During our Costco adventures, we found a wine advent calendar! Ben got it for me and I have been enjoying it since October. It contains 24 half bottles of wine. I started Advent early this year (on Halloween), because there is no way I could drink that much wine in 24 days! It has been a neat adventure. There are a lot of different types of wines in the calendar, most of which I probably wouldn’t try on my own.
The wine Advent calendar cost $99.99 (+tax). I’ll have a few posts with pictures of the bottles from the wine journey as we prepare for Santa’s arrival over the coming month!
So far I like this type of wineing a lot more than what we normally have in the RV.
NOTE: For you beer lovers, I also saw a beer advent calendar at some locations.
Ok, so this isn’t a real lasagna, but it is a noodle dish that really tastes like lasagna! I was trying to find some easy InstantPot recipes that I could make in the RV. I made a few modifications to some I found online, and this is our recipe. It turned out really well and everyone loved it! (Well, Will got his portion before the cheese was added.) Click here for printable PDF recipe.
It’s not the prettiest dish, but it tastes delicious!
INSTANTPOT LASAGNA
Sarah Tepe
You will need:
1 cup ricotta cheese
2 cups mozzarella cheese
1 lb. ground beef
1 jar spaghetti sauce (about 24 oz)
1 box uncooked penne pasta
1 can diced tomatoes (I used the diced tomatoes with green chilies, mild)
1 small onion, diced
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp dried basil
2 tbp olive oil
2 cups water
Directions:
Add oil, diced onions, and ground beef to InstantPot. Set to sauté.
Cook until ground beef is no longer pink. Stir and break up frequently.
Drain any grease. Place back in the InstantPot and turn it off.
Add in garlic powder and basil, stir to combine.
Make sure ground beef is in an even layer on the bottom of the pot.
Add spaghetti sauce, 2 cups water, can of tomatoes.
Add noodles on top. Do not stir, just gently push down to make sure they are in the liquids.
Cover with lid, set to seal and pressure to High.
Cook for 5 minutes and then quick release.
Stir in mozzarella and ricotta cheeses. Stir to let melt.
A few of you have asked about how we cook in the RV and if we had a “real” Thanksgiving dinner. We made a few modifications due to the small oven, but we did have a full Thanksgiving dinner. I think it turned out pretty well. The meal consisted of turkey, cranberry, stuffing, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, rolls, and green bean casserole.
We did a bit of cheating this year to make it work. We bought microwavable mashed potatoes from Costco (they were really nice, we’ve had them a few times), pre-made rolls, and turkey breasts instead of a whole turkey (there is no way a whole turkey would have fit). It was a bit of a juggling act to get things ready close to the same time. I am very thankful that our travel trailer has an island for more counter space!
I started with the turkey. I used a disposable 13×9 pan (labeled a stuffing pan) for cooking the turkey. I found a BBQ and a bacon wrapped turkey breast at the local grocery store. I was so excited about the bacon one, as I used to make a bacon sweater for the whole turkey back in the house. (NOTE: These were from Honeysuckle. They turned out ok. I have made turkey breasts from Butterball before, and those turned out much better.)
I browned the bottom of the bacon wrapped turkey on the stovetop, per the instructions and then placed in the pan with some water and aromatics (onions, carrots, lemon, and orange). The bacon turkey went into the oven first, as the baking temperature was higher. I added the BBQ chicken later and basted/spooned the liquids back over the turkeys several times during the cooking time. It took around 3ish hours to cook completely. Unfortunately, the bacon did not get very crispy and the oven does not have a broiler feature to it.
When I had about 40 minutes left on the turkeys, I put the sweet potatoes in the InstantPot*. I am not a sweet potato lover, but Nick and Ben are. The InstantPot is amazing for potatoes. (Sweet potatoes are done in 30-50 minutes, baked potatoes are done in 15-20 minutes.)
While the turkeys and sweet potatoes were cooking, I made the green bean casserole. To make it go faster, I used all canned green beans this year. (Normally I use half fresh green beans and half canned.) I also used a 13×9 disposable pan for this dish. After the turkeys were done, the green beans went into the oven. I kept the turkey covered with aluminum foil to keep warm.
Once the green bean casserole was finished, I popped some of the rolls in to crisp up and get warm. They were already baked, but there is something just better and more satisfying about warm bread and rolls! I opened the can of cranberry (jelly), and we were good to plate and eat.
I made a little too much, so we had leftovers for the next day. The one thing I really miss about having a larger oven is being able to make pizza; I would have loved to used the leftovers to make Thanksgiving Leftovers Pizza!
We have always done a gingerbread house at Christmas. We found a really cute RV kit at Target this year.
The kit came with the gingerbread pieces, gum drops, candy beads, light bulb candy, red and black decorative icing, and a white Royal icing. There were a few paper decorations as well: Santa, a grill, and a picnic bench/tree.
There was a plastic tray with indents for the wheels. It did help a lot as the RV sides set. The directions said to do the front/back/sides and let sit, then add the roof. If you don’t have it perfect, the roof doesn’t fit in easily. Next time I may put the roof on as soon as the sides/front/back are iced together, so that the icing is still pliable and it can all set/dry together.
The boys had a blast decorating it and it turned out pretty well. They especially enjoyed eating it for Thanksgiving dessert!
We were getting hungry walking around Fort Worth Stockyards. There were a lot of steakhouses in the Stockyards area, so we decided to eat what Texas is known for (steak)! We stopped to eat lunch at Cattlemen’s Steak House.
The pricing was a little expensive, but the 6 oz steak pricing wasn’t too far off from what we would normally pay. The lunch menu was about half the price of dinner options. They also offered a kids menu, with a 6 oz steak and 1 side option. It was about $4 cheaper than our lunch (same 6 oz steak). We did get a side salad though.
After we ordered drinks and our meals, they brought out rolls. The rolls were standard table rolls, round, a little dry.
Our salads came next. They were ok. It looked like a basic side salad: iceburg/romaine lettuce, some croutons, shredded carrots, dressing.
Our meals came on a fun plate. The kids had ordered fries with their steaks (the fries had a nice seasoning, but a little too crispy for me). Ben and I got baked potatoes as our side. They brought each one with the trimmings on the side (bacon, sour cream, chives, cheese).
The steak was nice and juicy. We had all ordered medium, although Ben and mine were more medium well than medium. They had a great flavor and were very tender.
If you walked around the restaurant, the two dining sections had it’s own grill area, so you could watch them make the steaks. I thought that was a really fun touch.
They also offered steaks for sale that could be air mailed.
For our stay in Carlsbad, New Mexico, we stayed at the Carlsbad KOA. It’s a little bit out of town, about 20 minutes.
The campground was a nice one, with plenty of things to keep the kids busy. There was a large outdoor checkers board and a porch swing by the office. The main building housed an office/store, restaurant (delivered to your site, food made on-site in smokers), bathrooms/showers (men’s main bathroom closed for our stay), and a laundry room. The campground had WiFi (no streaming), picnic areas, fire pits at sites, pool (closed for the season for our stay), gaga ball court (boys’ favorite), tether ball, playground (with a set of bathrooms/showers nearby), and fenced dog area. Most of the sites were pull-through. There were a few tent sites and a few cabins to stay in as well. The rows were nicely labeled to help find your site. Once we were checked in (they gave us some cute red/black plaid can koosies at check in), a staff member led us to our site. The front desk recommended using a water filter for the drinking water.
The office store sold some souvenir type things, grocery items, ice ($3/10 lb bag), and firewood bundles ($10/bundle).
The spots were nicely spaced, with plenty of room for our trailer and truck to fit on the paved spot. There were only a couple of downsides (which they didn’t have control over): very windy at times and a fair amount of flies.
The campground was about 20 minutes from town, about 45 minutes to Carlsbad Cavern National Park, and about 1 hour from Roswell. Carlsbad (the town) had an Albertsons, a Walmart, and a Lowe’s, plus plenty of fast food options. There were also plenty of fuel stations in town, a lot with diesel. Most of them, however, would be difficult with a bigger RV/trailer.
Everyone we interacted with at the campground was nice and helpful. If we were back in the area, I would stay here again.
Side Note: Due to Covid, we could only go to National Parks/National lands. The State Parks (even all outdoor ones) are closed to non-New Mexico residents. Masks are also required indoors. The staff at the KOA did a great job with this, but the regular people out and about and employees in other stores did not.
SUMMARY OF CAMPGROUND:
Our rating: 2.5-3 out of 5 hitches
Cell Phone Reception: AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile
Laundry: Yes
Bathrooms/Showers: Yes, partially open for repairs
RV Sites: Pull through, a few back-in
Pop Up Tents/Gazebos/Outdoor Rugs On-Site: No
Amenities: picnic table and fire pit/grill at each site, cable, dog park, gaga ball court, tether ball
Have you ever heard of, or had, a Sonoran Hot Dog? We hadn’t either. Nathan sent Ben a link and recommended we try one while in Arizona.
These hot dogs are insane. They are wrapped in bacon, had pinto beans, tomatoes (or a mild pico de gallo), sauted onions, sour cream, and a chile sauce. There was a roasted jalapeno on the side. They were so good!
If you want to make your own at home, I found a recipe for Sonoran Hot Dogs online. Kroger has these bolillo rolls for sale near the bakery department (they are stupid cheap too, normally $1), that look identical to the buns used on the ones we ate.
Since the Fair Foodie Fest was further north, we decided to visit Los Angeles on the same day. On our way into Los Angeles, we stopped at the Bagel Shack for breakfast. Their bagels were really good, nice and soft. We picked a berry cream cheese, which had bits of berries in it! The strawberry and chocolate chip did not have a very strong flavor, although they were still a nice bagel. Things like bagels and donuts are just more expensive here: small cream cheese $3.50, 1/2 dozen bagels $9.
We drove up to Venice Beach first and walked around. Ben and I had been there many years ago, before we had kids. It was still just as unique as I remember it. The scammers with CD’s were still there, lots of touristy kiosks and shops, street artists, etc. The size and amount of homeless camps set up along the sidewalk and the beach seemed much larger than I remember. And of course, there were still rollerskaters, rollerbladers, bikers, and skateboarders. VIDEO: Walking Venice Beach, Los Angeles, CA
We walked down to Santa Monica Pier and walked around. The Chess Park was neat and there were a few people playing. The boardwalk/pier area was really fun to see. The rides and games were not open, but many of the restaurants were. People were enjoying the beach, exercising, or walking around. We even saw a dance class being held outside.
The “original” muscle beach at Santa Monica was closed, although a few people snuck past the fencing and ropes to use some of the permanent equipment. The muscle beach at Venice Beach had several people there as well.
We drove over to see the Chinese Theater and the stars in the sidewalk. It was a little crowded and also hard to park the truck, so we just drove by and took in the sights. On our way out, we saw the Hollywood sign on the hill.
Ben once again found a unique event to go to: the Drive-Thru Fair Foodie Fest held at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California. Admission was free and if you made a reservation online, you got a free mini funnel cake. The event was only held on weekends in October. We weren’t sure exactly how it would work, but it sounded like a fun experience and definitely something new.
We went in the later afternoon, a little before dinner time. Although we put in the address on the website, it was a little hard to figure out how to get into the stadium. The first couple of gates were locked and there were not signs up directing you where to go. We finally turned into this maze of a parking lot with concrete barriers and cones. We saw a few people coming out that way and gave it a try. There was finally a small (8.5×11 size) piece of paper taped to a pole with an arrow for the fair food. There was nothing closer to the street though, making it extremely hard to find.
There was a small line when we arrived, but it moved pretty quickly. They had a few non-food booths set up along the way to give it more of a fairground/festival type of feel. We had already pre-planned on what we were going to eat, as the food was not exactly cheap. We stopped at booth #1 for a gyro ($12.93), booth #3 for a giant turkey leg and roasted corn on the cob ($21.55), and finished it off with a funnel cake ($11.85) from booth #5. We did get our free mini funnel cake when we entered, but it was just big enough for everyone to have 1 bite. The booths only took credit cards and charged tax as well.
Ben is a nut and had carnival themed music playing on his phone to help set the mood.
At the end of the food line, they had stuffed animals on display (the kind you would win at a festival) for sale. You could also play ring toss from your car! We didn’t play, but it certainly was an ingenious idea.
There was another side parking lot where you could park and eat your food. It was a good thing we stopped: funnel cakes were not meant to be eaten in a car!
We explored Liberty Station and Market. We went midweek and it seemed like a lot of the shops were closed, but some of the restaurants open. There was a lot of outdoor seating options, which seemed to be a gathering space for people working on their laptops.
We stopped at Le Parfait. There were so many tempting goodies in the cases. I ended up with a Nutella macchiato and a chocolate almond croissant, which both were really good. I never would have tried a Nutella drink on my own, but the barista recommended it.
Liberty Station used to be a Navy barracks and training center. While walking around, it appeared that not all of the buildings had been renovated and reused yet. There was a lot of open green space which would be great for hanging out and enjoying a book or any goodies you bought from the stores. It looked like it would be a really neat area when everything was open. (When we drove by on the weekend, it looked packed, so maybe more things were open on weekends?)
