Planning a Thanksgiving Dinner in an RV

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!

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 🙂