Tough week on the home front....

It's been a tough week around here.

 Actually, it's been a tough few months.

Brigitte-Rest in Peace my friend.

One of my best friends has been fighting the good fight against cancer for the past 6 years. Thursday morning she lost the battle.

 I know Brigitte is at rest now, and am trying to keep focused on the day to day things that always seem to doing.

 I think I'm also going to plan a camping trip. Maybe getting away from home for even a week-end will help clear the head and start healing the heart.

 I know it's awful early in the spring, but we haven't had much winter this year, and even if it rains, so what!!

We have that pretty little Arctic Fox we can hole up in and pass the day drinking hot toddies and reading a good book.

Since I took the time last fall to clean the 5th wheel, all I have to do is restock the perishables and figure out what to cook while camping.

 I always like to try something different when out camping.

Since we try to eat healthy at home, we kinda treat ourselves when camping. But, I also like to stick to simple and easy meals for camping.

Since we are going to be camping in the trailer, maybe a roasted chicken with roasted potato's. Or a nice pot of chili, with some cornbread.

Hmmmm. .... choices,choices....

Marshmallows, chocolate and cookies

I found some left over marshmallows the other day while cleaning out my kitchen cabinet.

I'm not sure how long they've been up there, but they were starting to get that dried out feeling.

I was gonna have to do something with these or throw them out......


 
So, I stood there looking at this bag of marshmallows, wondering what the heck to do with them.


Then I had a brain flash!!!!

I had just made a batch of super chocolate chip cookies.



And what goes better with marshmallows then chocolate.....

So.........I melted a few of those marshmallows, stuck them between two cookies and smished the cookies together!!!!!




This is what I ended up with.

The big kid in my life did the taste test for me.

I think these smores cookies are a BIG hit!!!

Cool mornings and hot pancakes.....

What can be better then some steamy, hot, buttery pancakes as a breakfast for camping?

I've been whipping up pancakes for over 30 years for the family.

I've made sourdough pancakes,  from the box pancakes and scratch pancakes.

And now I've put together a recipe for Oat Pancakes that I absolutely love.........

The oats add a whole new texture and flavor to the pancakes. Plus the added healthy benefits of fiber is always welcomed.......

But- what kind of syrup to use??

I've slowly been getting away from processed foods, especially anything that has high fructose corn syrup in it.

I did find a syrup that was made with brown rice syrup, with maple syrup.

Log Cabin makes it. It's not too bad, just wish I could afford the real maple syrup......

I've also used molasses now and then on our pancakes. I actually kinda like the flavor of molasses, and of course there's always honey.


Hmmmm, I think it's time to make up a batch of these pancakes, I'm starting to get hungry!!!!

Must Have Coffee.......

When I was younger, I couldn't stand the smell or taste of coffee.

As I've gotten older, I realize the reason I couldn't stand coffee was the type of coffee my mom would buy. CHEAP!!!!!!

I haven't turned into quite the coffee snob my daughter is (if it's not Starbucks-she's not drinking it). 

But I do like to buy a good quality coffee, preferably beans, and then grind them.  Over the years, I've made coffee various ways.

The old fashioned perk, drip, french press and now I'm using a Bialetti Moka Express Stovetop Espresso Maker.    

I even have my own little coffee maker for camping. A perk coffee pot that works on the campfire, our little Coleman gas stove or in the 5th wheel.  

It doesn't matter how I make my coffee.....as long as I have some decent coffee to begin with!!!

Vroom, Vroom,Vroom.........

I know I've said it before....I'm a truck kinda person.

We've had our Dodge Ram since 1996, when we bought it new.

Over the years, we have hauled hay, horses and our quad. We've moved our daughter and son a few different times, and of course we have gone camping.

We've towed our pretty little Arctic Fox 5th wheel and our little '69 Terry travel trailer.

Every now and then we start looking at some of the best trucks for towing, but just kinda go into sticker shock when I see the price.

 So, we just keep fixing stuff on our truck.

Truth is, so far it's been pretty good. No major overhauls, just the minor maintenance stuff.

Which is pretty awesome considering we have over 200,000 miles on the engine.

Snack Time......

Okay....I'll admit it. I love to snack on anything crunchy. And I'm not talking about celery or carrot sticks!!!!! 

I'm talking about chips, popcorn, pretzels......and I know that's not the way to lose weight!  Especially with the chips and pretzels. Too many calories and gluten.

So, I'm turning more and more to popcorn as my main snack.

Since I totally don't believe microwavable popcorn is at all healthy for you, I've been popping my own popcorn.

Right now, I use one of my heavy duty pans to pop the popcorn.

But have started looking for something better, and I totally want to add a campfire popper to my camp cook ware for camping.

Christmas chaos...........

This year for Christmas we had a houseful.

Our youngest son Louie, his girlfriend Dominique and their brand new baby boy, Arlo came to visit.

There were 5 adults, 4 cats, 3 dogs, 2 bathrooms and 1 brand new baby boy!!!!

Whew..........
What an overload.

But it's been so much fun!! I get to snuggle with Arlo all the time.

Changing diapers, fixing bottles........it's been so many years since I've had to do any of this.

My kitchen is clutter, my living room is buried under baby clothing and gear......and I'm totally having a blast. 

The bad part is......the kids have to leave Friday to head home and my daughter will be moving back to Idaho to finish school.

Our home will be back to 2 adults and 2 cats at that point.