Monday night cooking without electricity

Our week in Utah

We left for Utah on our 32nd wedding anniversary--April 24; leaving after James got off work and driving to Meridian, Idaho--almost to Boise. We drove the rest of the way in to Orem the next day; arriving in time to attend Josh's commissioning into the Army.

Monday--time to cook w/o electricity

We needed to cook a meal quickly so we could do some things before leaving for Utah--we are on our way now; so we decided on stir-fry on the propane Camp Chef. We had dinner whipped up in no time at all; and sat outside to eat while we enjoyed the warm weather.

Dinner without electicity

We usually try to do this on Monday night, however, we were watching Logan while his parents were in the hospital having little Livvy-Lou. (All are doing very well.). We decided may be up to doing these dinners, but not quite with a toddler.

James asked me earlier in the day if I would be willing to eat a 'MRE' with him by candlelight. So that is what we did. James had to have it on our fine china with a white tablecloth--like that would happen in an emergency? ;P

He had a beef patty with gravy, cracker with cheese/bacon spread, another cracker munchie and trail mix. There was also a drink mix. I had spaghetti with meatballs, cracker with peanut butter, oatmeal cookie, drink mix. I passed on the blueberry cobbler.

James had a flame less heater that came with his dinner and we used it on mine too. Despite this, our dinners were both cold. We decided that in a fix, despite being cold, an 'MRE' would hold body and soul together. We plan on buying more to have on hand when needed.

Olivia Faith

Grandpa and Grandma were called at 5:30 AM this morning to come watch Logan. She was due April 23rd, we thought she was going to be born (induced) on April 17th, however she wanted to choose her own birthday and she came on Sunday, April 15th at 7:10 PM. She weighed 7 pounds 14 ounces and was 21 inches long. She is beautiful!

Monday--cooking without electricity

It was a little more challenging this time--mainly because James had to go back to work and didn't get home until after 7 PM.

James really wanted to cook on the Kelly Kettle. James used mesquite-the chips burned fast shooting flames up thought the center of the kettle; heating the water inside the kettle to boiling.

I made a mixture of cubed sweet potatoes layered on bottom of pan and sprayed with olive oil--then layer of green onion, layer of mushrooms and then asparagus. Then layered all again and sprayed with olive oil. We placed the lid on top and as it cooked, we made hot chocolate with the water that had boiled in the Kelly Kettle.

We had to put the veges back on the fire once, but we're able to cook our Rib Eye steak to perfection (the mesquite added a wonderful flavor.) before placing veges back. Yeah, I dinner was kind of in 'courses'. The veges were cooked to perfection too.

For desert we shared a Granny Smith apple we had cored, buttered down the middle adding brown sugar, cinnamon, and walnuts and placed in the embers that were still hot. All in all we thought it a success.

Depoe Bay, Oregon

We had our annual trip out to the coast this weekend. The weather has been beautiful--except for 10 minutes it rained and we missed seeing the sea otters getting fed.