Can you have too much pumpkin?

Even though, the temperatures haven't been out of the 80's here, I've been feeling a little fall-ish.  What better way than to make some Pumpkin-y things.

Last year, I waited forever for the stores here in Texas to stock the shelves with some pumpkin cream cheese spread to put on my morning bagels.  Never happened.  So this year, I decided to make a

Bread Machine Pumpkin Yeast Bread

• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk (5 ounces)
• 1 cup mashed pumpkin (or canned pumpkin puree)
• 4 cups bread flour
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1. Add all of the ingredients according to your bread machine manufacturer's suggested order, with the default being the order listed in the ingredient list above.
   
2. Use white bread setting, light crust.  I used a 2 lb loaf.
   
3. Let your machine do its thing and enjoy the loaf when it is ready.
   
   

   

   
   

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Spread

 

1 package (8 oz) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese (Neufchâtel), softened

1/2 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

3 tablespoons packed brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

(Can’t get enough cinnamon? Add 1 teaspoon of it to the mix in addition to the pumpkin pie spice for more cinnamon flavor.)

• In large bowl, beat ingredients with electric mixer on medium speed until well combined. Pour spread into serving dish.
• Cover; refrigerate at least 1 hour to blend flavors.
• Serve spread with breads, crackers or apple slices. Store in refrigerator. 

  
  

  

Jimmy Buffett Concert (at Woodstock?)

Had a few people over to the rig last night to watch a broadcast of the Jimmy Buffett concert on Margaritaville.TV.   One of the neighbors said it was kind of like Woodstock.  (Um, yeah.  No.)  Only one picture because I didn't get any shots before it was too dark, but had probably 8-14 people at any one time.  Also a good test of a new recipe of Key Lime Martinis*.

Was a good test (for football season) since cutting the cord of the new set up with the FireTV, the projector unit and the screen.  Got to be really dark, though.  At least 15-20 minutes after sunset.

* - Key Lime Martini Recipe:

1 part Eagle Brand Milk
1 part Pineapple Juice
1 part Lime Juice
1 part Whipped Cream (or Vanilla) Vodka

Strawpineade Rum Drink

Here's a recipe for a home made, cool refreshing blender drink.

First, I made a can of frozen lemonade of 64 oz.  I split that off, leaving me 32 oz. of straight lemonade in the blender (which has a max of 80 oz) and 32 oz in reserve for the 2nd batch.

I filled the empty lemonade can with Bacardi's Pineapple Rum and put it into the blender.

Next, I put 5 rings of pineapples plus a smidge of pineapple juice.  (Why 5?  because I had 10 and saved the other 5 for the second batch).

Now, the measurements get a little on your own. I added some frozen strawberries and ice cubes to get up to my max fill line.

Blended that all together and wasn't happy with the samples, so I added half a can (6 oz) of Pineapple Soda for a little fizz.

Perfect.  Enjoy.

BBQ Chicken and Rice Enchiladas

No secret that Connie and I don't "do" hot, spicy foods.  Zero tolerance.  So, we pretty much bastardize every Tex-Mex recipe there is to make them Northern Ohio tolerable.  This is another one.

Preheat the oven to 400.

On the grill, I grilled two good sized boneless chicken breasts.  While I was doing that, I sautéed about half of an onion and some minced garlic in Canola oil in a large sautée pan on the oven top.  All the while, I was microwaving a bag of rice.

When the chicken was finished, I shredded it and added it to the onions/garlic.  Then added the rice.  Then I took some Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce (I think hickory and brown sugar) and liberally stirred it in to the mix.  I added about 2 Tbl of Fireball Cinnamon Whisky.  (There.  There's your heat.)

I only had the big burrito sized tortillas, so they had to do.  I sprayed the bottom of a square baking pan that the burrito sized tortillas would fit in.  Then I added some BBQ sauce.

After letting my rice/chicken/BBQ sauce simmer for awhile, I added it to the middle of the burritos along with some shredded CoJack cheese.  Folded them up tightly and placed them in the baking dish.  Whole thing made a total of four, with a little bit to pour over the top.

I poured BBQ sauce over the top, along with a healthy bit of shredded cheese.  Covered with foil, and baked for about 25 minutes.

Our kind of Mexican food

Connie had a treatment this past Friday.  We put a window air conditioner in their "in laws" loft which worked spectacularly!  Was nice to sleep in temperatures under, um, 80 something?

We had a great weekend in with Bethany and Kingsley while James was out of town, but we were wiped out afterwards.

Today, had to take the truck into Spitzer's for a recall and to have a TPMS changed.  Took awhile and they gave us a brand new 2018 Chevy Silverado as a loaner.  Well played, Spitzer's.  Well played.

Tonight, we made another in the long line of Mexican dishes that are only based in Mexican food.  Spend any time around Connie and I, and you'll know:  nothing spicy, nothing "hot".  Don't ask.  But, there are a great amount of Mexican dishes that we can leave out the "hot and spicy" items and make them Southwest (Ohio) dishes.  Tonight, I made Chicken Kinda Enchilladas.  Here's the recipe that it's based on.

I grilled two chicken breasts, then used my brand new Cave Tools meat shredders.  They were a little overkill, but shredding the chicken was the perfect call.

Connie and Sloopy waited patiently while I cooked. 

In a medium bowl, I mixed a can of Campbell's Cream of Chicken soup with a ½ cup of sour cream.  I pulled out 1 cup of that and put it with the shredded chicken, ½ cup of CoJack cheese and a healthy sprinkling of Fajita seasoning.  I mixed that all together and spooned it equally into 5 tortillas.  Roll the tortillas together, kind of tightly, then I put them in my greased stainless steel 8x8 pan.  (Love that thing).

I added just a splash of milk to the remaining soup/sour cream mixture, just enough to thin it a little.  I poured, spread that over the 5 tortillas.

I put that in my Brinkmann Table Top grill on indirect heat at about 375 degrees, turning it every 8 minutes for 40 minutes.  (Really love this grill, not sure how I'm going to replace it when it eventually leaves us.)

Really happy with the way they turned out.  Served with a little sour cream to dip.  Yummy.

Spectacular Breakfast Recipe

I feel bad I didn't take enough pictures of this, but it was delish.  It's a combination of about three different recipes, including my own for french toast.

I really didn't want to get up early and do this, so I made a couple of parts of this the night before which took about an hour.  This recipe is going to yield about 4-5 sandwiches.

First, I started with the syrup:

Ingredients: 
3 cups sliced strawberries
1 cup granulated sugar
few squirts of lemon juice

Directions: 
In a medium saucepan, combine all the ingredients.  Put on medium heat and stir.  Slowly bring to a boil. 

While it's heating, start on the filling:

Ingredients: 
1 c. diced strawberries
1 tsp. sugar
1 8 oz. package cream cheese (softened)
1/3 c. powdered sugar

Combine strawberries and sugar in a small bowl, set aside. In a large mixing bowl, whip cream cheese and powdered sugar until thoroughly combined. Fold in strawberry mixture, and continue to smash and make the strawberries smaller pieces.  Once it's the consistency of icing, it's ready.  If making the night before, put it in the fridge.

After the sauce has begun to boil, lower the heat and simmer until the strawberries are soft and the syrup is thickened and reduced by 1/3 to 1/2 in volume, 15 to 18 minutes.  Continue to stir throughout.

Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature before serving or put in the fridge for the morning.

The rest, I did the morning of the breakfast.

French toast mix:

Ingredients: 
5 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
cinnamon
milk
8-10 slices of bread

Heat your griddle to 375, put your syrup on the stove on low heat if you made it the night before.

Break the eggs, combine the vanilla extract and a glug of milk.  After you've combined them, sprinkle a healthy amount of cinnamon.  Mix well, then pour into a pie plate.

Take a slice of thick bread, and spread the filling.  I did it too thin, so don't be afraid to put it on thick, you'll have enough.

Take a second slice and place on top of it.  Try and "pinch" the edges to seal the sides.  Dip it into the egg mixture on both sides.  Place it on the griddle and flip once the bottom has turned golden brown.

Serve with powdered sugar on top, and liberally spread the strawberry syrup.

Enjoy like Kingsley did!

P.S.  It will keep Tucker's attention when you're making this.  Tangy is just on the carpet because of the slick floor.

If you're going to cook all day, you need a base

I've got a pretty big smoking project today, and two of the three recipes call for bacon.

Here's the link to the Smoked Meat Loaf.

Here's the link to the smoked tomato and onion salad dressing.

Here's the link to the smoked Mac N Cheese.

If you're going to cook bacon, you've got to eat bacon.

My Brinkmann grill has a little griddle that goes in place of one of the grates.  So I used it for the bacon we're going to have for breakfast, and that leaves room for the stainless steel pan where I'm going to cook the bacon we're going to cook with.

Since I'm just cooking and crumbling the cooking bacon, I'm stealing a tip from a friend at our old boat club (shout out Sally White!) who used to cut the bacon into pieces, then pan fry it.

After the first round of bacon (Connie's round) is done, I added the best fundraiser item I ever bought (Shout out, Maddie Porter!)  It's a little round mabobbie that holds the egg after you break it.  Smash the egg yolk, let it fry and boom you've got an egg McSims.

After that's all cooked (finished product is below), it's time to make my sammie.  

Cut my home made bread in a diagonal, add the egg:

Add the bacon:

Often I'll add cheese and an onion, too.  But, I've got WAY too much to do today!

Mt. Pleasant to Alexander, AR

Didn't really do much in Mt. Pleasant.  Was awoken night #1 to the sound of my fridge beeping and saying there was no flame.  That was weird, because it should have been running on electric.  Instead, for however long, it didn't flip over to AC and sucked out all of my propane.  I wasn't happy, especially knowing that the temps were going to be dropping like a rock in the next few days and the fireplace wouldn't keep up with it.  Ran over to the Mt. Pleasant KOA (looked like a dump, too) and got propane in one bottle, then Monday en route to Alexander, Arkansas (which is just south of Little Rock) I got the 2nd bottle filled at the Flying J.

I left a little earlier than planned on Monday because some Jack Wagon NEEDED to get on the road early (like started at 6:30a) and had to make sure his diesel was warmed up.  The ride here up I-30 was miserable.  Drove into a north wind and a driving rain the whole day.

Got to Cherokee Lakes RV Park around 2:30p after a leisurely stop at the Flying J since the guy didn't know how to run the propane machine and a lunch stop at a rest area with the girls.  Was a little bit of an issue because there was no signage where the GPS brought me, only a locked gate and No Trespassing.  I drove a little further, pulled off into a Volunteer Fire Station and called the joint after seeing on the Passport America site that, yes, it was gated and in a nature preserve.

The guy said he "didn't expect me so early."  I told him about the Jack Wagon, and I'll be damned if in walks Mrs. Jack Wagon!  They had come to the same park.  After we exchanged hello's, I told the owner "I'll bet they got here before me, didn't they?"  Sure enough, next morning, I'm up at 7:30a mainly because the sun comes up here at 6:30a, and they were already gone.  I don't get it.

I've gotten a little of chippy stuff done here for work, fixed some website things, updated our phone system, etc.

 This being my last "leisurely" stop before I start a run of "in day 1, stay day 2, out day 3", I decided to do a little cooking.  Smoked a Boston Butt and two chicken fryers on Tuesday, along with using my blueberries for a Blueberry Bread.  Freezer is full, everything came out wonderfully.

4 bags of pulled pork, 5 bags of cut up
chicken ready for the freezer.

Sloopy has been absolutely miserable.  First, its been cold.  Never a good thing for her.  Second they don't allow X-pens here.  So, she's constantly wanting out to lay in the sunshine, and doesn't understand the sentence, "they don't allow X-pens here."

Here for one more day, then we take off for West Memphis, AR (where I KNOW they allow X-pens.]

Treatment day and we entertain Tucker...

Wednesday (June 5th) was a treatment day for Connie.  A double header with both Herceptin and Zometa.  A little tired on Wednesday, she was really zonked Thursday & Friday, rallied a little on Saturday and felt pretty decent today (Sunday).  We've got some big tests on Tuesday.  Her first MRI and Cat scans since she was diagnosed at the end of February.  This should give us some assessment as to how the treatments are going.  I know she's both excited and nervous about them.

The weather has been miserable.  Today was the first day we've broken 70 and actually seen the sun.  We ran the furnace every morning this week.  Yuck.  Not helping Connie feel better, thats for sure.

Thursday, our daughter Bethany came over to Ashtabula and stayed the night.  I have to talk about a great pork chop recipe I made for the three of us, and our friend Lenny who came over.

Started with a layer of peeled (I hate peeling apples, thank goodness Bethany was up for it) apples.  Cover them with brown sugar and some garlic.

Next, layer the apples with thinly sliced onions.


Then, take 3-4 slices of bacon and wrap 1" thick pork chops.  Place them on top of the apples/onion layers.

Cooked those at 375 for 20 minutes in our convection oven, then flipped them for another 20 minutes.  Delish doesn't start to describe them!

As I mentioned, our daughter Bethany came over Thursday and stayed till Friday morning (we had donuts for the first time in forever!!!) and left her baby with us as they were headed south for a wedding and 1st baby birthday of some of their friends.

Tucker has been mentioned before in this blog.  He's a Puggle, and he's all boy.  Our girls, especially Carmen, love having the big lug around.  He's got a ton of energy, and when he finally expends some, he's a terrific dog.  Huge bark, though.  Huge.

He's also used to getting up with his daddy at 5:30a.  We didn't break him of that, we adjusted.  Dark that early.  As I said, when he expends his energy, he's really good.

Took him to the Ashtabula Dog Park with Carmen and they REALLY had a great time.  Tucker was faster in the straight aways, but Carmen had some jukes that made him barrel roll.  45 minutes of pure doggie enjoyment, just the two of them in a big open field.  Shot some video, but it was really too quick to be enjoyable.

Spent a little time over at Lenny's on Saturday, too.  His big girl, 'Dessa (an 11 year old German Sherpherd), wasn't too fond of Tucker.  A little too much energy, and then, there's the bark.  She's already made her thoughts known to Carmen and Sloopy.

Carmen and Tucker are really BFF's.  They play, they wrestle, they snuggle.  Sloopy can take him or leave him, but then again, its a pretty well established fact that she's a diva.

We took Tucker back home today to the West Side of Cleveland, and stopped over to see our friends Don and April (who have 3 cockers) who live on the southeast side.  I think Carmen was OD'd on dogs that were not her sister.  We had a great time, spent a couple of hours with the sun was finally out and we could sit on their back porch and just talk.  Very relaxing.

Another day we didn't make it to Oyster Fest...

Another day, another day we didn't make it to the Oyster Fest.  Guess we'll have to see it next year.

Played it smart on springing forward, went to bed last night on "tomorrow's time" and got up about the normal time.

Had some impossibly easy bacon pie for breakfast.  Took a little long to cook, but boy was it worth it.

Broke a string last night in our day/night shades (we're getting good at replacing them, but really?  This is our third one breaking!), and spent the rest of the morning replacing it.

After watching the Buckeyes beat the Illini, we headed to the clubhouse here at the park for an ice cream social.  Good ice cream, but better conversation with some of the others in the park.

Came back to set up the outside TV.   Watched the end of the golf tournament and the Wolverines gag away a Big Ten co-title for Ohio State while our friends Fred and Vickie came to town with their grand daughter, Maddison.  You can see how we met Fred and Vickie here.  Amazing the friendship that we've developed over a little more than a year.

Kids are the same way.  As soon as they pulled in, Maddison met the little 9 year old (Emma) on the other side of us and off they went.

We shared our grill and ate dinner at our place, then enjoyed each other's company till it "was time".

Connie took it easy today.  A good nap for around an hour and some sunshine time kept her happy.  Not many aches and pains, just had some ups and downs as far as energy throughout.  No more appointments till we meet the cardiologist on Tuesday.

Christmas Week, our recipes and more....

Well, the world didn't end on the 21st of December.  Damn Mayans.  They should be dug up and held on the charges of mass panic.

We spent a nice Christmas Eve with the guests in the park.  They do a Chinese Gift Exchange.  Everyone brings a $10 gift, gets a "random" number.  The first number is drawn, they open a present in front of everyone.  Person holding the second number drawn can either "take" their gift or open another one in front of everyone.  Process keeps repeating until everyone has been drawn.  That last person has the knowledge of every one's gifts, so they can "take" one unless it's frozen (been held by 3 owners).  The person who got drawn first ends it by having the choice of everything in the room.  We noticed that, just as last year, one person came in very late to get a last number and went looking for booze.  Some people get a little bent out of shape over people "taking" their gift.  It's a way to kill an evening.

Christmas Day, we called everyone and did a carry in with the camp.  Added a few recipes to the repertoire this year.  First is peanut butter fudge.  Couldn't be easier:

Peanut Butter Fudge Recipe:

1 (18oz) jar of smooth peanut butter

1 (16oz) jar or can of vanilla or cream cheese icing

Put ingredients in pan using wooden spoon and spatula.  Melt together both ingredients on low, stirring occasionally. When all melted like a thick gravy, pour into dish and refrigerate overnight

Variation:  use Chocolate icing instead of vanilla/cream cheese or try crunchy peanut butter instead of smooth

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Also added our daughter's sweet potato casserole:

3 cups mashed sweet potatoes (I've used the canned its easier/quicker to mash them)
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup melted butter

Topping:
 1/2 cup brown sugar
 1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup melted butter
 1 cup chopped pecans

Combine first 6 ingredients. Pour into a buttered 1 1/2 to 2-quart casserole dish. Mix remaining ingredients together and sprinkle over top. Bake at 350° for 30 to 40 minutes, until hot and browned.

Serves 6 to 8

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Christmas decorations are down.  The basement has been reorganized for the third time (at least) and it's time to start the week of watching College Football.

Not sure what the New Year will bring, but it will be fun! 

 

 

Our first week in New Smyrna Beach and we were busy...

Veteran's Day, we were happy to go over to Altamonte Springs (north of Orlando) and meet with Bob's cousins (Greg and Kaye), and Bob's Uncle (Harlan) along with Greg's daughter and Kaye's son.  We toured Lake Brantley HS (where Greg has worked since the 80's) and then went out to dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse.  Bob's Uncle Harlan is a decorated WWII veteran who was in town for a reunion in Florida.  He was a member of the Navy's group that would later become the Navy Seals.  Great time catching up and a lot of laughs.

Finally got down to the beach and did some walking along Flagler Avenue on Tuesday.  We were going to have a beer at Toni and Joe's, but they were cash only and we didn't have any (which isn't unusual).  Ended up at the Breaker's which had windows looking out on the ocean which was OK for the type of day it was.  Connie picked up some knicks for the rig, and Bob got some T's and tanks.

Friday, we got the girls a section of 24" X-Pen to go under the new rig.  Works terrific!  Will break down and travel easily and allows us to make the big portion of the X-Pen into a U.  It will give us plenty of flexibility.

Saturday, we did what we do best:  sit and watch college football and, in particular, the Buckeyes take on Wisconsin.  It was a great day for sitting out and the game was "big enough" to warrant the projector coming out.  Also got extensive use out of our propane heater which was perfect for the evening once the sun went down.  To make it all perfect, the Buckeyes win and people in the park were yelling "O-H" after the win.

Connie made a new dip for our "tailgate", and it was delish!  The recipe is here:

This coming week, we'll get ready for our upcoming cruise on Thanksgiving Day and our trip to DisneyWorld.  Work, work, work.  :-)

Great day in Indy!

We've been to Indy a few times, so we're looking for a couple of things to go see and get us out of the rig on these hot days.  We chose to go to the Canal and White River State Park.

We started with the USS Indianapolis Memorial.  The USS Indianapolis was the ship to transported the Atomic Bomb during WWII.  It was so secretive, that when it was torpedoed on July 30, 1945 by the Japanese, it wasn't missed.  Of 1,196 men on board, approximately 300 went down with the ship. The remainder, about 900 men, were left floating in shark-infested waters with no lifeboats and most with no food or water. The ship was never missed, and by the time the survivors were spotted by accident four days later only 316 men were still alive.

Indy has done a terrific job of upgrading their downtown living around the canal.  Beautiful condos overlooking the walk.  Has to bring a ton of people downtown.

Got to see a stadium!  We toured Lucas Oil Stadium (home of next year's Super Bowl and the Big Ten Championship) last year.  Here is the home of the AAA affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Indianapolis Indians.

This has been a bit of a AAA tour.  Starting with Tucson (AAA home of the Padres), we've been to Albuquerque (AAA home of the Dodgers), Oklahoma City (AAA home of the Astros) and now Indianapolis.

The canal walk featured great views of downtown

 We also saw the home of the NCAA and Hall of Champions.  I believe this is where the Tournament Committee meets to decide the March Tournament.

And finally, we saw Conseco Fieldhouse, NBA home of the Pacers and home to the Big Ten Tournament on a number of occasions.

So we bought a grill a month back for a few reasons:  it had two burners, a built in thermometer and would fit in the truck when we load up and roll to the next stop.  Did my first smoking attempt on this grill tonight and it was delish!  Had a half rack of ribs left over from a while back.  Connie put a rub consisting of brown sugar, garlic salt and paprika on them, I put my smoker box with apple chips on the opposite burner and smoked those babies with indirect heat for almost five hours.  Put BBQ sauce in our pot for the fourth hour, then started applying the sauce a half hour later.  Put a couple of baked potatoes on in the second hour and moved them over direct heat on the warming rack for the last two hours.