Easy to make Pudding

Years ago I posted about how I like pudding. I like most kinds but especially chocolate, vanilla and rice pudding. The only flavor that doesn't appeal to me is butterscotch. I don't like the pudding cups because they taste horrible to my taste buds. Though convenient, they taste like chemicals. I used to make Avocado pudding but I don't always have an avocado to use. Here is that blogpost.  https://www.thecabincountess.com/2017/08/avocado-chocolate-pudding.html

Although I make this avocado version once in a while, I usually make this microwave recipe. It is usually about 8:00pm, and I want chocolate. I will make this pudding in 10 minutes but then it is too hot to eat. I stick it in the freezer for a while until it's set and cool. It isn't as convenient as the pre-made pudding cups but it has no artificial ingredients and turns out perfect. If you want to sweeten it with honey, maple syrup or artificial sugar, I think it would turn out. I feel the strong taste of honey or maple syrup overrides the chocolate, so I use plain white sugar.

 Microwave Chocolate Pudding

Mix together in a microwave bowl or as I do, a 8-cup Pyrex pitcher.

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

A pinch of salt

When these dry ingredients are combined add 2 cups of milk (or non-dairy milk) and a teaspoon of vanilla. Mix well. I use the immersion blender but a spoon would be fine as long as it is completely blended.

Microwave on high for 3 minutes, stir well and microwave for another 3 minutes.

Just pour in dishes and put it in the refrigerator. It is ready when it is cool. This recipe makes 3 small dishes less than 1/2 cup each, but enough for a quick snack or desert. 

Vanilla pudding is made the same way without the cocoa or last time I made it, I added two eggs. It was very good. It tasted more like custard. I also put a few chocolate chips on top for the fun of it. Whipped topping would taste good too.

Microwave Vanilla Pudding

Whisk together: 

1/2 cup white sugar

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

Pinch of salt

Add:

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups of milk (I used 2% but whole milk would be even better or a non-dairy product)

2 beaten eggs

Mix everything very well and microwave for 3 minutes, stir and cook 3 more minutes. 

Pour in dishes and cool.

I have written about my Rice Pudding before. There is a microwave version of that too, but I usually make this in the Instant Pot. https://www.thecabincountess.com/2013/10/rice-pudding.html 

These are simple recipes and easy to make with common ingredients. Some people don't like and won't use a microwave. These recipes will work just as well in a saucepan, you just have to stir often to prevent scorching. It is a quick snack or pour the pudding in a prepared pie shell and have a piece of pie. 

My Reverse Osmosis Water System

Sometimes in life you just do things as you always did them and never really question why. That was me and my Brita water filter pitcher. For years I would fill the pitcher and make my coffee or drink the water. At the appropriate time, usually every month, I would change the filter and think I was getting clean purified water.

One day I saw an ad for a very inexpensive water testing gadget.  It looked like a thermometer. You would put it in your water to see what numbers you get. Very clean purified water would register a low number and the higher number would indicate how contaminated the water was. 

I have well water that was supposedly clean so I tested it. It wasn't horrible or in the danger zone, but it was marginal at 215 TDS (Total Dissolved Solids). It registered in the acceptable range for tap water. I would be fine drinking it but sometimes well water has a rusty taste.  My water softener takes care of that but sometimes I can taste a hint of rust. 

I then tested the Brita water. It was no different from my plain well water, in fact it was slightly worse. It must be going from the tap and through the filter with no change. Next I thought I should test the bottled water I would drink occasionally. I don't drink it often because it comes in plastic bottles. Everyone has plastic in their systems in this day and age but I avoid it where I can. I am sure it contributes to some health problems that didn't occur before plastic bottles became the norm, but that's a discussion for another time. The bottled water registered 344 TDS. Again it won't kill you but it's not that good.

I want to mention that this water testing wasn't really very scientific. There are many ways to test water. You can call a company that specializes in water quality, you can have the state you live in test it by sending in a sample or you can get an idea the way I did. 

At this point I was on a mission to find a water filtration system that didn't involve hiring a plumber and the expense of a whole house filter. The least technical, the less chance of something leaking or going wrong, and it was portable. There are many systems on the market. There are all sizes and all of them claim to be the best. Some are fancy and look beautiful but take up a lot of room. Some look very industrial but were also too large for me. I settled on a Bluevua lite system. It is not a water filtration system, it is a UV Reverse Osmosis water purifier. I liked that it had a glass pitcher, it had a UV light for more purification, you could add a remineralization filter for better taste and you just plug it into a normal outlet.  This lite version is small enough to fit on the kitchen counter and it provides plenty of water for me. The container is 40 ounces. If you need more water, you just push a button and it dispenses another container in a couple of minutes. 

I did test the water from my reverse osmosis system. The machine said it was only 12 TDS but the tester said it was 42 TDS. That is still really good and when I washed the equipment it was even better.  I like it below 30 TDS, but the number isn't exact and it varies slightly day to day.

This Reverse Osmosis system eliminates PFA's and other dangerous chemicals hidden in our water. The Brita filters cost about $7 per filter times 12. This filter cost $80 and it lasts a year. That isn't a great deal of difference cost wise but the water quality is so much better. Don't take my word for it. I don't get paid for these blogs. They are just my experiences so look it up yourself. I probably won't live any longer, but I have to try for better options wherever I can.

Let's Make Some Peanut Butter

I am knee deep in the Winter of my life. I am way to old for all the drama and misunderstandings that are happening right now. Every age has its challenges but by now I thought it would be smooth sailing for me. Whether it's personal or world issues, I just need to let things play out. Whatever happens, happens. I am not responsible for others. Don't be shallow, selfish and only think of yourself. Life for everyone could be so much better if people would let go of their ego, think of others and just be kind. 

Since I have no control over anything, I decided to make Peanut Butter. I know, some people take drugs or drink, but I make food.

If you ever buy peanut butter and read the ingredients in the popular brands, you will see peanuts, sugar, hydrogenated vegetable oil, dextrose, salt, molasses and other things. That is insane. A 40 oz jar costs about $4 or more. Even natural natural peanut butter has sugar and palm oil in it. That costs $7. This version costs whatever a jar of peanuts cost. It's usually about $2.50. 

Peanut butter is so easy to make if you have a food processor or a blender. It just takes a jar of unsalted dry roasted peanuts. You pour the peanuts in the food processor and blend for 5 minutes. If your food processor gets too hot, just stop it and let it cool. Then continue to blend until smooth. If you want chunky peanut butter just quit sooner. I added a pinch of salt and some honey, but that is in your control. I wish the jar of peanuts would not be made of plastic, but while trying to eliminate as much plastic as I can from my life, it is nearly impossible.

Enjoy!

P.S. If you notice the Rowe Pottery bowl in the picture that says Neillsville, WI; Est. 1882, I recently got it. For those who know me, know I was born in Neillsville. Rowe Pottery in Cambridge WI must have been commissioned to make these bowls.  My good friend saw them for only $5 on the clearance table and bought it. I love it.

My Summer Vacation To North Carolina-Part 4 the Moore's Creek National Battlefield

Our trip was almost complete. As we traveled back to where we started, we had a few more stops to make. We had time because we were going as far as Rockingham, NC. We wanted to be closer to the airport so there was no rushing on Sunday morning.

We headed back to Wilmington, NC. There was a nice nature trail in town which was started by a man named Stanley Rehder. Mr. Rehder was known as "the flytrap man" and was an advocate for carnivorous plants. He transplanted and cultivated Pitcher plants, Venus fly-traps and Sundews all over North Carolina. I read on one of the signs that the Venus Flytrap only appears naturally from 75-100 miles around Wilmington, North Carolina. Outside this area the plants have been cultivated. The yellow and purple Pitcher plants were blooming and very pretty. I didn't see any Sundew plants and the only Venus flytrap plants we saw were in a planter. They are very small and hard to see. I was under the impression they would be much larger.

Our next stop was very appropriate considering on July 4, 2026 it is the 250th Anniversary for the United States. This was a national site for the Moore's Creek National Battlefield. 

 

 

This Revolutionary War battlefield is managed by the National Parks Service. It commemorates the 1776 victory of the patriots over the loyalists at Moore's Creek bridge. This ended the hopes for the loyalists to regain North Carolina for the British. It weakened British control making North Carolina the first to vote in favor of independence.

 

This battlefield is home to the only women's monument of the Revolutionary War. 

 

 

 

 

The bridge where the famous battle occurred is long gone, but the rebuilt version is where the old one was. We talked to a man who was walking his dog on the trail. He said the old bridge was left at the bottom of the river.

 

Another interesting thing about this trail is the swamp. I can't imagine troops marching through these forests and swampy lowlands, especially in February. Being cold and tired in these conditions must have been miserable in this Cypress swamp. We also learned that those root projections poking out of the soil are called "knees".  

 

 At the end of this trail we did see another Venus Flytrap. This was really tiny but they are there if you look hard enough. Locals probably take these for granted but we were fascinated. 

 

 Before we left the area, we picked up another geocache. That made five for the trip. 

 

Now it was time to head to our last hotel in Rockingham, NC and in the morning catch a flight from Charlotte to Appleton, WI. By 3:00pm I was back home. What a wonderful whirlwind.

 

We went 765 miles in 6 days. Two days of air travel and 4 days on the road. My daughter can drive in any type of conditions. There are a lot of loud and fast Dodge cars that thought they ruled the road, but she handled it well. Confession: I was lost most of the time but thank goodness for her and a GPS that worked most of the time. 

 

My Summer Vacation To North Carolina-Part 3 the Sea Turtle Hospital

It is now Friday, the fourth day of our journey. We are finally at the beach. The beaches in this area are very very busy but we managed to find a less congested spot. It was Topsail Beach on the southern end of Topsail Island. Topsail Island is a barrier island along the coast and is 26 miles long. We forgot our bikini's (darn) so we settled on rolling up our pants legs and walking along the sand. It was wonderful. It was not too hot and the breeze was wonderful. Of course it was obvious we were northern tourists. We pronounced the name of the island wrong and we had a lot more clothes on than the average person. Topsail is pronounced Tops'l. 

We stayed at the beach for a couple hours and then headed to Surf City. We had an appointment for a tour 
 at the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Hospital. Next to the Dambo Trolls, this was my favorite part. The Karen Beasley hospital was set up for the rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing of Sea Turtles. Karen died at age 29, but she wanted her mother Jean to take her insurance money to help the turtles. Jean did just that and established the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in a small 900 square foot building. Since then a 13,000 square foot was donated and it has grown to a hospital that has saved thousands of sea turtles over the years. Jean Beasley died last December but with 9 paid employees and hundreds of volunteers, the hospital will be able to continue its work. They provide medical care for sick or injured turtles and educate the public of the importance of saving this creature.  

The tour lasted about an hour and it was so much fun and very informative. I became interested in Sea Turtles in 2015. I wrote about it at the end of the following blog. Seeing sea turtles hatch is something I won't forget.  https://www.thecabincountess.com/2015/07/our-3150-mile-vacation-in-10-days.html

Soon it was time to leave and make room for the next group. When it was over we had ourselves a little Dunkin Donut and some coffee. This was vacation after all, and I hadn't had a Dunkin Donut in years. Now it was time to head to Carolina Beach. 

 

Carolina Beach is an experience in itself. It had wall to wall people and music and food. That part was not my cup of tea but I'm glad I saw it. We had a beautiful room with an ocean front view. I was able to sit on the balcony and enjoy it without being in the middle of the chaos. We did take a walk and had dinner at a very nice restaurant. Our meals would have fed a family of five, but we didn't go away hungry. 

 

The next morning it was time to head back to Charlotte. We planned on going about half way on Saturday. There was still a few more things to see. 

My Summer Vacation To North Carolina-Part 2 the Whirligigs

I have to back track just a little for this part 2 of my trip to North Carolina. My daughter doesn't like to stop at fast food places or chains. She likes to find out of the way local places to eat. We didn't take the interstate but took a two lane road from High Point to Raleigh to see how the locals lived. A lot of tobacco is grown in this part of North Carolina. It reminded me of growing up in Stoughton, WI where they used to grow a lot of tobacco.

For brunch, before we reached the final trolls in Raleigh, we stopped at the Saxapahaw General Store in Graham, North Carolina. The internet said it was one of the best hidden dining gems and they were correct. This little general store had a great menu. We had breakfast that included biscuits, homemade jam,  potatoes or grits, breakfast meat and eggs. I didn't think I liked grits but even those were delicious. And the biscuits, holy cow. So good.  It wasn't much to look at but so delicious. Maybe it was the "duck fat", but I didn't want to think about that or ask questions.

We walked down to a pretty little river called the Haw River and scoped out the area before setting off to Raleigh. After seeing all the trolls on Wednesday, we spent the night and left in the morning. We were heading to the coast. On the way we came upon a town called Wilson, North Carolina. In the middle of this town was a Whirligig Park. There was a man named Vollis Simpson. He was a WWII veteran and a local farm machinery repair man. At his farm he would create these giant kinetic sculptures out of used machinery parts. The word got out and tourists would try to locate his farm. When it became so popular and Mr. Simpson's health declined, the city of Wilson took over and created a free Whirligig Art Gallery. 

This was a fun little break from the drive. We visited the museum and gift shop before heading down the road. Our next break was the Cliffs of the Neuse State Park. We walked a nice trail to see the cliffs. It felt good to stretch our legs a bit. We even found a geocache on the trail. We looked for them along the way and found a few to add to the fun of our adventure.

By now we were getting ready to stop for the day. It was hot and humid but not as bad as I thought it would be. We stayed in Kinston, NC. We had a busy day on Friday. Stay tuned for Part 3.

My Summer Vacation To North Carolina-Part 1 the Dambo Trolls

Last fall I wrote about an adventure I had with my oldest daughter. We went to IKEA and on the way home we stopped in Wauwatosa, WI to see one of the Thomas Dambo trolls. We saw Mama Rosa and really enjoyed her. https://www.thecabincountess.com/2025/08/a-visit-to-ikea-and-mama-rosa.html 

I mentioned in that blog that I would really like to see more. Before I knew it, I got a package in the mail. It was a large hardcover book about Thomas Dambo and a history of his first 100 projects. It was exciting to read about but not as exciting as to see what came next. 

 

My youngest daughter doesn't let any moss grow under her feet. She was planning a trip for the two of us. In researching the trolls she found a whole family of them in North Carolina. What made it even better was that one of the trolls was named DUX. That is my maiden name. It was done, we were going to North Carolina.

We decided to go as soon as my daughter could get time off in the summer. That happened last week. Fortunately there is a direct flight from Appleton, WI to Charlotte, NC. The flight is only 2 hours long. The flight was around noon so we arrived about 3:00 Eastern time. We rented a car. The first troll was only a few miles from the airport so we went there before we did anything else. His name is Big Pete.

 

It is hard to see how large he really is. His big feet alone are about 7 feet long. All the trolls in North Carolina have a necklace or a symbol nearby that you have to keep track of. After you see all of them, you put the symbols in a website and that leads you to a final treasure. It is called The Grandmother's Tree. The trolls alone are a treasure but this adds a little fun game to the process.

After we saw Big Pete we found our hotel and ate. We had a big adventure ahead of us.

The next day we headed for High Point, North Carolina. High Point had a girl named Little Sally. She was located next to a deserted brick factory and was surrounded by woods. It was a wonderful setting right in the middle of town.

High Point NC was a very interesting place. It looked industrial, yet modern. There were a lot of buildings with names which we didn't recognize. Then we happened on this large chest of drawers. Apparently High Point is known for being the furniture capital of the world. It is the headquarters for many furniture companies. It also has a very fancy prestigious university. 

As we continued on our way we stopped at a couple attractions, but I will show you them in part 2 of this blog. Right now we have to get to Dix Park in Raleigh, NC. The park was named after Dorothea Dix. It's buildings and land were part of North Carolina's first state psychiatric hospital. Dix Park has a history of its own separate from having the Dambo trolls living there. Dorthea Dix was an educator and social reformer. She was an important woman who changed how mentally ill people were treated. There is a lot of information about her online. 

This park is where the rest of the family is located. The family consists of Daddy Bird Eye,  He is sitting alone in park. He is watching over the forest and protecting his family. He has really big ears so he can hear if danger is coming. The trolls don't fully trust humans so they are hidden throughout the park.

The trolls were in three separate locations in the park. It was very hot and humid in North Carolina so we drove from site to site. It could easily be walked and my daughter would have done that if I hadn't been along. Next was Mother Strong Tail. She had a very long tail that was 645 feet long. She was resting but at the end of her tail was her baby named Dix.

Daddy and Mother have two more children in the park. They are Dax and Dux. They are twins. They are playing hide and seek. Dux has his eyes covered and he's counting. He was the reason we came.

 

 

 

   

They were all unique and amazing but now we had to decipher the codes. After putting in each symbol we were given a vague idea of where The Grandmother Tree was. It wasn't as straight forward as we thought it would be. I am a bit of a quitter, but not my daughter. She is like a dog with a bone and will not give up for anything. We discovered the final "Tree" was over 10 miles away.  It was in a Nature Preserve. We drove there and started walking and walking and walking. Finally we knew we were in the right area but couldn't find the tree. We thought a Grandmother Tree would be a huge stately and solid tree. It was not. There are rules to not publish the exact spot and pictures, but I will say it was not as it seemed. Thank goodness my daughter is persistent. 

We arrived in North Carolina on a Tuesday afternoon. By Wednesday afternoon we had accomplished our mission. In part 2 of this blog, I will show you where else we went and what we saw.