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Gorgonzola Pasta


Ingredients:

Pro tip: Chicken is completely optional! You can also use grilled chicken.

Preheat oven to 325 F (convection preferred).

Coat bottom of baking dish with olive oil, garlic salt, and pepper.

Add two chicken breasts.

Coat chicken with garlic salt and pepper.

Cover tightly with aluminum foil.

Cook 40 minutes until chicken is >165 F.

While the chicken is cooking:

Heat pot of water for pasta with at least 2 Tbs salt.

Put saucepan on medium heat.

Add 2 Tbs olive oil.

Add minced garlic.

When the garlic begins to sizzle cook 2 min stirring frequently.

Add 1 cup white wine.

Pro tip: Any white wine will do, typically I use a lighter white like Pinot Grigio

Boil wine 5 minutes.

Add 1/2 stick salted butter.

Add 1 pint heavy cream.

Pro tip: You can use heavy cream, half and half, or even milk. Heavy is the best but nearly any milk or cream will work.

When butter is melted add 1/2 cup grated parmesan/asiago cheese.

Pro tip: You can use a blend, straight asiago, or straight parmesan. If you use a blend with Romano it may affect the salt flavor of the sauce.

Add 1/4 tsp White Pepper
Pro tip: Add 1/4 tsp of Nutmeg (optional)
Continue cooking on medium low, keeping it so the sauce is just bubbling and not a rapid boil.

Stir frequently.

Start pasta so that it will finish 5 minutes after chicken is done.

When chicken is done, dice and set aside.

With 2 minutes remaining on pasta add 1/2 cup sundried tomatoes.

Stir to coat.

Drain pasta, do not rinse.

Pour into room temperature pasta bowl.

Pro tip: Microwave bowl for 1.5 min to warm it up if necessary.

Add chicken.

Add gorgonzola sauce.

Let sit 5 minutes before serving.

Serve with a crusty bread and grated parmesan.

Pro tip: For sweeter sauce or to offset high salt caused by type of cheese you can add honey 1 Tbs at a time until it suits your taste.

Implements Used:

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Reheating a 4 to 8 ounce Cheeseburger

Reheated Cheeseburger, BBQ Chips

Ever thought burgers were tough to reheat? This is our favorite way to reheat a cheeseburger.

  1. If the burger is in a bun, remove it.  It’s best to toss the bun and use a new one if you have more. If you don’t have a spare you can toast or microwave the current one for 15 seconds separately from the cheeseburger.
  2. Splash a little water in a microwave-safe bowl or container, enough to form a puddle but not enough to cover the entire bottom.
  3. Put the cheeseburger in the bowl and cover loosely.
  4. Microwave for 45 seconds covered.
    Steps 5 and 6 are recommended, but optional.
  5. Put another piece of cheese on top.
  6. Microwave another 15 seconds.

This will turn your cheeseburger into a delicious steamed tasting version of a cheeseburger. It can also be used if you grill burgers ahead of time and then
want to cook them fast.

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Best way to mulch leaves with a riding mower!

This is the best way I’ve found to effectively mulch leaves using my riding mower.

Mow and then mow in reverse directly over the same line.  Leaves dissappear like magic.

My mower is a 42″ Husqvarna with the mulching attachment and mulching blades.  Typically the deck is set between 3-4 when I mulch leaves.

You want to turn:

This…
…into this

You search online…

Search results – mulching leaves with a riding mower.

… and find some suggestions.

You try them all, but none turn:

This…
…into this.

You may have tried:

Mowing up and back

Starting in the middle and working outward

Starting at the outside edge and mowing inward

Mowing normally and then perpendicular in a cross-hatch pattern

None of these methods solved your problem.

Instead of this…
…you still get this.

 

The best solution is to mow and then mow in reverse over the same line.

What you need:

Riding Mower (buy from Amazon / Home Depot)
Mulching Kit (buy from Amazon / Home Depot)
Mulching Blades (buy from Amazon / Home Depot)

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Cleaning a Beer Growler – Easy Way

 

Do you want to reuse your growlers? This at-home method has worked well for cleaning and storing growlers with no lingering odor or growth inside the bottles.

The first step is clean the growler immediately, or as soon as possible after consumption.  If you can’t clean it quickly, keep it refrigerated until you can. That way you won’t get any funky growth or dried residue that is a pain to remove.

  1. Heat oven to 225 F
  2. Boil a small pot of water
  3. Remove cap, if Grolsch style, pull off the bottle
  4. Put a couple drops of dawn dish soap in the growler and rinse with hot tap water and then cold so there are no suds remaining
  5. Pour a small amount of Star-San solution into the bottle and swirl around enough to have solution coat the inside of the bottle, pour excess out (or into the next bottle)
  6. Turn off heat on pot, put the cap in the boiling water for 2-5 min and remove
  7. Put the bottle in the oven for 10 min, remove and shake to disperse any remaining Star-San solution
  8. Put back in the oven and turn off
  9. Remove bottle after 20 min and allow to cool
  10. Put saran wrap over the bottle top and put the cap on, the bottle will remain perfect until next use

 

Star-San solution – 7.5 ml solution to 32oz water, a spray bottle works great

 

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Glowing Ghosts

These were cheesecloth starch ghosts that had lost their stiffness.  They were repurposed into glowing ghosts hanging from a tree outdoors.  The blue glow is provided by a blacklight and the yellowish light comes from LED string lights.  We wanted four ghosts, so a new one had to be created (far right). With no cheesecloth on hand, a white trash bag was used instead.

Materials used to create glowing ghosts:

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Tent Camping in the Rain

Camping in the rain is not usually anyone’s idea of a good time. There are a few basic things that are important to remember when rain is in the forecast.

Tent Setup
Your tent needs to be set up properly in order to do its job and keep you dry.  First, we recommend a foundation for the tent.  If you do not have a footprint for your tent, get a tarp. The tarp should be roughly the size of your tent if it is too big the tarp will collect water and hold it between the tarp and tent.  Our advice is to buy a tarp a little bigger than your tent and then cut it to size.  Tarps are cheap and readily available, we buy ours at Ocean State Job lot although Walmart or Home Depot will also have them available.  A proper foundation will help keep you dry and extend the life of your tent by reducing wear on the bottom.

When you set up the tent you need to take extra care, going through the process of staking the tent, assembling the rainfly and then attaching guy-lines.
Simply if the rainfly is sagging and touching your tent, it can allow moisture to build on your tent wall. To keep dry, keep the fabric of the fly from touching the fabric of the tent.
What is a guy-line? It is a line going from the loops on the outside of your rainfly to the ground, creating tension that will pull the rainfly away from your tent. Now you know what those loops are for on the outside of your rainfly. I have seen some tents that come with guy-lines attached, many that come with the cords in a separate bag, and some without the lines at all. Often if the guy lines came separately they will get lost or diminish in number over time.
It is important to know your tent and have a cord for each loop on the fly. Extra cord is recommended because you don’t know the terrain and frequently will need additional lengths to get the right tension.
With each cord, you will want to have a corresponding stake.

Our recommendation for the accessory cord is Sterling Glocord. This cord is reflective and will light up at night when a flashlight or headlamp hit it. Great for not tripping in the middle of the night. It has tons of uses besides guy-lines and is one of the more useful things you can have in your camping gear.

Sterling Glocord

Our recommendation for tent stakes is galvanized 8″ or 10″ steel nails. Where we camp in New England it is typically rocky and a lot of tree roots. I have tried many stakes and the ones that go in best and stay the longest are these nails which can be bought at your local big hardware store for under a dollar each. Get enough to stake out your tent and all your guy-lines. They are bulky and heavy and practical mostly for car camping or short hike-in camping. You won’t be disappointed with a choice to use them. Painting them bright orange is an extra step which can help with visibility during the day. Another tip is to add a galvanized washer to give your rope a bigger lip to catch on, not necessary but can be useful, you can even glue the washer in place in advance.
10″ Galvanized Steel Nail (6″ is not enough!)

Clothing
In addition to your raincoat, pack an extra set of clothes and shoes.  The reality is that on a short camping trip you may not the have time or the ability to dry things.

Activities
Have activities planned in case you get stuck in the tent.  You can bring a board game or deck of cards.  We do not recommend playing on your phone or iPad during camping trips; but if you are inseparable from electronics, make sure to have a spare power brick on hand.