The BEST clam chowder EVER and Super Yummy Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Posted on October 7, 2015 by Rachel Gillen

Not together of course. That wouldn’t be so delicious. But separately=yum!

Side note: if you WANT to try chocolate covered clams, here’s a random recipe!

Saturday Allen and I met my friend Dave for dinner at The Old Clam House. Dave and I went to the Academy of Art together about…. Oh, we’ll just say 7 years ago… And he lives in the city now.

**Disclaimer: I took none of the pictures of The Old Clam House, just borrowed them from Google.

He could not have picked a better place! The Old Clam House is the oldest restaurant in San Francisco. It started in 1861. If you’re ever hungry in the city I highly recommend it! We started with drinks of course. They have their own beer, brewed by Anchor Steam, so I had that. It was really good, a little lighter than Allen’s Lagunitas. It’s called Old Clam House Milwaukee Steam.

Then we had a sizzling iron platter of shrimp and mussels with butter to dip in. Dave hates that the place switched owners and they no longer serve sourdough bread, but they make this soda bread in a cast iron pot type thing that was really good (I wish I could make bread like that!)

Next came the, I think, world’s best clam chowder. Oh my goodness. I want a bowl for breakfast as I’m writing this. Fantastic.

Then I finally got to try cioppino! I’ve always wanted to but I was always a little iffy about it. It was really good! Allen liked it too. I was a TINY bit surprised he liked everything as much as I did.

Thank you Dave for a wonderful dinner! If you’re up for it, check out some of Dave’s paintings!

Now for the Chocolate Zucchini Bread….

I did take this photo!

I found the recipe here: With The Grains

I modified it a little to fit what I had and cut it in half. I love it! The closest way I can think to describe it is it’s kinda like a chocolate muffin. It’s not too sweet. But it doesn’t taste like zucchini at all. I’ll definitely make it again. Here’s the version I made:

1 1/2 cups zucchini, shredded
1 cup whole wheat flour (I sifted mine)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
1/4 cup plain 2% Greek yogurt
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 or convection oven to 325.
Place the shredded zucchini on paper towels to absorb some of the moisture while you mix everything else.
Whisk together in a large bowl: the flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt
Whisk in a medium bowl: eggs, butter, yogurt, sugar, and vanilla
Pour wet into dry and stir together. (It will be thicker than cake mix, almost like a really wet bread dough)
Fold in zucchini.
Pour/spoon into a parchment lined 9×5 loaf pan and top with chocolate chips.
Bake 45-55 minutes, or 60 minutes in the convection oven. (I rotated mine once)
Place on a wire rack to cool.
Enjoy! And don’t forget to share with the neighbors 🙂

Almost an ENTIRE week of bad dinners!

Posted on October 3, 2015 by Rachel Gillen

Occasionally, well, more than occasionally, I get on a kick where I want to try lots of new recipes. I go off of what’s on sale at the store then Google things to make. I use a lot of Rachael Ray recipes (I too am a garlic fanatic!) but I also get them from all over the web. I usually jot them down on scraps of notebook paper then when it comes time to make them I have to go searching for the little scribbled recipe.

This past week there was a sale on bone-in skin-on chicken thighs. I hardly ever cook with bone-in chicken, but I thought what the heck, it’s on sale! Here was my menu:

Chicken Thighs with Smoky Roasted Peppers
Salmon with Peanut Noodles and Veggies
Steak with Rosemary Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Sautéed Zucchini
Grilled Sweet and Sticky Chicken Thighs with Asparagus (Allen eventually vetoed the sweet and sticky part and insisted on just regular barbecue sauce-he claimed he was starving from barely eating all week!)
Bacony Egg Noodles with Green Beans

Allen joked on Thursday night that I was 0 for 4 for the week. But I pulled a win out on Friday with the Bacony Egg Noodles! I knew he would like bacon. And I didn’t think everything else was THAT bad…

But tonight we are meeting a guy I went to school with for dinner at The Old Clam House. So that should be delicious and I won’t have to cook it! First we have to take Charlie to get a much needed mani-pedi and go grocery shopping. Since tomorrow will be tied up with football! Go Bengals! Who Dey!

Bread Machine Deliciousness…

Posted on October 1, 2015 by Rachel Gillen

I’ve been experimenting with different recipes in my bread machine lately… (An Oster Expressbake)

Mostly because I’ve been trying to get the perfect sandwich bread for Allen’s lunches.

It’s also been kind of dreary here in San Francisco lately. However, there’s an end in sight! From what I gather we need to be in Dallas by the first part of November… I can’t wait! The tower they were working on at Fair Park is coming down. I’m hoping we can swing through South Dakota and change our domicile on the way-even though it’s not really “on the way”).

Anyhow, back to bread: About a month ago I made this honey wheat bread that had an egg in it (my first bread using an egg) and Allen loved it. I think the egg holds it together better (for sandwiches that travel in a backpack on a motorcycle especially). Well… I can’t find that recipe again! I’ve looked in my search history and through all my scattered notes on paper throughout the house (I have plenty of those!)… Nada. So I’ve been trying different recipes looking for something that holds together well and has a nice texture and flavor.

I finally found two that Allen says are delicious! (I wrote them down in a safe place!) First, the runner-up:

French Countryside Bread (1LB loaf)

3/4 cup + 1 tsp water
2 1/4 tsp oil
3/4 tsp salt
2 cups bread flour
3 tsp sugar
1 tsp yeast (rapid rise/active dry)

Basic/White Setting; Medium Crust Color
The WINNER is moist and holds together well with less crumbs than normal and has a slight buttery flavor:

1LB Egg Bread (from Fleischmann’s)

1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 tbs butter/margarine (I used unsalted butter)
3/4 tsp salt
1 tbs sugar
2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 tsp yeast (rapid rise/active dry)

White/Basic Setting; Medium Crust Color
While I was perusing Fleischmann’s recipes, I came across one for Cinnamon Raisin Bread and decided to try that out. Allen, who claims not to like raisins, loved it! I’m thinking I could make it during the holidays for a little treat or breakfast toast…

Cinnamon Raisin 1LB Loaf

3/4 cup water
3/4 tsp salt
1 tbs butter or margarine (I used unsalted butter)
2 cups bread flour
4 tsp dry milk
4 tsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp yeast (rapid rise/active dry)
1/2 cup raisins

Add all ingredients except raisins.

White/Basic Setting; Medium Crust Color

Add raisins at beep, towards the end of the kneading cycle.
Happy bread making!

P.S. We finally got our new valve for the leveling jacks, but haven’t put it on yet. The weekends have been filled with football and we haven’t found the time quite yet (getting to the bar at 9am to watch the Bengals play has been a little rough on us!)

My Favorite Camper-Sized Things

Posted on September 22, 2015 by Rachel Gillen

I have to start off by saying that Charlie is THE BEST camper-sized puppy I could ever wish for!

Now, moving onto camper-sized THINGS…

Living full-time in a camper takes some adjusting to but overall I love it. Before I moved in with Allen for good I went through all my clothes and got rid of half of them. Then I went through again and got rid of another half. I still probably have too much, and I TRY to live by the rule that when I get something new, I need to get rid of something, but that doesn’t always work out perfectly!

The biggest challenge for me is staying tidy. Just ask Allen! He sometimes starts twitching (slight exaggeration) coming in the door from work if I have crafty stuff on “his side” of the bench, and let’s not forget walking into the bathroom if I’ve forgotten to put my makeup and hair stuff away… (Let’s just say my tidiness is a work in progress!)

You know that saying: Well… This is more like it:

True that!!!

But in a camper, you need to be organized and live by this rule or things can get out of hand rather quickly!

So here’s a list of some of my favorite things that work well for me in our camper. Some I have, some I just really want!

I have a set of nesting mixing bowls and measuring cups just like these, but I got mine from Aldi (it’s a discount grocery in Cincinnati) and I only paid around $15. This set is $30. The only thing I wish is that my green bowl had the same little pour spout-that’s kinda nifty!
These Magma nesting pots and pans look SO nice! A dream come true! They all stack neatly inside of each other and there are two removable handles so they don’t get in the way! I am in love with them. I’m REALLY hoping my wonderful mother gets us these for Christmas! I saw them first on Shore Looks Nice.

Considering my drawer for pots and pans (and my coffee pot) looks like this currently, I can only imagine how amazing these would be!

When we had the other camper, I would do dishes and set them on a dish towel on the stove, leaning against the wall to dry. But with our new camper, the sink is on the island, which means there is no wall to lean plates and things against to dry. So one of the first things I bought was this drying rack. It folds up and fits under the sink when I’m not using it.
I’m also in DESPARATE need of a spice rack! I cook dinner almost everyday. 6 days a week, if not 7 sometimes. And I use a LOT of spices. Right now I have them all stacked/falling off of a lazy susan on a shelf in the pantry. I bought this spice rack from Kohl’s when we were in Waynesville, but when I got it home I realized how cheaply it was made so I returned it.Now I’m thinking maybe this will work out better. I can stack things on top of it, and even though it’s not as fancy looking as the one above, I can use my existing spices!
I absolutely love our washer/dryer combo, but sometimes I don’t have the patience to wait for things to dry all the way, OR they just don’t. This mostly happens with jeans and heavy sweatshirts. So I picked up this drying rack and it gets a lot of use!
And, even though it’s not storage related, I think it’s fair to mention that I’ve found some really decent dishes at Big Lots. I usually look in the picnic section for plastic plates and bowls. And I try to find thicker, better quality ones that will last a while. We had some black ceramic dinner plates and bowls that Allen loved, but it was just too much of a hassle to have to stack paper plates in between them every time we would travel so they wouldn’t break that I finally gave them away. He’s still a little sad about it! But it wasn’t practical (sorry babe!)
I don’t have this shoe holder but I want to make one. My friend recently sent me some fabric and I think some of it might work out really well for a shoe holder! I’m sure it wouldn’t be TOO hard to DIY!
Bed Skirt Shoe Organizer
I know they probably sell the “pop-a-bag” things that hold your plastic grocery bags, but you can just as easily make one yourself. I made mine out of an empty Clorox Wipes container. I just stuffed the bags inside and tore off the little plastic prong-y things. Super easy! I used to have them in a tissue box and that worked too! Here’s the pop-a-plate and pop-a-tissue. (I don’t have or want either one of these, I think they are kind of a waste of money, and now I don’t have anywhere to put them.)These are both at Camping World.
Some kitchen appliances that I can’t really function without:
Rice Cooker

Slow Cooker

Immersion Blender (I actually found this at Goodwill for $3!!!)

If you have any ideas that I missed or some favorite camper-sized things of your own, please share!

The Never-Ending Jack Issues!

Posted on September 21, 2015 by Rachel Gillen

We are still patiently waiting for the replacement valve to show up. We spoke with Lippert last Monday and they said they would send it out via UPS but it hasn’t gotten here yet. In the meantime, our jacks have been “popping” more than ever and now they are actually moving. They woke us up a couple of times last night even! It’s a loud popping noise accompanied by the camper moving, slipping down the jacks. It’s mostly in the front two jacks but the middle two are also acting up.

It makes me a little worried that our camper is going to nose-dive and that would be no good whatsoever!

I’ve been Googling the problem and I think when we do finally take it in for the yearly inspection we should do so a few months early. I want to make sure everything is still under the one year manufacturer warranty from Grand Design. We need to have them fix the issue with the jacks but also I think they should fix the floor by our kitchen island. It is super creaky, it creaks when Charlie walks on it, and she only weighs 8lbs!

Since I don’t have any photos of broken, creaky leveling jacks, here’s a few of Charlie. We got her a Lamb Chop toy this weekend and she’s already emptied the stuffing and won’t leave the room without it!

Oh, and the Cincinnati Bengals won yesterday!

Oh, and I’m currently losing my battle with the stray cats in the campground. They insist on using the dirt right outside our front door as a litter box. I’ve tried cayenne pepper and ammonia so far to no avail. Any suggestions on how to keep them away?? And how to keep flies away??

This New Fad: “Cold-Brewed Coffee”

Posted on September 19, 2015 by Rachel Gillen

When the weather is warm, there is nothing better than a big glass, or cup in my case, of iced coffee in the morning, or afternoon for that matter!

And the weather was SUPER warm last week in San Francisco! Like, abnormally hot, record-breaking, school closing heat… And being parked in an asphalt parking lot doesn’t help matters…

I saw a how-to for cold brewed coffee on a blog I follow. Then that same evening I saw a Starbucks commercial for cold brewed coffee, so I knew I had to try it. I was a little worried it wouldn’t be strong enough for my liking, but followed the instructions nonetheless (something I do very rarely).

It was super simple to make, the hardest part was remembering to do it the night before so it was ready in the morning!

I don’t have a coffee grinder. I’m not a coffee connoisseur. I drink Folgers Classic Roast on a daily basis, and enjoy a Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks on occasion. I also don’t own cheesecloth. But, the owner of the blog said it should be fine if I used a coffee filter in place of cheesecloth. (Here’s a link to the original post from Italian Home Kitchen ) And here’s what I did:

I put 5 big spoonfuls of coffee into the largest cup I had, which turned out to be a bartender mixing thing and actually that worked out pretty well. Then I filled it up with cold water. I put the lid on it. Then I went to bed. And slept.
When I woke up the next morning I got my mesh strainer out, along with a coffee filter, some wax paper, scissors, and a giant Starbucks cup. (I hang onto decent plastic cups-it saves us having to buy them, and since we don’t travel around with glass, why not?)
I put the strainer over the empty cup, cut a hole in the middle of the wax paper, and put the coffee filter in the open spot. Then I began the painfully slow process of straining the coffee from the coffee grounds. It was about as slow as a drip coffee maker, but when you have to stand there and watch, it feels like waiting for a pot of water to boil, or watching paint dry. Ok, maybe it’s not that bad. But I was anxious to try this new cold brewed coffee!

It came out super dark colored and instead of my assumption that it would be too weak, I was afraid it would be way too strong.

So after I got it all strained I poured it over ice and added some milk and sugar like I would with iced coffee.

Then I tasted it.

(I swished it around as if I were a coffee connoisseur)

Very good.

I’d say it’s milder than iced coffee.

It was pretty yummy.

It doesn’t have as much of an acidic taste as hot or normal brewed coffee does.

I liked it.

I had two full cups.

I’ll probably make it again.

Craving a Donut Hole!

Posted on September 16, 2015 by Rachel Gillen

I love donut holes.

But I’m actually talking about the donut hole in weather systems.

Our neighbor Carmen scored us some tickets for the Reds vs. Giants game tonight and the weather people are calling for rain.

Last year after the Reds vs Giants

I know the ENTIRE state of California needs rain terribly, so I’m hoping for a donut hole just over AT&T Stadium!

Let’s go RedLegs!

Confession: I’m not an avid baseball fan, and I have no Reds gear, so I will be wearing my Giants jersey I got about 8years ago…

Last year I borrowed a Reds jersey to go overtop my Giants one

The view from our seats last year.

I’m super excited for garlic fries! And I hope they don’t get soggy from rain!

yum!

Some Tag-Team Camper Fixin’!

Posted on September 14, 2015 by Rachel Gillen

I posted a week or so ago about our broken leveling jacks. They were not making ANY sense and just being all wonky out of nowhere, all of a sudden. They started messing up when we were checking the hydraulic fluid level when we started hearing a “popping” sound coming from them. And we couldn’t get the camper level again.

We have the Lippert Components 6-point Hydraulic automatic leveling system called Level-Up.

Well, today, Allen had the day off so we started with them again. He called Lippert and they started walking us through closing and opening valves to see what the issue was. Then our call got disconnected. Great.

We tried to suck all the slides in, to make sure they were still working. Once we got them in, they wouldn’t go back out!

We got Lippert on the line again and he determined we had a bad valve in the front leg Jack. He walked us through swapping that one with the valve for the slides. And they are sending us a new valve! Finally.

We are just so happy that we don’t have to take it somewhere or try to find a mobile RV repair place to come out and have a look. (I’ve called 3, THREE, places and nobody wants to come out. That’s one way to do business…)

Also, Lippert confirmed what I found online regarding the jacks “popping”. He said first to try and purge the system of air. After we get the valve replaced, suck the jacks all the way in, extend them all the way, repeat, a few times and this should fix the problem. OR we could add something called fork oil to the hydraulic fluid to give it more lubrication.

Anyway, cheers to a productive Monday!

Roasted Garbanzo Beans

Posted on September 13, 2015 by Rachel Gillen

I’ve roasted garbanzo beans, or chickpeas, years ago. They are a crunchy, healthy snack and you can flavor them however you want.

I saw a post about Sweet and Spicy Roasted Nuts that caught my attention and it brought back the distant memory of roasted garbanzo beans.

Then my mouth started to water. And I added garbanzo beans to my shopping list.

I was afraid to make them “sweet” because they roast so much longer than the cashews in the original post that gave me the idea. So I just went with a similar concoction to what I’ve done in the past.

Instead of an actual oven, I used our convection microwave. It occurred to me that the reason I haven’t made these in FOREVER is because I haven’t had access to an “oven” that will cook things for long periods of time. The camper oven is small and heats from the bottom, so it’s a little difficult to use. It’s definitely something you need to adjust to and account for!

Here’s the general recipe I followed:

***Full disclosure: I never measure ingredients (unless I’m using my bread maker). I eyeball and account for my preference of how I want the dish to taste. Sometimes I will use my palm or pinch with my fingers, but it’s nothing I could communicate in an actual measurement. So I say, just go with what you think will taste good. Or measure.

2 cans of garbanzo beans, drained, rinsed, dried
olive oil
kosher salt
cumin
chili powder
cayenne pepper

Rinse the beans then drain them. I spread them on a paper towels then roll them around a bit to dry them off. I also pick out the little “skins” that fall off. I drizzled them with olive oil then sprinkled them with seasoning.

The wine is only for my sanity, not a part of the recipe!

I roasted them in the convection oven on 375 degrees for about 40 minutes total, I stirred them around twice.

In a regular oven you would do 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

I like mine crunchy, so inevitably some of them will get a little burnt. I like those little guys too.

Just to be totally honest, I love these, but Allen thinks they are disgusting. But then again, he uses that word to describe a lot of things. It drives me nuts. And he knows it.

He has described as disgusting the following things that come to mind:

wine
roasted garlic
ground turkey (he will eat an entire serving and more of spaghetti or chili or “sausage” though)
my toothpaste

Anyway, if you’re in the market for a spicy, crunchy snack, and you’re not as crazy as my boyfriend, I say give these little guys a try!

Cheers to football Sunday!

Tour of Our Home on Wheels (part 4- the bedroom and bathrooms)

Posted on September 12, 2015 by Rachel Gillen

Our bedroom now is an actual room… A place to relax…

Our bedroom in our previous camper was a bed.

This was it. You couldn’t walk at the foot of the bed. And this was pretty much the extent of our closet/dresser space.

Just to give you a visual, because I know I keep comparing the two campers, but we do just have so much more room now, here’s the floorpan for the 26′ Wildwood we had and the floorplan for the 43′ Momentum we have now.

Taken from FunTown RV

Taken from Grand Design.

I’m pretty sure the bedroom is Allen’s favorite room. It might be Charlie’s favorite too.

We have a king size bed and we finally found some sheets we love! (100% cotton=amazing) The mattress is super comfy, but we still have our short queen size memory foam pad on top (we are waiting for our Walmart Savings Catcher money to add up to get one that actually fits!) Hahaha

The bedroom is the only room with carpet, unless you count the strip in front of and under the couch. Charlie has a bed on either side of our bed and one in the closet, but she still sleeps with us of course!

The closet has shelves across the back and shelves and a bar for hangers on the left. It DID have the same thing on the right but we put a washer/dryer combo in. My mom got it for us for a housewarming gift – thanks mom! The washer/dryer is SO nice! I LOVE not having to lug everything down to the laundry room in whatever campground we are in. And the money we save is crazy; when we aren’t paying electric!

Thank you Camping World for the image.

We have a dresser with 4 drawers and a TV above that. The bed lifts up for more storage. It came with a built in safe and an ottoman that pulls out from the foot of the bed and opens for even more storage. The ottoman is also Charlie’s step stool and she will sit and whine if it isn’t pulled out for her. We have 4 windows in the bedroom (3 that open). And our bed is in the third slide. I definitely wanted a bed that was sideways when we started looking. I guess I just wanted something different.

Oh, and there are LED lights in the closet too.

There are outlets on either side of the bed. Our closet doors have mirrors on them and the bedroom door is frosted. We have an A/C in the bedroom with its own thermostat. It gets warm in the bedroom, I think because the ceiling is lower, there’s carpet, and the exterior of the nose is painted black. So that A/C works the hardest.

As I mentioned in my previous post, there are speakers connected through the surround sound that play in the bedroom also. The thermostat control is in the bedroom along with this little panel that tells us what we are running on (50amp, 30amp, generator). And when we are running on the generator it will tell us how many amps we are using at any given time.

The main bathroom is next to the bedroom. It has a large shower with an adjustable height shower head and a seat. We have a 12 gallon hot water heater now (5 gallons previously) and Allen thinks it’s bad for the environment because it encourages him to take super long showers. We never had that luxury before! There’s a vent fan in the bathroom (no rain sensor this time), it has a vessel bowl sink that I love. The countertop almost matches the kitchen. There’s a medicine cabinet, a storage cabinet under the sink, 3 drawers, and a big linen closet that is super deep. The toilet is a foot flush and a porcelain bowl. (Fancy, fancy!)

Our bathroom will never be this clutter-free again (sorry babe), so I had to steal this photo from Grand Design.

The half bath has just a toilet and sink, but it DOES have a window!

DIYs & MODs

I used Command picture hanging strips to hang two things in the bedroom to the left of the dresser. I want to hang more things but I’m still deciding exactly what I want.
We put up Command hooks in both bathrooms for hand towels and one in the half bathroom to hang the broom. Here’s a post about hanging things with Command products.
We also had to install the toilet paper holders ourselves. Allen did that, and I tell him all the time they are a bit crooked. (They aren’t.)

In the main bathroom.

In the half bathroom.
On a side note, I love these blinds. Charlie can’t stick her little head through and bend them like she used to!