2014 Florida Trip - Finally RVing Again

After six months of sitting in the driveway, our coach said if we didn’t make a trip, it was going to go without us, which was too hard to turn down.  And since we now have a person who can house and Madison sit, we had nothing holding us back.  Here is a classic senior moment – plan a trip that includes spending the weekend after Christmas on I-75 and totally forgetting about the traffic.  Talk about dumb.

The first day trip was really nice while we were on US-411 between home and Cartersville, GA but once we got on the interstate, we were soon in a 25 mph slowdown for a few miles north of Atlanta.  This was nothing beside the 12 miles of stop and go south of Atlanta – 70 minutes for this leg.  So the trip to our first stop at Twin Oaks RV Park just south of Perry, GA took us about an extra hour, but we arrived safe and sound so all was well.

This was a really nice park for a stopover.

While Sunday’s traffic was still heavier than normal, we had no issues heading to the next stop at Cedar Key RV Resort – can you believe the folks beside us at Twin Oaks were heading for the same place.  When we arrived at the Cedar Key and parked the coach, the first thing I noticed was that the coach behind us had a West Virginia decal on it and it turns out, that while he is from Ohio, he is a WVU fan so we had plenty to talk about.

Here are some shots of the resort starting with our spot, site 31.

They have sites both for rent and for sale, as is pretty common in many of the newer RV parks, and this is two that are owned.

LET ME END BY WISHING YOU THE VERY BEST IN THE NEW YEAR AND THANKING YOU FOR STOPPING BY TO READ MY RAMBLINGS IN 2014.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

12/27 & 28/14 event date

Christmas at Almost Heaven South

Since we were leaving two days after Christmas and we were in a bah humbug frame of mind, we did zero decorating for Christmas except for the pine center piece and Poincettia that we received as gifts.  But Bev did want to make pully-ham and invite a few friends to drop by for drinks, ham sandwiches, and a visit.

The recipe came from a co-worker about 40 years ago and is pretty complicated, so I’ll go slow.

Ingredients:

1 ea    Ham, cured and cooked

24 oz  Good beer (I used Yuengling)

Directions:

Put ham and beer in a covered roaster and cook at 250F 10-12 hours.  Baste once/hr last four hours.

As you can see, it’s called pully-ham because it is too tender to slice and chunks are just pulled off of it.  This is after a person or two had attacked it.

We sided it with a big batch of potato salad so we would have it and the ham as leftovers for our impending RV trip.  The table was also laden with condiments, including naturally spicy homemade mustard, slider rolls, four cheeses, olives and pickles, fruit, cheese ball, and sweets.  The idea was for guests to stop by and visit for a while and just graze while here – seems like every time I saw one friend, she had a piece of ham in her hand so I know she liked it.

Our potato salad recipe is very simple but what I grew up with and still my favorite:

Ingredients:

5 lb. waxy potatoes

Half of a very large onion, finely diced

8 eggs, hard boiled

3 stalks celery, finely diced

1 cup Mayo (more or less to taste)

2-3 Tbsp. mustard (more or less to taste)

S&P to taste

Directions:

1. Peel and dice potatoes to desired size and boil until just tender

2. Boil eggs, peel, and dice to desired size

3. Dice onion and celery pretty small

4. While the potatoes are still warm, mix everything together

5. Let it set a couple of hours un-refrigerated until serving time so the flavors can marry

All of the dozen guests seemed to have a very good time and the ham got rave reviews – it is great for an open house as it requires no attention once it’s on the table and it is still very good and continues to pull easily as it cools.

A Publix Water Roll with a pile of pully ham, a slice of Guggisberg Baby Swiss Cheese, and a slather of the spicy mustard is all that I needed for an outstanding sandwich.  This mild cheese was invented by Alfred Guggisberg in Ohio Amish Country in the mid 60's to satisfy the taste of some Americans who thought Emmental was a bit strong.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

12/25/14 event date

Homemade Pasta

Our good friend Ashley was in at Thanksgiving from school and asked if she could come down and make pasta when she came back for Christmas and we replied you bet.  So she came down along with her mother and grandmother and the ladies had a not so traditional (at least for us) Christmas Eve pasta making party.  The recipe we used was a combo of several basic recipes which makes six good servings.

Pasta Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

4 eggs

1 teaspoon salt

1-1/3 tablespoon olive oil

1-1/3 tablespoon lukewarm water

Directions:

Insert the metal blade of the food processor.  Place all of the ingredients in the bowl.  Pulse until the mixture begins to come together and form a ball, adding more water if needed.  Remove the dough and knead lightly until is smooth and elastic.  Divide the dough into 4 balls, cover, and let rest 30 minutes.

From this point, we used the pasta machine and followed the process from this link.  

We hung them on our professional pasta rack to dry – it doubles as a clothes rack at times.  We allowed it to dry a little too long and some of it broke as we were removing it from the rack - Coco cleaned up the pieces that landed on the floor.

For the sauce, I used our standard marinara recipe to which I also added some meat balls the last hour of cooking.

Since Ashley’s mom is not a fan of tomato sauce, we whipped up a little Alfredo Sauce for her using this recipe, adapted from Better Homes and Gardens:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1 cup heavy cream

1 clove garlic, mashed a little to peel

1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Freshly ground black pepper

Chopped parsley

Directions:

1. In a 3-quart saucepan melt the butter over medium heat. Make sure the butter does not brown -- one of the hallmarks of this sauce is its creamy white color.

2. Carefully pour the cream into the saucepan with the melted butter. Add the garlic and S&P to taste.

3. Bring the butter-cream mixture to boiling; reduce the heat to a simmer and cook the sauce gently until it begins to thicken, stirring frequently. This will take about five minutes.

4. Remove the pan from the heat, take out the garlic, and stir in the Parmesan cheese until it is fully incorporated into the sauce.

We sided the pasta with a delicious Ashley salad and a loaf of bread from the Marco Island, FL farmers market via the freezer.  This is my plate which I had stirred a little before remembering to take the shot.

Everything was delicious and got rave reviews from the diners plus Ashley got her pasta making fix.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

12/24/14 event date

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

We normally only include our annual newsletter with our Christmas Cards, but this year it's pretty short so I decided to post it here as well.

Holiday greetings to our family and friends, we hope you’ve had a great year and here’s a little info about ours.  Things continue to plug along here at the ranch and we’ve had no especially big events since our last newsletter, which we believe is a good thing.

We used the motorhome to spend our first ever wintertime away from home as we stayed in Florida for six weeks in early 2014.  We were originally planning to stay for only a month, but every time we got ready to come home, it snowed here.  We enjoyed this experience as well as the three weeks we spent in Charleston, SC in May, where we also hosted a week long RV rally for our club.  On the way home we experienced an engine failure that, after a tow to Knoxville behind one of those giant wreckers and six weeks in the shop, resulted in a nearly new engine being installed to the tune of $21,000, all covered by warranty, thank goodness.

The coach spent the rest of the year parked for a couple of reasons – we had too much to do over the summer months and Madison decided to go back to regular school (from on-line) which tied us to the school breaks beginning in mid-August.  We now have a Madison/house sitter that will give us more flexibility so we’re planning another winter trip.  An additional reason for not traveling might be Larry's fear of heading out on the road and experiencing another calamity, as we’ve had more than our fair share.

There have been a couple of changes with our kids beginning with Rhett retiring from the army after 23 years and taking a job with a bearing manufacturer in Sumter, SC.  The other change is the move of Eric and Ann to Napierville, IL where Eric is the new chaplain at North Central College and Ann can continue at her same job but work from home.  All of the grandkids are growing like weeds and doing well in school and other activities.  Madison’s move back to regular school is so-far-so-good as she is making new friends and doing well academically.

After another year of trying to survive living with a teenaged girl, I will repeat this from last year - now I remember why young folks raise kids.

We continue to be blessed with decent health and the ability to do many of the things we enjoy, although Larry’s knees continue to give him problems and he keeps putting off doing something about them – replacement required, pain involved, procrastination likely.

That’s all to report from Almost Heaven South and our wish for you is a Very Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year. 

Beverly & Larry Doolittle

Country Steak – ALA Beverly

When I was a kid, my mom called this dish Swiss steak, which I later learned was actually made with a tomato gravy.  I’ve heard the dish called Country Style Steak, Country Fried Steak and Gravy, Baked Steak and Gravy – What is your name for it?  It should not be confused with chicken fried steak which is fried and usually topped with gravy but not baked in the oven.

At any rate Bev wanted to make it using her normal recipe, for which there is no actual recipe and it is a semi homemade version.

Her ingredients were:

Six pieces of cubed steak

Flour for dredging

S&P

Lawry’s seasoning salt

Some mushrooms she had in the fridge

Half an onion, chopped

One can cream of mushroom soup

Two packages of Pioneer Brown Gravy Mix, made per package directions.

1. Preheat oven to 325*

2. We added S&P to one side of the steak and Lawry’s to the other, dredged them in flour, and fried in oil until browned.

3. After skillet frying, the meat was placed in a prepared baking pan and the onion and mushrooms were sautéed in the skillet for a few minutes.  

4. Meanwhile the brown gravy was made per package directions and the soup was whisked into it.

5. The sautéed onions and mushrooms were added atop the meat and the gravy mixture was poured over it.  

6.It was then covered in foil and baked in a 325* oven for about 90 minutes.  Then the foil was removed and the gravy allowed to thicken for a few minutes (or maybe not at all) to the get desired consistency.

We served it over some mashed potatoes and I cannot imagine I could have liked it ant better no matter how fancy the recipe.  This was just about the ultimate comfort meal for a cool December day and perfect for when you want something delicious with minimal effort.  And another beauty of the dish is that it is almost as good leftover.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

12/18/14 event date

Veal Marsala Ala Karen

We never buy veal for our table as Bev doesn’t think it is beefy enough and it’s usually pretty pricy, but when it becomes available for free and it can be used in a flavorful dish, now that’s a whole nother story.  I’ve mentioned on here many times that our neighbor across the street raises cattle and when he had a calf that was seriously injured and had to be put down, he had it butchered and put it in his freezer.  The neighbors are also not big fans of veal and I think it’s the same beefy issue that Bev has, so when I saw Karen’s recipe for Veal Marsala on her Back Road Journal blog, I thought this might be the perfect way to use some. 

While we have a Marsala recipe that we have used for both chicken and pork, we decided it would be nice to try a different one – check out Karen’s blog for the original recipe and a tempting photo.  I amended the recipe for five servings and the meat we had and that is the recipe I’ve shown below.

Veal Marsala – Adapted from Back Road Journal

Ingredients:

12 veal rib chops, bone, tail, and outside fat removed (we ended up with 1½ pounds of meat)

Salt and pepper to taste

Flour for dusting

3 Tbsp. butter plus an additional 6 Tbsp. butter

3 Tbsp. olive oil

3 shallots, finely chopped

5 garlic cloves, minced

24 oz. mushrooms, sliced (I used Baby Bella)

1 7/8 C. Marsala wine

18 oz. container of veal demi glace or beef stock (see note)

2 Tbsp corn starch

5 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh parsley, divided

Note:  I roasted the trimmed bones and scraps along with some onion, garlic, carrot, and celery for about 45 minutes in a 350* oven.  Then I added this to a sauce pan, covered with water, and simmered for a couple of hours.  After straining, I ended up with four cups of rich stock.  I reduced this to two cups, added a can of beef consommé and reduced to the 18 ounces I needed.  Since it wasn’t demi-glace, I dissolved two tablespoons of cornstarch in it before adding it to the dish.

Directions:

1. After trimming, flatten the meat to about ¼ inch (I used my rubber mallet)

2. Pat the veal dry with paper towel, season each side with salt and pepper then dust lightly with flour, shaking off any excess.

3. In a large sauté pan, heat 1 Tbsp. butter with 1 Tbsp. oil over medium high heat. Without crowding, add some of the veal and sauté briefly 1 to 1½ minutes per side just until it turns a light golden brown, being careful not to overcook. Remove the veal from the pan and set aside.  (I kept it warm in a 120* oven)

4. Repeat as needed with another Tbsp. butter, olive oil and the veal until it’s all cooked. 
5. Using the same pan, add 2 Tbsp. of butter, the shallots and garlic and sauté for about 30 seconds.

6. Add an additional 2 Tbsp. of butter, the mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. 
7. Sauté until the mushrooms are golden brown.

8. Add the Marsala and cook over medium high heat, stirring often, until the wine is reduced by half.

9. Dissolve the corn starch in the beef broth, add to the pan, and simmer until reduced by half.  (The sauce would have been too thin without the cornstarch).

10. Stir the remaining 2 Tbsp. of butter into the sauce, taste and adjust the seasoning, if necessary. Add three tablespoons chopped parsley.

11. Return the veal to the pan along with any accumulated juices. Turn to coat and simmer the veal no more than a minute to heat through as the veal will dry out if even slightly overcooked. 

We served it over a pound of narrow egg noodles, which had been cooked al dente, drained, and added back to the hot cooking pan.  I tossed it with three tablespoons each of butter & EVOO, and two tablespoons of chopped parsley, then added the lid to keep it warm while the veal finished.

The meal got rave reviews from everyone as we all really liked Karen’s recipe.  Before she even got out of bed the next morning, Bev commented again about how much she liked it.  Thanks Karen for an outstanding meal.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

12/11/14 meal date

Mediterranean Chicken and Potatoes

We had five large chicken thighs left from a package of ten and I wanted to try one of the recipes I’d been saving from Pam’s, For The Love Of Cooking blog – her Mediterranean Chicken.  Since the oven was being used, I also wanted to try the Pizza Potato recipe from Cathy at Noble Pig but since I wanted everything to be Greek, I didn’t use the pizza seasoning.  I also wanted to keep both dishes simpler by using Cavender’s rather than the herbs and spices in the recipes.  Please stop by their sites for the original recipes and good photos.

Mediterranean Chicken – Adapted from For The Love Of Cooking

Ingredients:

5 bone-in chicken thighs

To taste – Cavenders Seasoning

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil, divided

1/2 cups of grape tomatoes, all we had on hand

1 cup of Greek olives

1/2 sweet yellow onion, diced (I used a little more than the recipe called for)

1 tbsp capers

3 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a baking dish with cooking spray.

2. Trim thighs to remove extra skin and fat, peel back the skin from the top and add seasoning to the top and bottom sides, then replace skin and season top of it.

3. Heat the two teaspoons of olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the chicken, skin side down and cook until skin side is golden brown then flip. Cook for an additional 3-4 minutes to brown the bottom.

4. While the chicken is cooking, combine the tomatoes, olives, onion, capers, sliced garlic, and more Cavender’s, to taste, in a small bowl then drizzle with remaining olive oil and toss to mix well.

5. Place the chicken pieces, skin side up, into the prepared baking dish then surround the chicken with the vegetable mixture. 

6. Place into the oven and bake until chicken is cooked through – 180*F for thighs. 

7. Remove from the oven and let the chicken rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Pizza Potatoes – Adapted from Noble Pig

Ingredients:

2 lbs baby potatoes, any color, sliced in half lengthwise

1-1/2  Tablespoons olive oil

To taste Cavender’s

To taste – S&P

1/3 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Heaping 1/4 cup mini pepperoni (or chopped regular – what we had on hand)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.  Add potatoes and drizzle olive oil right on potatoes, followed by seasoning, salt and cheese.  Use your hands to completely coat your potatoes well with the mixture.

3. Roast in the oven for 30-40 minutes until potatoes are easily pierced with a fork.

4. Remove from the oven and immediately add pepperoni, stirring carefully. Serve right away.

I really enjoyed both dishes and would definitely make them again with two exceptions:

1. I would use the herbs and spices that either Pam or Cathy used on both dishes as neither of ours were as flavorful as we would have liked by using the Cavender’s.  I should have known better than tinker with recipes from these two great cooks.

2. I would deal with the skin differently and either remove it or cook it crispier in the skillet then keep it exposed during the baking process so it will stay crisp.

Thanks ladies for an excellent meal.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

12/7/14 event date

Steelhead Trout with Pasta Alfredo

We had a couple of pieces of Steelhead Trout in the freezer and a half jar of Alfredo sauce in the fridge and decided to combine the two into a meal – Steelhead are related to Rainbows and similar to Salmon in taste.  Bev also found a bag of shrimp and some mixed vegetables in the freezer to add to the dish.

The trout and shrimp (on skewers) were given dusting of Old Bay and grilled over high heat and basted with melted butter after flipping.   The pasta and vegetables were cooked together in water, drained, returned to the hot pan, and the Alfredo sauce was stirred in.  We plated the pasta mixture and topped with the trout and a few shrimp then added some fresh grated Parmesan.

This made for a very tasty and easy semi-homemade dish – perfect for those of you who need a quick weeknight meal.  Of course, it could be gussied up by using fresh vegetables and homemade Alfredo sauce.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

12/4/14 event date

Humor - Why Beer Is Good For You

I'd never heard this explained so well prior to Cliff Claven's version.

"Well you see, Norm, it’s like this . . . A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Now, as we know, excessive intake of alcohol kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. And that, Norm, is why you always feel smarter after a few beers."

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

Thanksgiving Turkey

Since we have only one oven (a source of irritation for Bev), Thanksgiving meals generally challenge us in oven usage as we always have homemade rolls that require it just prior to mealtime.  To solve this, I have adopted Chris’ (Nibble Me This) spatchcock cooking method and last year I cooked the bird in the smoker over low temps and I did the same this year but used the grill at a higher temp to get a crispy skin.  Bev bought a 14¾ pound Food Club fresh turkey from Food City which contained no artificial ingredients which means it was not injected with a flavoring solution.

I used a combo of recipes and practices from Chris beginning with his brine which I made per his recipe but with regular oranges and less the bourbon.  I spatchcocked (butterflied) the turkey using Chris' method (link below) but prior to brining to make it easier to find a brining container, it fit more easily in the fridge, and it provided the brine more access to the breast meat

After a nineteen hour soak, I removed it from the brine about 9 am on Turkey day, rinsed, patted dry, and put into the fridge uncovered for about three hours to dry some more and it looked like this is after removal. 

I took it out an hour prior to cook time, and put compound butter under the skin and on the outside using the following recipe.

Turkey Herb Butter

1½  stick butter, room temperature,

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp dried marjoram

3 tsp minced fresh rosemary

1 tsp dried sage

¾ tsp dried lemon peel

Mix butter and all minced herbs in small bowl; season herb butter with pepper.

Starting at neck end, slide hand between skin and breast meat to loosen skin. Rub 4 tablespoons herb butter over breast meat under skin.  Repeat for thighs and legs.  Leave enough to rub a light coat on the outside of the bird.

I used Chris’ raised cooking method but I used a pan as Dave (erecipecards) did when he made a turkey for our visit to his home in October, 2013 - I didn’t want to risk flare ups on my non-infrared grill.  This link has a great tutorial from Chris on his entire process, but using injection rather than brining.  Here it is on the grill and you can just see the supporting cans at the bottom of the shot – I meant to stand farther back.  After they got well browned, I covered the leg ends with foil to prevent burning.

Spatchcocking the bird not only worked really well for brining, it allowed it to fit in the grill, it cooked more evenly, and it fit into our warming drawer.  I got busy and forgot the finished shots, but it looked pretty much like this shot lifted from Chris' blog.

Even though the bird got up to a breast temp of 170* and had to rest (tented) in the warming drawer for an hour, it was still very moist, which I attribute to the brining process, and it was very tasty.  This combo of brine and compound butter worked very well together and will be the go-to from now on.  I just need to refine my cooking process so as not to get it done too early – I believe my grill hood thermometer is in need of checking.  While I got no shots of the finished food, here is the table before the guests arrived.

Our total menu was:

A fancy tossed salad provided by friend Ashley

Turkey

Slow Cooker Dressing - Link

Make ahead gravy, Ala of Debbie at A Feast For The Eyes - Link

Mashed potatoes provided by friend Pat

Brussel sprout & sweet potato hash - Link 

Cranberry salad

Chocolate torte

Pumpkin pies provided by SIL Pat using my mom's recipe

And fresh whipped cream provided by friend Pat

It was a very good meal made even better by being able to share it with good friends.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

11/27/14 event date