Adventures With Dear Miss Mermaid Child Of The Planet: Easter Monday 2011

Monday, April 25, 2011

Easter Monday 2011

I hope you all survived the Easter Bunny. I had a friend pop in by surprise, so I made us a huge Easter dinner, after we went shopping. I had all 3 burners on the stove going, plus the crockpot and the microwave. Amazing what you can turn out in a tiny galley. I made everything from scratch except the gravy. I cheated with that. I started with a can of brown gravy, then added fresh chopped onions, fresh sliced mushrooms, black pepper, and a tablespoon of horseradish. I simmered it while everything else was cooking.

We had peppered steak with mushroom gravy, stir fried spanakopita with squash and onions, corn on the cob, plus a baked potato. When all was said and done, we split a chocolate Easter bunny, my friend had bought. We washed it all down with iced green tea. I had made 3 quarts, we finished them all.

I found corn on the husk, my favorite! I chopped the ends off 2 ears, left the husks on, then put them in the microwave for 10 minutes, let them sit another 5 minutes, then popped off the husk, and spread butter on the steaming corn. Yummy! Cooking them in the husk gives the corn fabulous flavor. Ditto for doing them on the grill in the husk. Though unless the corn is super fresh and moist, it's best to soak them in water or wrap in foil or both, before grilling.

This is my first camp fire since I got the motorhome in December 2009. Actually, one night recently, I was mad at the pollen that covers up my entire patio. It is highly flammable. I had been tossing sticks in the firepit since the various storms keep coming by, leaving sticks and branches everywhere. Then I swept up all the pollen and threw it in the firepit too. I was thinking it would blow right back out again. So I set it on fire. To my surprise, it flared right up, setting all the wood on fire in the firepit. Harley the puppy dog and I enjoyed getting our paws all toasty warm.

I keep discovering nifty things to do with a small crockpot. I bought some jumbo potatoes recently. I scrubbed this big bad boy down with fresh water, then put him in the crockpot on low, with the lid on. A few hours later, I had this moist tasty baked potato that was awesome. I didn't poke him with a fork before cooking. I think that kept it very moist. It wasn't dried out like a regular baked potato. It was just perfect.

The other evening, I made a large batch of multigrain pancakes. I had about 5 for dinner one night with real maple syrup. The rest of the batch, I froze in separate ziplock baggies with three in each baggie. Now when I want multigrain pancakes, I just pull a package of 3 out of the freezer, place them on a plate, douse with real maple syrup, then put in the microwave for 90 seconds. The pancakes taste fresh. Since real maple syrup has to be kept refrigerated, once the bottle is open, this method works great for heating both at once.

Chopped baked apples with cinnamon, go well with the pancakes. This is one whole apple, that I scrubbed clean, then chopped up, sprinkled with cinnamon, then microwaved 5 minutes. I took this picture, after they were cooked, but before I stirred them up to distribute the heat and cinnamon. This apple was so naturally sweet. I felt like I was eating dessert.

Of course I have to show off my cute little puppy. He is 16 months old now, almost 6.5 pounds. He loves to keep one ear at attention. The temperature had plummeted to 63F degrees, so he is wearing his casual abstract sweater. Notice how he has his front paws tucked into the afghan for warmth. No, I am not getting him mittens too. He has filled his fleece lined bed in back of him, with his toys. Was he worried they were cold too?