Welcome to Let’s Get Lost! I’m Rebecca, a recipe developer, food photographer, passionate people watcher, and chaser of new experiences. You might know me from my recipe websites, Of Batter and Dough and A Little and A Lot.
My husband and I are nomads without a home base but with many modes of transportation, namely an RV, a motorcycle, and a sailboat. I write recipes and stories for curious people who believe experiences are more important than things and who want more adventure.
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What to pack for a two day road trip
After 5 months in Michigan, Steve and I packed up and left last weekend, traveling through Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa before parking ourselves in Nebraska, where we’ll stay for the next couple of weeks.
We are in a nearly empty campground next to water. The air is cool and crisp, the leaves are turning to gold, and it’s blissfully quiet.
We split the drive from Michigan to Nebraska into two days and spent Saturday night in the Cabela’s parking lot in Omaha.
We’ve been doing this whole traveling around the country thing for a while now, nearly seven years, and every time I don’t pack food for the journey, I regret it.
One time, as we tried to stop for lunch somewhere in Oregon, we got stuck, like actually stuck, in an on-ramp that was too small for our 43-foot 5th wheel. In our defense, the sign that said “No Trucks” was placed about halfway up the ramp, about 200 yards past where it would have been useful. We obviously got out eventually but let me tell you, it was an ordeal.
Anyhoo, most of the time, and especially after that experience in Oregon, we stop for lunch in truck stops when we’re pulling the trailer.
When my past self has been kind enough to pack us lunch, we pull it out and eat it in the truck and then get back on the road. When past Rebecca has been lazy and just not felt like going through the trouble of preparing and packing food for the drive, we eat whatever is available to us in whatever truck stop we happen to be in.
This is almost always a mistake and generally results in both of us feeling like shit a few hours later.
So, last week, I decided to do us both a favor and put some thought into what we were going to eat on the drive. Here’s what I packed:
Meatball marinara wraps
Slices of walnut chocolate chip spice cake
Turkish Chicken Salad with Sumac Pickled Onions and Yogurt Dill Dressing
Slices of blueberry loaf cake
Also, a bag of roasted almonds, a couple of protein bars for breakfast, and a few apples.
Meatball Marinara Wraps
These start with one of my absolute favorite meals: homemade meatballs in marinara sauce. This is one of the most popular recipes I’ve ever published and possibly the one I’ve made the most over the years.
I made the meatballs and marinara on Thursday and put it all in the refrigerator. Well, not all of it. We had to eat a few, of course.
On Friday, I made a few homemade flour tortillas. We ate a few of those too. But, once the remaining tortillas were cool, I laid a couple of them out on large pieces of aluminum foil and placed four meatballs down the center of each one.
I spooned some marinara sauce over the top of the meatballs and then covered them with shredded mozzarella cheese. Then I folded the tortilla over all of it like a big, fat burrito, wrapped them tightly in the foil, and put them in the fridge.
I failed to take any photos of this process because I was too engrossed in the audiobook I was listening to, something I regret now, but also it was such a good book that I’m cutting myself some slack. (More about the book later.)
On Saturday morning, while we were getting ready to go, I put the wraps in a preheated 350°F oven for about 30 minutes, until they were hot and all the cheese was melted. Then I packed them into this insulated container and put it in the truck.
Somewhere down the road, we pulled out our meatball wraps and chowed down. I will say that I waited a bit too long to get them out for us. We didn’t eat them until 2:00pm, and they would have been warmer an hour or two before. But, they were still quite delicious and MUCH better than anything we could have gotten at the truck stop we were parked in.
Later that afternoon, I pulled out slices of walnut chocolate chip spice cake, individually wrapped and frozen weeks earlier.
A few hours in the truck gave our slices of cake plenty of time to thaw, and they were the essential sweet treat we needed to combat that mid-afternoon lull. Also, by that point we had been driving through corn fields for quite some time and, no offense to corn fields, the first few are lovely, but after a few hundred miles, you need something to break up the monotony. And by something, I mean cake.
Here’s a fun fact I learned as we drove through miles of corn fields: In Nebraska, cows outnumber people 3 to 1.
On Sunday morning, I got up and assembled these salads for our lunch, using chicken, sumac pickled onions, and yogurt dill dressing that I had also prepared on the previous Thursday. I packed the containers into a cooler along with slices of blueberry loaf cake from the freezer.
The recipes:
Turkish Chicken Salad with Sumac Pickled Onions and Yogurt Dill Dressing
Blueberry Loaf Cake (I froze individually wrapped slices without the glaze)
I will say that wrapping meatballs in a tortilla with some sauce is my new favorite thing. The first time I tried it was for these Middle Eastern Meatball Wraps, which are just as good warm as at room temperature, making them another excellent choice for road trips or any kind of packed lunch.
I foresee more meatball wraps in my future, starting with these sheet pan Greek meatballs, with tzatziki sauce for dipping, of course.
Also, having slices of frozen loaf cake in your freezer is a wonderful thing. Aside from the aforementioned blueberry loaf cake and walnut chocolate chip spice cake, these are my favorite recipes to make ahead, slice, wrap, and freeze for later:
How to make a German Apple Pie
Join me and my pastry chef daughter, Anne Blackwell, on Wednesday, October 21 at 6pm Eastern to make one of my favorite fall treats: German Apple Pie!
This is seriously one of the easiest and creamiest apple pies I’ve ever baked. The filling is simply apples coated in cinnamon and sugar, then covered in cream. And oh my, is it delicious!
Anne, who has wicked good knife skills, will share some of her chefy tricks, and we’ll tackle very important issues like pie crust and whether you’re allowed to eat apple pie without ice cream. Oh, and we’ll also address the raging debate about whether this pie is, in fact, German. 😉
Mark your calendars, then just click this button to join us LIVE on Wednesday, October 21 at 6:00pm Eastern (4:00pm Mountain, 3:00pm Pacific).
Who Writes What
Lynn Hill is a writer, cookbook author, and member of the Guild of Food Writers. She also writes FoodStak, a place to discover people who write about food. She just launched a brand new podcast, Who Writes What, and I was so honored to be her very first guest.
I’ve been on enough podcasts to know that not all hosts are created equal, and Lynn is one of the best. She was well prepared and made sure I had all the information I needed before we started. I was at ease from the start and able to relax and just enjoy the conversation. Talking with her was a genuine pleasure!
If you’d like to watch/ listen, here’s where you’ll find it.
Tips for baking better biscuits!
Earlier this week I was inspired by the incomparable Kate McDermott, who spontaneously started a Substack LIVE while making a batch of scones. That afternoon, while making biscuits for dinner, I did the same thing and recorded this short six-minute tutorial about how to bake biscuits with a whole lot of tall, flakey layers.
Here’s where to get the recipe: The Ultimate Buttermilk Biscuits
And, here’s how the biscuits that I made in the video came out!
Who to follow according to Chelsea Cole
I was absolutely bursting with pride to be included in this list of Substack food writers. Chelsea Cole is a three times published cookbook author, recipe developer, and founder of The Cookbook Lab. When her cookbook writing students asked her for recommendations about who to follow on Substack, she gave them this list. And I’m on it.
I am going to print and frame it just to prove I was ever included in a list with these names.
By the way, if you’re a Fourth Wing fan, you MUST check out Chelsea’s most recent cookbook, A Guide to The Kitchen Quadrant: The Unofficial Fourth Wing Cookbook.
Recommended reading
I’ve read several really wonderful novels in the past couple of months and have been remiss in not mentioning them to you. If you’re looking for your next great read, these are two of my favorites:
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. Oh how I loved this book. I read it in early September while Steve and I were on a sailing trip. The book takes place in Michigan, much of it in Grand Traverse Bay, which just happened to be where we were sailing on our trip. I loved it so much that I also downloaded it in audio and Steve and I listened to it together during the drive from Michigan to Nebraska.
The Calamity Club by Katheryn Stockett. Katheryn Stockett’s first book, The Help is one of my all time favorites, so when my friend Laurie Mucha mentioned that the audio version of The Calamity Club was wonderful, I downloaded it on the spot. I couldn’t stop listening. I listened at every chance I got, even when I only had 2 minutes to brush my teeth. The book will break your heart, make you laugh, piss you off, and fill you with delight.
New Cookbook from Anna Vocino!
My friend Anna Vocino has a brand new cookbook out and it’s fabulous. How could it not be?
This is Anna’s FOURTH book and if that wasn’t impressive enough, she’s also a comedian, recipe developer, and food photographer with an extensive product line, a best selling Substack newsletter, AND is a professional voice talent. My oldest daughter got a little bit starstruck when I told her that Anna was the voice for Vicki Vale in Lego Batman.
But seriously, you should take a look at her IMDb page. It’s extraordinary, and there’s zero chance you haven’t watched a movie or a show that she’s worked on.
Anna’s recipes are always gluten free, and almost always keto, low carb, NSNG (No Sugars No Grains), Whole 30, and grain free. Get your hands on a copy of her latest book and thank me later.
Also, I had a great conversation with Anna a few weeks ago about how she juggles all those balls and makes it look so damn easy. You can watch/ listen to that here.
It’s pumpkin season, baby
I make this pumpkin chocolate chip bread once a year and then I wonder why I only make it once a year. I am generally not a pumpkin spice kind of girl, but I do love pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread and have spent a fair amount of time drooling over the pumpkin recipes that have begun to appear on my screen every time I open up my laptop.
Kalee Tilli - Table Root Farm and Rose Huxford launched a new collaboration earlier this month where the two of them dive into one seasonal ingredient, examine its nutritional profile, and then tell you what to do with it. This month the featured ingredient is pumpkin and I can’t wait to make Kalee’s Shredded Pumpkin and Kale Salad and Rose’s Pumpkin Donuts!
A few more delicious ways to get your pumpkin fix this month:
To all my paid subscribers: This newsletter would not exist without your generous support. The CookStack Collective classes and the new Road Food series are exclusively available to you. They are two ways for me to say thank you.
Yesterday’s CookStack Collective Class with Nicki Sizemore was absolutely delightful. Nicki showed us how to make two seasonal staples — a whipped ricotta dip and a grain-free pumpkin apple cake — alongside simple practices for cooking with more intention and joy.
For those of you who were able to join us, thank you for being there. It was fun to see some familiar faces on the screen. If you missed it, here’s where you’ll find the replay and the recipes, and where you can register for the November Class with Kerry Faber!
❤️ Did you know that if you hit the heart or recycle symbol at the top or bottom of this post, it makes it easier for other people to find this newsletter?
Thank you for the mention and for being such a wonderful guest on my podcast. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation.
Fantastic road food! Love these options. I need to put slices of cake in the freezer STAT.