I Got…”Just Desserts”

The Camp Cook Forum is having a little competition making dutch oven desserts (see the thread here).  I haven’t made a dessert in the Dutch ovens yet so I thought I’d toss my hat in the ring.  It seems pretty obvious that I don’t stand a chance though.

I also thought this would be a great time to break in the newest member in my iron collection.  My Dad gave me a Camp Chef 5″ Lewis & Clark Commemorative edition Dutch Oven.  It is really cute (pictured below).

The New 5" DO

Isn't it cute?

Today is the first time I have made desserts & made three dishes in a single day.  Senior Management wanted something for lunches this week so we repeated  the Chicken & Wild rice that we made earlier (see my post “Curves” to see this dish).  The other two dishes are desserts:

Dessert # 1: Caramel Apple Pudding Cake (THIS IS A KILLER RECIPE!)

1 tsp Vanilla
2 sliced apples
3 tbs Lemon juice
1 C flour (for Gluten free substitute Bette Hagman’s flour recipes)
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 C brown sugar (packed)
1 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/2 C milk
2 tbs butter
3/4 C Caramel ice Cream topping
1/2 C Water

1. Combine the caramel topping, water & 1 tbs of butter in a glass bowl.  Microwave or heat on the stove top until the mixture is fluid.
2. Cut the apples and then sprinkle the cinnamon & nutmeg on them.  Mix until it looks like the apples are relatively even with spices.
3. Mix the batter: In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, & baking powder.  Mix until even.  Then add the milk, 2 tbs of butter (melted), and the vanilla while whisking.
4. Pre-warm the Dutch Oven to about 375 degrees (later it will bake at 350 but 375 will give you more working time while the oven is off of the coals).  When the oven is warm, dump in the apples.  Then pour the batter over the apples trying to keep it evenly distributed.  Lastly, combine the caramel mixture over the top.  As it bakes, the caramel will sink to the bottom & the batter will rise to the top.  Bake for about 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees.  When it is done, top with vanilla ice cream and eat it while it is still warm.

Below these pictures is the next dessert.

Preparing the apples	Seasoned Apples	This is gluten free & good!
Mixed apples in the DO	Ready to bake	MMM gooo
Quit Licking your Screen

Dessert # 2: Peach Clafoutis (hard to make but good to eat)

A clafouti is a custard-like baked French dessert that is typically made by baking fresh fruit and a batter, similar to pancake batter, in a baking dish.

This recipe is designed to work in a 10″ DO.  For this recipe, I used some peaches that Senior Management canned last summer (pictured below).

Ingredients:

Shortening or butter
1 pint of canned peaches
1/4 C flour (for Gluten free substitute Bette Hagman’s flour recipes)
1/2 C sugar
More sugar for dusting the DO
1/4 tsp of salt
3 eggs
1 C half & half

1. Combine all of the dry ingredients (flour, salt, & 1/2 C Sugar) in a small bowl & mix thoroughly.
2. While whisking the flour, add the three eggs.  Whisk until smooth.
3. Slowly pour in the half & half, whisking the whole time.
4. Cut the peaches into bite sized chunks.  Stir in the peaches.
5. Grease the inside of your dutch oven with butter or shortening.
6. Dust the inside of the Dutch Oven with extra sugar.
7. Pour the batter into the dutch oven.
8. Bake at 375 degrees (F) for 30 minutes.

The Clafoutis will puff up quite a lot.  You will need to check your temperatures to make sure the sugar coating the inside of the pan doesn’t burn.  If this dish is made correctly, the sugar will melt and make a nice gooey layer on the outside of the Clafoutis.  This dish is usually served hot & puffed up.  However, as it cools, it will deflate.  But it still tastes good.  Here are the pictures:

Home Canned Peaches	Sugar Lining	Held up by one finger
A personal Clafoutis	A Clafoutis in the 10" DO

That’s it. Thanks for reading more on the life of Dutch Ovens. FYI: I have made progress on the jPod & will post in the next couple of days.

Forget Meth…I have a trailer.

Recently, I have been manifesting addictive behavior with regard to teardrop & tiny trailers.

• I was driving home from work one day and shot a picture -with my cell phone- out my window of a 1960’s Chevy pulling a new small Airstream.
• I think a teardrop trailer cereal for kids would be awesome.  The marshmallow shapes could be all the different trailers in the Hall of Fame.
• Last night, I was watching Mr. & Mrs. Smith and in the middle of the last gun battle the two “sexy” Hollywood stars are blowing things up left & right and I noticed -& got excited about- what appears to be a small yellow TAB (or close to it) trailer in the distant background.  See the two frames I pulled from the video on the right (another addictive behavior).  Signs of sickness?  I’d rather think about teardrop trailers than watch a movie.  I guess that is good and healthy.

I suppose one of the reasons that I’m so taken with the teardrops & tiny trailers is the benefits our build has already created.  Senior management & I have been able to work side-by-side on a project that is fun & encourages active bonding (literally in the trailer & inter-personally). A fellow trailer builder (Cliffmeister) found a video the captures these & other benefits of the teardrop.  It explains why many people (including myself) build teardrop trailers.  It is posted under “What is a teardrop Trailer” or you can just click here.  It is all about relationships.  Senior Management finds it hard to believe when I cry-out in the middle of a movie, press pause, and advance frame-by-frame until I find the TAB trailer in the background of an action scene.  She says I’m addicted.  I say I love her so it is OK to be addicted to her.  Perhaps we need more bonding time with the jPod.

Shifting Gears:

What does the immediate future hold?  This teacher is on spring break and going to spend a few days in Canada with family.  No progress on the jPod but guaranteed progress on catching up on sleep and dreaming of teardrop trailers.  Cheers!

A”door”ed

Progress on the jPod has been slow since summer & it is tempting to be depressed about that.  The only difference is that I am trying to keep up with teaching in addition to daily life.  Yet, I am happy to have a job even if it distracts me from the build.

A while back, Senior Management began the doors for the jPod.  Then life, for us, got really chaotic and the doors

rebuilt & insulated the bulkhead

where neglected.  Given the months that have passed since our move & my surgery, the original doors warped.  Recently, I have not focused on building parts for the jPod but rather disassembling the doors so I can flatten them out & fix them.  This has taken some time but I think it is almost there.  I have also reworked my original design to keep them more rigid.  Right now, I am waiting for the glue to dry on the internal skeleton on the right door.  If it works, as I hope, then I will do the left door.  However, I will not work on the left door until I am certain the right one is functional.  I am tired to delicately disassembling parts. (See Body: External for more photos)

While working on the door process, I insulated the inside bulkhead between the galley & the cabin.  I have also purchased Helmsman’s finish that I hope to spray on the inside walls as a sealer & finish once it is above 60 degrees outside.

Boards

You may think that the title of this page has something to do with the jPod.  Well, you’re somewhat right.  It is that time of year when a teacher gets a few days off for spring break.  Of course, as it is with most teachers, I have a lot of work to do on my days off so they are really just convenient breaks to get caught up at work.

It is also that time of year when tests are given.  Senior Management is currently taking one of her board exams for dental hygiene.  She should be done in a few hours and I know she’ll pass.  As our house has been full of papers and Senior Management has needed lots of quiet time to study, I have done most of the chores around the house, made her dinner, and worked on the jPod.  This post is about dinner (in the 10 iron dutch oven).  My post a”door”ed is about the progress on the jPod.

I decided to make Chicken ala Queen last night in the Dutch oven.  I adapted a recipe I found on-line to fit the Dutch Oven.  The woman who wrote the original is a good cook and actively preparing for disaster (Preparedness Pro).

Here is my dutch oven version of her recipe:

2 lbs of cubed fresh chicken
4 cups of uncooked Macaroni (corn noodles for me)
1 chopped yellow onion
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 quart canned tomatoes (ours are home canned)
2 1/2 cups of water
1 cup shredded extra sharp cheddar
Salt & pepper to taste

I preheated my 10″ Dutch Oven to 350 in our oven then took it outside to the hot briquettes.

Once ready, pour the oil into the DO and let it heat up.  When the oil is warm, dump in the onions & dry macaroni noodles.  This will soften the onions & crisp the macaroni to add some crunch to the dish.  Plus it will keep the macaroni from falling apart when cooked.  Once the macaroni starts to change color, dump in the chicken and stir until the chicken starts to change color.

Then dump in the water, tomatoes, salt, & pepper.  Stir until well mixed.  Put the lid on the DO and leave to boil for 10-15 min.  At the end of the 10-15 min, remove the DO from the coals, take the lid off and sprinkle the cheese on top.  Replace the lid and let sit for 2-3 min or until the cheese is melted.

Then eat it.  It is really good. In fact, while writing this post I had to go get some left-overs.

Here are a few pictures:

Almost all of the Ingredients

Macaroni Corn Noodles

Warming up the onions & macaroni

Time to toss the chicken in

Tomato sauce, water, salt & pepper

Ready to cook down

Melted Cheese on Top

It is yummy

jPodBuild Website Changes

Well it is about time I got around to this.  I have been meaning to add features to this website for some time.  Here are the newest additions/changes to jpodbuild.wordpress.com:

Picture from 1947 Mechanix Illustrated "Trailer for Two"

• New Header Image – I needed an image that actually had a picture of the jPod in it.  When I started, it was only an idea so I simply put a picture of my Jeep (the tow vehicle).
• Search Engine – You can search my website now from a search utility at the top right of every page.
• Poll – You can determine my future.  Take my poll (on the right) and decide where the jPod will go on its first trip.
• Historical Magazine Articles – A lot has been written on teardrops & tiny trailers.  I have posted my fav. 17-20 historical articles (dating back to 1921) under the “What is a teardrop Trailer section”.
• RSS Feeds – I’ve made it easier for you to keep up with the jPod build progress.  The jPod build feed is easier than ever to find (the feed isn’t new it is just easier to find).  Simply click on the orange icon on the right and updates will be automatically sent to your web browser or email.

Thanks for reading this site.  There have almost been 20,000 visitors to see the jPod.  I appreciate your comments & ideas.

Spring Arts Propoganda

The high school that I teach at has an annual Spring Arts Festival.  For the evening, the student’s creativity is put on display.  There is quite a list: welding, photography, quilting, cooking, pottery, painting, gymnastics, instrumental numbers, singing, and much more.  This even pulls in about 500-700 people.

For this year’s festival some co-workers & their families teamed up with Senior Management & I.  We made an outdoor booth.  Nathan brought his Jeep with the Roof Top Tent (which indirectly inspired my jPod build). Mel brought his teardrop trailer (as it is so far).  He has the Chassis complete, the walls built & insulated, the floor made & sealed the bottom with epoxy.  Senior Management & I couldn’t get our trailer to the school gym (because of weather) so we featured Dutch Oven Cooking.  Senior Management & Nathan’s Wife helped finish them off.  I made them with a power drill again.  Then we cut them into pieces & people were able to sample them.  The only problem we had was with the Granny Smith apples.  They went from being rock hard to exploding into apple sauce.  Luckily, I made apples in both the 10″ oven & the 14″ so we had a backup.

All in all, it was a great evening and we networked with many parents & community people.  I may be going to help teach a Dutch Oven class and we met more people who we can camp with.  Check out the pics below.

Coring about 20 apples in 3 minuites

Adding the water bath to steam them

The Exploded Grannies

Our Outdoor Enthusiast Booth from Afar

Nathan & His Tent

I refered people to the Camp-Cook.Com website & mikenchell.com/ Jeep Galley

Dutch Oven apples & I’m combing my hair

It was really busy

Mel’s Trailer Build

Inspecting the Rig

Checking out Nathan’s Galley in the Back of his Jeep

Our Propaganda

The whole Booth

This Jeep is a Beast

Nathan is driving the Trans American Trail

Now wouldn’t that look cool on top of a teardrop trailer?

Memory Foam Queen Sized Mattress…This is rough

Power to the People

Last Friday night was stuffed food night made with power tools that I usually use on my jPod trailer build.

Senior Management & I made stuffed peppers.  Here is the recipe:

Stuffed peppers:

4-6 Red or Yellow Bell peppers
1 cup of rice (dry)
10-12 mushrooms
1 tsp. Mongolian Fire Oil
Smoked Gouda Cheese
A pound of protein (Chicken, beef, TVP-Total Vegetable Protein).

Steam the rice.  While the rice is steaming, chop mushrooms and clean out bell peppers around stems.  Shred cheese.  When the rice is cooked, mix all but the cheese together.  Spoon into the open cavity in the bell pepper.  Layer rice and cheese until full.  Top with Cheese to seal the pepper.  Stand upright in foil to keep the juices inside the pepper.  Cook in a 350 degree dutch oven for about 20 min.  Peppers will blacken on the outside.  When baked, removed peppers and serve.  Before eating, pull the blackened tough part of the skin off (it should come off easily).  The tough outer skin allowed the inside skin & stuffing to steam.  Don’t eat all of the peppers at once.

For desert, I made baked apples with a power drill.  I have finally posted my first cooking show episode.  I have wanted to demonstrate how to core an apple or pear with a drill bit for a while.  I purchased a 5/8 in bit and cored an apple and made baked apples for dessert last week in my 10 iron (dutch oven).  For me, the video is painful to watch.  I know I’m nerdy but man it is really bad in this.  I can also tell I am a teacher because I explain everything.

My parents stopped by for a few min. and helped us pound down the apples.  I can honestly say that I have never had a baked apple better than the ones I made for this video clip (recipe is in the video).  Since I can’t be on Ironchef America, I thought I’d make my own video to share with the people.

Ready for stuffing

Senior Management prepares the mushrooms for the peppers

guts

Senior Management suggested standing the peppers up on foil

The outside blackens & steams the inside. Peel off and eat!

Final Product

Will they fit in a 10 iron?

How to core an apple quickly 101

How manly men core apples…and me too

Ready for cooking

Baked and ready to eat

Practice for “THE Project”

My father-in-law just had a birthday.  For his 60th, the family celebrated by hanging out with 50 or so of his friends.  He is one of those people that I hope I can be when I’m 60.  He is an Ironman triathlete and plans to do the Coeur d’Alene Ironman again this coming June, 2009.

Ironman was the theme of his party.  As a gift, I decided to make him the swim, bike, and run symbols out of steel.  I have access to a Plasma Cam.  It is basically a CNC machine to cut out shapes from metal.  I ordered some sheet metal and started developing graphics.  My mother in law had some ideas and sent me some graphics which I worked over to work for the plasma cam.  Then I cut them out, ground them for 4-5 hours, and finished them.  I am relatively pleased with the final product.  Pictures are in my Projects section of this website.

This project was fun because I got to use my graphic skills to produce something tactile and not just something that will be seen on some website somewhere.  This project also inspired Senior Management and I with regard to the jPod.

So…here is the newest design element:  A sheet metal cutout (which I need to develop the graphics for yet) that will rest on the top of the counter in the galley area.  Then we will finish it with a self leveling bar resin like the one found at Environmental Technology INC.

The design will reflect the Great Northwest.  Evergreen trees, mountains, & the jPod in the foreground.  I can’t wait to see this completed.

In unrelated, but increasingly common news, I cooked some more food in the dutch oven last weekend (pictures below).  This time around, I made Chicken Angelico (based on a recipe from the Texas Treasury of Dutch Oven Cooking).  Some friends stopped by and helped me with a gluten-free cracked earth chocolate cake.  This recipe is based on a recipie from the food network (watch it here).  Both of these were amazing eating and repeatable recipes.

Nathan shoots a pic of starting the DO up

Breaded Chicken is getting started

Mushrooms!

Muenster Cheese

Lots of Veggies but could use more

Final Product was yummie

Tyler whips eggs for the cake

Folding in the eggs

Eric is a chef & was handy to have helping

Tyler gives it the final mix before baking

It didn’t take long for the other half to disappear