Ice Cream Cone smores

We had our first couple of camp trips since July 4th and the weather has turned cooler which he have fully enjoyed.  This last weekend we went to a new location after some mishaps in the reservations.  We went to Praire Village in Madison, SD.  After the initial shock in the smaller sized camp sites we were pleasently surprised by the nice surroundings.  Friday evening started out with a lovely storm that forced us all to sit in the restroom for over an hour.  This is always enjoyable with children but my husband handled this with a beer in his hand. :-)

On Saturday we enjoyed a real train ride around the camp ground, the kids were able to sit in the caboose, the highlight of their day.  We walked around the village and you can go into all the buildings which are furnished with authentic equipment.  The dentist office has all the old chairs and equipment which looks rather primitive if you ask me.

Saturday night our group did our appetizer/dessert potluck.  One of the ladies brought ice cream cone smores.  This sounds strange but you take a sugar cone and smear peanut butter along the sides.  Then you proceed to fill the cone with mini marshmallows and different flavors of chocolate chips.  Once you have your creation built you then wrap it in tin foil and place over the camp fire.

Once you feel your ice cream smore has melted to just the right point you pull it off the camp fire and unwrap to enjoy it in all its glory.  The kids really enjoyed this and the chocolate was all over my little boys face.

4th of July

We went on our longest camping trip yet, five day at Lewis & Clark.  Not only was it the longest trip it has been by far the hottest trip to date.  With high temps and high humidity the heat index was 106.  During the day our air conditioner on the trailer did not stop and it was still only keeping the trailer at 85 degrees inside.  Not sure if there is anything you can do to help in this situation but it was at least cooler inside than out.  We did purchase a mister to connect to our trailer awning this didn't seem to make a difference with the humidity in the air.

I was very impressed with myself, we didn't run out of water in fact there was 1/3 of a tank left at the end of our trip.  We did however fill the Black tank and it did start to smell the last day. 

I did try a new recipe in the Dutch Oven, German Apple Pancake.  I apologize as I forgot to take a picture.  The recipe calls for cooking the apples in the bottom of the DO and then pouring the batter on top.  The apples were supper yummy and you could just pick at those all morning.  The pancake itself was very thick and almost like a soufle flavor.  I will keep the recipe to make the apples again but will probably skip the pancake part.

Recipe (found online, don't remember where)

Emeril's German Apple Pancakes
12" dutch oven
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup whole milk
1 cup flour
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 Tbs. butter
2 large apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
pinch salt
powdered sugar for serving
maple syrup, for serving

In a large bowl, combing the eggs, milk, flour and vanilla extract and whisk until just blended. Be careful not to over mix. Set the batter aside to rest while you prepare the apples. In you dutch oven, over about 20 coals, melt 2 Tbs. butter and add the apples, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until the apples are soft and lightly golden around the edges, about 6-8 minutes. Add the sugar and cook, stirring, until the apples are caramelized and very soft, 2-3 minutes longer. Add the remaining tablespoon of butter and stir to melt.
Quickly pour the batter evenly over the top of the apples. Bake at 450*, using 22 coals on top and 11 on the bottom, for 20 minutes or until it is golden brown and puffed. It will puff up almost to the top of your DO. To serve, sprinkle with powdered sugar or drizzle with maple syrup. Makes 1 12" pancake.
--

The Whale Bag

I am totally in love with the Whale bag!  I bought this bag last year on amazon, I was looking for something durable and washable to take toys and towels to the beach when camping.  I found this bag and purchased it, all I can say is it is totally awesome!  I just ordered my second bag.  I have been struggling with a bag to take to the showers when camping that will hold mine and one childs clothes, towels, shampoo, toothbrush, etc.  For some reason I never thought of using the Whale bag as that was purchased for the beach.  Last weekend I used it and it worked perfect, so perfect that I purchased a second one so my husband and I can both head to the showers with our Whale bags and a kid in tow.

You can purchase the Whale bag online now and only pay $6 shipping, through amazon.com the shipping is a little over $8.  I know the price of the bag seems high, but I will tell you it is worth every penny.   To look at all the items they sell go to SaltwaterCanvas.com.

This bag is made of a heavy mesh that is covered in a rubber type substance, it is very durable and the website says you could put it in your washer but I can't figure out why you would do that.  So far I have only shaked mine out as nothing sticks to it but if I had to wash it I think I would just wash it down with a hose.  There is no "material" so there is nothing that needs to be "washed" in that sense.

Well I think I have stated how much I "LOVE" this bag enough times.  :-)

Lake Shetek, MN

This weekend we went camping at Lake Shetek, MN.  This has become one of my favorite spots to camp with all the beautiful trees and the water.  This is our second trip to this State Park and now both times we see deer standing right next to the road.  The park staff is very friendly and enjoy having activities for the children. 

This trip I tried a couple of new recipes/ideas that I had found online.  The first was a recipe for Apple Cobbler in the Dutch Oven.  The recipe is two cans of Apple Pie filling, one bag of Betty Crocker Oatmeal Cookie mix, and one stick of butter (1/2 cup).  Dump the Apple Pie filling into the dutch oven.  Mix the softened butter in with the cookie mix and pour over the top of the apple pie filling.  Bake in the dutch oven at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes turning every 13 minutes. 

The end result was very good but a little sweet for my husband and I.  I will probably make this again but I might try Blueberry pie filling instead to help cut down on the sweetness.

The other idea we tried was baking Pillsbury cinnamon rolls in the Pie Irons.  I thought this would be something fun for the kids.

I heated the pie irons up prior to using them, then I coated them really well with butter and put a roll in the center of each iron.  You need to make sure to keep turning them as they will burn easily but I did have a couple come out really nice.  This picture shows one that burnt a little.

Our first night camping I noticed we again have another leak in our trailer.  I am very frustrated and spent hours trying to figure out where it is coming from, hopefully I found it and sealed it.  I know people get leaks in trailers but the people I know don't seem to be having as many problems we continue to have.  I am wondering if fiberglass sided trailers have less issues with leaking?  I just know that if we continue to have these issues I will be getting a different trailer.  I would appreciate any ideas and guidance on how to help resolve or keep from continued leaking problems.

Using my RV oven

We went camping for the Memorial Day weekend and as it usually does, it rained.  I had plans to make rolls in my Dutch Oven, but it rained.  I also had plans to try and cook Pillsbury rolls in the pie irons, but it rained.  I had to improvise and decided to use my oven in the RV for the first time.  After a little negotiation with the pilot light it decided to light.  I set the temp to 400 degrees and prepped the rolls.  Now here I did cheat, I used the Pillsbury rolls and put them in my cast iron skillet.  Then cooked them in the oven.  I was very impressed that the oven was right on, I cooked the rolls for the specified 15 minutes and they turned out perfect.   Sorry, I meant to take a picture but it escaped my notice until the rolls were gone.

I have decided that I need to invest in a cook plate (I think that is what you call it) for the Dutch oven.  With this I will be able to cook in the Dutch oven under the covenient cover of our awning.  I have not figured out where I can get one but I have seen some homemade ones and will start doing my research.

I found a recipe for Camp Cobbler where you use a bag of Betty Crocker Oatmeal cookie mix, butter, and two cans of apple pie filling.  This sounded very simple and delicious but I could not find the Betty Crocker Oatmeal cookie mix.  So in my mad googling last night I came across the site Fake-It Frugal and Heather Bea has found ways to make (or fake) our favorite brands by mixing your own ingredients and prepackaging them for future use.  I was thrilled to find this and my next task is to "make" some prepackaged Oatmeal cookie mix in preperation for our next camping trip in a couple of weeks.  I don't know why this recipe sounds so good to me but I have to make it and see if I am right and it tastes as good as it sounds.

Big Sioux - 5/18/2012

We survived the first trip out!  Yes we did forget a few items, I always keep a sticky pad and pen in the trailer so I can record the items I need to bring for the next trip. 

We arrived at the Big Sioux Recreation Area by 6pm Friday night and it was beautiful outside.  This Cardinal was visiting us at our site, I was able to get as close as five feet from him before he would flutter off to a tree.

Usually on Friday nights I keep the food low key and we simply had some ham sandwichs.  Now Saturday that is a different story because you know camping is all about fun, food, and friends! 

Saturday night we made grilled steak with a new recipe that I heard on Fox and Friends in the morning.  Last year we would put Blue Cheese crumbles on top of our steak and always struggled with getting it to stay on the steak and to melt (Blue Cheese crumbles don't melt very well).  Well last Thursday mornig there was a gentleman on Fox and Friends and he described making Blue Cheese butter logs and then cutting off slices to top on your steak and they would melt from the heat of the steak.  This sounded like a genius idea!  I did a little research online and went home that night and made two logs.  The first was 1/2 cup softened butter, 1/2 cup Blue Cheese crumbled and 2 strips of bacon crumbled.  Mix together and then form into a log on some wax paper, roll up and twist the ends.  The second one I made was 1/2 cup softened butter, 1/2 cup Blue Cheese crumbled and 2 garlic cloves minced.  Once the logs are wrapped you can store in the fridge for a week or the freezer for a month.  I have to say these were fantastic!  I wouldn't make the bacon one again, you can't taste the bacon so why put it in there.  The next day we took the left over steak and topped with some more Blue Cheese log (not sure what else to call it) and made steak sandwiches.....Yummy.

This is what the Blue Cheese logs looked like wrapped up.

This is what the steak looked like topped with a slice from the Blue Cheese log.

Next on our menu was corn bread made in the Dutch Oven.  The only recipe I have used I pulled from Byron's Dutch Oven Recipes, because it is so good I haven't wanted to try anything else.  This is simple to make and goes great with anything.

While cooking the cornbread in the Dutch Oven

After the cornbread was ready I pulled it out of the Dutch Oven and placed in a bowl.  I use the Dutch Oven liners, this makes clean up simple and allows me to lift food out easily.  If you leave the food in the Dutch Oven it will continue to cook.

We are camping again this Memorial weekend, this time we will visit Lake Cochrane. 

First camping trip of the summer

This weekend will be our first camping trip for the year.  We are so excited and the trailer is packed and ready to go.  This past weekend my husband installed our Rock Tamers that we received as gifts for Christmas.  The front of our trailer is aluminum and therefore has several rock dents in it from rocks kicking out of the truck tires.  We installed these on the truck this weekend and hoping it solves the issue of the rock dents.  These went on easily and once trimmed they fit really nice and were easy to adjust to the truck.

We are trying a new campground in South Dakota not to far from home, Big Sioux Recreation.  This will be the first time at this camp ground and it is only 20-30 minutes from home.  We will be using our dutch oven and possibly our pie irons on our first trip out.  It is also the free weekend for fishing so I am trying to convince my husband in packing the fishing poles for everyone.  I enjoy fishing and continue to try to convince the rest of my family that it is fun.  Wish me luck!

Dewinterizing

So I have to admit the past couple of years we have paid someone to winterize and dewinterize our trailer, we are that scared!  So this year we did pay someone to winterize but we decided to dewinterize.  So this morning my husband hooked up the water and drained the system.  We found out that there is a bypass on the water heater and had to switch that so we could test the water heater.  All in all I think we did ok, and now can take off on our first trip of the year in a couple of weeks.

I have been replacing some of the caulk around the outside.  The one thing I am noticing is that gummy stuff they put in the joints has shrunk up and allowed for areas to leak.  This is frustrating to me and wondering why trailers are so expensive and there are cheap joints all around.  I have asked the dealer if I am supposed to go around and caulk the edges and they said that was exactly what I am supposed to do.  It just looks so messy and I am a perfectionists, trying to get past that.  If anyone has any ideas on how to handle this I would love to hear it.

My girlfriend asked me how I cleaned my blinds in the trailer, I have to admit that I had never cleaned the blinds.  This gave me a freak moment when I wondered how dirty are the blinds in my trailer, well I am happy to report mine are not dirty (although my mother would probably argue that).  Thankfully because I wasn't sure how I was going to clean them, I will cross that road when I come to it.  My only problem with the blinds are they are cheap and thin, therefore my kids have bent several of them.  But I will replace them right before we decide to trade it off.

I am ready for the camping season to start, we still need to stock up on the staples.  Small containers of condements, snacks, etc.  This year I do want to try making my own trail mix but struggling how to do that and not spend $80 doing so.  I will let you know if I figure this out.

Trailer preperation

Today we were able to install the new TV/DVD combo, under cabinet TV mount, and the pull arm for the screen door. 

First the TV/DVD combo, we talked to our local RV store and was informed the wall we wanted to mount the TV on (on left in picture) has no support.  They suggested we mount the TV right to the countertop.  This was a fairly simple task and came out nice.

If you look carefully there is a screw on the right corner of the base and there is also one on the left back corner. This seems to be sufficient for support and  we only had to drill two holes in the countertop.

Next we mounted the TV to under the cabinet.

Right below the cabinet is a countertop we have been setting the TV on which must be taken down and put back up with each trip.

Now the TV is mounted and no longer needs to be stored during travel.  This is going to make the setup and cleanup on camping trips just a little easier.

The next item we tackled was a pull bar for the screen door.  We have a five year old and a three year old that struggle closing the screen door.  Hopefully this will keep a few more bugs outdoors instead of indoors.

I will even enjoy being able to easily close the screen door.  We found this item online at CampWorld http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/screen-door-cross-bar/35872 for $9.99.

A few minor caulking still needs to be done around the outside but we can hook up and take off camping on a moments notice now.  The kids are super excited for the first camping trip.....only a few more weeks to wait.  I do need to start reviewing my dutch oven recipes and decide which one we will try on our first trip of the year.  Last year we only tried two recipes, both were delicious and I will need to post soon.  Over the winter I did a lot of research and found a few recipes I want to try.  I am against any recipe that will require several steps and me watching the oven for hours on end so that does seem to limit the number of recipes to try.  But I did pick up a small digital clock/timer that we can use to time our cooking.  Last year we used our cell phones, I had a constant fear of leaving my very expensive smartphone outside. 

Bacon wrapped Asparagus

For the bacon lovers out there this one is devine!

Take a bunch of asparagus, fresh is better.  Trim the ends and clean under cold water.  Have one pound of bacon, the thick bacon I find works better.  Wrap a piece of bacon around a piece of asparagus and secure with tooth picks.  Once you have wrapped all the asparagus grill it on a hot grill around 400 degrees until the bacon is nice and crispy.

Your kids will devour these, I found this in several locations online and who ever came up with it is a genius!  Here is a link to the recipe on Taste of Home http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Bacon-Wrapped-Asparagus

Well as our luck would have it, we have not been able to work on our trailer.  We were washing the trailer when we noticed one of the vents on the roof was completey broken.  Of course it was one of the vents that is sealed into the rubber roof.  Needless to say it is currently at the shop to be fixed, when it comes to the rubber roof we have not ventured into repairs yet.  We struggled with a few leaks on the roof last year and it scared us to not try any repairs on our own.  We are hoping to have it back this week so we can start stocking it for the camping season this weekend. 

The weather has started to turn cold instead of the lovely heat wave we experienced in March but it was warm enough to try a new recipe on the grill.

Bacon wrapped cream cheese filled jalopeno's, on the grill!  One word....YUM!  We need to work on the grilling technique as there is a little trick to keep the cream cheese from leaking out as it melts, but as my husband said they were strangly addictive.  This will go in the recipe box for the camper.  I found one version of this recipe at http://mantestedrecipes.com/recipe/2753/bacon-wrapped-jalapeno-poppers.aspx but I did not use shredded cheese.  I also found where someone suggested mixing in some powdered ranch dressing in the cream cheese, this I will try the next time.

I also ordered a RV maintenance book from Amazon, waiting for that to arrive.  It is supposed to be a good all around go to book.  We need something to help us become a little more familiar with our camper.

Yesterday we made a few more camping reservations for the summer, looks like our summer plans are shaping up.  Received our new parts for the trailer yesterday so now we just need a warm weekend to put everything together. 

The new thing on my to do list this year is to make my own trail mix for our camping trips.  I tried one recipe I found online for the kids, it is mixing Teddy Grahams, mini marshmallows, mini M&M's, and Peanut Butter M&M's together.  I then put about a 1/2 a cup into little snack zip lock bags.  So far they are a hit with the kids.  The one thing I have noticed is the Teddy Grahams get a little soft from the moisture in the mini marshamallows and the mini marshmallows dryed out little.  But this doesn't have seemed to have phased my kids as they are thoroughly enjoying them which is the point after all.  I need to pick up some items for an adult trail mix.  I am thinking chocolate covered almonds, some dried fruit, different types of nuts, and maybe some granola.  We will see what I find at the store and end up with.

It is coming to the end of March and if you like to camp in SD you have to book your camping reservations 90 days in advance.  I need to get ahead of the game and book some of our trips as many sites are booked up 90 days out already.  We do like to go to a couple of camp sites outside of SD.  Last year we visited Ponca, NE and really enjoyed the area.  We have also camped at Camden, MN and last year Lake Shetek, MN.  The benefits of camping in NE or MN is you can book campsites a year in advance in these two states, therefore their campsites do not book up as fast and you usually can easily get a camp spot.  This is the bonus to the fact that the camp grounds are very nice and enjoyable for the whole family.

We pulled our Fifth wheel home from storage this last weekend and now we need to clean it out an prepare for the season.  One of our to do items is we purchased a new TV and two TV mounts.  We need to mount one under a cabinet and I do not foresee any issues with this.  The other TV we will mount to a wall in the bedroom, have some concerns and have done some research on the best way to mount this.  Both TV's are LCD therefore they are light weight but will need to see if there is any supports in the wall.  Wish us luck on this endeavor.  We also purchased a handle option for the screen door that gives a bar across the screen door to make shutting it from the inside easier, especially for little children.  I will try to take pictures of our progress, we are going to attempt some of these items this weekend.

This is our first trailer we have owned so every thing we do is an adventure!

I am a California girl who convinced my husband two years ago to purchase a Fifth Wheel and start the family tradition of camping.  We experiment with different cooking techniques and enjoy good food on our trips.  Being the computer geeks that my husband and I are we found that it is hard to find information on Midwest camp grounds on the internet.  I decided to start recording our adventures in camping and cooking in the great outdoors.