Curves

The glue dried on the galley hatch & I opened things up this morning.  It looks really nice.  It fits the curve of the trailer perfectly.  I also did some sanding and other fine adjustments.  I am pleased with the outcome.  As far as this blog is concerned, visual impact is minimal (See: galley).  However, functional impact is significant.  I am headed out of town today for several days of teacher meetings so this is where things will pause for now.

Of course, every new post on this blog must come with some more dutch oven work.  For valentine’s day, Senior Management gave me a 14″ dutch oven.  We are both liking this food.  Here are a few of my latest creations.  Chicken & wild rice (in the 10″ Dutch Oven) & popcorn (in the 14″ Dutch oven) -but not the same meal.

Frying up the Chicken

Senior Management putting Chicken into Vegetables & Rice

Dropping the Chicken into the rice & Vegetables

Mushrooms were added to the recipe

Starting to thicken

Final Product

Let’s eat

The two dutch ovens (new one on bottom)

14″ & antlers!

Starting the popcorn

Finished Popcorn

Bent & Not Broken

My latest work on the jPod occurred last weekend.  I decided to rework the galley hatch a bit.  I felt that the skin could work better for the shape of the trailer & line up on the hinge better than I had it.  In the end, I strapped everything down, shimmed the entire inside of the door so it is perfectly centered & liberally glued the skin to the galley hatch skeleton.  I am quite pleased with the outcome (see: Galley).  The only problem was trying to do all of this in the space of the closed galley & the smell of the glue still burns when I think about it.

More fun last weekend was making another dish in the Dutch Oven.  It is a Black Bean Citrus Chili.  I am afraid that cooking will distract me from the jPod.  Luckily, I am gone for a convention for several days and won’t be able to distract myself with more cooking.

Here’s my recipe:

Black Bean Citrus Chili

2 onions chopped
3 cans of black beans (drain off all of the liquid)
1 can of refried beans
1.25 lbs of hamburger
1-2 Tbs Ancho chile powder
2 cups diced tomatoes
1 tbs cumin
1 tbs chili powder
3 cups beef stock
1 fresh lime
1 bunch fresh cilantro

Pour some olive oil in the DO and add the onion. Once onion softens & starts to change color, add the hamburger. Saute until burger is browned.

While the onions & burger brown, combine the can of refried beans & spices with the beef stock and stir until it is a consistent mixture. Add this stock to the onions & burger.

When boiling, add the black beans and cook for about 10 min. Then add the tomatoes. Don’t stir the DO just let the tomatoes warm up in the middle and absorb some of the juices for about 2-3 min. Dish the chili into bowls and garnish with fresh cilantro & a slice of lime.

The trick with this recipe is to keep the acids out of the dutch oven to avoid ruining the seasoning. Keeping it warm was easy because I put the DO in the BBQ. The other trick is to keep from drooling into it as you cook it.

We love this recipe. The dog apparently does too because she cried for about 45 min. inside the house on the other side of the sliding door.

Using a tip from a forum to keep DO warm

Frying up the onions

This looks really good

Pouring in the lovely sauce

Beans are added

Time to Serve it up

The Final Product

Galley & Dumplings

After finishing off the Cowboy Pot roast, Senior Management and I decided that I must make another Dutch Oven dish.  This time I made “Chicken Dumpling Stew” (A few Pics Below).  It turned out really well.  I used a recipe found in the cookbook “Texas Treasury of Dutch Oven Cooking“.  The corn was processed & preserved by my mom.  The dumplings, however, were my own creation.

Since I am allergic to wheat (not just intolerant), I have to come up with creative solutions for breads.  My wife has developed a pretty good biscuit mix that worked really well in the recipe.  Here is the Biscuit recipe

Gluten Free Biscuits

Basic Flour Mix

2 1/2 c. Rice Flour
2/3 c. Potato Starch

Biscuit Mix
1 1/4 c. of the Basic Flour Mix
1/4 c. buttermilk
1 egg
1 Tbs Shortening

Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 min.

That’s It!

For the dumplings, I didn’t bake the dough.  I simply put them in the DO like any other dumpling dough.

This is good stuff.  I think I am addicted now.  I plan to make another tonight and perhaps one more this weekend. I’d like to make a cake or brownie. It is a bit frighting though because I think it would require a bit more discipline.  We’ll see.  There are some tasty pics at the end of this post.

As far as the jPod is concerned, I have done some work on the cabin & galley cabinets.  Plus, a bit more work on the cabin doors.  Senior Management started the doors and then they sat for a while because I have been researching and thinking about a design change.  We also rearranged our plan for the galley.  I have added a new drawing of the configuration (see: Galley).

Until Next time.

Getting things Going

Getting the broth going

Chopped Up Fresh Veggies to add to the chicken & Stock

Using corn preserved by my Mom

Sage Leaves for flavor. Now its time to boil down.

This really makes the garage smell nice

Dropping the biscuit dough in

The Final product