cooking

Weekend of busy fury

Published on April 18, 2010 by Katya in the category cooking, projects | 1 Comment

Saturday

We started the day with Apple pie, ice cream and coffee, then headed out. Since the new trailer we’ve rented a car once but mostly use the RV for our around town car. While empty it’s great. We don’t have to worry about our things crashing around and with all the weight gone it actually drives like a pretty decent van. This weekend we finally decided to commit to riding our bikes and went to the great and awesome New Orleans City Park, a park that spans about 60 square blocks with several lakes, rivers and bayous. throughout. We had gone there previously while looking for a dog park I saw from the freeway, a dog park that turned out to be a members only club with a yearly cost. We ended up just going to some great abandoned buildings nearby with a big open field for Chena to run unencumbered by other peoples lame dogs.

City Park Building

city park

After taking Chena for a bike run, the most exercise she’s gotten in months, we went on our own, leaving Chena in the RV in the shade. Since pretty much everything east of central Texas is flat so far, it wasn’t a very challenging ride but it was nice. We rode along StJohn’s Bayou and saw baby ducks, fish jumping like skipping rocks and the worlds ugliest duck-geese-turkey things. Ross forgot his clip-in shoes but it didn’t stop him from some track stands.

ross at city park

I found a new use for my luggage carrier on my bike, poop carrier!  Since the park had garbage bins every 3 miles, it was a fun and exciting challenge to see if I could make it to one before the bags hit my tire and exploded. I did, but just barely.

Sunday

Once again, we started the day with apple pie (no ice cream) and coffee.
Since we didn’t get to it Saturday, the plan was to clean and recaulk the roof. We spent a ton on all the supplies the day we got the RV and have been either busy or putting it off every weekend. After I cleaned the house and was midway through 5 loads of laundry, we climbed up on the roof and started scrubbing the areas we needed to recaulk with the gallon of rubber roof cleaning solution we bough. After a couple minutes it was clear to me that there was no way to really clean the areas without cleaning the area around them, and at that point it looked so good clean, I had to clean the whole roof (or try). Ross scrubbed the old sealant and I scrubbed at everything in between. Eventually having to rinse, rescrub and rinse again, making it over a 2 hours aerobic workout – trying to avoid actually getting on my knees and pushing sponges and scrubbing brooms non stop. I intended to start on the Brougham too but by the time I was 2/3 done with the trailer roof I knew my arms or legs would give out on me (and 14 feet up is not the best place for that). While I was scrubbing on the roof, Ross suffered my water heavy endeavor on the side of the trailer struggling with our loose and funky black/grey water outlet. Surrounded by cat shit filled grass (from the tons of strays around here) and at constant risk of touching old poo from the previous trailer owners who never cleaned their tank, he further suffered from my constant splashing and dripping from above.

dirty roof

Roof 1/4 clean.

clean and dirty

Roof Half done and the Brougham

clean roof!

Roof 2/3 clean!

After I finished as much as I could muster, I was going to move on to installing a shelf in the pantry but decided since it was 5 and we hadn’t eaten all day I would start up the BBQ and make us some corn on the cob, grilled squash and tofurkey dogs. I hadn’t actually hooked up the grill, to the potentially explosive 20 gallon propane tank, nor had I BBQ’d since I was.. um.. well maybe never, but I learn from watching others so the cooking part I knew I had down. I managed to hook up and even light the BBQ without catching on fire and cooked for 40 mins while Ross finished up the caulking on the roof.


While we ate, in came the clouds and we watched a thunderstorm make its way our way, hoping to hell we could finish our food before we had to put the tarp on the RV. We did! A first even.. Now we sit here not moving much, suffering from the busy day, considering going to the hot tub in the thunderstorm.
I think its a plan.

Find useful information about RV Roof Repair, Roof Maintenance and Roof Repair Kits here.

Vegantarian Biscuits & Gravy

Published on September 8, 2009 by Katya in the category cooking | 1 Comment

So.. I have an obsession with biscuits and gravy smothered in hot sauce. Usually the only place that can fill this craving is Cup and Saucer in Portland, Oregon. Mostly because I’m vegetarian and gravy without sausage is a rarity anywhere else.  Coming to Spokane I didn’t really consider this problem and when I started to get the craving I didn’t know what to do about it. Luckily I just happen to know an amazing vegan chef in Spokane, my long time friend Ash. I found myself a recipe online for eggless/creamless biscuits (for use when Ross is here) and the gravy part, the most important part was all Ash.

For the vegetarian biscuits:

You can use a mix and no one will really care. I was looking for Bisquick mix but couldn’t find it at the local store so I bought a bag of whatever buttermilk biscuit mix I found. They turned out great.

For the vegan biscuits:

2 cups self-rising flour (sifted) (I subbed 2 cups all purpose flour, 3 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt)
¼ cup shortening (I used the spectrum stuff and it worked great)
¾ cup “buttermilk” (soymilk + vinegar)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place sifted flour into bowl, add shortening and use pastry blender or fork to cut shortening into small particles. Add “buttermilk” a little at a time until a medium-soft dough is formed. (More may be needed if dough is too hard.) Turn out onto floured surface, and dust with more flour. Pat with hands to form ball. For flat biscuits, roll out and cut. For tall biscuits, fold dough in half and pat down about 3 or 4 times then roll out and cut. Place in pan with edges touching. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 – 13 minutes or until golden brown. Yum!!
(reipe jacked from http://jewishvegan.blogspot.com/2007/01/fluffy-buttermilk-biscuits.html)

For a plates worth of vegetarian or vegan gravy:
(double recipe for more)

Half a can of cream of mushroom soup. Any kind that needs water added. Important.
1/8 cup cream cheese – make it vegan with vegan cream cheese.
1/8 cup milk – make it vegan with soy or rice milk.
If you’re feeling saucy, add vegetarian sausage in small lumps – pre-cooked in a frying pan for 3-5 mins before adding.

Season with pepper, salt, spices ( I use Jamaica me Hot and Crazy mix).

Heat on the stove stirring frequently at med-low heat until all lumps are gone & cream cheese is melted in. Simmer for about 5 minutes on low after a good consistency is reached. Be careful not to cook too high, the thickness will cause splashes of horrible burning gravy to splatter in your face. (Do not leave it alone – stirring prevents it from burning to the bottom)

Once your awesome biscuits are done, remove them and smother them in your amazingly tasty gravy.

SMOTHER IN HOT SAUCE (optional I guess) & EAT

biscuits

The Fridge and The RV of Illusion

Published on September 2, 2009 by Katya in the category cooking | 1 Comment

After a week without the fridge and my little ice idea working at its peak (which wasn’t bad) I finally decided to call a technician. It wasn’t easy finding someone who had gas fridge experience. Everyone kept sending me in circles “call an RV place” – “call a gas appliance place”, both being totally logical but the wrong answer. While I was scouring google, Ross was checking out the local Craigslist for me, finding a guy who specifically said he works on gas fridges. I had tried Craigslist a few days earlier and after no response from the 2 people I contacted – I gave up. The guy that Ross found was in Idaho but would probably drive here for a price. I told him the situation, an old vehicle, old appliances, but given the mileage (85k) I doubt they have had more than a year of actual use throughout their life. He agreed and said to make sue the RV is level and try the electrical method again, This time letting it do its thing for a couple hours before checking it. The fridge is electrical and gas which is really nice, but the first day I was in town me and Ross did both methods with no results. Basically we were too impatient. I think both of us were expecting noise if it had been running. After I hung up, I plugged it in, felt heat soon after and then tried to level the RV (just because I work in the most backwards ways possible for every situation).

Leveling the RV was living hell. I used my iphone level for a while with no consistent results, then moved on to an actual 2 foot long brick laying level – also getting completely wack results everywhere I put it. Window sills, counters, upper storage area… me and my friend’s husband Andy (whose yard I’m camping in) could see from outside that the RV was not level… and from sleeping in it, believe me you can tell. We tried jacking it up a bit after we finally agreed on a place to level from. It only seemed to make it worse. The fridge has no shelves in it, so measuring it front to back level was no challenge but side to side I had decided wouldn’t work without removing much of my food and ice. After about 40 mins of attempts and Andy having cut large blocks of wood for me to prop my jack stands on, I gave leveling one more shot and tossed my food onto the couch. The fridge itself was level enough to believe that the process was going to happen. A website I found said it can be up to 2 degrees off in either direction, what they called interestingly “half a bubble” (because my half a bubble was more like 4 degrees). The fridge was perfect one way and just a bit off the another. This is WHILE the rest of the RV had not one straight plane that could agree with another. The RV is apparently a twisted home of mystery, an optical illusion that laughs at me while I run around it and cover my hands in jack grease. I was glad I could sit down and wait for the fridge to either get cold or not.

It never once made a noise but slowly the freezer got cold, then the fridge. This didn’t happen in a “normal” amount of time, I’d say it was at least 8 hours before I was freezing food and cooling water. I waited overnight and finally felt like I could take out my bag of ice (in the cutout 2 gallon water jug) and let it work alone. So far, its doing great. Next step – to actually try the gas process. I’m taking a day off from the fridge. I’m just glad its working at the moment.

First cooking experience

Published on August 29, 2009 by Katya in the category cooking, RV life | 3 Comments

I was pretty happy when upon putting propane into the 36 year old tank and turning on the stove I did not explode. I was however disappointed that the oven didn’t seem to work with quite as much gusto as the one functioning burner. I got the pilot to light but wasn’t really sure why the rest of the oven did not become aflame as I adjusted the dial. I later discovered I was just being impatient and there was a longer process involved that required the pressing down of said button while set to a temperature.

Anyway. I decided for my first oven experiment I would go all out and make a pizza. Not one you stick in the oven and wait for, one you prepare with knives, cheese graters, fresh vegetables and such. We make these things quite often – usually at least half vegan but this time I was alone and able to smother the entire thing in pepper jack cheese. The onions and shallots came from the community garden at my mothers apartment and the red pepper from a store down the street from where I currently am, ahem.. Albertsons. I cooked them in olive oil for about 10 minutes on med-high heat while carefully cutting free and smothering in sauce a quality Boboli crust. I grated a fairly generous amount of Tillamook cheese onto the crust followed by black olives and many jalapeno slices. The oven was set to 450, though who knows what temp it was actually at, and I let her go.

pizza1

I had spent the afternoon preparing the stove by cleaning it out with intense chemical soakings and the wasting of many a paper towel only to find out that I had missed something rather important. The stove smoked like crazy but I was determined to eat pizza no matter what. I opened the door, turned on the fan (made sure the pizza wasnt on fire) and stuck it out. 10 minutes later I pulled out the pizza and to my wonderment and satisfaction there was a perfectly edible and tasty meal. I normally would have put on some kind of fake chicken product but veggie pizza and protein rich cheese was enough for me (Oh and jalapenos and hot sauce, my 2 major food groups).

pizza3pizza2

So far cooking is a success. I have blueberries to get rid of so its either pancakes or muffins tomorrow. hmm.

Other appliance news.

The heater works very very well. In fact if you leave it on more than a couple mins you will roast to death at pretty much any temperature its set to. I have been turning it on for about 20 mins in the evenings but really theres not much point because I wont be sleeping with it on any time soon.

I got tired of using a cooler after we unsuccessfully tried to turn on the fridge with both gas and electricity so I spent yesterday afternoon on the lovely Spokane bus system trying to find some dry ice. I should have known better but I was hopeful, and my $15 in dry ice (12lbs) worked amazingly but only lasted about 15 hours. I was more than annoyed.  I was committed to the idea of using the fridge with its ease of access and superior size to the cooler so I cut the top off my spouted 2 gallon water jug and filled it with ice. I put the “most important to stay cold” things (insulin, yogurt) directly on the ice and everything else in the doors and bottom shelf. It works fine and when the ice starts to melt I can use the spout of the jug to drain the water into my pitcher of drinking water and have some nice cold water. Clever me. So far its been lasting about 2 days a bag so at 99cents a bag, Id say 15$ a month isn’t bad until we can get the fridge working eh?

Food success! Things are pretty normal in here besides the inability to use running water. Soon enough though I’ll finish draining the tank, pull the pump, test it and order a new one (tomorrow soon)

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