a Xyliss too. This is our favourite van kitchen gadget. We use it to chop veg, make sauces, we have even used it for mashed potato before. It’s a definite game changer. We’re lucky it creates a lovely smoothie too! Here’s a link to our favourite one.
10am
After letting our breakfast go down we head out again. There are lots of walking routes round here with absolutely stunning views. It’s so amazing to see little bunnies dashing in and out of the bushes, the birds flitting about singing to each other. The British countryside has so much to offer.
Tiny home lunch
1pm
We’re back at the van in time for a brew and some lunch. While spending some time off-grid is amazing, it means we have to be mindful of the amount of power we are using and the water we use. Our van has a small water tank and so we have to fill it up quite regularly. We decide we will fill it up after we have eaten.
There are some wraps left from breakfast so we decide to make some tortilla pizzas. We have a tin of tomatoes which we are using for our dinner later. Mark opens it and takes what we need to make the sauce for our lunch, putting the rest aside for later.
The toppings today are some mozzarella and goats cheese. We fry some onions in a little brown sugar to go on the top. They won’t take long to cook in our oven, about 5 minutes each. This is just as well as the oven uses a fair bit of power. Being as we have been parked up since last night the batteries won’t have had a recharge. We cook our pizzas and sit down to enjoy them. Van pizzas are the best, so many different ways of making them! We usually make these with a flatbread but they work well with so many different types of bread.
As we finish eating we hear the all too familiar pitter patter sound of raindrops on the roof. Looking outside we see the heavens have decided to open – as is usually the case with British weather. The water will have to wait.
A cosy afternoon hankering down in the van is needed. We always come prepared with books and games, and we do have a tv we can watch. We decide to raid our games cupboard. Mark pulls out a game he clearly thinks I am destined to lose called ‘Bucket of doom’. Upon reading the instructions it becomes clear that you need at least 3 players for this game. It will have to wait for another adventure – what a shame!
Instead we decide on a game of bears vs babies. This game can sometimes lead to an intense debate as we are both adamant we won the first time we played this game. (Obviously I won, but Mark said it was a practice round). This time it is uneventful apart from Mark continuing his reign as current champion. The rain seems to have eased off and we contact the campsite owner to ask about water and he kindly tells us where we can fill up. We start up the van and travel across the campsite to fill up. We want to make sure we have enough to wash up later and brush our teeth. A thorough wash at the sink (with cold water!) is required later, as we have no shower. By topping up we know we will be able to remain squeaky clean.
4pm
When we get back to the pitch the rain still hasn’t made a reappearance so we decide to light a fire. We use our bbq to build it in. We are really cautious as the ground has been extremely dry prior to the rain. The last thing we want is to scorch the ground or cause a wildfire.
We get our camping chairs out and enjoy sitting around the fire and chatting. There’s something quite mesmerising about a fire and the time passes by quite quickly.
Dinner of a vanlifer
6.30pm
We decide we should start making some dinner. Mark’s cooking this evening, which means I can keep my feet up and read my book. He’s making a vegetable curry with butternut squash as the main ingredient. A butternut is hard enough to chop in a large fully equipped kitchen, let alone in a van kitchen so I take my hat off to him there. If we are going to have a lot of peelings we use them for vegetable stock, otherwise I take them home to put in my food waste bin.
7.30pm
The smells coming from the van are divine. We have the door open plus an extractor fan above our kitchen so there will be no curry smells on our bedding when we climb into bed later. We’ve got an article on our website with tips and tricks for keeping cooking smells out the camper, so we consider ourselves experts now 😉
That curry has to be one of the best I have ever eaten, we will definitely need to make it again.
The fire has died down now, we are just waiting for nature to put on it’s very own light show and have an evening stargazing. I slip in and put the kettle on the stove and sort us out a cup of tea each. A cup of tea wouldn’t be the same without a biscuit or two! We wrap up in blankets and wait to see the stars.
10.30pm
As we head into the van to get ready for bed, we check the power and see we have enough to watch a bit of tv before dozing off in our super cosy tiny home!
Cooking in a tiny home can present some challenges, limited space, appliances, power and water just to name some. We love the challenge of cooking in a tiny kitchen and we feel it makes us more creative with our food. We have found some really cool gadgets to help make life easier and we really enjoy it. Be sure to add your favourite recipes to the site to inspire others.
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