Banana Nut Bread

I use my blog kind of like a cookbook, a way to keep all my recipes in one place so that I don’t lose the little scraps of paper I jot them down on.

This morning I got ready to make a loaf of this delicious Banana Nut Bread for my neighbor Amy as a congratulations on her new job. So I got my bread maker out and pulled up HomeSweetHomeOnWheels… No Banana Nut Bread recipe listed. Well crap! So then I had to go searching and luckily I found this guy among other random unorganized-ness in the filing cabinet (that I plan to make a slipcover for – against Allen’s wishes… but he’ll like it in the end!)… 

 I just added it to the recipe section so I will have it in the future for sure! But here it is if you’re curious…

  • 1/2 cup buttermilk *
  • 2/3 cup butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (3-4 bananas)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/3 cups sugar
  • 2 2/3 cups flour, regular all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Put all these ingredients (minus the walnuts) into your bread pan. Select the “quick” bread cycle-this just means it doesn’t have a rise time. You’ll need to help the mixing process out… You don’t want lumpy clumps of flour – yuck! So help it mix up and get everything off the sides. My machine mixes for about 7 minutes then rests. This is when I add the walnuts, again helping out a little. Then it mixes again, and bakes for an hour and a half. Try not to burn your fingers when it’s finished, let it cool a little before you dive in!

*I have never used buttermilk in my life. It’s not something I just have in the fridge and I don’t plan well enough to buy it ahead of time. So a good substitute for buttermilk is 1 cup of whole milk + 1 tbs of white vinegar. I know it sounds weird but it works, I promise!

Someone asked me yesterday if Charlie had her own section of the blog… That she does! It’s here… You can also donate to her treat fund here… 

 

Grilled Tuna with Mango Salsa over Rice

I love seafood. It’s healthy, it’s delicious, it’s easy to cook (once you figure out never to OVER cook it). 

I usually make this Mango Salsa to go with salmon but since I couldn’t find any salmon to my liking, we went with tuna steaks instead. (I think frozen is perfectly delicious if super fresh isn’t available…)

I always preheat the grill and get it smokin’ hot while the fish is thawing out and getting seasoned with love. Ok, I use Canadian steak seasoning in place of actual love for the tuna! (With salmon I use Old Bay and white pepper with a smidgen of garlic salt). 

Be sure to oil the fish then place it on the smokin’ hot grill, close the lid and leave it alone. Depending on how actually smokin’ hot your grill gets, will determine when you should flip the tuna. We have a Weber Q (the back side is being weird as of late and not staying lit, so it’s not getting as super hot as I would prefer).  

 But usually about 4 minutes is good, then flip the tuna steak. (It should let you flip it easily, fish tells you when it’s ready, it’ll stick if it’s not). Do about 3 minutes on the other side and you’re finished!  

 Now on for the really tasty part that gives the whole meal a kick… 

Mango Salsa

  • 1 ripe mango, diced
  • 1/2 small red onion, diced
  • 2 Roma tomatoes, diced
  • Lemon or Lime juice
  • 1-2 tsp sugar (depends on the sweetness and ripeness of your mango)
  • A squeeze of rooster sauce aka Sriracha sauce (you can choose how spicy you want it to be)

I mix all these yummy things together at least an hour ahead of time to give them time to get acquainted and mingle and develop some delicious juice to hang out in.  

 I serve the tuna over steamed white rice and top it all off with the mango salsa. Yum! And it’s all good for you!  

  

Cheap, Easy, Healthy, Delicious Black Bean Soup

Yes, this soup is all of those things. It’s so good. I made it last night for dinner and just had the rest (a 1/2 bowl) for lunch. Yum! FullSizeRender-20.jpg

I’ve been wanting to make black bean soup for a couple months now and I’ve had 2 cans of black beans in my pantry just waiting to be used. I don’t know what happened or why I didn’t make it, but I’m fairly sure I bought these cans of beans the LAST TIME we were here at the RV Ranch in Keene… That means they’ve been out to San Francisco, over to Winnemucca, NV; Rawlins, WY; Hermosa & Salem, SD; up to Hillsboro, ND; down to Council Bluffs, IA; through Oklahoma City; back to Keene, TX; up to Sparta, KY via West Memphis, AR; and back down here via Dickson, TN and Texarkana. These are, were, some travelin’ beans!

Allen and I both put on a little teensy tiny bit of hibernation weight in North Dakota so I’m all about trying to make healthy meals for us this year!  Not to mention, as I’m sure a lot of folks are right now, we are just hanging on until tax return time! The holidays combined with three weeks off work are fun and all, but we are definitely feeling that now!

Anyway, I try to save these recipes I find as bookmarks on my phone or write them down somewhere but this one just disappeared… So I went searching via Google yesterday and found recipes from the Pioneer Woman (I love most of her recipes for just about everything), Epicurious (Jennifer from Tyler, TX specifically-I did write that down!), and Food Network

I didn’t have all the ingredients for any of them so I mixed and matched and used what I had… Here’s my version:

Cheap, Easy, Healthy, Delicious Black Bean Soup

  • 1-2 tbs bacon grease
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 4 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 jalapeno, some of the ribs and seeds removed, diced
  • dash of oregano
  • dash of cayenne pepper
  • dash of ancho chili pepper
  • dash of chili powder
  • a large dash of cumin
  • 2 cups of beef broth
  • 2 cans low sodium black beans, undrained
  • 1 roma tomato, diced
  • 1-2 tbs jarred salsa
  • about a 1/2 cup frozen corn, maybe more
  • salt to your liking
  • palmful of chopped cilantro

Saute onion and jalapeño in bacon grease over medium heat until just getting soft. Then add garlic. Add all the spices. Once the garlic begins to get fragrant, give it about 30 more seconds and add the broth. Stir to combine, bring to a boil. Add your beans and give those a stir. Then add corn, as much as you prefer really. Once the corn warms up, give it a taste. I probably added about a teaspoon of salt, maybe a tad more, but I didn’t measure. Let that simmer for about 20 minutes to bring the flavors together then stir in your cilantro. I topped mine with a dollop of sour cream and more cilantro, with a little bit of green onion last night. Today for lunch I topped it with a diced avocado and that was absolutely scrumptious! 

 

I Like Big Buns and I Cannot Lie….

Hamburger buns that is.

Homemade hamburger buns.

Big homemade hamburger buns.

I’m still trying to get away from buying bread at the store. If I can make it at home then I know what’s in it, it’s cheaper, and it tastes better. So I just did a Google search and found this recipe on So Very Blessed.

Here’s what I did:

Put all these ingredients in the bread machine in the order you are supposed to. 

  • 1 cup of warm milk
  • 3tbs vegetable oil
  • 1 egg
  • 3 1/2 cups white flour
  • 1tbs sugar
  • 1tsp salt
  • 2tsp yeast

Set your machine for the “dough cycle”. After about 2hrs, whenever it’s finished, take the dough ball out and divide it into 6 – LARGE – (or 8 if you want smaller buns) equal parts. Shape into a bun. (Make a round ball and kind of pat it down a little.) Put these on a greased baking sheet, cover with a towel and let them sit for almost an hour.  They will puff up a little.


After the hour, brush them with an egg wash (1 egg white with 2tbs water) and sprinkle with sesame seeds. You don’t HAVE to do this, but I like it. You could do minced onion on top if you wanted, I think it’d be delicious, but I would wait to do the egg wash and onion until just a few minutes before they are finished because the onion will burn if you leave it in too long, then you have ruined buns! 

Stick these puppies in a 400 degree oven (or a 375 degree convection microwave oven) for about 12 minutes. Keep an eye on them so they don’t get too dark. 


I suggest letting them cool completely before slicing. We had chicken salad on these last night for dinner and tonight I’m grilling burgers for them. (delicious 1/2 turkey, 1/2 hot Italian sausage burgers… yum!)

For lunch yesterday, during the terrible Bengals game, we had those bagels I made the other day with some leftover chili I thawed out for lunch. (perfect for the rainy day we had here in Texas) Allen thought they were delicious, and he claims to not be a bagel fan! (He had two!) I’ll have to make them again soon!

Daily bread (and homemade bagels)!

BREAD

So I have still been searching for a recipe that makes really good sandwich bread. Even though Allen likes most of them, some more than others, I haven’t really found one fit for a pb&j… (And I love pb&j sammies!) But I stumbled across one 2 days ago. I can’t believe one simple step made such a world of difference!

a text from my boo yesterday at lunchtime

Here’s the recipe I used from food.com:

  • 1 cup of hot water
  • 2tsp yeast
  • 3tbs sugar
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1tsp salt
  • 3 cups white flour (not bread flour)

The trick is to put the hot water, yeast and sugar in the bread pan and let it sit for about 10 minutes. The yeast will foam a little. Then you add the remaining ingredients, set the machine to basic cycle with rapid crust. So. Delicious.

  

BAGELS

Also, I tried my hand at homemade bagels yesterday! I made them my version of Everything Bagels… I found the recipe on King Arthur Flour’s site (here). I cut the recipe in half since Allen isn’t a huge fan of bagels… Here’s my version and it made 4 normal size bagels.

  • 1/2 tbs yeast
  • 2 cups bread flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tbs brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup lukewarm water

Put all that in the bread machine and set it for bagel dough. Once it’s finished, cut the dough into 4 equal parts and shape into smooth, round balls. (Or try your best at smooth and round) Then place them on a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper, lightly greased, cover with plastic wrap and let them sit for about a half hour.

  During the half hour, mix together in a large, wide pan:

  • 64oz. water
  • 2tbs brown sugar
  • 1tbs sugar

Bring all that to a boil then reduce it to a simmer. Preheat the oven to 425 (or convection oven to 400). Then poke a hole through the center of the doughball and twirl around your pointer finger until the hole is about 2″ in diameter. (Mine look perfect, right?)

Put the bagels into the water bath. Cook, simmering, for 2 minutes on one side then flip them over and cook for another minute.

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Take them out and place them back on the parchment lined baking tray. Sprinkle with seasoning if desired… (It’ll stick better if you brush the tops of the bagels with an egg wash first – 1 egg white mixed with 2 tbs water)

My “everything” seasoning mix…

  Bake them in the oven for 15 minutes, flip them over, bake 10 minutes more. Then if you still want them a little darker in color, flip them back over, right side up for about 5 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

I couldn’t wait to try one this morning for breakfast. I flip flopped back and forth between topping it with avocado and crushed red pepper, or making a bacon, egg & cheese sandwich with it. I decided on the avocado, thinking maybe chicken salad would be delicious on it for dinner, then thought I should also do half with traditional cream cheese also.

 Yum! They are chewy and crunchy (after toasting) and they have that bagel flavor. The only thing I might change is my “everything” seasoning. I think it’s a little too salty. I want to hurry and eat these so I can make another batch!

Cooking Thanksgiving Dinner in an RV

This will be my first year making Thanksgiving dinner in a camper!  Last year we got a few days to go home to see family. We were in Oklahoma City at Abe’s RV Park, so it wasn’t too far to Cincinnati… The year before Allen was in India working and I was staying at my mom’s house.

I’ve made Easter dinner (I attempted to cook a very large ham in my slow cooker…All I’ll say about that is: At least we had fun!… And I burnt my finger really bad! And, yes, I made those bunny ears and forced Allen to put them on. That’s it. That’s all I’m saying.)Screen Shot 2015-11-24 at 5.53.12 PM.png

I’ve also made St. Patrick’s Day dinner, Shepard’s pie to be precise…

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We made fast friends with the neighbors and didn’t eat until REALLY late! This was at Poche Plantation in Convent, Louisiana… 

And I cook dinner almost every day in our RV. So I’m no rookie in the kitchen. But Thanksgiving is always more challenging no matter how much space you have! To top things off, I’m not THE best at time management. For example, I make a lot of Rachael Ray’s recipes, her 30-minute meals, and they typically take me around 90 minutes!!! No lie, ask Allen, usually he’s starving by the time dinner is ready.  I can’t help it, I’m just slow… But perfection takes time. Right??

Anyhow, in a camper, space is limited, as is counter space, and cooking space.

Luckily for me, I have the advantage of a new fifth wheel with far more space than the travel trailer we had prior to this. My stove has 3 burners whereas the average stove in a “normal” home has 4. My oven is small. And this one is slightly larger than the oven in our travel trailer was. My saving grace (I think) will be the convection microwave. I absolutely love the thing! I mostly use the conventional oven for storage now because the convection microwave just cooks so much better. Our fridge is huge compared to the one we had in the travel trailer also, so that helps a ton!

I was willing to cook for all the guys on the crew, provided they had some opinions or ideas on what they wanted and where we could all eat. Three of them are staying in the motel a block away and one is next door in the campground. But they are men, and nobody would speak up and say what they wanted to do. So it’s just me and Allen (and Charlie), which makes everything a little easier for me!

We went shopping today and got everything we needed. (I also got a new coat because my old one stopped zipping and we can’t have a non-zipping coat in “Little Canada”!

I measured my convection microwave from top to bottom and decided I could fit 7″ of turkey in there without shoving and squishing! So I was armed with my tape measure… But then we spotted a roasting oven for $25. Boom. Sold! Screen Shot 2015-11-24 at 6.01.42 PM.png

Now (hopefully) I will have a super delicious, juicy, flavorful turkey and have room for other stuff in the convection oven and maybe, just maybe, fingers crossed, I can get by without using the “real oven”, because that thing just stresses me out! Always has.

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Thanksgiving is for food and football… And family… And friends… But definitely not for stress! 

So my TENTATIVE plan is to have a turkey in the roasting oven (unstuffed because I don’t want to risk that… ); a small ham, green bean casserole, and stuffing in the convection oven; then gravy, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce (for me only-Allen’s not a fan) on the stove, with deviled eggs (strictly for me also) and cheesecake in the fridge and freezer, respectively. And let’s not forget the mimosas in the morning…Screen Shot 2015-11-24 at 6.23.32 PM.png

Followed by Wild Turkey later in the day!

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Image: Donald M. Jones  

Not that kind of wild turkey…

This kind!Screen Shot 2015-11-24 at 6.28.09 PM.png

Yum! It’s kind of a tradition of mine that I started when I was in college in San Francisco with no mom to cook for me and no cooking abilities of my own!

I currently have the 15lb turkey Allen insisted we get in a bucket of cold water in the garage where it stays pretty cold (like, we’ve been keeping our beer back there cold, it has one vent and we are using it as a mudroom cold, Charlie shivers upon entering cold… So I think it’ll be okay until Thursday).

I want to make the green bean casserole tomorrow and toss it in the fridge so it’ll just need warming. I don’t want to do the stuffing ahead of time because I love the smell of the trio of onions, celery and garlic all simmering on Thanksgiving morning, so I’ll wait to do that. Then I’ll just have mashed potatoes and gravy and cranberry sauce  to make (super easy-just cranberries, some water, sugar, lemon juice and salt and pepper makes it delicious!)

I’m pretty excited!  I think my planning (albeit tentative) is going to help things go smoothly… Wish me luck!  On the plus side, Allen’s pretty used to waiting for hours to eat, so it should be fine! Screen Shot 2015-11-24 at 6.03.02 PM.png

Sunday Funday doesn’t exist in North Dakota

Allen had to work today. And last Sunday. That kinda puts a damper on the so-called weekend! He works on broadcast towers, you can read more about that jazz here… But they are trying to hurry and finish this job so we can get the heck outta here… I don’t really want to be around when they close the highways! They already closed parts of I-80 that we took to get here. Seems like we left San Francisco just in time to get through the mountains with no snow…

So it’s just me and Charles hanging out today watching football. Luckily the Bengals play tomorrow night so Allen will get to see the game regardless!

I forgot to show off our new home decor I picked up while we were in South Dakota

   They are those wall decals that just peel and stick. You can remove them and move them with no damage. I think they are perfect for our camper. I try not to put holes in the wall if I don’t have to, part of the reason I love Command hooks also! “Home Sweet Home” is above the front door and the other is in the bathroom behind the toilet (I didn’t know where else to put it!)

Anyhow, the other night for dinner I made this Spicy Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork and we made tacos with it. Yum! And super simple!Screen Shot 2015-11-15 at 12.32.18 PM

Here’s the recipe:

Layer the following in the slow cooker, in this order…

  • 1 large onion, quartered, and separated
  • a pork butt or shoulder roast (mine was about 3lbs), make sure you salt and pepper this guy very generously
  • a can of chipotle peppers in adobo
  • a can of Dr. Pepper at room temp (use two cans if you have a giant roast-one was enough for me)

Stick the lid on. Turn it on low.

About 4 hours in, flip the roast over. Flip it again in an hour or two. If it is falling apart, take it out and shred the meat. If not, give it another hour and check again. Once you get the meat out, try and skim some or most of the fat off the top without getting rid of too much juice. Shred it and put it back in the pot for another hour, making sure all the meat is soaking up all that juicy goodness.

I served this on warm flour tortillas (I just heated them in a dry pan over medium heat for about a minute on each side). I topped it with some homemade pico (my version follows), a few sprigs of cilantro, and some pepper jack cheese. Delicious! And we have plenty left over for dinner tomorrow…. I think you should try this tonight! (P.S. I’ve been loving The Pioneer Woman‘s recipes, that’s where I found this one! She made hers in the oven, but since I have a camper oven, I prefer my handy dandy slow cooker.)

Pico de Gallo

  • 4 roma tomatoes, diced
  • 1/2 red onion, diced
  • 1/2 jalapeno, seeded and diced
  • a good squirt of lime juice
  • a palmful of chopped cilantro

I hope you are all having a better Sunday than my super hard-working, loving boyfriend!

Oh, and by the way, Allen said the Potato Bread I made this week beats out all the others for best yet! And I’ve kind of decided that If I keep it in a ziplock baggie vs. the bread baggies I bought, it stays softer and fresher longer…

Warm Potato Bread on a Cold & Windy Day

Today is a weather day for my love.

 It is NOT a day for working outside, let alone working 2,000 feet in the air! So for the first time since we got here to Hillsboro, North Dakota, he got to sleep in!

Last night we ran to Grand Forks to go to Walmart and stock up on some groceries. We had dinner at Texas Roadhouse (yum). I saved part of my steak for steak & eggs and Allen saved his ribeye bone for our little sweet bored puppy (she’s not a fan of winter, she’s a Floridian at heart like us!)

So I got up this morning and made bacon and steak & eggs. Then got ready to make some bread.

 I found a recipe for Potato Bread that uses real onion and a real potato so I thought I’d try it. I’ve been having an issue lately with my bread not rising enough. My first thought was the altitude but we aren’t very high. Now I’m thinking it’s the temperature. The bread maker’s room temperature and mine must be different! Considering we are trying to maintain a steady 64 degrees I’m not too surprised.

We keep alternating between using the fireplace & space heater, and using the furnace.  We are trying to balance saving propane, while also trying to keep the floor warm, as well as the huge cubby and the water compartment outside. Plus we are paying for electric here, so we don’t want to crazy run the meter up. But, we’ve already went through over $100 in propane in 2 weeks heating this huge camper we are fortunate enough to live in! We have our heated water hose plugged in and the tank heaters on, and the truck is plugged in.

Anyway, I’m warming my ingredients by the hearth! Trying to bring them up to my picky bread maker’s version of room temp, not my budget-conscious version!

 Charlie is happily busy with her new bone (which I will be sneaking away when she finally wants to go outside!) and Allen is napping in bed…

Here is the recipe for the Baked Potato Bread (From redstaryeast.com) and that Pumpernickel Rye Bread (from westbound.com) I made the other day…

Baked Potato Bread

  • 1/2 milk (@ 80 degrees)
  • 3 tbs olive oil
  • 1 egg (@ room temp)
  • 2 3/4 cup bread flour
  • 1/3 cup baked potato, mashed (I microwaved mine)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tbs sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp yeast
  • 1/2 cup onion, finely diced (added at the nut beep)

This makes a 1 1/2 lb loaf. Basic/White cycle. Medium crust color.

Pumpernickel Rye Bread

  • 5 oz water (@ 80 degrees)
  • 1 1/2 tbs molasses (I used syrup because that’s all I had on hand)
  • 2 tbs butter
  • 1 1/2 cups bread flour
  • 1/3 cup rye flour
  • 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 tsp yeast

This makes a 1 lb loaf. White/Basic cycle. Medium crust color.

As always, if you want to browse some other bread machine recipes, you can do that here.  I’m making this to go with this Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice Soup I’m going to try tonight.  I’ll post the recipe once I find out if it’s any good! Stay warm out there! 

**Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice Soup recipe

Fantastic Chili Bread!

I think I want this bread with a big bowl of chili for my last meal! It is SO good!

I made this chili bread yesterday with my Hillbilly Chili for dinner and Allen and I ate almost the whole loaf! We didn’t even bother to take the kneading paddle out, we just tore off chunks at a time…

I found the recipe on this website. It’s full of recipes for the bread machine. I’ve tried a few of them, and most work out, while some are complete failures (i.e.: Lemonade Bread!)

I was a little worried because it doesn’t call for any sugar, but beer has sugar in it… I modified the recipe a little bit to fit what I had available… Here’s what I did:

  • 3/4 cup + 2 tbs Budweiser (any beer would probably work, I actually think a darker hoppier beer would probably be delicious) *I used warm, room temp beer.
  • 1 tsp instant chicken bouillon (or, 1 cube crushed up very finely)
  • 1/4 tsp ground cayenne
  • 1/4 tsp hot chili oil (I usually find this in the Asian section with sesame oil)
  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • 1/8 tsp ground cumin (I eyeballed this because I don’t have a measuring spoon that tiny)
  • 1 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 1/4 cups bread flour
  • 2 tsp yeast

This makes a 1lb loaf. I set my machine to the french bread setting and a medium crust color. The basic/white bread setting would probably work also.

It’s perfect to munch on by itself, it’s spicy and delicious, but even better dipped in chili. If you’re in the market to try a new chili recipe, mine is pretty fantastic! You can find that recipe here. It would actually probably be good served with gumbo too… Maybe I’ll put that on the list for next week!

I’ve been compiling my favorite bread recipes in one spot, if you want to check them out and maybe try one this weekend.

Happy Friday!

Blowing this joint!!!

Goodbye California! Well, we still have 7 days and a wake up! (As my brother would say…) We are getting Charlie out of the parking lot and heading for greener pastures! 4fa5624ca9922c60b5fa80bbf9dc0cc2

The tentative plan a few days ago included leaving here, driving to South Dakota to change our domicile, get a new mailing address, register vehicles, etc. then head on to Dallas for the next job.

But, plans changed as they usually do and the next job is in North Dakota now! So our little stop in South Dakota isn’t really out of the way at all!Screen Shot 2015-10-15 at 2.34.05 PM

I’m excited, I’ve never been to the Dakotas and I’ve never been that far north period. I’m hoping for Allen’s sake if nothing else that we don’t get snow while we are there, but it’ll be an adventure nonetheless.

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We have Texas and California now. Allen says we should have New Mexico and Arizona but I say we only count the states that all three of us (Allen, Charlie and I) stay in THIS camper.. And since what I say goes (most of the time-sshhh!) they are not on the map yet!

I love traveling and I get a little hard to deal with (I think) when we sit somewhere for longer than a month or two. I just get antsy and want to get on with it already. And I can’t wait to add to our map!

The tower they are going to be working on was the tallest structure in the world when it was built in 1963. It’s now the 4th tallest structure in the world (after some buildings in Tokyo), THE tallest in the Western Hemisphere and the tallest radio mast in the world. Pretty cool…

 The KVLY-TV mast is in Blanchard, ND (almost exactly halfway between Fargo and Grand Forks). Blanchard has a population of 26. Yep. Small town. And I thought Convent, Louisiana was tiny! (Population 711, right on the Mississippi River)

 The closest RV park is in Hillsboro and that’s a little bigger, population 1,603 in the 2010 census. It’s 1 square mile. There is a family restaurant, a Burger King, a Subway, gas station, grocery store, bakery, and a florist and I think there MAY be 1-3 bars but I can’t really decide if they are still open. From what I gather online, the RV park is also the town laundry mat and a fried chicken place. It should be interesting!

 I’m pretty sure I can walk everywhere in less than 15 minutes (if I don’t let Charlie stop and smell ALL of the roses!)

I know this isnt Charlie and these aren’t roses but I couldn’t resist the adorableness!

I’m super excited to be getting out of the city and out into the country. I get to where I need open spaces after being in a city for too long. I’m excited Charlie will have some grass! And Allen will be glad to get back to real tower work (not just painting and piddling).

Today is full of typical San Francisco fogginess so I’m making my hillbilly chili for dinner and trying out this new recipe for Chili Bread that I found… I’ll let you know if it comes out delicious!

I also made these pillow covers for our friend Brandi back in Kentucky and mailed them to her this week… Her boyfriend went and installed a 50AMP outlet for us so we can stay in their yard during the holidays. Talk about some awesome friends!

 And I made these for us… I’m loving the teal and brown combo…

  
If you would like to see one of many tutorials on the web, this one by me, you can check out this link or this one!

For now I will leave you with some cuteness… Charlie and her parking lot pals… Cheers!

Cisco the friendly husky pup.

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Cisco gets bored and tears things up… For instance, his bed.

Duke and Daisy being lazy