Review: Coleman All-In-One Cooking System (Model No. 2000003609)

This post is the second in a series of posts from Richard Anderson, father of a 10-month-old girl, tech geek, and camping enthusiast.  His blogs include The StorageSavvy Blog and Sailing Sleipnir.

Last week, I posted about the Magma Nestable Non-Stick Stainless Steel Cookware, which was the perfect cookware set for this year's make-ahead camping trip. We purchased the set for our boat, so we were generally familiar with it before bringing it camping. Another kitchen item was purchased new this year, however, and so we had no idea what we might be getting ourselves into. But, when my wife saw the "slow cooker" feature of this camp stove, she simply had to have it. Unfortunately, the slow cooker feature was a bit of a disappointment, but the other features of this little stove worked great.

Review: Magma Nestable Non-Stick Stainless Steel Cookware (10-Piece Set) (Model No. A10-365L)

This post is the first in a series of posts from Richard Anderson, father of a 10-month-old girl, tech geek, and camping enthusiast.  His blogs include The StorageSavvy Blog and Sailing Sleipnir.

This year for our annual Memorial Day Camping Trip, we decided to try "make-ahead" camping. So instead of bringing raw ingredients and preparing everything at the campsite, all of our meals were prepared ahead of time in various ways, some cooked and frozen, others chopped and ready for cooking, etc. This made meal time quicker, easier, and tastier, and also made clean up easier. Our make-ahead camping experience was a success. And here the first post in a mini-series about some of the equipment that made it all happen.

Make-Ahead Must-Haves: Glass Baking Dishes with Lids

There are a few tools in my kitchen that I have found to be invaluable when making-ahead, and one of those are my glass baking dishes with lids.  Sure, you can always cover a baking dish with foil, but when you store a foil-covered dish in the freezer for several weeks, the meal tends to dry out.  Using baking dishes that come with lids will help keep the recipe's moisture in, keeping your freezer dishes fresher for longer.

Covered Baking Dish Use #1:  Make-Ahead Casseroles.  I had a chance to use my covered 9x13 baking dish at our most recent make-ahead party.  Kelsey made a delicious enchilada recipe, which is stored and frozen in a 9x13-inch baking dish.  After filling our dishes with scrumptious enchiladas, I simply snapped the lid on my baking dish, set it in the freezer, and had a great make-ahead meal to come back to that could have lasted several weeks in the freezer!

Sweet-and-Sour Prawns with Vegetables

For Christmas this year I got a huge Calphalon wok and my mother gave me the cookbook Great Tastes Stir-Fry published by Bay Books. This cook book has over 150 stir-fry recipes that incorporate everything from vegetarian entrees to lamb. Each chapter of the book features multiple recipes from different protein sources: vegetarian, seafood, chicken, pork, lamb and beef.

I made the Sweet-and-Sour Prawns with Vegetables recipe as a make-ahead meal. I followed all of the directions suggested from the cookbook with the exception of the preparation of the shrimp. The book recommends using uncooked shrimp and de-veining them. I used cooked de-veined shrimp because I would rather pay a little more and skip this whole step.

To re-heat this recipe, you can heat the shrimp and vegetable mixture in a sauce pan or in the microwave until it reaches 165 degrees. I serve this stir-fry over jasmine rice; for best results, cook the rice while re-heating the stir-fry so it is moist and sticky.