Keep White Wine Chilled With An Ice Ball Mold

Tovolo Ice Ball Mold

These are great for keeping white wine, etc. chilled with a minimum of dilution.  These work great and will freeze overnight in LD fridge.  They last a long time.   BTW, they fit my RV Wine Glasses perfectly.  Thanks to Tristan.  (son)   Sorry for short post but New Years Eve Festivities are starting early.

Surviving COLD Weather Camping WITH Bootsthekitty

Presently parked in front of my daughter's house in San Jose, (temps in the 70's) with assorted kids, grandkids, former spouse, wife, etc.  reflecting on the freezing in Fernley/Amazon experience so I thought I would pass on some things I learned about sub freezing RV camping.

First have a rig that will that has some decent insulation and hopefully plumbing that is not exposed.  A Wave III catalytic heater and an electric heater are also helpful.  Hint:  Run a separate short, heavy duty extension cord for your electric heater and plug it into a separate outlet on the RV park hook-up.  This keeps the heater load away from the RV system. 

Electricity

Don't try it for more than a day or two without electricity.  Supplemental inside electric heat and the various water supply and waste water heat are a must or you will be without one or the other in a short time.

Propane

Get and Extend-A-Stay or something like it so you don't have to move every time you need propane.  Our park had propane available and would pick up your portable tanks, fill them and bring them back or loan you a large tank to use but they would not fill your RV mounted tank.  

Extend-A-Stay:  http://www.amazon.com/Marshall-Gas-Controls-536-00-Extend-A-Stay/dp/B002UC4T6C/ref=sr_1_sc_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1387508825&sr=8-3-spell&keywords=etend+a+stay

Water Hose

The first thing that freezes is usually your city water hose.  This heated hose was used by many and worked very well.  You have to insulate the connections on both ends as they will freeze as they are not heated.

Heated city water hose: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008VM889E/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

These plumbing heat strips can also be used where needed, especially thawing out dump valves. 

Heat strip heaters:   http://www.amazon.com/Easy-Heat-AHB-019-Weather-Heating/dp/B00002N6MB/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1387508945&sr=8-2&keywords=heating+strips

Holding Tanks

Most class C motorhomes, and the LazyDaze is no exception, have exposed holding tanks.  I have a heat kit ordered for my black tank and will install it at Quartzsite for next year.  The larger rigs and fifth wheels had most of their waste plumbing enclosed and heated from warm air from the furnace.  Problem with that was, most everyone was using electric heaters so the furnaces would not come on and they froze anyway.

Tank Heaters

Here is the Web Store link for tank heaters:     http://www.annodindustries.com/shop/

This is the tank Heater I am getting for my Mid Bath black tank:
http://www.annodindustries.com/shop/tank-heaters/am-model-4200-tank-heater

Windows

Lazy Daze has LARGE windows.  The newer model have double pane glass, but the '02 and older, (which includes my "02) do not, so I cut panels out of Relectix for added insulation.  Makes the rear area kind of cave-like but it does help keep it warmer.  You can also make a stick-on panel to cover the tank heater and waste plumbing to help keep the heat in and the cold out.  I think strips to wrap exposed water connections would also be useful. 

Reflectix:  http://www.amazon.com/Reflectix-BP24025-24-Inch-25-Feet-Insulation/dp/B0022NH3E4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387509091&sr=8-1&keywords=reflectix

If you haven't got one of these Rhino waste water hose sets, even if you don't camp in cold weather, they are the best.  I threw away most of my old hoses and connections.  Watch the demo video on their website.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002OUMVWY/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have a 25' length of this heat tape that is enough to coil around the waste hose with enough left to wrap the dump valve.

Waste Hose Heating:   http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002OUMVWY/ref=oh_details_o06_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Fridge temps

Since it was usually colder outside than optimal inside fridge temps.  My fridge had problems staying above 32F inside the box.  I finally started turning it off for periods to keep it under control.  (my "new improved" model does not have the controls that the original had)  Some of the older models actually had a setting that left the inside light on to help control temps under these conditions.

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You can email me: Roger@rogernickey.com

Frozen In Fernley, NV

Just a short note to say that it is COLD in Fernley NV.  Temp dipped to +4 one morning.  Finally getting things sorted out.  Gray water drain was frozen at the shower drain so no sink, wash basin or shower.  Finally got it thawed out with the help of a 100W trouble light hung under rig where drain pipe that runs from the system to the tank emerges from inside.  I now keep trouble light on 24-7 and a cup of RV antifreeze in the shower drain.  Black water is frozen solid but only 50% as of this morning so it can wait until I get to warmer temps.  Looking at tank heaters and more on that later.  City water inlet is either frozen or broke so I have been using internal water system and it works fine.  In the Mid Bath, the water tank, pump and a lot of the piping is in the same cabinet with the stove so I leave oven on 170F while I am home.  Electric heater and Wave 3 keep me comfortable inside and furnace rarely comes on as a back up.  I had to move Boots's water, food and litter box from the cab area as it was freezing his water dish.  I keep it closed off with a drape as it is COLD up there.  Dropped my  camera  so now it doesn't work, so I am awaiting a new one.  Amazon is releasing my group on Dec. 20 so, unless it snows, I will be on the road West on the 21st.  Going over Donner Pass so I hope road stays clear.  There are 5 of us LD'rs here in Desert Rose RV Park.  We are the LD Polar Bear Club.  Should be a lot to discuss at Quartzsite about cold weather camping come January.

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What do I DO With All Of The Turkey Leftovers?? Roger's Turkey Shepherds Pie

Just a short note on leftover Roger's turkey dinner shepherds pie.  Make a bed of dressing in the bottom of one of the baking pans.  Put your carcass pickings (small pieces of turkey meat) over the top until about 2/3 full.  Pour gravy over the top.  Make mashed potato patties and arrange over the top to cover.  Put this in the oven at 350F for about an hour or until it bubbles.  This is always a crowd pleaser.  BTW, you can freeze this, and bake it later if you don't want turkey several days in a row.

Roger's RV Oven Size Roasted Turkey Dinner Completed!

I wanted to actually try the idea I had for an RV oven size, roasted turkey.  I looked for the "assemble it yourself turkey parts", and found this "boneless turkey" at WalMart.  They were on sale so I thought this should work.  The stuffing was prepared with the one box that you see here plus 2 cans chicken broth and one can of cream of mushroom soup.  I mixed the stuffing all together in the baking pan to minimize dish washing.  The stuffing ingredient variations are endless.

Boneless Turkey In A Bag

 

Stuffing Ingredients

BTW, I did not put in the "one stick" of butter called for in the stuffing mix recipe to keep the fat content down. I had a nice crust on the bottom of the stuffing. The mushroom soup and the extra broth keep it moist. 

 

Ready For The Oven

This came out even better than I thought. Roughly 2 1/2 hours bake time @350F. ALWAYS use a meat thermometer. I sprayed a little olive oil on the roast at the 1/2 point as there is nothing to baste with.

Out of the oven.  Internal temp. 170F

 

 

White AND dark, your choice.

I made a great "turkey" gravy out of these ingredients.  Just mix together and bring to a boil while stirring.  You get about 2 cups.  Just double it if you want more.

Quick Turkey Gravy Ingredients

 

 Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

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Roger's Idea For Roasted Turkey Dinner In An RV Size Oven

I wanted to get this posted before Thanksgiving so it is pretty much a draft.

I have not prepared this yet but it has been on my mind for some time.  It would be impossible to roast a turkey of any size in most class "C" RVs (like LazyDaze) as the oven is only 5 1/2" high.  Most markets have turkey breast and thigh individually packaged.  Make a bed of stuffing mix prepared as you like it.  I like lots of stuffing so I use the 12 oz box size.  I also like moister stuffing so I usually double the liquid and add a can of either, cream of mushroom, or cream of celery.  Put the turkey parts on the bed of stuffing in the usual disposable baking pan and roast.  Turkey breast is done at 165F internal temp.  The thigh needs to be 175F internal temp.  Take the breast out when it reaches 165F and keep roasting the thigh until it reaches the 175F. 

I have made "turkey gravy" using one can chicken broth, one can cream of mushroom or chicken or celery soup and one envelope of turkey gravy mix.  Double it for more.  I might also try adding some milk if you like lighter gravy. 

Mashed potatoes of your choice, but if you haven't tried steaming the potatoes instead of boiling, (dishwasher)  This method uses less water and potatoes don't get the flavor washed out of them by the water.  I like to add an 8oz brick of cream cheese to a regular3-5 lb batch.

The Toas-Tite And Some History..Or..Fun With Velveeta. PS.. Egg McMuffin Clone

Do any of you remember the Toas-Tite?  We had one of these in the '50s and had great fun making "hockey puck" toasted sandwiches.  Here is a history of the Toas-Tite.  Mine disappeared years ago but I was thinking about it one day and looked on EBay.  Got an authentic model with the patent number and black handles mentioned in the history site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fun was to make a sandwich, seal it in the Toas-Tite, toast, and enjoy!  Number one filling was Velveeta, (with a little mayo)  Mayo on the outsides for browning and keep from sticking.  Great tuna melts also.  I was thinking of my Toas-Tite the other day and I suddenly thought of these new "thin bun" sandwich buns.  They are the PERFECT size.  One of the problems of using regular sliced bread was the thickness didn't leave much room for filling and when you closed the Toas-Tite up to trim and seal the bread, it left a little around the outside edges which burned and had to be brushed off.  The thin buns fit EXACTLY inside and are not too much bread. I leave out the mayo today and spray the inside of the iron with olive oil. (MUCH healthier?)

 

Prepared For The Stovetop

Once you have your Toas-Tite filled, use on the stove top, medium heat for four minutes on the first side and then turn it over to finish for three minutes.  YMMV  (Your mileage may vary)  I know the temptation is to try one of these over the campfire.  Don't, you will have a briquette.  Only downside of the whole operation is that it is about ten minutes, start to finish, to produce one sandwich, but it does slow you down. 

Done!  Note Sealed Edges

 

PS.  You can also make a cup with the bread by pressing it down in to the iron.  You can then carefully break an egg in it and maybe add a piece of ham or cheese and make your own copy of an Egg McMuffin!

Pot Roast With No Cleanup! ................. Quartzsite. ........ Amazon CamperForce



Pot Roast

I noted that WalMart had Bottom Round Rump Roast on sale for $3.49 lb.  I haven't made a pot roast in a while so I got a nice 2 lb specimen.  Into a roasting pan, covered with onion soup mix and one can of cream of mushroom soup, surrounded by baby cut carrots and four halved potatoes.  Then in to the oven, covered, at 300F for three hours.  Should be at least four servings here.  Nothing to wash!

Ready For The Oven

 

Done!

Amazon

Tuesday will be the one month mark for me here at Amazon.  I am pretty tired at the end of a 10 hour day.  This Tuesday, (and Friday) Amazon is providing a full Thanksgiving dinner for employees here at the warehouse.  Very nice of them as most of us CamperForce types are away from family.  Thinking over the workcamper experience, I will probably be back next year for the "season" to make some additional money for touring.  If you have an interest in seasonal work at Amazon, here is the phone number for Amazon HR:  (775) 575-8006.  The last I heard, there are still hiring as of November 9, '13.

Quartzsite

Just a reminder for you LazyDaze types, the January Quartzsite Campout is fast approaching.  Check out the "Q" board:   http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/LazyDazeQuartzsite/  for details.

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RV Wine Glasses AND Dinner

When 4:30 PM (or so) rolls around, some of us start thinking about happy hour and perhaps a nice glass of wine.  I have stemmed, acrylic wine glasses, but as anyone, who, in an RV environment  has used them knows, they are prone to being knocked over and they don't fit the cup holders inside the rig, or on various chairs.  I had been looking for replacements, but plain plastic glasses or red plastic cups just don't do justice to WalMart' finest box wine.  I have seen others I like, but hadn't done anything about it.  Today, I was in WalMart, and ran in to these.  They caught my eye as they are flared and just call out to be filled with wine.  Of all places, they were in the bathroom department PLUS, they are $3.88 each.  However, I will spare no expense to enhance the experience of fine wine, (even though it comes in cardboard) 

 

Ahhhhh, the RV lifestyle!

(If you look closely, you can see Boots on the couch in back)

 

 

BTW, Lemon Pepper  Pappardelle with prawns and sauted' fresh spinach tonight!

 

 

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Roger's Easy Chicken And Rice (with pasta and carrots)

I really like chicken and rice.  It is easy to fix, tastes great and makes good leftovers.  You will probably recognize some old standards here.  First, I like roasted carrots so I use about ¼ cup olive oil in an aluminum pan.  I sprinkle enough baby-cut carrots.  (notice the hyphen, they are not “baby carrots”)  Place in the oven at 400F for 30-40 minutes.  Meanwhile, one cup CalRose Rice and one cup elbow macaroni into the rice cooker with one can, (14.5 oz) chicken broth along with one cup water.  I experimented some to get the proportions correct.  Normal rice is 1 ½ cup rice and one can chicken broth.  I like to add the pasta for variety but it needs more liquid to cook properly.  In case you don’t know it, rice cookers depend on the amount of liquid to cook the rice correctly.  If your rice, and in this case pasta, is too mushy or not done, you vary the amount of liquid to get it right.  More liquid and it cooks longer, less liquid and it cooks less.  The rice cooker senses the temp rise when all of the liquid is absorbed and this signals it to shut off.  When the rice/mac mixture is done, I spread it over the carrots in the baking pan.  Using skinless, boneless chicken breast “tenderloins” cut them in chunks and place them on top of the rice.  Spoon one can cream of chicken soup over the top.  Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.  I often wonder if anyone ever uses cream of mushroom, chicken or celery soup for soup.  I have only used it for cooking.  Great instant sauce or base for gravy. 

\

 

 

 

 

As you can see, I took a serving out before taking this picture. 

 

PS.  I found the rice/pasta mix a little dry after baking.  Maybe another cup of broth added to the cooked mixture before baking. 

Further Ramblings From Fernley, NV

Today, (Wednesday) is a much appreciated day off.  My normal shift has Wed, Sat. & Sun. off.  Mon, Tues, Thurs, & Fri. are 10 hour work days.  I worked last Sunday on overtime, so I had three days in a row.  Today is a good day for catching up on laundry, shopping, changing cat litter box, relaxing, etc.  Some snow on the mountains around us but none here yet.  I am waiting for the much anticipated temp drops to the 20’s which may happen this week. 

Haven’t had time for recipe experimentation.  I have been sticking to standards.  Meat Loaf, Peanut Chicken, Rice, Vegetable Medley.  I did make one batch of Melinda’s Corn Casserole.  I am making a Pumpkin Cobbler right now.  I am also going to smoke a pork loin this afternoon for dinner and pork sandwiches for work.  A lot of the cooking I do right now, makes great leftovers for “take your lunch” days. 

I am walking about 8 miles per day at work so as yet, weight is staying under control with increased food consumption. 

 Almost all of us here at Desert Rose RV Park, work at Amazon so it is like a Company town.  I have compared this lifestyle to the early day Fruit Tramps that I saw while living among the peach orchards of the Central California Valley.  Our living conditions are a LOT better, however.  Most of the people I have met here are Workcampers.  Some have worked at other Amazon centers, National Parks, Tour Bus drivers, WalMart, Post Office, etc. all as casual labor.  You see lots of country and make a few dollars in the process. 

 

 

 

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Still At Amazon. Heated Water Supply Hose

Sorry I haven't posted recipes or results for a while.  This is my second week here at Fernley, NV.  Working a regular job for a couple of months is a real culture shock.  Amazon is a totally different  working experience than any other job I have had.  It is an enormous facility on three levels.  Lots of conveyor belts, forklifts, people moving very fast and vast amounts of merchandise.  Extremely efficient operation.  I have been fascinated by the facility and process.  A great life experience.  I have a great space here at Desert Rose RV park.  Great neighbors and work mates.  Weather has been warm days and cool nights.  No sign of extreme cold temps, yet.  I installed thermostatically controlled electric heat tape on my water supply hose as a precaution against freezing.  Here is a heated hose that a lot of people have here.  Heated Supply Hose

Traeger Barbecue is set up and in use.

So far, I have made the Chili, Carrot Cake, a COUPLE of Smoked Turkey Meat Loaves, and Roasted Vegetable Medley.  Tonight (day off) will be grilled, marinated chicken breast, roasted vegetable medley, and Melinda's Corn Casserole.  Should be plenty of leftovers for work lunches.  I am thinking over a couple of pasta casseroles for the future. 

Bootsthekitty has adapted fairly well.  He seems to get lonesome during work days when I am gone, as he will not stay out of my lap when I get home. 

Balloon Fiesta, Amazon and Internet Connection

I didn't get much time to post as I was VERY busy with Balloon Fiesta and prep for the Amazon Camperforce experience.  I had several requests for my smoked meatloaf the first night at the Balloon Fiesta park.  Here in Albuquerque, Costco has the ground turkey in 1 1/2 pound packages instead of the 1 pound trays.  This ended up as a 3 1/2 pound monster!  Biggest ever.  It was gone before I could get seconds.  I also made a tray of roasted potatoes, carrots and onions.  It went just as fast. (no leftovers for eggs in the morning)

3 1/2 Pounds!  Biggest Ever.

Below is a picture of the balloons over our camping area.  For some reason I can't move down to enter text.  Just one of many problems with posting from the Frontier Town of Fernley Nev.  WIFI here at the RV park is not just slow, it is glacial!  Too many people on at the same time I am told.  I have tried different times of the day, (and night) but it is pretty bad.  I decided to use my Verizon MIFI and it works better, but I managed to foul it up also.  I changed my hard drive backup site and needed to do a complete backup.  Big mistake.  Before I had 1/2 backed up, I was close to the end of my October allowance.  I only have 2 GB left for the month.  Repeated tries on the park WIFI would not even load 1 GB in an hour and then kept dropping off and starting over. 

 

Started Amazon last Saturday.  Quite an experience.  This place is not just huge, it is just beyond description.  I am a "Stower".  Merchandise comes in, I stow it on shelves.  10 hours a day.

 

 

Due to my connection dilemma, post will be limited until Nov.8 when Verizon rolls over.  Suffice to say, there will be plenty of casseroles and "take your lunch" items for a while.  More later when I can post.

 

 

 

Roger's Easy Au Gratin Potatoes

Here is an easy recipe for pretty good Au Gratin Potatoes with just ingredients that you probably have on hand already.

Preheat oven to 400F

1  Disposable aluminum baking pan

6-8 medium potatoes.  Use russets if you can, as redskin, Yukon Gold etc, take longer to cook done.

1     medium onion, cut up

10 oz Velveeta cheese cut in to 6 slices

1   can cream of mushroom soup

1 soup can milk

1  envelope Ranch Dressing Dip Mix.  (you can use the salad dressing mix as I think they are the     same)

Blend the potates, soup, milk and dressing mix in the baking pan.  Cover with Velveeta slices.  Cover with foil and bake at 400F about 20 minutes until cheese is soft.  Blend thouroughly again.  20 minutes more covered and another 20 minutes uncovered should do it.  If potatoes are not to your liking, give it a little more time.  I like them soft.

Pretty hard to photograph potatoes.  These are Yukon Gold potatoes.  A little firm for this application but they are what I had on hand.  My personal preference are the russets as they cook down to soft for these dishes.  I only used 1/2 can milk.  I believe that a full soup can of milk would give better consistancy.  The Ranch Dressing mix gives a great flavor. 

Leftovers great with eggs in the morning!

Fifty Shades Of Coffee

I am sure there are at LEAST 50 different ways to make coffee. 

 

I Love Coffee in the Morning

I use the 16oz Contigo cup that I have blogged about earlier.  I like coffee that has caffeine.  I like coffee that tastes like coffee.  I use good old Folgers Classic Roast, Medium grind (Costco size).  Reasonably priced, and easy to find.  It is not flavored with exotic spices or nuts.  Oh, and it comes already ground.  About 1/3 cup of dry grounds with 16oz hot/boiling water or in the Mr. Coffee, makes a great cup.  I cream with one rounded teaspoon of regular dry Coffee Mate, (not flavored or the liquid).  Add one rounded teaspoon of real sugar.  I can usually make this last for about 45 minutes of great sipping.  This is all the coffee I have for the day until next morning.  I do not care for instant in any form. 

 

Contigo Cup

 

 

 

With Shore Power and Without Shore Power

With

When plugged in to shore power, the best coffee maker for me is the "Mr. Coffee" type.  I have this Black & Decker under the counter model that came with my rig when I bought it used.  So far so good.  I have not been able to find a similar replacement in case this one dies.  I like it because it does not take up counter space and it is easy to clean.  It is programmable to come on automatically, but since retirement, I do not always get up at the same time.  I load it the night before and just press the "on: button first thing in the morning.  I don't need to be measuring coffee and boiling water first thing (or handling sharp objects.)  Any of the "Mr Coffee" types work great for RV's with shore power and most models are cheap and compact.  I do like the Keurig types and I note they are now smaller and have come down in price.  Problem for me is that to get a 16oz cup of fairly flavorful (strong) coffee you have to make two 8oz batches.  This runs the already pricey brew cups up even more.  Another consideration besides cost, is that it is much easier to store ground coffee than to store the brew cups.  BTW, I buy the Costco humongous size.  After I open the can, I fill a small can to keep in the freezer.  The rest, I vacuum seal and store in the pantry so I don't have to freeze it to stay fresh.

Black & Decker Under Cabinet Coffeemaker

 

Humongous Size, Freezer Size, Vacuum Sealed

Without

I do not care for instant coffee.  I like it BREWED.  My weapon of choice (without electricity) is the Melita, one cup cone.  I brew it directly into the cup, so it takes a little co-ordination.  (difficult first thing in the AM)  Same 16 oz cup and same 1/3 cup ground coffee.  I pour boiling water from the teapot into a known measure for pouring in to the cone.  I just fill it to the top and then stir to be sure all of the grounds get in to the mix.  When you finish, the grounds come out with the paper filter and you can pour a little hot water through the cone to clean it.  No washing!  I have heard a lot about the French Press.  They make great coffee, (like the Melita) but a lot of cleanup.  I used to use a percolator.  Problem is that they boil and recirculate the coffee.  Much different flavor. 

Melita Cone On Contigo Cup

A Little of Both

This is still in the experimentation stage.  My rig has a 1000W inverter.  It is installed next to the house batteries with 00 Welding cable through a 100 amp breaker.  This one-cup Black & Decker Brew N Go electric costs less than $20 and makes a 12oz cup in about a minute and a half and draws 800W.  This is an 80 amp draw on the battery bank through the inverter for a minute and a half.  I tried it twice when the batteries were at 100% and it did not draw them down that much.  Line voltage was 12.8V when I started.  It drew down to about 11.8V when brewing and came back to 12.0V at rest.  I tried this all the way down to 80% charge on the Tri-Metric and it worked fine with no complaints.  I even made two cups at 80% charge and it was still OK.  Clean up is the same as with the Melita.

Black & Decker Brew N Go

 

 PS

 

I now use this method regularly when boondocking. 

 

 

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Custom Entry Mats

Some time ago, on the Lazy Daze Yahoo board, there was some discussion about replacing the entry step, well mat.  (BTW, Lazy Daze factory has exact replacements as well as running board non-skid panels for the E-450)

 

 

 

 

There was some discussion about a place that made custom replacements using recycled tires.  Some among us, bought them.  I finally saw one in Andrea's rig at Balloon Fiesta and thought that I might like one.  Turns out that the place that makes and sells them is on the way for others of our group driving down from Colorado to Abiquiu, so we called ahead and had some made up.  You can order these to your size and have colored beads as spacers in your color choices.  Allow about 1/2" smaller than actual measurement so they don't "bunch up". 

 

 

 

 

 

I did my best to scan the brochure that they have as they do not have a website.  I am hoping that Elizabeth doesn't see this or Magic the Wonder Horse will have one of the giant ones for her trailer.

 

 

 

How Do You Milk An Almond?? + Pudding!

Milk From A Nut?

I am probably the last person to try Almond Milk.  Elizabeth was out of regular milk at her apartment but did have some almond milk.  I was not enthusiastic but I had to have something for my cereal.  Not bad!  In fact....I liked it.  It's lower in calories as well.  This stuff is great as you can buy it in "brick pack", (unrefrigerated until opened) AND it keeps for around a year (unopened) at room temp.  Perfect for RV use when you can't get to the store.  You can bet I will have a couple of quarts in the pantry from now on. I have tried rice milk for Bisquick pancakes as my mother was lactose intolerant and I tried it as an experiment.  Great pancakes and they were the first pancakes she was able to eat in years.  (BTW, as far as I know, there is no milk or dairy in regular Bisquick)

Pudding!

One of the things that I use milk for, is making Jello, Sugar Free, Fat Free, Cook and Serve Pudding.  This is great stuff but it is getting harder and harder to find.  Everyone buys instant. In my opinion, the instant is no where as good as the cooked kind.  The cooked has great flavor, great texture and is easy to fix in the microwave or on the stove top. You will not miss the fat and sugar.  I microwave it in Ziploc four quart containers when I have electricity.  With the two cup version, the four cup Ziploc is just the right size and you don't have to use a separate mixing bowl. (use the push mixer). I read up on non-dairy milks and cook and serve puddings.  Mixed results.  It is reported that rice milk won't set up at all.  It is said that Almond milk works but has a softer set.

I made a batches of vanilla and chocolate pudding with Almond Milk.  The set is definitely softer with the vanilla but pretty much normal with the chocolate.  It will stand up by itself in the container when spooned out.  Hint of almond in both.  Still very tasty.  I will probably continue to use dairy milk, but the Almond Milk is OK for backup and variety.

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Traeger Smoked Baby Back Ribs, (Johns Ribs Recipe)

We barbecued baby back ribs on the Traeger Barbecue tonight. I got Costco's pre-rubbed ribs.  (say that a few times fast if you can) This is four racks each cut in half to fit the rib rack. I smoked them 5 hours and used the John's Ribs Marinade recipe from an earlier post.  Put the marinade on after 5 hours of smoke, raised the temp to 400 for 15 minutes to give them a glaze.  Probably the best I have ever made.  

 

 

It Begins

 

Smoking

 

Waiting

 

Waiting

 

 Halfway

 

Done!

Really Done!

 

 

BTW, if you like my blog, please spread the word!

Rogersramblings41.blogspot.com

You can email me: Roger@rogernickey.com











 

Uh Oh, Puddle Under The Gray Tank + Dinner + Sunset

Just North of Temecula on I-15, I ran over a piece of metal in the road.  I was boxed in by traffic and couldn't avoid it.  Swerving in the motorhome, towing the Ranger pickup is not a good idea anyway.  I heard it hit underneath the coach so I pulled over at the first chance to look for damage.  Didn't see anything so went on to Flagstaff.  (little did I know that the gray tank was punctured but empty so it wasn't leaking)  When I parked at the Sandia Casino outside Albuquerque, NM, I noticed the puddle under the tank.  Sure enough a small cut in the lower corner of the tank.

Small cut.  You can just see a drop forming at the bottom

I cleaned the area with acetone, and filled the cut with my hot glue gun.  Then patched over the area with Eternabond tape.  No leak! Looks like a permanent repair.

Fixed!

Fixed the chicken with peanut sauce recipe this evening using Yoshida sauce instead of the peanut sauce.  I used too much Yoshida and had to drain some off.  Pretty good but not as good as with the peanut sauce.  If you haven't tried the Calrose medium grain rice, you should.  I use 1 1/2 cup rice and one 14.5 oz can of chicken broth is the rice cooker. 

 

Yoshida Chicken

 

Sunset at Abiquiu Lake, NM

 

 

Sunrise at Abiquiu Lake, NM