Gluten-Free Vegan Taco Meat: grain-free, soy-free, with nut-free option

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This is one of those quickie recipes we’ve used for years but never think much about it. I thought I’d share it here to go with our new cassava tortillas. Ingredients 1 cup walnuts or sunflower seeds 1 8oz can mushrooms, drained 1 tbsp chili powder 1 tbsp nutritional yeast 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp hot sauce (optional) Instructions Chop walnuts into very coarse pieces (a mini food processor makes this easy). Add remaining ingredients, and chop until combined and the mushrooms are in small pieces. Let flavors meld for a few minutes before serving. Store unused meat in the fridge, for up to 3 days. Notes Siete Foods Habanero Hot Sauce is our favorite. A walnut-sunflower seed combo is also delicious. Fresh mushrooms can be used instead of canned. Mushrooms can be omitted entirely, but a little moisture (such as water or a little coconut oil) will help bind …

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Cassava Flour Tortillas: gluten-free, grain-free, vegan

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Here is a little-known fact about us: we LOVE tacos. I mean, we really love tacos. On our whirlwind month-long trip from Arizona to Florida to get to David’s RV tech program (with a short detour through Georgia to avoid Hurricane Dorian), we had tacos almost every day. Unfortunately, tacos with celiac and food allergies can get a little complicated for such a simple yet perfect little food. I am a super-sensitive celiac, which means that it’s a little more difficult than simply looking for gluten-free labels on foods. I have been glutened several times by corn tortillas, because it’s nearly impossible to find certified gluten-free corn tortillas, or non-certified tortillas from companies that test their batches for the presence of gluten. Legally in the U.S., naturally gluten-free foods processed on equipment shared with wheat may be labeled “gluten-free,” even if the final products are not tested for the presence …

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RV Surge Protectors, and a Positive Experience When One Failed!

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A surge protector for your RV is a must, because you never know what you’re going to get when traveling from one RV park to the next. One bad surge could fry everything in your RV, or just one very expensive thing (like an air conditioner), which is more than enough inconvenience, should you be so unlucky!

We picked up the Progressive Industries SSP-50XL surge protector with the weather cover (they make 30-amp versions too), because it was reasonably priced and came highly recommended by other long-time RVers. We’ve been really happy with it– we plug it into the pole when we park, make sure the power’s good, and then plug the rig in. It’s easy and painless, and once we’re hooked up, we’ve got the peace of mind that we’re protected.

When we plugged into a new site a few weeks ago, the protector indicated that we had good power, but no surge protection. To our knowledge, we’ve never had any surge events, and the plug was still in good condition. There are two sets of LEDs for redundancy, and since both were out, we had to assume we’d lost our surge protection entirely, for whatever reason.

A surge protector with only the blue "good power" lights lit, when the green "surge protector" lights should also be lit.

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A Visit to the International Independent Showmen’s Museum in Riverside, Florida

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We recently visited the Independent Showmen’s Museum, which was entertaining and educational, and worth it’s very own blog post.

The museum is over 54,000 square feet of artifacts, relics, art, and ephemera documenting the diverse and fascinating history of sideshows, spanning over a century. It is completely wheelchair accessible, with the exception of an example of the manager’s office, which has several stairs, and is an extremely small part of the exhibition space.

The view of the museum from the second floor, with a large carousel and ferris wheel, and many displays.

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Sanitizing Our Fresh Water System

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How long has it been since you sanitized your fresh water system in your RV? Did you know your fresh water system needs to be sanitized on a regular basis? Even with a good filter, algae, debris, and bacteria can build up in the fresh water tank and plumbing.

The sanitation process can take several hours, and will require access to a fresh water supply.

We have a Keystone Laredo travel trailer with a 43 gallon fresh water tank, and our water cabinet includes the fresh water fill inlet, fresh water tank vent to prevent overfilling, valve for switching between onboard water and city water, black water flush inlet, outside shower port, and the cable TV connections.

View of the fresh water fill cabinet on our Keystone Laredo travel trailer

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Doubling Our Usable Kitchen Drawer Space

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I borrowed this idea from my father. My dad added several pull-out storage areas in their kitchen pantries as well as interior drawers similar to this project. This additional pull-out storage made much better use of the space, making the contents neater and easier to access.

Our utensil drawer is definitely in need of a space utilization improvement project. The standard silverware organizer does do the job, but the drawer itself was never more than half full.

View of the utensil drawer before the project to add an interior drawer started

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Making Gray Tank Valves Easier to Reach

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Waste water tanks are not high on the list of fun things to do while RVing. We have two gray tanks, and the way the manufacturer installed our kitchen gray tank’s dump valve does not make the process any more fun. Basically, they were installed “backwards.” In order to open the gate valve you have to climb under the edge of the slide floor and electrical cables, and the valve must pulled away from you in order to open it.

View of the kitchen waste water tank dump valve with the handle facing away from the viewer
This is the easiest angle to approach the gray tank. Why is the handle on the opposite side?

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RV life with cats: cattifying your RV for maximum feline happiness

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A black and gray cat, sitting on his low back with his belly and big feet facing the camera, looking off to the side.
What people think we do all day when we tell them we’re full-time RVers.

Before we moved into our RV, we spent about 3 months cattifying it so our four-legged family members would have an easier time adjusting to living in a tiny home. They’d always had larger apartments (and most recently, a 3 bedroom house), where they used more of the space than we humans did. They had shelves and many cat condos to climb, and we were going from about 1500 square feet to about 250 square feet (give or take).

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