BoatUS Cooking - Features by Lori Ross

Six Simple Summer Salads and More with Spices

Mon, 2 May 2011 01:00:00 EST

by Lori Ross Photo: Lori Ross Summer is upon us and ‘tis the season for entertaining on your boat! Entertaining is challenging enough ashore, but on a boat, organization, planning and make ahead dishes are critical! With the abundance of f...

20 Things To Do With The Abundance of Fruit

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 01:00:00 EST

Story by Lori Ross Photo: Lori Ross I am addicted to Farmers Markets….I go to every one that I see, I buy tons of gorgeous produce and cook up a storm! Since there are only two of us, even after eating our 5 a day and entertaining, we often have an overabundance of fr...

Grill Crazy

Fri, 1 Apr 2011 06:45:08 EST

Story and Photography by Lori Ross Grilling is truly our favorite way to cook ashore or aboard. There is nothing to compare to the smoky flavor of grilled foods. Grilled foods are easy; they taste great and keep the cabin cool on a hot day! Our first boat, a 24 foot Hinterholler Shark sailboat, didn’t come with a grill and so we brought my little charcoal-burning Hibachi along. Everythi...

Al Fresco in the Spring and Fall

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 01:00:00 EST

Story and Photography by Lori Ross Today's power cruisers allow us to cruise and dine al fresco from early spring to late fall in many parts of the country. So here are some menu ideas to consider for your al fresco adventures! SPRING Printemps Brunch Aboard Pitcher of Bloody Marys Sliced pineapple with mint Egg salad with tarragon and spring onions Sliced assorted hams Thin-sliced rye a...

Blessed Be The Salad

Tue, 1 Mar 2011 01:00:00 EST

Story and Photography by Lori Ross When you’re anchored in a pretty little cove about mid-day, escaping the hot sun on your shaded fly bridge or aft deck, a beautiful, fresh salad with crisp, pale greens, ripe tomatoes and thin sliced radish married with bright vinaigrette is an oasis in the desert of mid-summer heat. Then, while spring or fall cruising, when the days are cool and crisp, im...

The Blessed Mother’s Beans

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 01:00:00 EST

Story and Photography by Lori Ross As a child in New Hampshire, the advent of Spring was marked by the family tradition of sugaring off. In late March, my father and I would take wooden buckets and hammer in hand to tap the two huge maple trees that dwarfed our Civil War era home. We’d check the buckets each day to collect and strain the clear sap which my Mother slowly boiled d...

Potluck Parties

Tue, 1 Feb 2011 01:00:00 EST

Recipes and photography by Lori Ross except where noted. Potluck parties are popular, inexpensive and enjoyable anytime, but while cruising, they are a terrific way to spend time at a friendly rendezvous or to get to know other boaters on a club or owners association gathering. Most potlucks involve bringing a dish to share for a meal, but I have also enjoyed impromptu "happy hour appe...

Great Galleys and Outfitting

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 01:00:00 EST

Story and photography by Lori Ross While the primary ingredient to successful cruising under power is The Holy Place (engine room power plant), delicious, nourishing meals from the galley (The Other Holy Place) are critical to maximizing the human power plant! And, outfitting The Other Holy Place with the right tools and equipment is critical to ensuring great meals keep coming regula...

A Celebration For Every Season

Thu, 30 Dec 2010 01:00:00 EST

Story and Photography by Lori Ross Throughout our cruising lives, we often find ourselves celebrating holidays, anniversaries and birthdays aboard our boats. Sometimes we do so because we have no choice—when we are delivering the boat from one place to another over a holiday or when we live aboard—but more often, we choose to celebrate holidays aboard our boats! As with land-boun...

Moveable Feasts

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 01:00:00 EST

Article and photography by Lori Ross Dining al fresco or “en plainer air” ("out in the fresh air,") is one the special benefits of cruising. I cherish the joys of a dawn breakfast watching the sun rise and the birds dive or a lively picnic lunch on the hook in beautiful cove or an elegant dinner with old friends on the aft deck in the moonlight. When the weather ...

Hot Drinks

Wed, 1 Dec 2010 01:00:00 EST

By Lori Ross I have a special place in my heart for warm drinks because my existence is a result of hot drinks on a cold winter night! According to my mother, my Dad came in from work later than usual on a snowy February night. He was chilly, so she made mulled wine for them both to drink. As Mom puts it, “one thing led to another and nine months later, to our delight, you...

The Vegetarians Are Coming!

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 01:00:00 EST

Story and photography by Lori Ross According to the Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG), a quiet revolution is going on in America. A 2003 Harris poll commissioned by VRG confirmed that while nearly 5 million people in the U.S. are vegetarians, an additional 30-40 percent of the country's consumers regularly eat meatless items. In a 2003 Vegetarian Resource Group Harris Interactive survey, a ma...

Give Thanks for the Entree

Mon, 1 Nov 2010 01:00:00 EST

Story and photography by Lori Ross In America, we call the main dish of a meal the entrée. Across the pond, it is called by a wonderfully dramatic French term “piece de resistance” reflecting its importance as the centerpiece around which the menu is built. Creating delicious entrees worthy of the name “piece de resistance” is easy on today’s sophisticat...

Morning Meals - Wake Up With The Good Stuff

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 01:00:00 EST

Story and photography by Lori Ross Morning is a very special time of day for many cruisers, especially when hanging on the hook at a quiet anchorage. With a hot cup of coffee, we often watch the sun peeking over the horizon to reveal our surroundings in the early light of day and listen to the sound of water gently lapping at the hull, fish jumping and birds splashing into the water on their ques...

Hors DOeuvres Hot and Cold

Thu, 30 Sep 2010 01:00:00 EST

Story and Photography by Lori Ross At the end of a wonderful day on the water, as the sun sinks down behind the horizon, and the sky presents a stunning light show of colors around your boat, there’s nothing more pleasant than sharing the moment, as well as hors d’oeuvres and drinks, with cruising friends. It was the Scandinavians who started the custom of serving a drink as an appeti...

The Zen Of Easy Asian Cooking - Wraps and Rolls

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 01:00:00 EST

Story and Photography by Lori Ross Every Asian cuisine has some kind of rolls or wraps. Some of the most popular are Japanese sushi; Chinese Peking Duck, Mu Shu Pork, and egg rolls; Vietnamese table salad and hand rolls (spring and summer rolls); and Thai lettuce wraps. Wraps and rolls look beautiful, taste deliciously exotic, and are deceptively easy to make aboard a boat. There are endless...

The Zen of Easy Asian Cuisine-Part 1

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 01:00:00 EST

Story and Photography by Lori Ross I adore Asian – whether Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese or even Burmese! In every place I visit, I seek out the Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and Thai neighborhoods for restaurants that served delicious Asian food. When I was asked to accompany a friend to Shanghai, China for a week where she was to speak at a conference, I researched the...

Chilling Out: Meals That Keep Your Galley Cool

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 01:00:00 EST

Story and photography by Lori Ross When the Chesapeake Bay’s languorous spells of hot, humid and hazy days take hold, cooking seems like a burdensome chore. Jim and I just want to retreat into cool, shady places on the boat and drink iced drinks and eat cool, soothing foods to reduce our body temperature. We want to lean back in a chaise or a hammock and eat iced melon or sip fr...

Getting Back To Our Roots

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 01:00:00 EST

Story and photography by Lori Ross Talk about comfort food! Whether mashed, boiled, steamed, fried, sautéed, baked, or grilled, my family ate potatoes and onions nearly every day. We made special dishes out of leftovers – soup, shepherd’s pie, or fried potato cakes out of leftover mashed potatoes. We made baked stuffed potatoes from leftover baked potatoes; and potato gratin fr...

Fast Food Aboard: Delicious Meals in 15-20 minutes

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 01:00:00 EST

Story and photography by Lori Ross There is a lot of attention given to the art of preparing quick meals from scratch as evidenced by the success of Food Network’s 30 Minute Meals with Rachel Ray, and the countless cookbooks by renown chefs promising quick meals. While there is great appeal to quick cooked meals – at home and aboard -- as I read these cookbooks and watch these p...

Thirst Quenching, Cold Drinks

Thu, 1 Jul 2010 01:00:00 EST

Story and photography by Lori Ross An iced cocktail, a chilled white wine or a frosty beer is always a welcome treat at the dock or on the hook, but most of the time, and especially while underway, we prefer drinks without alcohol. As I get older, I seem to feel the effects of alcohol more readily and too much imbibing just makes me feel too sleepy to do anything but take a nap. ...

Cooking for Special Diets: Food Allergies

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 01:00:00 EST

Story and photography by Lori Ross I’ve always enjoyed the challenge of cooking for friends and family with special dietary restrictions. Adapting recipes and menus to respond to food preferences, allergies or restrictions stretches my creative and culinary muscles while making guests feel individually appreciated and welcome. And, it is especially rewarding when it turns into a...

Adventures in Rice and Grains

Fri, 28 May 2010 01:00:00 EST

Story and photography by Lori Ross Here's to the wanderlust of youth! In 1974, several friends of mine decided to delay full-time jobs after graduating from college, and backpack and camp their way through Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and South America -- living on a few dollars a day, cooking on camp stoves, and shopping at local markets. They returned home tired and scruffy, but brimming ...

Sunny Caribbean Cooking

Fri, 14 May 2010 01:00:00 EST

Story and Photography by Lori Ross For many, the Caribbean evokes tantalizing images of turquoise water, cloudless blue skies, sea breezes, and warm, sunny days on a palm-strewn beach. For me, the Caribbean brings to mind exotic fruits, rainbow-colored fish and mollusks, hot sauces, and cool, refreshing rum drinks. The islands of the Caribbean—the Bahamas to the north; the...

From Mother, Dessert With Love

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 01:00:00 EST

Story and photography By Lori Ross Imagine how times have changed. When I was a child, my stay-at-home mother baked a cake, pie, or cookies every single day! At Halloween and Christmas, she made fudge, peanut brittle, popcorn balls, and other candies, and every year for my birthday she made my favorite cherry cheesecake dessert: Cherries in the Snow! She made everything from scratch with real b...

Boating and Cruising: A Recipe For Great Memories

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 01:00:00 EST

Story by Lori Ross The most remarkable moments of my cruising life are marked by fond memories of great food and drink! I discovered Chesapeake Bay crab cakes and mint juleps when I first met my husband, while he was teaching me to sail at Offshore Sailing School in Tidewater, Virginia. Six months later, while snowbound in a Connecticut nor’easter, we were inspired to buy our fi...

Lose While You Cruise!

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 01:00:00 EST

Story and photography by Lori Ross Lose 10 pounds on your summer cruise! These are words that we, who are weight challenged, dream about. Imagine losing, rather than gaining weight, on your two week cruise! The only time I ever lost weight on a cruise was last Spring when I took the our Fleming 55 from Ft. Myers, Florida to Annapolis, MD. I was learning to handle t...

Vegetables on the Side

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:00:00 EST

Story and Photography by Lori Ross As I was growing up, canned vegetables were all the rage. My family relished good food and liked cooking, so looking back it’s surprising to me that, although we enjoyed lovely raw vegetable salads, we ate canned vegetables at most meals, and when we brought home fresh vegetables from farm stands, my parents even prepa...

Flexible Provisioning for The Great Circle

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 01:00:00 EST

Story and Photography by Lori Ross Cruising the Great Circle offers ample opportunity to explore local specialties and dine ashore. Countless guides and articles describe the restaurants, bars and markets along the Great Circle route and the local delights available. In our cruises on the ICW and other parts of the Great Circle, we often provision with a goal of eating breakfast, lu...

Mardi Gras Cocktail Party

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 01:00:00 EST

Honoring the Holy Trinity - Mardi Gras Cocktail Party Story and Photography by Lori Ross Mardi Gras is the French term for "Fat Tuesday" -- the last day of the Mardi Gras carnival season and the final opportunity for celebration before Ash Wednesday and the austere season of Lent, a 40-day period historically marked by abstinence from meat and other indulgences by Catholics. Cel...

That’s Amore!

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 01:00:00 EST

That's Amore! - Pasta and Sauces - Story and Photography By Lori Ross I confess to a lifetime passion for pasta and noodles for which I readily blame my mother. As a newlywed, she and my dad lived in an apartment near an Italian woman who'd immigrated from Naples, who taught my mom how to make from scratch the wonderful spicy, rich tomato sauce she served over spaghetti - ...

Making Holiday Gifts Aboard

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 01:00:00 EST

Making Holiday Gifts Aboard –Articles and Photographs by Lori Ross Three years ago, we celebrated our first Christmas aboard the boat in Fort Myers. We entertained new and old friends and attended parties, parades and dinners throughout the holiday. As friends came aboard, some brought very special gifts they had made while on their own boats. Our longti...

Easy Entertaining Aboard

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 01:00:00 EST

Entertaining Aboard: The Weekend Cruise - Story and Photography by Lori Ross Entertaining friends or family during a weekend aboard our boat is one of the things I enjoy most about cruising. I love planning a cruise – selecting a destination, identifying special events or activities that everyone would like and, of course, developing delicious menus for meals aboard...

Holiday Sweets

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 01:00:00 EST

Holiday Sweets - Homemade Sweets Sweeten the Season – Story and Photography by Lori Ross - As the weather cools and the winter holidays approach, my thoughts turn to sugarplums and the sweets of the season. When I was little, my mother and I started making seasonal sweets at Halloween – popcorn balls, candy apples and molasses sponge candy.&n...

A Toast To The Good Life

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 01:00:00 EST

A Toast To The Good life - Story and Photography by Lori Ross At 8:30 in the morning, after our bumpy arrival over the finish line outside St. George’s, Bermuda, we anchored our little 30-foot Beneteau inside the protection of St. George’s Harbor, and br...

Singing the Praises of Soups and Stews

Tue, 1 Dec 2009 01:00:00 EST

Singing the Praises of Soups and Stews - Story and photography by Lori Ross Nothing is more satisfying than a cup of soup or stew aboard a boat. A hot bowl is a blessing when you are on watch and chilled to the bone, while a cool, light soup on a scorching day is an oasis in a desert of heat. My appreciation for soups and stews aboard began when we sailed to Bermuda in our 3...