Kelly Seeks

So no recipe this week. Why? Because we are still on the move! After one week in the hotel (we are on week 3 of no home) I was already tired of eating out. You always think you’ll love not having to prepare, cook and clean up after a mess. I though I would also love the fact that my picky kids will always get what they want to eat. But put a fork in me because I’m done! If I have to eat one more fatty fried meal my heart will explode. Luckily, we are at a point in our gypsy life that we are staying with family for awhile. But what do you do for meals when you have no kitchen?

Tip 1: crock pot cooking
Did you know you don’t have to just cook roast in a crock pot? I know, it’s amazing! I received one for a wedding gift (9 years ago) and it sat in a box for 5 of those years. The one day my mom educated me. I know, those silly moms. But, she did. Then she sent me a cookbook that is all about meals to cook in the crock pot that is NOT roast.

What I have cooked in my crockpot:
Pie
Cake
Pizza
Soup
Stew
Chicken
Tacos
Lasagna

Plus more! It’s not just for roast folks!

Tip 2: microwaveable meals
Yea, it’s not ideal, but it’s food. When we first moved to Hawaii we lived 60 days in one hotel room. It was torture and great birth control. I arrived with a grossly infected wisdom tooth and couldn’t get it fixed until they could actually see it (it was that infected and swollen). I was on a diet of liquids for two weeks which meant a lot of soup. Luckily, we had a microwave and were able to utilize that for soup, easy Mac (maccorii and cheese) and a multitude of other microwaveable meals

Tip 3: coffee pot meals
Yea, I know it sounds strange, but really it isn’t. Think about it. What do you use a coffee pot for? Making hot water that drips into coffee grounds making hot coffee. So if you take away the coffee you have hot water. Therefore, you have hot water to cook with.

You can make:
Oatmeal
Noodles
Rice
Instant potatoes
Hot chocolate
Hot tea

Lastly, ask the hotel about their policies regarding cooking elements. The hotel we stay at four years ago, did not allow a griddle. However, the hotel we stayed at when leaving the island did allow it. We didn’t want to pack it and were able to get by without it. But a griddle is another invaluable cooking tool.