E-mail from my Sister -- Too Funny!

Yesterday afternoon, I received an interesting e-mail from my sister:

Julie, you really HAVE to try this on your next camping trip, it is easy and can fit into one of your camping over the fire type kettles, and I KNOW you and your kids will love it!!! One of the girls made it yesterday for a work party and it's all a matter of "DUMPING" it all in the crockpot and giving a bit of a stir and let it go! Doesn't get any easier than that!

~M

Here is the recipe for the corn casserole:

2 eggs
1 can of corn (don't drain the water)
1 can of cream corn
1 package of Jiffy corn bread
1 stick of butter
8 oz of sour cream
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

Melt the butter, then dump everything but the cheese together and stir like crazy. Once it's all mixed, pour it into a casserole dish, sprinkle the cheese on top and bake for 35 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Voila!

Enjoy!!!! :)

Now, until you read my response, you may not know WHY that was so funny!


My response:

Uhm . . . . I've been making a variation on that for YEARS! LOL It's even become a staple at Thanksgiving with mom and dad! LOL and is something I make with our ham for our Christmas Day dinner! LOLOL :-)

Mine does not have the eggs in it, and I don't put cheese on top, but I'm willing to try it that way. (oh, and I drain the corn.) This is one of those that I DO make regularly in my "camping over the fire type kettles" (we prefer to call them "Dutch ovens!" LOL) and have made it for many a potluck when we go to our rallies. It fits perfectly in a 10" Dutch oven and is cooked with 11 coals on top of the oven and 5 on the bottom. When I make it for potlucks, there is NOTHING left in the Dutch oven when we're done eating! Yea, it's THAT good!

Believe it or not, but it's on the menu for Easter Sunday, as it goes absolutely fabulous with ham and double-baked potatoes.

If you make it in the oven in a casserole dish, be sure to spray the dish!

Julie

PS, here' the link to MY corn casserole recipe.

If you're looking for some great recipes, check them out on our website -- we have TONS of them!

RVing Outpost Cookbook

Of course, she had to call me after reading that! When I read the initial note to Abby she just cracked up at the "camping over the fire type kettles" comment! :laugh:

What a hoot!

We'll be closed here at the RVing Outpost for Easter tomorrow, but I'm here today. I'm not sure if I mentioned it previously, but I had bought a "kit" to make fajitas when I visited the new Walmart in Medford last week. I decided, since I had the Dutch ovens and burner at the store, that I'd make fajitas! Oh, they were SO good, and the store smells really good, too! :)

Here's a couple of pics from my cell phone (I didn't think to bring my camera with me today, so the pics are a little small, but it's better than nothing!







Oh, they were SO good!

Have a great day, and a wonderful Easter Sunday!

Julie

Cool New Websites!

The other day, I stumbled across a couple of GREAT new websites and wanted to make sure I shared them with you!

The first one is called Best Copycat Restaurant Recipes Every day, Mark posts new copycat recipes! There's recipes for FABULOUS restaurant favorites like:

TGI Friday's Jack Daniel's Dipping Sauce #2

Ingredients:

1/3 C. Diced Red Onions
1/2 tsp. Finely Diced Garlic
1/2 C. Water
1/2 C. Brown Sugar
1/3 C. Teriyaki Sauce
1/4 C. Soy Sauce
1/3 C. White Grape Juice
1/2 C. Jack Daniel's Black Label Bourbon
1/2 tsp. Tabasco Sauce

Directions:

1. Place ingredients in sauce pan in order listed.
2. Mix and stir after each ingredient.
3. Place on medium heat and stir until mixture reaches boiling stage.
4. Turn temperature down to low until mixture is on a slow simmer.
5. Cook sauce for 35 - 45 minutes and remove from heat. Mixture will have reduced in volume about a 1/4 to 1/3.

Link: Jack Daniel's Dipping Sauce

OR, how about this one:

Olive Garden's Spaghetti Carbonara

Ingredients

1/4 C. flour
1/4 C. butter
1 qt. milk
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
24 slices bacon, extra thick
1/4 C. olive oil
3 C. mushrooms, sliced
6 Tbsp. scallions, finely minced
1 lb. spaghetti, uncooked
2 tsp. fresh parsley, finely chopped
1/2 C. Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Directions

1. Melt butter in 4-quart heavy saucepan over medium heat.
2. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute.
3. Add milk, salt and pepper and stir vigorously with wire whip until mixture barely comes to a boil.
4. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes, whipping frequently while sauce thickens. Keep warm.
5. Cook bacon until fully cooked. Drain on paper towels. Cut into 1/4-inch pieces and stir into sauce.
6. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat.
7. Add sliced mushrooms and minced onions and sauté until golden. Add to sauce.
8. Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Drain well and add to the sauce along with the parsley. Blend well.
9. Transfer to warm serving dish. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

Link: Olive Garden's Spaghetti Carbonara

This month, Mark is offering a FREE COOKBOOK DOWNLOAD EVERY SINGLE DAY! I've downloaded a couple of them and they're GREAT! Don't worry that the month is almost over, you can sign up (for free) and download as many as you want all in one day! Download one or 21, it's up to you!

Not only does Mark write the Best Copycat Restaurant Recipes blog, but he has a couple other FABULOUS sites, too!

Looking for a list? Mark's newest site: Everyday Lists has some great lists that are absolutely 100% free! The Everyday Lists site is still rather new, but I have inside information that Mark is working on all kinds of lists and will be getting them on-line just as quickly as he can.

In the meantime, take a stroll around Best Copycat Restaurant Recipes and download a cookbook or two and print some fabulous restaurant favorites!

Enjoy!

Julie

Happy Birthday, Greg!

Wow! I didn't realize it had been so long since my last entry! Sorry about that! Yesterday (March 18), was Greg's birthday! Yep, the old man turned 52 yesterday! It worked out with his normal schedule that he happened to be off work, so we were able to have his "birthday dinner" on schedule! The girls baked a chocolate cake for him, which was delicious. In our family, everyone gets to pick what they want for dinner on their birthday (well, except for me, I get to pick the restaurant we go to!). Greg's choice was, not surprising, STEAK! I made homemade fried potatoes and some fabulous brussels sprouts to go with it. My friend potatoes are little different than most, in that aside from the standard onion and a touch of garlic, salt, pepper, etc. I also add Worcestershire sauce and grated Parmesan cheese! I also use a seasoning called Vegetable Supreme which I have found to be FABULOUS in potatoes and even in homemade hamburgers! I can't find it at our local grocery store, so whenever I go to "town" I end up buying a couple of bottles! Yes, it's THAT good!

My brussels sprouts were a bit different, too. I grab a bag of frozen sprouts and let them thaw a bit. Then I cut them in half and let them thaw a bit more. I then use a skillet and heat up a tablespoon or so of olive oil, add some chopped garlic and then fry the sprouts in the olive oil and garlic. Oh yum! They are SO good that way! My kids even love them!

So that was Greg's birthday dinner. Other than watching Idol and Dancing with the Stars, it was a fairly normal night!


We started some new advertising, on a radio station (about 50 miles away) that is the only station around that has EVERY SINGLE NASCAR RACE live on the air. We're going to have ads during every race from now through the end of the season. This works out well, as one of our billboards is up for renewal soon and we're not going to renew it. The cost of the ads is the same as the cost of the billboard, so that should work out just fine!

This station is quite a bit bigger than the station in Medford (20 miles north of us), and has a lot more options when it comes to ads! I was sent an e-mail of the audio file and uploaded it, but I didn't want it to be so boring, so I added some pictures to it! I haven't used the Windows Movie Maker program much, but was able to add some pics to the sound! It actually turned out pretty cool!

Here's a link to it! RVing Outpost Radio Ad. Now mind you, this is a radio ad, but it would certainly be boring to just listen to it, so I added some pics! The ad will open in Media Player or some such program. I thought they did a GREAT job and mentioned the store name a TON of times! Of course, the add will change ever so often, but these folks are really GOOD when it comes to dreaming up ad copy! I'm quite excited about this new advertising venture! Jay, be sure to let me know what you think!

I had a delivery today and am happy to say that we have another NEW product at the RVing Outpost. The latest is another fabulous Coleman product! OK, OK, I'll tell you what it is! It's another Coleman lantern, but this one is a DUAL FUEL LANTERN That means that it can run on either Coleman Fuel OR unleaded gasoline! That's a GREAT option, but with gas prices the way they are, Coleman fuel may be cheaper! LOL



So, VERY cool to finally have this product in our store! I'm still soooooo excited to have Coleman products available. It's just awesome!

On another note, Sunday is Easter. We're going to be making the usual . . . ham, double baked potatoes, and of course, following the tradition of Greg's family and having cold kielbasa. I'm not sure that any of the churches up here bless the food, so we'll just eat it cold and say our own blessing. For those that don't know, it's a Polish tradition to have Easter food blessed in Church. Once food has been blessed, it cannot be reheated, thus the reason it's "cold." Yes, I thought it was odd too, when I spent my first Easter with Greg's family, so don't feel bad if you think it's odd! Now, of course, after 24 years of Easter with Greg's family, it's a tradition in our family, and our children actually missed it when we didn't have it the first year we moved up here!

Greg's mom used to take all kinds of stuff to church to have it blessed. Everything from the hard boiled eggs we were each required to eat, to the horseradish that the guys liked with their cold ham! The first time she took the horseradish, we had such a laugh over it! What wonderful memories of a very wonderful woman. I miss you, Irene! There are many times, where I think, I wish I could call Irene and tell her what's going on. And then I remember that she's gone. She's here in spirit, though, and has visited us numerous times since we moved! We know we're being watched over and Irene is definitely our guardian angel!

Thinking about the ham I'm going to make, I figured I'd just make it the way I normally do. Score the top, stick a boatload of whole cloves all over inside, press a bunch of brown sugar over that and then pour ginger ale over it and baste while it cooks. But, while reading the paper today, I came across a recipe that looks REALLY good!

Baked Ham with Bourbon Glaze

1/2 cup honey
2 Tbsp. molasses
2 Tbsp. bourbon
2 Tbsp. orange juice
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 bone-in smoked ham
Whole cloves

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Place rack in lower part of oven.

Microwave honey and molasses at high for 30 seconds to thin; whisk to blend. Whisk in bourbon, orange juice and mustard.

Score the surface of the ham on the diagonal to create diamond shapes. Stick a whole clove into the center of each diamond. Place ham in a roasting pan. Brush liberally with bourbon glaze.

Bake for 1-1/2 hours, uncovered, or until a meat thermometer inserted into thickest portion registers 140 degrees, basting every 20 minutes or so with honey-bourbon glaze.

Doesn't that sound GOOD! I'm definitely going to try it with our ham this year! I'm not sure if my parents are coming or not. They haven't decided yet, because they don't know if dad's even going to be back from his latest job.

Well, this is getting rather long, even for ME! LOL I guess I'll sign off for now.

Hope everyone has a "normal" day!

Julie

Another Dutch Oven Cooking Class Today!

I had our second Dutch Oven Cooking Class at the store today!   The class went well, but it went very quick.   I was not quite so nervous this morning as I was for the first class, but once everyone showed up (we had 8 folks today) and we were all situated, my head started to POUND!  It was quite close to migraine pain.  NOT fun, at all!   In fact, right now, it's 9:45 p.m., and I've taken six Tylenol since the class ended, and STILL have a headache.    

The headache was bad enough that I decided to not continue this entry and went to bed.  Unfortunately, upon waking this morning, it's still there . . . faint, but there.    I just saw a vitamin commercial on TV and realized the one thing I hadn't been taking was my B-Complex!    B-Complex helps your body to deal with stress . . . and I've always taken it for headaches.  I don't know why I didn't think of it before!  I always get my B-Complex from Shaklee, as I think they're the best.  I just took three of them and will grab something to eat.  I think I'll have to start taking them before each class, too.   It certainly can't hurt!  

Abby's been gone with her friend to Appleton since Friday night, so Aaron and Erica were at the store helping with the class.  Aaron watched over the register while Erica was my gopher.  Greg was on charcoal duties again.  Erica also took some pics for me . . .


Other than the class, not much has been going on here.  It's still QUITE cold outside and we had some RECORD LOW cold temperatures.   The good news is that it IS March, which means that spring HAS to come soon, doesn't it?   We're actually supposed to hit 40 degrees on Wednesday!   Wahoo!  

Daylight Saving Time started today, so when I woke up at my usual 6:45, it was actually 7:45.  It's going to take a few days to get used to losing that hour.  It's so early this year!   Right now, all it's doing is giving us an extra hour of light to look at the snow outside!        

I did see a forecast that we may be able to see the Northern Lights tonight!  I'm excited about that.  We've seen them once from our backyard, shortly after we moved in, and they were incredible!  I'll have to remember to go outside and look for them tonight!  

With the advent of spring . . . we're now back to being open 7 days a week, and "normal" hours.  That means we'll be open from 9-6 Monday through Friday; 9-5 on Saturdays and 12-5 on Sundays.   It was nice to be home for a while to get some things done, but it's time.    


Hope everyone has a normal day!  

Julie

Wisconsin in Mourning

OK folks, time to put your Packer flags at half staff! Yes, indeed, it's been a sad couple of days for Wisconsin Packer fans! OK, for folks who have been hiding under a rock the last two days . . . Brett Favre has decided to retire. :o :( Yes, indeed, it has been a sad couple of days for Packer fans.

I have to tell a story here . . . it's something that happened shortly after we moved here, and just after we got our first chickens (Fred, Ethel, Lucy & Myrtle). Some of you may have read this before, but I'm thinking that many have not heard this story. Now, you will see why I was reminded of this story later on . . . By the way, this happened on 10/06/2004. Abby was just 7 years old at the time . . .

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

While cleaning out the chicken coop, Abby (our youngest) was watching the chickens outside. All of a sudden . . .

Abby: "Mommmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyyyy . . . Fred's standing on a chicken!"

Abby: "Get off that chicken, Fred!"

Me: "Abby, it's OK"

Abby: "But mommy, FRED'S STANDING ON A CHICKEN! And he did that yesterday, too! "

Me: "Abby, really, it's OK . . . Fred's just doing what he's supposed to do."

Abby: "But mommy he's standing on a chicken!"

Me: "Abby, that's how the eggs get fertilized, so they can have baby chickens."

Abby: "By standing on a chicken?"

Me: "Yes, Abby, that's perfectly OK. That's exactly what Fred's supposed to do."

Abby: says nothing . . . just a blank stare . . . trying very hard to figure this all out . . .


Meanwhile, Aaron (then 13 and his friend who were helping to clean out the coop) are standing there listening to the conversation, knowing full well what is happening, and turning 10 different shades of red!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Now, when you're done laughing, you can read the rest of this and see why I was reminded of this story!

Keep in mind that Abby now knows the "facts of life." It helps, being in farm country, as she's seen the neighbor's bull in action, and has seen numerous calves born. However, there are some things that just aren't covered in school, and parents' are NOT prepared for them!

The other day, while watching TV, a commercial for Viagra came on . . . I was sitting here at my laptop when all of a sudden Abby says to me:

Mommy, what's "ED"?

I just SAT HERE and didn't say anything for a minute or two . . . trying to figure out what to say . . .

Like any good parent, I came up with the perfect answer! Oh, I suppose you want to know what it is? OK, fine . . .

My answer was . . .

Don't worry about it Abby!

Ya know . . . there are just some things that a ten year old doesn't need to know!



OK, so on to RVing Outpost news!

FINALLY, we got some of our COLEMAN products in! Yes indeed! I've had folks in Australia chomping at the bit for the Road Trip Party Grill


Well, we finally got them today, but I only received TWO of them! Both of those were already spoken for and are, as we speak, on their way to Oz! :)

We DID get some other Coleman products in today, too. I'm so excited as we haven't been able to get Coleman products in here previously.

Now IN:

DUAL fuel Coleman stove



This is so cool! If you run out of Coleman fuel, no need to worry! Just use unleaded gas! It's designed to work on BOTH fuels, so no need to worry!

Looking for just a "regular" Coleman stove? We have those, too!




We even have a Propane Coleman Lantern in stock now!



And last, but certainly not least, of the new Coleman products, is the
Coleman Black Cat Heater!



We have a couple more Coleman items coming into the store . . . we just haven't received them yet! Keep an eye on the website and here on my blog for updates on those items.

We also have a NEW Thetford product . . . do you use a "blue tote" or "tote tank"? Well, Thetford has come out with a new Tote Tank Deodorant, and it can even be used in standard Black Tanks if you're going to be away for a while!



I think that's about it for now!

Hope everyone has a normal day!

Julie

No luck with my shoulder

Well, I'm thinking that I may have to see a doctor about my shoulder.  It doesn't seem to be getting any better.   It was feeling better for a few days, but when I woke up today, that same old intense pain was back and has lasted all day, which is NOT good.    It's not just my shoulder, but actually radiates down my arm, about 1/4 of the way to the elbow.    I'm going to have to find some time to see a doctor, or at least a chiropractor to see what's going on.

March came in like a lamb for us with very quiet weather yesterday.   I was at the store all day, and was actually rather busy.  Folks are getting spring fever and thinking more and more about camping, which is VERY good for us!   A couple weeks ago, I got an e-mail from some folks in Green Bay wanting to know our hours as they wanted to take a road trip to visit our store.  Well, they came to visit on Saturday!    It was nice chatting with them and knowing that they had driven two hours to come to our store made me feel really good!  

It's still cold and we still have a LOT of snow, but it IS getting warmer.  We've been in the 20's or so lately which is MUCH warmer than we've had.  Of course, tonight we're under a winter weather advisory, because we have freezing drizzle, sleet and then snow coming!  Oh, yippee!   Just what we want!    I just hope that the roads are OK in the morning!  I'm still leery about driving when the temps are below freezing.   I'm sure I'll be much more comfortable once the temps warm up, but for now, I'm still slightly nervous.  

Maddie, of course, is LOVING the snow!  She's so goofy!  She runs out there and immediately bury her head in the snow!  She'll run through it, and reach down to grab up a mouthful . . . but then will stand there for a moment or two as if to say "DANG!  That's COLD!"  You can just see the "brain freeze" happening from the mouthful of snow!        Spring must be coming, because she's shedding like crazy already.  Just like a wolf  . . . she has "hunks" of fur that are just dropping off her near her haunches.  I've actually sat down next to her and pulled them out . . . if she let me, I'd just take the vacuum to her, but she really HATES the vacuum cleaner!   Once it gets a little warmer out, I'll spend some time outside brushing her to get rid of all that loose hair.  

We DID get a bunch of new products in the store on Wednesday!   Our new 12-volt products are now here!    

All these products are from Field & Stream and even come with a complimentary 1 year subscription to Field & Stream Magazine!

12-volt 12 cup coffee maker




12-volt 4 cup coffee maker



12-volt All Purpose Cooker -- Make popcorn, hotdogs, soups, stews, etc.!   A great little 12-volt appliance!  



12 Volt Heavy Duty Blender & Grinder



I'm STILL waiting to get in our Coleman products, and am starting to get quite irritated with them.  Our distributor has not been able to get any information out of Coleman or their rep -- who refuses to return their phone calls!  If this is the way we're going to be treated, I'm thinking that Coleman is NOT going to be in the distributor's catalog again!  It's ridiculous, the way they're being treated.  I really NEED to get those products in our store, and our phone calls are going nowhere . . . .

That's about it for now!  

Hope everyone has a normal day!

Julie