Foodie Friday: Pumpkin Muffins

Sun Oven sitting in the wagon.

     When some friends came to visit us near Borrego Springs, we got to talking about my Sun Oven. So of course I had to show them how quickly it got up to 300-325. Then I had this hot oven just begging to be filled with something delicious, so I decided pumpkin muffins were in order. By the time I got them mixed up, they didn't get in the oven until 2pm. At this time of year the sun is on its downward slide and it goes behind the hills around 4:30, so it was a bit of a race for them to get done in time. The Sun Oven uses the angle of the sun to shine on the reflectors and collect the solar energy to heat up. When the angle gets too low, it's hard to maintain the temperature, and when the sun goes down it cools off. I did manage to get them baked, although at a lower temp, so it took a bit longer than usual.
     I then shared some around the Happy Hour group which included more discussion about the Sun Oven. And happy sounds of appreciation for how they turned out, plus a bit of surprise for a few people at how good something healthy could taste. Score! Since I use 1/2 of a can of pumpkin to make the muffins, and Jerry was kind enough to go into town to get me more eggs, I made another batch then next day. Getting them in the oven before noon, they only took about 45 min to cook the second day. They were just as tasty and moist as the first batch. They were so well received I thought I'd post the recipe here. I have a link to the original recipe, but of course, since I can't leave any recipe alone, I'm posting what I actually do. 

*********************************************************************

Linda's Pumpkin Muffins,  original recipe HERE that uses honey instead of stevia

1 stick butter, melted (I put this in my Sun Oven as it's heating up), set aside to cool a bit, add at end.

1/2 can pumpkin, stir to smooth

6 eggs, beat into pumpkin

1 tsp vanilla (I make my own extract) add to above,

4 droppers (half way up the dropper) of English Toffee Stevia, add to above

4 droppers Vanilla Stevia, add to above.

      In a small bowl mix the dry ingredients all together:

1/2 c coconut flour (or 1/4 c almond flour, 1/4 c coconut flour)

1/2 tsp baking powder (original calls for baking soda, but I like the taste of baking powder better)

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp ground ginger

Combine the dry with the wet, then add in the melted butter. Mix thoroughly. Add nuts if desired (1/2 cup) and spoon into muffin cups. I use silicone muffin cups. Paper will stick when using coconut flour, so I don't recommend them. Bake 400 degrees for 15 - 19 min. Or until top is set and lightly browned. In the Sun Oven, it bakes at 300 - 350 for 45 min to 1-1/2 hrs depending. If you push on the top and they spring back, they're done. With the extra pumpkin, these are fairly moist.

*******************************************************************

      This is my favorite recipe for gluten-free and grain-free baking. They don't seem to last long, even when I don't have help eating them all! Of course, they disappeared pretty quickly at Happy Hour, so if I want to indulge in more of them, I'll have to bake again the next sunny and low wind day. I put my Sun Oven in a folding wagon which makes it easier to move around. It lifts it up and keeps it pretty stable. At our home base in Olympia, I have to chase the sun around our lot since we are surrounded by so many tall trees, so the wagon is super helpful. I love that I can avoid using the generator or heating up the rig when we are out Boondocking with no hookups.There are lots of things I like to cook in my Sun Oven. Below is pictured a couple of my other favorites. If you notice, the pans are dark. The dark color helps to absorb the heat which is what you want. Highly reflective silver cookware doesn't work as well. Enamelware is great! Plus it feels more like I'm camping when I'm using it. It brings back good memories of camp outs.
 

Chicken and veggies with herbs, and pumpkin cheesecake. Yum!

Foodie Fridays: Thanksgiving Feast

From up on the hill, our rig is on the left next to the darker one.

We are camped at Anza-Borrego State Park near Borrego Springs with our Boondocker friends. Last year we had 90 degree weather for our Thanksgiving Potluck. This year it was more comfortable, but we had to move our potluck to Friday since Thursday had clouds and ferocious winds. Not something we want to contend with while eating outside in a large group. Today the weather was great and the meal was wonderful.

In order to do a potluck, I bring food that I can eat (and that I want to eat). Usually I'll just do a simple all-in-one dish and fill up on that. But today was special and I just wanted to make several different things and be able to share them.
I fixed:
⦁ Raw veggie tray with *cultured cream dip
⦁ green salad with honey-mustard dressing (on the side)
⦁ turkey thighs baked with turnips, carrots, onions and celery
⦁ turkey ham sliced and fried
⦁ *mashed cauliflower with flaxseed oil
⦁ *dried apple pie
⦁ *Avocado Grasshoppers
⦁ *Lemon/Orange Kombucha-Water kefir drink

It was yummy and I love all the left overs! I cooked the turkey thighs in my Sun Oven. Another reason to be thankful for a calm and sunny day! I placed the thighs on chopped carrots, turnips, celery and onions, topped it with rosemary, sage, basil, marjoram, salt and pepper. They cooked beautifully and were ready in plenty of time for the 2:00 meal. I got started around 9 am and they were done by 1:15 pm. I love using my Sun Oven here in the Southwest where I have plenty of sun and no electrical hookups. Cooking with a Sun Oven means planning ahead and taking advantage of the angle of the sun at different times of day. But well worth it to not heat up the rig or have to turn on the generator to run the convection oven. These could easily be cooked in a crock pot or Instant Pot.

*Recipes:

Cultured cream dip is very easy if you make your own milk kefir. Just put the grains into whipping cream for a day. When it's ready, take a 1/2 cup and mix in 2 tsp dried onion, 1/4 tsp dried dill weed, salt and pepper to taste. Stir and let sit for 30 min or more. Keeps well.

Mashed Cauliflower is perhaps the easiest. I took a head of cauliflower, cut it into chunks and steamed it. When it was soft, I used my Bamix stick blender to puree it, adding a bit of the cooking water as needed, then flaxseed oil, salt and pepper. I usually use butter, but I was making it so that someone sensitive to dairy could enjoy it.

Dried apple pie: Since we have an apple tree on our lot in Olympia, I was busy drying apple slices this Fall in order to have plenty for making pies this winter. Last year I made the pie with blueberries, but I wasn't happy with the color of it. The taste was great, but I decided to just do apple this time. I didn't account for having less fruit, so it was a bit flatter than I would have liked. I'm not happy with the crust/crumble recipe I used, so I won't share that.

For the apple filling:
2-1/2 cups of dried apple slices OR 3-1/2 cups if not using blueberries
2-1/4 c water OR 3 cups if not using blueberries
1 cup blueberries (frozen are fine) OR leave out increase apple amount
1 TBSP cinnamon
small squeeze of lemon juice
1-2 TBSP honey (not sure how much, just a big glob!),
2 droppers of English Toffee Stevia
1 tsp plain gelatin (optional)

Simmer apples in water for about 30 min or until apples begin to soften, then add the other ingredients. The gelatin is to make sure it isn't runny (optional depending on how much water gets absorbed by the apples) I drained some of the extra water into a small container and mixed up the gelatin thoroughly before adding it to the mix. When everything is blended and apples are fairly soft. Pour into a crust or a pie pan and top with a crumble or crisp topping and bake. I wish I had used my favorite crisp recipe today! I used a new recipe and it was not as good. I'll have to do that recipe another time. The link to where I found it is broken.

Avocado Grasshoppers

Avocado Grasshoppers This seems to be a favorite at potlucks. I try to keep it cold and only serve it at the end as it keeps well in the freezer, but doesn't do so well when it gets warm. There are a few changes I make to this recipe, but not many.  I double the chocolate layer on top, and I use stevia for at least half of the honey called for. So for 1/4 c of honey, I use 2 TBSP honey and add 2 - 3 droppers of liquid stevia, either plain or flavored. In the chocolate, I love to use English Toffee Stevia. It gives it a lovely flavor. CLICK HERE for the original recipe.

Lemon/Orange Kombucha-Kefir. The is a lovely probiotic rich drink. I do the kombucha as well as the water kefir in my motorhome. I love to mix them together since they really enhance each other. I mix roughly half kombucha and half water kefir, with just a bit of water to tone it down (optional), add a few slices of lemon and some orange flavored stevia and you have a refreshing and delicious drink.

I hope you enjoy these recipes. Let me know if you try any of them.

Borrego Springs and Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving potluck with Bud Brown singing to us.

Chicken drumsticks and veggies cooking.

The three groaning tables of food at Borrego Springs, CA where the Boondockers gathered for Thanksgiving soon had us all groaning from eating too much! I think we had about 40 people for our potluck. It was a great turnout and it was fun to meet some new people. It was very hot that day (88 or 90) and we were all looking to get into the shade. Just to the right of center you can see Bud playing his guitar for us as we ate. He's very good and we really enjoyed it.  We had so much food, we decided to meet again the next day for leftovers. There was plenty to eat!.
    I found out there were others coming that were eating gluten and dairy free, so I contributed gluten-free brownies and pumpkin muffins cooked in my Sun Oven the day before. I also made a dried apple pie made from my own apples with blueberries and a date & nut crust. It was nice to have others to appreciate my way of cooking! On Thanksgiving day I cooked 4 turkey thighs in my Sun Oven and then made some mashed cauliflower to go with it. I wanted to make sure there was plenty of dark meat!
   We were at Borrego Springs for about 2 weeks. We took hikes, went into town and visited the grocery store, the library, and a thrift store. The library always has great books for their Friends of the Library sale and we stocked up! We're ready to read and trade. With the internet so pathetic, we had plenty of time to read those books! We got plenty of bars for both phone and hotspot, but the bandwidth was seriously overloaded. It got slightly better when the holiday crowd left, but not by much. I wasn't able to do anything with my blog, and for phone calls I had to walk or drive up the road a bit to be able to talk without the call dropping.

Wire basket I made at Borrego Springs

   During Happy Hour when we all gather to catch up on things, I was busy working on a new project. I like to keep my hands busy while we all talk. I didn't count how many days I worked on it, but it kept me busy through several Happy Hours and I'm pleased with the results. This wire basket is only about 4" across and about 6" high to the top of the hummingbird. It's now holding our collection of small flashlights near the door. It was great fun to do. Already my busy brain is thinking of how I would do it differently next time. I was reading an article about people who can't visualize pictures in their minds. That's very different from my mind which is popping up with pictures all the time! I get flashes of ideas and if I grab them, I can design things in my head before I even start. But usually I just have a general idea and then I'm off and running to see where it takes me. I'm not really a production type of person. I like the challenge of figuring out how to do things. We had at least one day where we all got together and worked on our projects, beading or jewelry or whatever. I love getting together with other creative people because it really inspires me. It also helps me figure out something if I get stuck. I love learning from others. This is such a fun life to live!
 

Rock snake up on the hill made by someone years ago, the head is a triangular rock and it's pretty long!

Hiking buddies with the snake in the background and the beautiful hills in the background.

Julie, Pauline, Karen and Rod on our hike. Some of these guys can walk fast!

Local Sculptures

At the visitors center, we got the Borrego Springs Village Guide which tells about the many things in and around Borrego Springs that one can do. In it, they tell of Galleta Meadows with the sculptures. When talking to anyone in town, inevitably they ask if we've seen "the sculptures". So of course, we had to check them out. Handily the Guide has a map so you can find them. There are quite a lot of them, it turns out. They are a gift from "visionary town benefactor Dennis Avery and the craft of sculptor Ricardo Breceda". There are roughly 30 of them. We saw a large percentage of them. The day we decided to explore turned out to be quite windy, and a sandstorm created visibility problems. It also created a pretty cool picture of these sloths (or whatever they are) trekking through the sand.

Very interesting jeep sculpture with intriguing details!

Velociraptor looking ferocious

a prospector and his horse carrying all his supplies

One of many big horned sheep sculptures.

Palm Canyon

Borrego Springs is a cute little town, and when we checked out their two grocery stores we found one which even carried organic fruits and vegetables and several things in brands I usually get! It was like having a health food store selection sprinkled in amidst the usual fare. It’s always fun to see the differences one sees regionally. We also bought postcards and postcard stamps so we could send them to the grandkids, which then grew into sending them to others in lieu of our usual Christmas Letter.

We also visited the library, a very nice one, too, and several shops that were interesting and fun to browse through. With Borrego Springs Outfitters, we found more desert-appropriate hats, so added those to our collection.

Lots of large boulders on this hike.

The Park Visitor’s Center is on the west side of town (we were to the east of town) and well worth the visit. We got to see a short video on seasons in the desert. I enjoyed this since I don't plan to be here for some of those seasons--like summer where it can be over 124 degrees! They also had bird experts there so I was able to ask about the bird we saw at Big Morongo Canyon Preserve and get it identified. We also asked about the best route to take our RV over the mountains and go some good advice.

We then we went on the hike up Palm Canyon. What a beautiful hike, but seemed much longer that the mile and a half they advertised. We wondered if it was as the crow flies, since the trail wound back and forth quite a bit and by the time we got back to the truck we felt we’d been on quite a trek! They warn you to take a gallon of water per person. I had a quart that we shared, and by the time we returned I understood the wisdom of that advice. Even though it was a cool day, the area is so arid and the climb challenging enough that I sure would not want to do this on a hotter day! I clearly need to get a backpack of some sort for stripping down layers and carrying more water. Still it was worth the climb past huge boulders, over all kinds of rocks and finally to the oasis with running water and many huge palm trees. 
 

At the top of the canyon where the palm tree are, there is a lovely spring and creek that goes for a little ways, feeding the trees and other plants that grow around it.



The palms at the oasis were huge!





The Slots

Jerry and the entrance sign to The Slots

Our fellow RVers told us about an interesting place that we decided to check out. It's called The Slots and is southwest of Borrego Springs. It is a slot canyon, and pretty interesting to hike, although not as spectacular in color as the famous ones in Nevada. Still it was fun and even challenging in a few spots. I was glad I took my cane with me since there were a few places I was thankful for the leverage! I took so many pictures with my phone that I sometimes just carried it in camera mode, which made for a few "What is THAT supposed to be?" shots. Since we went on a Saturday, there were plenty of people there. We didn't linger because we wanted to get down and back before the sun got too low in the sky. With the sun setting around 4:30, the afternoon is rather short! I was thankful to have a warning when I overheard this rather small young lady who had just returned say that she had torn her shirt. That left me wondering since I am not nearly so small.

 This is not a place for the claustrophobic, although most of the way was easy enough to walk.


Me being careful of my shirt in this narrow gap!



Spectacular formation at the end of the canyon.

If you look closely you can see Jerry!

Indio to Borrego Springs

As we left Indio, we dumped tanks at the nearby water treatment place for free, always a nice thing! They didn’t have potable water, so we waited to find that later. Turns out the Red Earth Casino where we parked near Salton city had water. That was nice surprise. They also have a place to dump for $8, so we were glad to have found the place in Indio. We were visited by Bob and Trish Nesbitt as soon as we got there which was fun. We've known them for years and they have recently gone full time in their RV and we discovered they were in the same area as we were. Nice surprise! We visited them in their Thousand Trails park when we were nearby in Indio, then they decided to see the Salton Sea area again and visiting us gave them a good excuse. It was so nice to catch up!

this shows the mud flats exposed as the water recedes in the Salton Sea

Where once there was a pier and yacht club and resort at the Salton Sea

A nice little hike up a hill overlooking our rig.

We left the Salton Sea area heading West over a seriously bad road! For about the first 5 miles, it was pretty rugged. In spots we could go no faster than 3 – 5 mph, sometimes as much as 15mph. I got pretty excited when we got all the way up to 35mph! Then suddenly the road was good (we crossed the county line) and it was full steam ahead. Up over some hills and around some curves we passed the off-road vehicle areas where there was lots of sand and hills. Farther on we entered the Anza-Borrego State Park which is HUGE! It completely surrounds the town of Borrego Springs. We were following directions to a Boondocker Group’s previous gathering and found the spot easily. Jerry had read that it was a favorite boondocking site for several people and it's easy to see why!

After finding our spot, we saw another Mountainaire nearby, so went over to introduce ourselves and found fellow Escapees! (Dean and Judy) We had never met, but they knew people we knew. Another couple (Jan and Chuck Moore) joined them a few days later whom we had met the previous year. It was fun to join them for some social time. Since we all have Moutainaires and are Escapees, there was no lack of things to talk about.

It was so wonderful to be back out in the desert after parking in casino parking lots for most of our trip so far. The wide open spaces, the gorgeous mountains surrounding us, the warmth of the sun during the day, the amazing sunsets. We even had hummingbirds do several inspections of our rig, and I saw a roadrunner chasing something in the bushes!

 

Farther up Rockhouse Rd from where we are camping there is Clark Dry Lake.