Crockpot Meals on the Road

We haven't even left Kodiak yet but I've been doing some major thinking.  We will be on the road for over 2 months and cooking in this small space may become a little boring if we're not creative.  After some searching, I've discovered that many travelers like us use their crockpot.

Now, I've used a crockpot frequently but never in the motorhome. And then, the question arose of how we can cook on the road. We don't want to run the generator for electricity too much. Besides using more fuel, the generator isn't too quiet when you're parked. So, a little more "googling" was necessary.

Here's what we found....use an AC/DC inverter. We would need at least a 300 watt inverter to be sure there wasn't an overload. You certainly don't want to have insufficient power to the crockpot while going down the road and finding that evening an uncooked, food filled crockpot.

Next would be finding recipes that work for us. Needless to say, or repeat, is that we have very limited space. So, of course, we will have fewer condiments and spices to use in our recipes. We will plan to pick up the basics like meats and canned goods regularly at grocery stores. But with a 3.8 cu.ft. refrigerator, and enough space in the freezer for a couple of ice trays, we will basically keep our sandwich makings and produce in that area.

Now, I am always one that has to plan, and then revise and plan again.  This hasn't changed on coordinating this trip.  My idea over the next couple of weeks, before we hit the road, is to try some of the recipes in the apartment first. This way I can have alternative meals if I hit a real dud some evening.

So, today I am trying my first "travel type" recipe. It actually isn't a meal, but bread that is cooked in the crockpot. After mixing, rising and baking, it should be ready to eat in 2 1/2 hours. You can find the recipe here if you want to see it.

It started easy enough....just mix and let rise for an hour. Of course finding a warm spot is a little difficult in Kodiak but today is rather warm with a temp of 58 degrees outside. It is a toasty 70 indoors.
This is what it looked like after mixing and leaving to rise. I certainly hope it rises a little bit.

Of course, as usual, the bread didn't rise too well. So, after about 45 minutes I put it in the oven for awhile. That helped a bit but it didn't rise too much more. I went ahead and placed it on the parchment paper lined crockpot and turned it on Low heat.

I waited the necessary 1 1/2 hours and could smell the delicious scent of the bread during that time. Nothing like getting the tastes buds into an anticipatory stage! It really smelled good.

It did make a very small round loaf of bread but it was certainly enough for a meal. And it tastes a lot better than the store kinds. Half of it was consumed before dinner was even ready. It just slithered down so easily. I can feel it already attaching itself to my hips (sigh).

At least I can say that my first attempt has been a success. Stay tuned for my next attempt.  It will include an entire meal.  Keep your fingers crossed.