What To Eat On A Sailboat
Or, Super Easy Meals For the Middle of a Very Hot Summer
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.
—> Get this and every issue and recipe directly on rebeccablackwell.com.
Are you a fellow food writer or recipe developer? Here are three resources just for you!
What To Eat On A Sailboat
Or, Super Easy Meals For the Middle of a Very Hot Summer
Last year, Steve and I spontaneously bought a sailboat and then, because it’s difficult to find a place to park a 43-foot RV in touristy coastal towns along Lake Michigan when you haven’t secured an advance reservation, we put the RV into storage and moved onto the boat.
All this happened almost exactly a year ago and you can read about it here and here.
We learned a lot from that experience but mostly this: We love sailing and we bought the perfect boat for sailing. And it’s not the right live-aboard boat for two people who work from home full time.
This year, our experience is much more chill. We found a campground that’s happy to let us stay all summer long in a location that’s about 12 minutes from our marina. Our normal, daily, working lives happen as they have for the past 6 years - in the comfort of our RV.
This has made the sailboat more of a toy. And sometimes a vacation home. We had a custom mattress made for our very weird shaped bed, replaced all the cushions in the salon (the main seating area), and stocked the bathroom and kitchen with everything essential to a short term stay.
A few weeks ago, we took off on our first long sailing trip. I use the word long lightly because I follow people like Nica Waters who has sailed all the way to Tonga! Long for us right now is a 9-day trip from Muskegon, Michigan to Door County, Wisconsin.
And here’s the thing: Last year, when we rushed on board with absolutely no planning or experience, one of the things I found the most challenging was cooking in my tiny galley kitchen. When I say challenging, what I really mean is maddening. I was maddened.
This year, cooking in my tiny galley when I’m on vacation because I can and I actually want to, is so much fun.
Same space. But a completely different experience. There are some lessons in perspective and mindset there that we won’t go into right now except to say that when things aren’t working perhaps it’s the approach to the thing and not the thing that needs to change. This also may apply to people.
Anyhoo, today I’m sharing with you some of the meals I cooked on that trip because, presumably, you aren’t living on a 37-foot sailboat (or maybe you are?), but it’s the middle of the summer and hot almost everywhere and I don’t have to presume anything to know that easy meals are of the moment. That’s what these are.
Because refrigeration on our boat is limited, I’m learning a lot about how many delicious, nutritious meals can be made from pantry ingredients. If you are someone like my friend Mira Dessy, who is prepared for many unforeseen events with an enviable preparedness pantry, you already know this.
My preparedness strategy is to make sure we’re located near a local grocery store which obviously means not being prepared at all.
We are who we are.
BUT, one of the recipes I’m sharing with you today is a white bean chicken chili that I made while underway, sailing down the coast of Michigan, using only pantry ingredients. So also, I can be taught.
Also, have you looked at all the great pantry items that are in most supermarkets these days? I generally stick to the outside aisles of the grocery store, preferring fresh ingredients over anything with a shelf life. This I thought was admirable and I’ll admit it, I felt a bit snobbish about my cart full of fresh produce.
Well. The joke’s on me because the number of whole food items that can be found in the inner isles are kind of awesome. Here are a few of the things I have stocked, and will continue to keep stocked, in one of the storage compartments on the boat:
Coconut milk and a carton of oat milk
Canned beans
Anchovies
Fruit and veggies: Green chilis, corn, diced tomatoes, Calabrian chili and Fresno chili peppers, roasted artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, pickled banana peppers, pickles, olives, pineapple chunks, and mandarin oranges
Jars of tuna and a couple cans of chicken (I have never, in my life purchased canned meat of any kind, but I used it in the chili and was pleasantly surprised. Don’t judge me.)
Salsa
Tomato-based pasta sauce and a jar of pesto
A tube of concentrated tomato paste
Brown rice, white rice, couscous, and dried pasta
A couple of jars of Better Than Bouillon (Roasted chicken and vegetable)
Vegetable oil and extra virgin olive oil
A few spices: paprika, cumin, chili powder, oregano, Italian herb blend, garlic powder, and onion powder + salt and pepper, obviously
Bottled lemon and lime juice. I know some of you feel strongly about bottled juice and I don’t wanna hear about it. Sometimes it’s the best option. Also, the Santa Cruz brand is awesome.
There are SO MANY different meals that can be made from those ingredients alone. On our 9-day trip I also brought along a couple of onions, some fresh garlic, tomatoes, a couple of bell peppers, a cucumber, a carton of eggs, a package of corn tortillas, a few sandwich rolls, a jar of mayo, Dijon mustard, and several kinds of cheese and chocolate because we are not savages.
Everything else we ate on board came from pantry ingredients.
The two recipes I’m sharing with you today are made almost exclusively from pantry items.
Q: If the opened pantry item needs to be stored in the refrigerator once opened, does it cease to be a pantry item? These are the kinds of questions that keep me up at night. Also, war and famine and that badly worded email and the person I forgot to get back to and the imminent threat of all forms of disaster. The 2am brain is not rational and actually believes there is something to be gained by laying in bed obsessing about such things.
Pantry White Bean Chicken Chili
1-2 tablespoons of oil (vegetable, canola, avocado, or extra virgin olive oil)
1 chopped onion, any variety
Several cloves of garlic, peeled and minced (I like garlic, so “several” means 6-8. You do you. Or, sub in some garlic powder with the other spices.)
About 1 tablespoon tomato paste - you don’t need to be exact here.
Chili powder, paprika, and cumin: Again, the amount is up to you. How spicy is your chili powder? How spicy do you want your chili to be? How much do you love paprika and cumin? If you’re unsure, start with a teaspoon of each and go from there.
A can (or two or three) of diced green chilies
A jar of roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
A 15-ounce can of diced tomatoes
4 cups vegetable broth, OR Better than Bouillon Vegetable Base mixed with water
A can of corn (sub in fresh or frozen if you prefer)
A can or two of white beans, drained. Using one can or two cans really just depends on how many people you’re feeding.
4-8 ounces shredded cheese. I used cheddar but would have used pepper jack if we had any. How much you use depends on how much you like cheese. We can all guess how much I added.
A 12-ounce can of chicken (No, of course you don’t have to use canned chicken. You are most likely cooking in a normal kitchen and not far from a store with a rotisserie chicken. Great. Use that. Or any kind of cooked chicken. Or, let chunks of raw chicken simmer away in the chili until it’s cooked through. You could also leave the chicken out entirely.)
Lime juice, to taste. I used bottled lime juice. YES I DID. If you have fresh limes, use those.
Salt and pepper, to taste
Optional: A splash of cream, half-and-half, or sour cream
Optional: tortilla chips and diced fresh tomatoes, for serving
Instructions:
Add the oil to a large saucepan or Dutch oven along with the chopped onion. Set the pan over medium heat and cook until the onion is soft, translucent, and just barely beginning to brown.
Add the chopped garlic, tomato paste, and spices. Cook, stirring constantly, for about a minute.
Add the green chilies, chopped roasted red peppers, and a can of diced tomatoes, juice and all. Stir to mix then add the vegetable broth, corn, and white beans. Bring the liquid to a boil, then turn the heat down to maintain a gentle simmer. Let the chili simmer for 15-20 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the shredded cheese. Stir until it melts into the soup. Add the can of chicken and stir very gently to distribute it. Add as much lime juice as tastes good to you. Taste and add more salt and some ground black pepper if you like.
Optional: To make a creamy chicken chili, add a splash or two of cream, half and half, or sour cream. You won’t need much to give the soup a deliciously creamy texture.
Also optional: Serve the soup topped with some crushed tortilla chips and diced fresh tomatoes. SO GOOD.
More about the chicken: If you’re using raw chicken, cut it into bite-size pieces and add it with the broth. If using pre-cooked chicken, add it at the same point in the recipe where I’ve added the canned chicken. Since it’s already cooked, you’re just warming it up.
Add something fresh: If you have a really great summer tomato, or some sweet cherry tomatoes, chop those up and scatter them over steaming bowls of chili. Ditto with chopped fresh cilantro and green onions, or chopped red onion.
Serving suggestion: Tastes best served in paper bowls while sailing.
A few other things we ate on our sailing trip
Veggie Omelette Pizza with Hummus
In May Wendy Hawkes wrote a fabulous guest post about her life on a boat and slow-traveling around the world (read it here). She shared two delicious, super easy meals that don’t require an oven and can be made in any size kitchen. I made one of them - Veggie Omelette Pizza with Hummus - the first night of our trip and it hit the spot.
As you can see, “omelette” is a very generous word for the mess of eggs on my plate. What can I say? The pans on board came with the boat and EVERYTHING sticks to them. This did not affect the flavor one little bit. But, it might be time to upgrade my pans.
Sesame Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Sesame Chicken Salad Sandwiches. I made these for lunch while we were underway. This chicken salad is one of our favorite travel day meals. Usually I make it when we are hauling the RV from one part of the country to another. I pack it into mason jars and we eat it from the truck, usually while stopped at a truck stop.
For our sailing trip, I made the chicken salad before we left so all I had to do was pile it onto sandwich buns. I wrapped the sandwiches in plastic wrap for easy handling. The water was pretty rough that day and having them wrapped up meant easier handling.
Speaking of Sesame Chicken Salad… I made this last night for the very first CookStack Collective class which was a total blast! Those of you who were able to join me, how fun was that????
Crispy Corn Tortilla Quesadillas
We arrived in Door County on a Monday evening at at around 8pm, about 30 minutes before sunset. After getting the boat secured to the dock, I quickly whipped up two crispy corn tortilla quesadillas so we could sit on the deck and eat while watching the sun set.
But, these super easy crispy quesadillas have been a favorite around here for a very long time. They are made from ingredients I almost always have on hand and take about 5 minutes each.
I sometimes serve them topped with a fried egg, and sometimes not. In Door County we ate them without the egg but with plenty of Herdez roasted salsa verde.
Small luxuries
Some of my favorite things.
Here is something that you may or may not know about me. I am addicted to two things: chapstick and coffee.
I always, and I mean always, have a chapstick in my pocket, a few in my bag, one in my wallet, a couple in the truck, and some extras in various place throughout the RV and the boat and your house if I’ve ever visited. Because I can never, NEVER, be in a situation where I do not have a chapstick.
And also, if I could not have my morning cup of coffee I would fall into a pit of despair.
Brief aside: Our oldest daughter, Kate, told me that if the apocalypse happens her plan is to get in her car and drive to wherever we are because we have a generator and she will need to charge her kindle (her primary addiction). In exchange, she will stop at every opportunity to gather as much chapstick and coffee as she can get her hands on. This seems a solid plan.
Thankfully, I do not have a sensitive stomach and am not bothered by the high acidity in coffee. But, I know a lot of people are.
I also know that a lower tolerance for coffee is something that happens to many people as they age. So, I’ve done some proactive research because, as I’ve mentioned, a pit of despair hangs in the balance.
That research led me to Lavender Coffee, which just happens to be based in Colorado. Before moving into an RV in 2020, I lived my whole life in Colorado, so you would have thought I’d have heard of them. But they only opened in 2023, so that explains it. They have a couple of gorgeous looking cafes in Denver that I’d very much like to visit the next time we are there. They also make several varieties of low acid roasted coffee, which you can order online.
So, I ordered a couple of bags to try it out and it is DELICIOUS. I tried the Pearl Street Blend and Platt Park Blend. Of the two, I prefer the Platt Park because it’s a dark roast and I’m a dark roast girl. But they are both fantastic.
Lavender Coffee is not paying me to say this. I’m sure they have no idea I exist. :-) But if you are one of those coffee lovers with a sensitive stomach give their coffee a try. I think you’ll like it.
This newsletter would not exist if not for the members of The Lost Supper Club, who show their support with a paid subscription, thus ensuring that the vast majority of readers can keep reading this newsletter for free. As a thank you, I try to provide those paid subscribers with some cool stuff, including three free cookbooks and access to The CookStack Collective, 12 months of cooking classes with 12 incredible chefs!
A paid subscription is just $35 a year. Find out more about becoming a member of the Lost Supper Club.
Attention Food Writers, Recipe Developers, and Food Bloggers
Join me on Thursday for a LIVE Cookbook Proposal Q&A!
I’m talking with the incomparable Kelsey Erin Shipman on Thursday about cookbook proposals: what they are, what they need to include, and how to start turning a cookbook idea into something agents and publishers can understand. We’ll talk through the major pieces of a strong cookbook proposal, including concept, audience, comp titles, sample recipes, author platform, visual direction, and why your book belongs in the market now.
The most valuable skill I’ve learned as a recipe developer and food writer
In all my years as a recipe developer, nothing has done more to draw people to my work than my photographs. Without a doubt, nothing has moved my business forward more than learning to take stronger, better, more intentional photographs.
On Friday I am teaching a class with two master food photographers about how to make more intentional choices that help your photographs tell the story you want them to tell.
If you’re a food writer, food blogger, or recipe developer, I hope you’ll join me for The Visual Language of Food Photography.
Participants will learn:
How to plan a shoot around the story you want your photographs to tell
How to use color to convey mood and emotion
How to incorporate texture to transform a mediocre photograph into a stellar one
How to use lighting as both a styling and technical element
The best strategies for incorporating the human element into your photographs
If you’ve ever looked at one of your photographs and thought, This is fine, but it doesn’t quite feel like me. Or, This is fine, but I KNOW it could be better. This class is for you.
I hope you’ll join us.
Your $99 registration includes TWO 90-minute live sessions: Friday, July 24, and Wednesday, August 5, from 12:00–1:30 p.m. ET.
❤️ 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?
Good stuff, great life! Thanks for sharing