So, as I was saying, we take our dinner on the go each Monday and Friday night.

We bring it in a soft-sided cooler bag with several water bottles. Sometimes we have to park at the upper lot in which case we ski down with the bag and set it by the ski racks closest to the cafe. The only exception to that routine is when we bring the crock pot; then dinner happens in the car.

The first week it was easy: 2 Costco pizzas and then sandwiches the next time. No-brainers. But I got to thinking… what if I made something, you know, better?

Realizing that I am not in a contest for The Most Gourmet Family Meal meant I could relax and not kill myself over this project. The bar here is at whatever level I set it. The people I am going to feed will be starving and anything I make (even pbj’s) will get eaten with gusto. Calories are the main goal with taste a distant second. But I do like to see them smile.

I can’t remember exactly which week we ate what but luckily you don’t care. Here are some of our main dishes:
Breakfast burritos with scrambled egg, spinach, pepper jack cheese and bacon, customized to the desires of each person, foil-wrapped and labeled. Hot dogs in a warm crock pot, squeeze-bottles of toppings, and a bag of buns. Homemade calzones/pasties with chicken and vegetables in a cream sauce. Egg rolls and Orange Chicken skewers. Baked blueberry-stuffed french toast sandwiches made with waffles. Quesadillas. Spinach-egg-rice-cheese rounds baked in muffin tins or ramekins. Personalized French bread pizzas. Store-bought steamed Korean bbq pork buns (Cha Siu Bao) in a warm crock pot. Hungry yet?

And the side dishes consist of easily transportable finger foods: carrots, apple slices, oranges, pears, banana-chocolate chip muffins, granola bars, fudge, corn on the cob, homemade cinnamon bread, and so forth.

The bi-weekly challenge continues, so this post might get updated over the next month or so. And I might share a couple of the recipes here, just in case you need to make dinner for 6 traveling people. What would you bring to a ski picnic?

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Dough for calzones/pizza/bread:
2 pkgs or 4 tsp dry yeast dissolved in 1 cup 100F water
6 cups flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
Mix together then add another 1-1.5 cups water, and 2 Tbsp oil. Knead well, let rise 30 minutes. Punch down, roll out in circles for calzones and fill, folding over and pressing edges with a fork to seal. Prick tops with a fork and let rise again 30 minutes. Bake at 400F till browned on top, about 10-20 minutes. Makes about 12 calzones, 3-4 pizzas, or 3 loaves of bread (slash tops diagonally before baking and bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes).