The DutchOvenDiva tales!

Diva's 2011 Schedule

2011-03-15T10:24:00.000-07:00

Diva’s 2011 schedule

Jan 1, New Years Day DOG, McHenry IL
Jan 15, Frozen DOG, Wauconda IL
Feb 12, Healthy Hearts DOG, McHenry IL
March 5-6, 12-13 National Maple Syrup Fest, Medora, Indiana
March 23-27, Chuckwagon Cooking School with Kent Rollins
April 2, Welcome Spring DOG in Iola, WI
April 9, Powder Horn, Blackhawk Council. BS Camp, nw IL
April 16, Garlic Mustard Festival Demo/DOG, Elgin IL
May 7, teaching Cowboy Cooking School, Iola, WI
May 13-15, Quad State Spring Fling DOG, Palace Campgrd, Galena IL
May 21, Armed Forces Day DOG, Lake County, IL
June 4, School's Out DOG, West Bend WI
June 11-12, Historic Pointe Basse cookoff, Nekoosa, WI
June 18, Celebrate DAD with a DOG, Lake Atwood, Cary IL
July 2, Castle DOG, Pell Lake, WI
July 8-10, National DOG, Wooster OH, presenting Healthy DO Cooking session
July 16, Timberland Dells Campground teaching
Aug 6, Blues Festival, Durand, Wisconsin DOG with Little House MN
Sept 1-5, Potjie Fest, Rusk TX
Sept 18, Women in the Outdoors, Grundy Co, IL
Sept 24-25, Northern IL Hunting and Fishing Show, Yorkville, IL
Oct 8, Young Eagles Cookoff, Galt Airport, Greenwood, IL
Oct 22, Fall DOG, Cary IL
Oct 29, Trick or Treat DOG, West Bend WI

for any information on these events, contact Lesley, dutchovendiva@yahoo.com

The Season Has Started

2011-03-15T10:06:00.000-07:00

My roadtrip season or Dutching on Asphalt has begun!
The season starts in southern Indiana with a trip to the National Maple Syrup Festival in Medora Indiana. This is a fabulous event centered around Maple Trees, Maple Sugar and the process of Sugaring. There are re-enactors, sugaring tours, food and Dutch Oven cooking. Of course! That's why I am there...I do cooking along with a few dutch oven friends. We give away Tasty Bites to the festival goers. Everything done with maple: biscuits, brownies, gumbo, beef stew, maple pie. You name it, and we cook it with maple. Maple, the wonderful flavor for everything.
Remember, www.nationalmaplesyrupfestival.com Always the first two weekends of March!

My next trip take me Red River Cooking School with Kent Rollins. I'll be bringing back lots of cooking tips to share with everyone.

We have been cooking all winter long, but not on the Blizzard Day, Feb 1, 2011. The Great Snowcano!
The Northwoods Dutch Oven Chapter held a New Years Day celebration DOG and yes, we featured Black Eyed Peas! Food, silly, not the band. We cooked them into a curry and oh so yummy. Ham too in the shape of Ham and Cheese Biscuits.
We held our Frozen DOG on Jan 15th with temps of 18 deg, and snow flurries.
Then we gathered on a nice February day, the 12th, for Hearts R Healthy. We took a favorite recipe, adjusted ingredients and 'healthified' them. Substitute veggies, spices and low carb to make it better for you. The flamingo party birds arrived too. They look great in the snow. And with 20 people, we had quite the feast and party.

See you soon!
Remember, there's some magic in the black pot always!

Start of the Summer

2010-06-14T08:31:00.000-07:00

Interesting to cook in someone's yard with all their tools! Homemade tables, cowboy charcoal, and their kitchen! Heat..OMG, 90 in the sun, standing over hot coals. This was Memorial Day weekend up in Waupaca, WI! The Northwoods Dutch Oven Chapter, north contingent came together and cooked all sorts of great foods. We started the day with doing East Indian Naan bread, and then Pan de Campo with jalapeno. We took the ovens and got them screaming hot by using the lower half of a kettle type grill loaded up with glowing coals. This created a very hot tandoori type oven effect..well sort of anyway. The naan is a yeast bread made with eggs, yogurt, flour. Single rise and then kneaded smooth again. Roll out or pull out a small piece into a 6x9 in teardrop. Place that flat bread into the bottom of the oven and cook till slightly brown on the bottom and then bubbly on the top. Pan de Campo is a baking powder bread. No rise needed, but it likes to be a smooth dough. Cook the same way as the naan bread.
Other things that we cooked over the weekend were Coca Cola chicken, meatloaf, turkey and goat. Apple Pie, Banana cake, Apple cake with caramel drizzle and pecan garnish. Venison in white wine and mushroom sauce. Home made corn tortilla and enchilada bake with the meat from the day before (turkey, goat).

There was the Country Music Festival in Richland WI..cooking next to Cucinero Wes Stigen in his chuckwagon setup. Fantastic gourmet pizza bites all weekend long. How about corned beef and sauerkraut pizza, Mojo sauce (garlic citrus base Cuban style), red sauce with good stuff up top. A Cherry Bean cobbler. Orange Cake supreme. And some of the best live country music to listen to...that was great..Thanks Bill for having us as demonstrators. We''ll be back next year.

Then, for the Birthday celebration on June 12th, The Diva went on a teaching trip with her good friend Nikki. WE took a loooonnnnggg drive to Crete IL to visit with Bridging Brownies on their first overnight campout! WE taught them how to light charcoal with chimneys..Yes you can play with the matches, but respect the fire! How to put together baked spaghetti in a deep 12 in oven. And 40 in a 12 for biscuits. They also got to make chocolate cherry cobbler and apple spice cake! Clean pots, that is what we like. These girls got to make their dinner and enjoy too! Thanks girls for my birthday song and the great skit.

Our Northwoods teaching team is doing Dessert DOG on June 16 for NE IL Boy Scouts at their Jaden Training Center dedication. WE are doing Puff Pastry, Peachy Jalapeno Bars, Tip Top Cake and Pecan Pie. All from the Dutch Oven and all very fancy. We'll be stars with our Powderhorn Aprons. I'm pumped. You can see pictures after June 16th on Illinois Dutch Oven and on the Art of Camp Dutch Oven yahoo forum.

Keep the coals burning and your ovens hot..Till next time..Dutchoven Diva ready to cook!
Next up for the Diva

Celebrate 100 Years of Boy Scouting

2010-05-18T09:09:00.000-07:00

How? Go to Ottawa Illinois and to the Ottawa Scouting Museum on June 11-13, 2010.

Lots of activities and a Dutch Oven Cookoff for Youth and Adult.

http://www.ottawascoutingmuseum.org/OSM/Brochures_files/Founders_Weekend_2010.pdf

Busy times

2010-05-17T11:20:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while since I wrote. Busy times indeed. The Diva has made herself available to lots of opportunities. And sometimes, the opportunities just present themselves.

The Northwoods Dutch Oven group is on the go. DutchOvenDiva manages to find lots of cooking dates for herself and the club. Recent happenings are teaching Basics of Dutch Oven Cooking to a crowd of 20 at Cabela's over in Hoffman Estates, IL. Diva was asked..and so she presented, alongside her cooking buddy, Wes Stigen, cooking skills such as heat management, equipment needed, and the all important food. What we cooked in class was cobbler, several kinds of pizza, biscuits and cornbread. We used various sizes of ovens and both charcoal and lump hardwood (cowboy charcoal) for our heat source. The participants learned all about selecting ovens, preparing food and keeping a clean kitchen. Learning all about trying easy foods to begin with, then going for a whole meal! Of course, we had them cleaning ovens too. What is better than finding out how to care for your cast iron? We had fun in our 2 hr class, and everyone got to try out the food creations.

We also have done several demos with all the usual tasty bites for the adoring public! We love her is what the fan club keeps saying.

The DODiva also had a very prestigous invite this spring. The NE IL Boy Scout Council invited Diva to create the instructional model for their 2010 Powderhorn Course! The only requirements were to cook in cast iron and not do 'the usual fare'. With the challenge out front, DODiva went about creating 6 menues, 1 for each team. Some of the foods prepared by the teams were Spanish Salmon Bake, Bombay Chicken Curry, Candied Chicken, Sweet Potatoes Vindaloo, Orzo and Peas, Chipotle biscuits, pumpkin delite, coconut upside cake and apple pie. With the rousing success of this program, DODiva has been invited to Blackhawk Council Powderhorn in 2011. Another sign of positive sweetness is our engagement to do the Dessert DOG for the Training Center dedication at Camp Crown!

DODiva is also going up to Country in the Country Festival in Bear Valley, Wisconsin. We'll be doing demonstration for the public and cooking for some of the festival staff.

The Memorial Day weekend will be a time of dutch oven cooking for the Diva. She's planning to cook with friends. On her menu are Jalapeno poppers, breads of various kinds, apple pie and a winning recipe from the Cornbread Festival cookbook. That's just a start.

Now, what's in your summer plans? Want to participate in the August 14th Young Eagles Cookoff at Galt Airport in Greenwood IL? How about helping out with Women in the Outdoors in September? Enjoy yourself by cooking at the DOG and Demo up, August 7 at Blues on the Chippewa Music Fest, Durand Wisconsin.

that's about it for now..keep up with the DIVA..if you have events to share, please let me know. Until then, Keep the coals hot and Happy Trails!

Spring Has Sprung, or so the story goes...

2010-03-15T12:20:00.000-07:00

2nd Weekend of National Maple Syrup Festival in Medora, Indiana was fabulous (again)! We really enjoy the hospitality and environment at Burton's Maplewood Farm. The warm welcome from friends and family makes the long drive to southern Indiana so worth it.

While there, we cooked many, many biscuits. The public enjoyed them with preserves from the farm. Apple Dumplings, Caramelized coconut upside down cake, Pineapple upside down cake, Apple Pie with Maple Sweetenings. A beef rump roast with maple infused broth and vegetables. These were just a few of the favorites enjoyed in the Tasty Bite Corner of Dutch Oven Alley.

The rains started late Saturday, and continued all night, stopping by noon on Sunday. It was cool and damp on Sunday. At least, the birdies were chirping and the trees have started to leaf out. The rain didn't stop our special guest, Amy Roloff from coming over to the Diva Cooking Area and learning about the basics of DutchOven cooking. We explained the process, and got Amy started with an easy dish of Sweet Potatoes Vindaloo. She got to serve up dump cake. WE all made sure she knew about all the fun and good dishes. Of course, Amy got the first slice of the golden crusted Apple Pie. She said she'd be back with the DutchOvenDiva for a complete lesson! Way to go!

We're going back to the National Maple Syrup Festival in 2011.

A Drop in the Bucket, March 2009

2010-03-10T10:02:00.000-08:00

A fabulous time down at National Maple Sugar Festival in Medora Indiana this past weekend. We cooked and cooked, demo'd, tasty bites. Fabulous visitors and adoring fans of the Dutchoven Diva (and friends)! The weather was fabulous..spring, sun. And I get to do all again next weekend. Yahoo! We love Burton's Maplewood Farm!

The favorite dishes included Maple and Bacon Glazed Donuts, Sweet Potatoes Vindaloo with Maple Glaze, Maple Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and French Toast Casserole with a drizzle of Burton's Maple Syrup. Of course, the meatloaf with Maple BBQ sauce was a huge hit!

It's everything MAPLE!

2010 Schedule

2009-11-23T18:38:00.000-08:00

Dec 5,2009 Taste of Cabelas, Hoffman Estates, IL 12-3pm, pizza and appetizers!
Dec 12, Rudolph Country Christmas Fest, Rudolph Wisc. 6am to 2pm. We cook breakfast and then demo later.
Jan 23, Judge for BSA Klondike Cast Iron competition, Harvard IL
Jan 30, Frozen DOG (dutchoven gathering), Wauconda Township Hall, Bonner Rd, Wauconda, Illinois, 9am - 3pm
March 7, National Maple Syrup Festival, Medora, Indiana
March 14, National Maple Syrup Festival, Medora, Indiana
March 20th, Dutch Oven Cooking and Simple Outdoor Cooking, Girl Scout Enrichment Workshops
April 17, Boy Scout Powderhorn teaching sessions and catered dinner
May 22-23, DOG and demo at Bass Pro Shops, Bolingbrook, IL
May 29 Saturday, Up North DOG, Wes Stigen's Place, Iola WI
June 4-6, Country in the Country Music Fest, Bear Valley, WI
June 16, Dessert DOG, Trevor Wisconsin
June 19, Appreciation Day, Cherne Chiropractic, Algonquin IL
August 7, Blues on the Chippewa, Durand Wisconsin
August 14, Young Eagles Cookoff, Galt Airport, Greenwood IL
August 29, Show and Do, Boy Scouts teaching sessions
Sept 18, Women in the Outdoors, Grundy County, IL
Oct 10th, Twig Fest, Durand, Wisconsin
November, Thank You for Everything DOG
December, 2010, Rudolph Country Christmas Fest, Rudolph Wisc. 6am to 2pm. We cook breakfast and then demo later.

The Fan Club speaks...

2009-07-20T16:04:00.000-07:00

This is from a workshop presented recently to a Junior GS Scout troop in Crystal Lake, Illinois. They were going camping really soon, and needed to learn a little outdoor cooking.

We made Dutch Oven baked spaghetti and an Apple Spice Dump Cake for dessert.

Here is the testimony from their trip!

DO Diva,

The scouts made Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs, Roasted Peppers and Pineapple in the DO and served them over rice (made over propane stove) with a side salad and Banana Boats for dessert for Friday dinner.

For Saturday dinner, they made foil packs with grilled chicken, carrots, onions, celery, red potatoes and spices (Bouquet Garni), a side salad, Italian bread with olive oil and spices for dipping and Baked Apples with brown sugar and cinnamon red hots for dessert. The foil packs were delicious but a little crispy on the bottom not bad though. I think we need more liquid or less heat or even less time. Probably could have done them in 20 min but an adult was worried about potato being done so they were left on for 35 min. We put them on top of the coals. Should we have made wells and surrounded them by coals instead? Similar to the DO coal circle? All our meat was precooked and frozen prior to the campout. Personally, I think we could do the whole thing in a DO and let folks serve themselves - less foil trash but more dishes (hahah).

I did hear that at least 2 of the scouts made the baked spaghetti for their families and one made the apple spice dump cake.

We had alot of fun at Troop Trek. Lots of Laughs. We touched on some skills and honed some others. It was cold (in July?!) at night...we were all prepared (ardent weather watchers prior to camp weekend). We packed light and tight and had plenty of food. Even talked a little about possible Silver Award projects. Definitely worth the effort.

I also heard some requests for a 2nd DO Cooking Session and definitely more camping in our future. Even talk of a fishing outing at McHenry Dam and a DO dinner included! You started something good. We will let you know of our local events with DO included when they materialize. You will be our guest of honor!

We ate well and the scouts were prepared with cooking tips and cleaning tips. No Kaper Chart and the cooperation among the 3 campers and 3 adults was fabulous. Adults were in charge of breakfast/cleanup and scouts did all other meals/cleanup and camp kapers. Again, I say, thanks to you. I heard some of your instructions repeated several times by the scouts. They were listening!!!

Signed, Troop Leader Ann

Skeeters, Hot and Buggy

2009-07-17T17:38:00.000-07:00

Friends in Black Pot cooking!
It's mid July 2009. Suddenly summer is half way gone. Where?
and one week it's broiling hot and the next week, we need sweatshirts. MMM..Global warming or cooling?

I was camping at Richard Bong State Rec Area in Burlington, Wisconsin last weekend. Yes, the really hot, humid weekend. Stinking hot. Move your eyeballs and you sweat weather. Ah, yes. We arrived at the campsite around 5pm. Just getting out of the car, we were swarmed by skeeters. On went the long sleeves and insect repellent. So, it was just a chore to get the tent up and gear stowed with all those skeeters.

There were 15 of us from the Rockford/Rockton meetup group on 3 sites. We had 2 dogs with us too. Bella, the Golden Retriever and Yoshi, the Shiba Inu. Both great dogs! We did all the social, fires, eating and cooking on the middle sight.

Speaking of cooking, it was a DutchOvenDiva cooking weekend. I brought 3 pots with me. Saturday morning was Denver haystacks. That is a dish of hashbrowns, eggs broken into depressions. Top that with green onions, ham, peppers. Bake in the oven using charcoal for heat. When done,top with cheese and melt.

Dinner was great and fun to cook. We did 2 different pork roasts. In the 12 in deep oven, I placed celery stalks and quartered onion. I laid the pork roast, fat side up on top of that. Cut red potatoes were next and piled high along the sides. I used a Cajun style rub of red hot pepper flakes, spices, minced garlic, onion powder and an assortment of other things. A little water and onto the heat. Cooked about 1.5 hrs to 150 deg and pulled from the heat to finish cooking. The other roast was a Peach Preserves topping with gingered baby carrots. Both the roast and the carrots were in another 12 in oven. That also cooked for about 1.5 hrs. Green salad accompanied the dinner.

Oh yes, I almost forgot. We had the blender along. We got to have frozen margarita's for our nightly libation. Tasty on a hot evening!

Lisa J. made a delicious, outstanding, over the top Chocolate Turtle Cake. Oh, it was so good. So yummy. Like a little slice of heaven.

Sunday mornign, we took the extra potatoes, green peppers, onions and made killer eggs. Saute everything up til good and warm, pour on the scrambled up eggs and finish cooking. Top with cheese to melt and enjoy.

We all helped to clean up dishes. I love having people enjoy the food. And best of all, they are learning the way of the Black Pots.

I didn't count the number of skeeter bites because I didn't want to know. But thanks to having a screen house, max value DEET and long sleeves, it was a little easier to endure. Hot yes, bitten..not so bad.

Maybe the colder weather will temper those skeeters..bye bye bugs!

Busy Summer Start

2009-06-30T18:23:00.000-07:00

Cooking is really busy lately. The Northwoods Chapter, International Dutch Oven Society (IDOS) has had a few Dutch Oven Gatherings lately (DOG).

We've gone to Cabela's Richfield Wisconsin to share our love of black pot cooking. There were participants from all over Wisconsin and northernn Illinois. We all gathered around 9am and setup our cooking tables. Lit the charcoal, and created magic!

We cooked cornbread, breakfast pizza, pineapple upside cake, whole turkeys, wontons. The rain came early and stayed all day, sometimes pouring, sometimes the wind blew. Good thing that the porch canopy at the store was wide. We stayed mostly protected. The food was served bit by tasty bit to our adoring public.

In May, we participated at Gander Mtn Joliet store in a Women in the Outdoor Event. It was a slow day, maybe it was the sunshine and perfect weather that kept people from not visiting a store! fun anyway, and it's always good to cook. That day, we had cheesy potatoes, sweet potato cubes in maple glaze, chicken florentine and apple crisp.

We Celebrated Dad with a DOG at Cabela Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Our Northwoods Group cooked and cooked and talked and wowed again. Lisa J learned her first lessons in DO cooking from who else? The DutchOvenDiva! She made biscuits to start with. This teaches heat management techniques. Then Lisa made a chocolate cherry cake. WOW! Great way to start. You made perfect food. We had cacciatore, raised bread filled with tomato/basil and another with Italian coldcuts. Pineapple upside down cake. Apple cakes. And we featured Cabela brand Cobbler Mixes.

DutchOvenDiva celebrated her birthday with a Driveway DOG. Cooking friends came by with their tables and black pots. We enjoyed Coconut Mandarin Orange Cake, Spicy Pasta, and Beef Panang Curry. Great food and wonderful friends. That's what it is all about.

July and August are being planned now..Keep checking back.

Fall starts with the 2009 Midwest Dutch Oven Gathering and Cookoff in Wadsworth, Illinois. Check out http://www.midwestdutchovengathering.com/ for registration and information

Diva's other things for fun

2009-03-24T14:11:00.000-07:00

Salsa Dancing..oh yeah! StudioViva, Palatine Illinois
Girl Scouts
Seek the Peak, Mt Washington NH, July 27, 2009 www.seekthepeak.org
Rubber Stamping and creative ways to use paper www.stampinup.com

Diva's Schedule 2009

2009-03-24T14:07:00.000-07:00

Oh, the Diva..so very popular..

Oct 2-4...2009 Midwest Dutch Oven Gathering and Cookoff, Wadsworth, IL http://www.midwestdutchovengathering.com/
Sept 12...Historical Kitchen Workshop for Trail of History event, MCCD, IL
August 22...SummerTime DOG and demo, Cabela's, Hoffman Estates, IL
August 15...Outdoor Chef Badge Workshop for Junior GS, Cary, IL
August 8..Beyond the Grill Cooking Session, McHenry Co. Conservation District, IL
August 1...Dutch Oven Gathering at Blues on the Chippewa, Durand Wisconsin
July 24-26, Camping RFD/Rockton group at Mirror Lake SP, Baraboo WI
June 20..Father's Day DOG, Cabela's, Hoffman Estates IL
June 13th, Rockford/Rockton campers, Apple River Canyon SP
May 17th, Gander Mtn, Joliet IL. Women in the Outdoors Day
April 25, Cabela's, Richfield Wisconsin, DOG and demo
March 14-15, National Maple Syrup Festival, Medora Indiana
http://www.nationalmaplesyrupfestival.com/
Jan 31..Wauconda Dutch Oven Gathering