Binney in Idling Motorhome and Stone Wave Informercial

This morning Steveio wanted to fire up the motorhome and make sure the emergency brake was released and not frozen up.  Last thing we want is to be ready to roll in sub freezing temps and not be able to release the brake!  Our motorhome has a type of parking emergency brake that clamps around the driveshaft, and has nothing to do with the actual brakes on the wheels.

It was warm enough today to start it up, and make sure it would release.

Soooo it seemed like a good time to get little Binney, the newly adopted rescue dog, familiar with the noisy idling of a diesel engine while inside of the motorhome.  Finnegan has been with us over an year and takes it all in stride--- because he did it last year and loved it.

We brought both dogs out, and let her hop up in her comfy spot on the loveseat.  (when we actually travel she will be in her crate)  Here is a video of her reaction:

I think she did rather well!~ 

 While it was idling, Steveio comforted her on the loveseat. 

Finnegan was all excited and just wanted us to go go gooooo

(I know the feeling!) 

After a while, she seemed content and happy, so we powered down and shut things off.  I think taking her out there often over the last couple of weeks has helped her to know it's just another place of being "home" with us.  As long as she has her bed, her dish, and chasing Finney with his toys, I think she will do just fine.  We are still working on potty on demand while on a leash...  some of you kind helpful blog readers and my doggie friends have given me some hints and advice.  Slow and steady wins the race....

Now the next thing here is going to sound like an infomercial.  Heck .. it IS from an infomercial!  My friend Linda in Tennessee was in a Dollartree store (the green sign stores where everything is $1.00)   and she bought this pottery cooker thing.  It's an As Seen On TV item.  But... it's only a dollar there at Dollartree!   

She bought it and said that it worked great.  I trust her... so I looked online. Well, you CAN buy four of them in a set for $19.99 plus $8 shipping and handling.  And add $10 and you get four more yadda yadda yadda....   See for yourself:  Stone Wave cooker website informercial

Well, as luck would have it, Steveio needed to run into Appleton to Harbor Freight Tools for something for the motorhome --- a set of magnetic towing lights in case we have a problem with the connection on our wired up Tracker lights... sale with coupon $9.99 

At the same time, we got a free flashlight and tape measure too.... 

While in Appleton, I talked Steveio into heading over to Dollartree to see if they had any of those Stone Wave Cookers.  Sure nuff, the gal showed me and said they were going fast.  Hmmmmm should I buy only one to try it for a dollar?  Should I believe my friend Linda whom I trust and buy four?  2 for the house and 2 for the motorhome?  Should I pick up one more for our other friend Rosie whom I am going to see in Missouri on our vacation?  She wants one too.  Heck... I left there with SEVEN!   4 for the house, 2 for the motorhome and 1 for Rosie.  For a mere $7.00 total! 

this picture I robbed from their website

I read the reviews and personal users tests too where they were tested with kits for lead... all was good. And they are dishwasher safe too.

I picked a recipe off of the website that looked good.  I had little penne rigati noodles instead of spiral rotini noodles, but figured what the heck... gotta improvise.  I had fresh broccoli instead of frozen.  And I had bratwurst sausage meat on hand. It wasn't pre-cooked but I did that portion extra long to cook it thoroughly.  I never follow recipes exactly anyhow! 

here is the recipe copied from the website:

By having four stone wave cookers, I could do two with the noodles and two with the sausage and broccoli portions.  All four of the cookers fit well in my microwave.... and NO splatters to clean up like if I were doing them in regular open casserole dishes!

First I cooked the noodles in 2 cooker units and

 the meat, broccoli and onions in the other 2 ... 

If you only had one cooker, you would have to cook the noodles first, 

and set them aside in a bowl. 

Then cook the meat and broccoli sauce in the cooker. 

And finally put them all together.  

Buying an extra cooker for a dollar more is worth it.

Next I drained the water from the meat/broccoli cookers and the water from the noodles. I would highly recommend a flat plastic strainer like in the pic below.  A lot of the recipes are done with a bit of water in the bottom for steam that needs to be drained out.  Easier to use this flat strainer tipping the cooker to the side over the sink, instead of dumping into a regular kitchen colander to drain that small amount of liquid.

Then I added the cream of celery soup instead of broccoli soup.

 Add the milk. Stir it up good.

I put them in about three minutes longer than the recipe called for....

My noodles got a bit over done, but then I stirred them up and they were okay. 

  I accidentally put too much milk in one of them.  Gotta measure and don't need much. 

The handles were a little warm, but still a lot cooler than the handles on my corelle grab-it dishes!  I poured the noodles on the plate first, and then the meat and broccoli sauce over the top.  You could really just mix the two together into one cooker, because the broccoli cooked down with the meat and made room.  Then you wouldn't even have to dirty a dish, just eat right out of the stone cooker! 

 VOILA...... 

Our dinner is served.

Bon Appetit! 

Now.. if this didn't convince you to run to the nearest Dollartree to get one of these...  

perhaps looking at the recipe book that came with the cooker would: 

PDF file of recipe book that comes with the cooker

or this blog post of other users sharing their recipes: 

blog post with a bunch more recipes

There are some really good recipes in there and I am anxious to try a few during the next week or two.  I find most of them are things we normally do eat or buy, but looking forward to making them in the new little cookers. 

The pluses I see when using these in an RV are:

• Cooking for one person- you can cook a meal in microwave without dirtying a lot of big pots and pans for a single meal
• Cooking a quick meal in microwave when you are travelling and don't want to prepare a big meal but can eat like one
• Saving on water when dry camping with by cooking and eating from the same dish
• Forcing yourself to eat smaller portions by cooking only enough for each serving size 
• Cookers take up less space in the RV compared to multiple casserole dishes and pans

Of course if we are out boondocking without hookups, it would mean running the generator to power the microwave.  But this meal cooks so fast, that it would not be a long time of running the generator and supper would be ready toot sweet.

Steve gave it his "thumbs up" and said it's a good thing....  ahhhhhhh


I hope you didn't mind this infomercial. Of course I have no monetary interest in this item, just thought it was cool.  Besides, I have to write about something to fill the time before we leave on vacation.  Once we are on the road, I will try to blog daily.