Camping

Bring the Crockpot on the Next RV Camping Trip If you’re camping in an RV, you obviously have a lot of the luxuries from home such as a soft, warm bed, the kitchen, perhaps even a big-screen TV. But one of the best tricks that I learned this summer is to bring along a slow cooker. The last thing I want to do after a day full of fun outside either hiking, biking or exploring the Pacific Northwest is come into the RV and start preparing a big meal. This is where my slow cooker really comes in handy. By setting the slow cooker on low in the morning, we can simply come home in the evening and have a meal ready to go. Here are some of my favorite recipes that I like to prepare in the slow cooker when camping. Fire roasted chili This really is one of the easiest recipes. Simply take a couple of cans of fire roasted tomatoes or, if you’re really adventurous and you have a morning campfire going, bring along some raw tomatoes and simply roast them on the open campfire until they get a good chart. You can throw them in your slow cooker with the other ingredients and you’re ready to go. You want to put in about 2 tablespoons of chili powder, one chopped up onion, either 1 pound of ground beef or about a pound of chopped up bottom round steak or even cubed up Chuck steak without a lot of the fat so attached. Regardless of what meet you choose, it will get soft and tender throughout the day. You can even throw in some ground turkey meat if you want to be a little bit healthier. From here, add in whatever you want such as green or red bell peppers, garlic, and whatever spices you like. I typically throw in some oregano, garlic and onion powder, a good tablespoon of salt, a good shake of black pepper and maybe a little cayenne or red chili flakes for a little bit of heat. Set the slow cooker on low in the morning and go anywhere from 8 to 12 hours before you need to do anything with it again. About 20 minutes before serving dump in two cans of whatever beans you like. This could be black beans, kidney beans, navy beans or pinto beans. Give it a final stir and add water as necessary at the beginning and at the end if need be. Scoop into bowls and serve with sour cream, shredded cheese, avocados and cilantro. – See full recipe here Chili Colorado Another variation on this chili is my Chili Colorado. This starts in much the same way but I make sure that I use the cubed bottom round steak or another tough cut of meat with the fat removed. This will create chunks of steak in a similar sauce. I had about one more tablespoon of chili powder and a few more spices to create a thick stew with just the meat. Once you are ready to eat, spoon it into tortillas and top with sour cream and cheese. Of course, beefs stews, soups, chicken tortilla soup, chicken tiki masala, or even a slow cooked pork shoulder would be excellent. Twice as Nice Pork Pork shoulder is usually another one of my go to’s for the slow cooker. You can even put it in frozen. Throw in some sliced onions, garlic, orange juice, a beer or a cider and cook until the meat is falling apart. You can either serve this in tacos, with rice and beans, or make it into pork barbecue sliders. If you wanted to, you could do a large portion and then make two different meals out of it for a couple of days. A slow cooker is a genius way to cook while you’re on a camping trip. As long as you have electricity and you can leave it in a safe location during the day, there’s no reason you can’t come home to a delicious dinner in a fantastic smelling RV. For more tips on RV camping or information on RV rental please feel free to browse our website or contact us anytime. NW Adventure Rentals has a luxurious fleets of motorhomes and travel trailers, conveniently located in the Pacific Northwest at our Seattle location! Let us help you have a great outdoor vacation!