cupcakes...

Baking in the motorhome can be fairly easy except when there are so many steps to a recipe. I decided that it would be fun to make homemade hostess cupcakes so I took on the project one morning I started around 10 a.m. and finally finished them around 3 p.m.!!! Boil the water and sugar and then melt the chocolate. Let it cool. Sift the flour....etc., etc. Let the cupcakes cool for 25 minutes in the muffin pan and then another 25 minutes on a cooling rack. Make the filling, make the genache and the frosting. Fill the cupcakes and frost them with 2 kinds of frosting. I remember saying several times that I would never make them again but today I think I might do it again. The recipe was labor intensive but the end product was worth it. Some people wanted to know why I would make them and I told them..."because I knew I could." Lots of people feel so restricted in a motorhome.

When we sold the house I gave my kitchen aid mixer to Chuck but now I have a new one and I love it.

If you remember in the beginning I told you about all my gadgets. Well, I recently added a marinade injector. Skip is doing a dinner for 100 people at the clubhouse next week and he need an injector. He is injecting an apple juice marinade into pork roasts. He made a trial roast and it was really wonderful.

Canning in the RV

Who would think that I would be canning in the RV! Well, I canned some pickled beets over the weekend. The last time I canned, I made jelly...which was a couple years ago...it was sort of funny. I didn't have a canner so I used a regular pot. I think I put knives on the bottom so the jars wouldn't touch the bottom and there were knives between the jars. Now that I look back at it it was so funny! There was water boiling over onto the little stove in the RV. There was not only jelly made but also jam. Boy, was I proud of myself. There were 18 jars when I was finished. Twisting a cheesecloth to get the juice out was another challenge.

Now, I have once again have a canner and all the other gadgets you need to can. Of course, I did have those when I was in our house but we sold them because there was no way I was ever going to be able to can in a motorhome.

The sweet corn is in so I will go out there on Saturday and pick some. I have never canned corn but I usually freeze it. Lots of blanching and with so little counter space it really can easily become cluttered. Since there isn't that much room in the RV freezer I may try to can some...we'll see. Skip has asked if I could make some bread and butter pickles so that will be a project next week. Of course, the jam still has to be made.

When I was younger I use to can tomatoes and even make tomatoe juice. Don't think I'll be that adventurous this year. It was wonderful when we had a garden...maybe we will put one on our lot in Oregon next year.

Still trying to cook as much as possible but tonight was a brat dinner at the clubhouse. Skip and a bunch of men did all the cooking. It was a nice break.

baking and more

Peaches have been a good price at the store so I bought a several pounds. I decided to bake a pie with them. The last time I baked a peach pie the peaches didn't get quite done so this time I actually opened a cook book. I followed the baking instructions for the pie. It suggested baking it at a higher temperature for 20 minutes and then turning it down for another 40 minutes. Saturday I baked the pie and then posted that I did on facebook and just waited for the grandkids to comment...the pie lovers! After a while the phone rang and it was Brett inviting me over for dinner and to bring the pie. They like pie but had never had peach pie so they wanted to try it. Well, try it they did and decided they like it. I always like it when they are willing to try new foods. Julie made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. After dinner we played cards. It was a really nice night.

Shelly, Doug and Jessica are on a trip taking Brandon back to college in Illinois. They are going to stop at a couple colleges for Jessica to tour; visit aunts and uncles in IL; visit Doug's parents in IL and Doug may do some work stops too. Here are a couple pictures of Julie's family and Shelly's family.

Summer coming to an end...

Here it is the middle of August and summer is almost over. Some of the Grandchildren have already started back to school and the others will be following them soon.
I'm still trying to cook in the RV and not go out to eat. Last night, I poached some chicken breasts and made a big chicken salad. Tonight, I'll be using the last of the fresh chicken breasts and make a chicken stir fry. We have fresh strawberries and blueberries so maybe we can put those with vanilla ice cream.
I'm trying to get back to updating my website and my blog on a regular basis.
A friend sent us some coffee from France and that was a nice compliment to our Peabody muffins one Saturday morning.

what's cooking....

I really don't know where the time has gone. It is so hard to believe I haven't updated this blog before this. There are no excuses.
Tonight, I'm making Orzo with chicken, mushrooms and spinach. I was going to make it earlier in the week but it was a crazy day so I put it off and we ate out. No, I hadn't thawed the chicken. It is one of my favorite meals to make...probably because I think it's easy. The hardest thing is cutting the chicken, mushrooms and chopping the fresh spinach. I love living in California where we are blessed with so many fresh fruits and vegetables. I must say that I do check to see where the produce is from and I only buy USA produce. That means sometimes we have to do without. We have an asparagus farm about 10 miles out and a sweet corn farm about 25 miles away. We overdose on all the fresh vegetables when they are in season. Then we buy in bulk at the farm and I freeze them so we can enjoy them during the winter.
Tonight's dinner will also include a fresh salad (USA produce only) and brownies made from scratch.
Julie's lemon tree is loaded with lemons so I may make a lemon bundt cake tomorrow. Yes, from scratch. Not sure what Sunday dinner will be yet...

what to cook, what to cook...

I'm just trying to think of what to cook for dinner tonight. Chicken burritos sounds good to me right now. I have all of the ingredients but I just can't get started. The hardest part of it all is making the tortilla's. It's been some time since I made them from scratch. You know it is very easy to just pick some up at the store but we're out in the country and that would mean driving the 10 miles (round trip) just to pick up tortilla's. Doesn't sound like a very practical thing to do. So I will make the tortilla's. It's kind of fun to mix the dough, shape into ball, rubbing crisco on each ball and roll them out. Quickly tossing each one onto a griddle to cook. I have always wanted to throw them right on the open flame...saw that on TV a couple times...maybe I will try that or maybe not. Guess I'll start the chicken and have it simmering in a sauce while I round up everything to put in it. We each build our own burrito because we have different tastes. There will also be a salad to prepare but that is pretty easy. I didn't make a dessert but there is root beer float ice cream in the freezer. Sounds good to me. Did anyone see Andy Rooney on 60 Minutes the other night? His segment was on kitchen gadgets! I had to laugh because I had all the gadgets he showed. He wondered if he needed them or not but in the end I believe he just put them back in the drawer in case he needed them someday. That's right, just in case he might need them. When I started this blog that was one of my passions I talked about...kitchen gadgets. The oldest thing I have is a soup laddle that my Grandfather made for my Busia and the newest thing I have is an Olive Spoon. I bought the olive spoon in San Francisco about a month ago. It is so cute and it was a really weak moment when I bought it. I still haven't used it but "someday"...

Blueberry Muffins in the morning...

Here it is! My kitchen!! I just had to take a picture so you could see my working space. I do have covers that I put over the sinks but that really doesn't work too well when you need to use the sink. Yesterday, I went with daughter, Julie and granddaughter, Kennedy to the movies. We saw Julie & Julia. The movie about Julie who writes a blog about creating all the recipes in the Julia Child cookbook. The movie was funny at times but a little slow at other times. I enjoyed it but did not rush home to debone a duck...I picked up a pizza! Now here it is 7:30 the next morning and I just baked 2 dozen blueberry muffins. I also cooked the potatoes and eggs for a potato salad I'm taking to the lodge later today. I discovered that I have 3 muffin pans in the RV. Surprise. One for regular small muffins, one for large muffins and one for making muffin top muffins. Doesn't everyone have those pans in their kitchen? Why, you ask does someone who lives in such a small space do such things. I guess because I can. I feel if I keep doing these things it helps keep me from getting too "old". When we retired our dream was to travel in the RV but I couldn't see me giving up cooking just because I was in the RV. Cooking has always been something I really enjoyed. That doesn't mean that I cook every meal. Heavens no! When we travel, we like to try the local cuisine. As you travel around the United States the food is amazing. Sweet corn in Iowa, Lobster in Maine, cajun in Louisiana, pizza in Illinois, etc. You get the picture. That's about all for today but I would like to share my recipe for my muffins...

Blueberry Muffins

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 cups flour, plus 1 tablespoon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup cooking oil (vegetable)

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

1 cup fresh blueberries

Do not use a mixer...hand stir!

Sift flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Beat egg slightly into milk; add vanilla. Create a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add milk/egg mixture. Add oil and lemon juice. Stir just until moist...batter will be lumpy. Carefully fold in blueberries. Fill muffin pans about 3/4 full. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. This makes 12 regular muffins or 6 large muffins.