These hearty breakfast dishes will help make the most of your mornings.
By Janet Groene, F47166
January 2018
A wisp of smoke rises from last night’s campfire, while inside the RV a “ready” light winks on the coffee maker. Winter camping doesn’t get much better than this: a hot oven on cold mornings, good company, and bracing breakfasts. The following recipes use shortcuts while adding culinary class and creativity to your travels.
Bird’s Nest Cornbread
- 4 small Granny Smith apples
- Raisins, walnuts, dried cranberries, etc.
- Butter
- 1 box Jiffy brand cornbread mix
- Pancake syrup or honey
Set the oven to 375 degrees. Grease an 8-inch baking pan. Core the apples and place them in the pan. Do not add sugar. Fill the apple cores loosely with raisins, nuts, dried cranberries, and a pat of butter. Bake for 15 minutes. Prepare the cornbread mix according to the package directions. Carefully remove the hot pan from the oven and, working quickly, pour the batter over and around the apples. Return the pan to the oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until the cornbread is firm and golden brown on the edges. The apples will be crisp-tender. Makes four servings. Serve with honey or syrup.
Cornbread Angel Biscuits
An old-time classic, angel biscuits rely on both yeast and baking powder for fail-safe rising power. Add the golden glow of cornmeal and the convenience of night-before prep. The dough keeps in the refrigerator for up to a week, so you may want to double the recipe and bake hot, fresh biscuits every day for a while. One batch makes about 20 biscuits.
To form the biscuits, sprinkle flour on a nonstick surface. Pat the dough into a 1/2-inch-thick circle. Cut it in half, quarters, etc.
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- 4 cups flour
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 2 sticks butter, cut up
- 1 packet yeast
- ½ cup warm water
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 cups buttermilk
In a large bowl, stir together the cornmeal, flour, 1/4 cup sugar, and baking powder. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender. In a small bowl or cup, combine the yeast, warm water, and the teaspoon of sugar. Add the buttermilk and yeast mixture to the flour mixture and stir just until the dough is evenly moistened. Refrigerate the dough. To proceed, form as many biscuits as desired and bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes or until golden brown.
Month O’ Muffins
Remember this oldie? It still makes sense for RV travelers. Bake only a few muffins each morning in the oven or toaster oven. The batter keeps up to six weeks in the refrigerator and makes about 30 muffins.
- 1 16-ounce box raisin bran cereal
- 5 cups flour
- 2 ½ cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 quart buttermilk
- 4 eggs
- 2 sticks butter, melted
Put the cereal, flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a large, clean bag and jostle it to mix the ingredients. In a big bowl, whisk the buttermilk and eggs well. Whisk in the melted butter. Stir in the dry ingredients just until evenly moistened.
To bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare muffin pans with nonstick spray, grease, or butter (or use cupcake papers or parchment). Fill muffin pans 2/3 full and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until firm. Refrigerate the unused batter and stir each time before using.
Overnight Sweet Rolls
- 1 package of 12 brown-and-serve rolls, separated
- 1 cup broken pecans or walnuts
- 1 packet French vanilla or butterscotch instant pudding mix
- 1 stick butter
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Butter a baking pan and put the rolls in it. Scatter nuts on the rolls and sprinkle them with the pudding mix. Melt the butter with the brown sugar and cinnamon and drizzle evenly over the rolls. Put the rolls in a cold oven overnight. In the morning, remove the pan while preheating the oven to 375 degrees. Bake the rolls for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden. Makes 12 rolls.
Persimmon French Toast
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- Pulp from 2 medium Japanese persimmons (about 2/3 cup)
- 8 thin slices of sandwich bread such as Pepperidge Farm
- ½ cup coarse sugar such as Sugar in the Raw
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup milk or half-and-half
Butter for frying
Mash the pulp from the ripe persimmons and spread it on four slices of bread. Combine the sugar and spices and then sprinkle some lightly over the persimmon pulp. Make sandwiches by adding the other four slices of bread. Whisk the eggs and milk. Dip the sandwiches in the egg mixture and fry them in the butter until golden brown. Sprinkle with the remaining sugar mixture. Makes four servings.
Cook’s note: If persimmons feel soft when pressed, they are ready to eat.
Breakfast Bake
This is a good casserole to serve a family or at a potluck. Unlike strata (layered) breakfast casseroles, it doesn’t have to be made the night before.
- 1 12-ounce package fully cooked sausage links or patties, thawed
- 1 small can sliced mushrooms, drained
- 2 to 3 meaty plum tomatoes, diced
- 3 scallions, trimmed and sliced
- 1 8-ounce package grated Cheddar cheese
- 12 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups biscuit mix
- 1 cup milk or cream
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon crumbled thyme
Set the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch-by-13-inch baking pan. Chop the sausage and scatter it in the pan with the mushrooms, tomatoes, scallions, and half of the cheese. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, biscuit mix, milk or cream, and seasonings. Pour the egg mixture over the pan ingredients and sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake about 40 minutes or until golden and crusty on top and “set” in the center. Cut into 12 squares.
Minnesota Morning
To save time when preparing this dish, cook the wild rice the day before. For a milder taste, use a mixture of wild rice and white rice.
- 1 cup wild rice (makes 3 to 4 cups cooked)
- 2 slices bacon, cut up
- 8 to 10 eggs
- ½ cup milk or cream
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
Cook the wild rice according to the package directions. Set aside or refrigerate for future use. While the bacon cooks in a 10- or 12-inch skillet, whisk the eggs with milk or cream, salt, and pepper. Stir in the rice. Leaving about two tablespoons of bacon fat in the skillet, add the egg and rice mixture. Cover and cook just until set. Makes four to five servings.
Apricot Rice Porridge
This recipe also works well in a slow cooker or a pressure cooker such as an Instant Pot. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for cooking the rice.
- 2 cups water
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 cup raw rice
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup snipped, dried apricots
- ¼ cup golden raisins
- 1 8-ounce carton vanilla yogurt
Bring the water and sugar to a boil. Stir in the rice, salt, cinnamon, apricots, and raisins. Cover, reduce heat, and cook until the rice is tender (about 20 minutes for white rice). Stir in the yogurt. Cover and let stand for several minutes. Spoon the mixture into serving dishes and serve as is or with milk, cream, yogurt or additional sugar, etc. Makes four servings.
Calypso Breakfast Trifle
- 1 small angel food cake, torn into bite-size pieces
- 1 cup shredded coconut
- 1 small can crushed pineapple, well drained
- 1 small can mandarin oranges, drained
- 1 8-ounce container orange-flavored yogurt
- 1 8-ounce container lemon-flavored yogurt
Mix everything in a large bowl until evenly moistened. Serve by the scoop over buttered whole-wheat toast. Makes eight servings.
More Hot Breakfast Ideas
- Breakfast strata recipes are endless. To vary yours each time, use different (yeast) breads such as challah, English muffins, cinnamon swirl, coarse artisan loaves, sourdough, crumpets, or raised doughnuts, torn in bite-size pieces.
- Try traditions from other locales. Breakfast in Jamaica is codfish and ackee. In England, it’s kippers. France has its croissants and hot chocolate. In California, it’s kale smoothies. It’s pie in Maine. In Scotland, it’s oatmeal with butter. In the hills of North Carolina, it’s biscuits with chocolate gravy. Key West has it’s breakfast burritos.
- Couscous is one of the oldest “instant” hot cereals. Prepare it according to the package directions and then stir in nuts and dried fruit.
- When a big pot of stone-ground grits is almost done, stir in chopped ham and beaten eggs (or Egg Beaters). Keep stirring over low heat until the eggs are set.
- To make sausage gravy without having to pre fry greasy sausage, make a packet of sausage gravy mix according to package directions and stir in chopped, fully cooked, thawed sausage patties or links.