Welcome to another episode of "Dishing with Stephanie's Dish." Today, we're thrilled to talk with Rebecca Blackwell, a recipe developer, Substack writer, and published cookbook author of the “Lets Get Lost Cookbook”. Rebecca shares her fascinating journey of selling her possessions to live and travel full-time in an RV with her husband.

Join us as we dive into Rebecca's upcoming cookbook, "Let's Get Lost," her inspirational journey of writing and recipe development, and the launch of the “Lost Supper Club.”

We'll explore how she balances creativity and connection while on the road, finding community through food, and the power of diverse culinary experiences that make the world feel a little bit smaller and certainly more delicious. Get ready for a heartwarming discussion about food, community, and life's unexpected adventures!

Here is a recipe from the book

This is an upside down cake, with a sticky caramel date mixture that’s baked on the bottom of the cake but is then flipped over to become the top. The batter is flavored with pureed dates, an entire orange, a bit of miso, and a lot of vanilla.

Wait. Miso? I fell in love with miso in baking after making the Miso Maple Loaf in Baking With Dori and I haven’t looked back. Just as it does in savory dishes, miso adds layers of complex flavor, including a hint of umami - and a little umami is always a good thing, even in sweet treats.

Candied pistachios add some crunch, and I would like to mention that if you want any leftover for the actual cake it’s wise to make extra because you and everyone around you will find them irresistible.

It’s also worth mentioning that one of our Lost Supper Club guests (you know who you are, Narissa) actually squealed with delight after tasting this cake. Like an actual, alarmingly loud, squeal. It was really more of a scream, and I can’t imagine a higher endorsement.

Orange and date cake with candied pistachios

Ingredients

For the caramel and date glaze:

* 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

* 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons brown sugar, light or dark

* 1 tablespoon corn syrup

* 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

* 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, OR 1/2 teaspoon table salt

* 8 ounces dates (about 1 cup), pits removed, cut into bite-size pieces

For the cake:

* 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

* 1 3/4 tsp baking powder

* 1/4 tsp baking soda

* 1/4 tsp salt

* 1 medium to large size orange

* 1/2 cup brown sugar, light or dark

* 1 stick (4 ounces/ 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature

* 1/4 cup white miso

* 2 large eggs, at room temperature

* 8 ounces (about 1 cup) dates, pits removed

* 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

* 1/3 cup plain, unsweetened greek yogurt, whole milk or 2%

* 1/2 cup orange marmalade

Instructions:

Get Instructions for the recipe here

LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Stephanie Hansen [00:00:15 ]:

Hello, everybody, and welcome to Dishing with Stephanie's dish. I'm Stephanie Hansen. You are here at the podcast that talks to foodies, cookbook writers. And today, we have, I would say, all 3 plus more. We have Rebecca Blackwell. She is a recipe developer. She is on the verge of releasing her “Let's Get Lost”, the cookbook. She is a Substack writer who has a Substack newsletter called “Let's Get Lost. She also is starting and launching the “Lost Supper Club” and has been out in the space. One of the things about Rebecca that intrigues me, not the most because you're just a nice person, but beyond that, you live in an RV. You kinda upended your life, sold your worldly possessions, and bought a pull behind, and you and your husband travel all over the United States in your RV. We are talking right now in your RV, which I know you've got a good cookbook shelf. I see it behind you. Welcome to the show, Rebecca.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:01:11 ]:

Thank you so much for having me, Stephanie. I'm so happy to be here.

Stephanie Hansen [00:01:14 ]:

Me too. So for people that maybe aren't familiar with your story, can you talk about how you decided to just chuck it all and get into the RV?

Rebecca Blackwell [00:01:24 ]:

Yeah. Absolutely. So, we had 3 children, and, when our youngest was about 7, we decided that we wanted to work towards getting to the place where we could work from anywhere in the world by the time all of our kids were graduated. And so our youngest was getting off or getting ready to go off to college in in 2019, and and we had done it. We were both working virtually, and and we could work anywhere where there was an Internet connection. And and so we were our initial plan was that we were gonna just rent Airbnb's in various places for, you know, 3 months or 6 months or whatever at a time. So some friends of ours in Southern California were heading off to Europe for a couple of months and asked us to come house sit, and we were like, great. This will be a great test run for how this works.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:02:11 ]:

And we loved living and working in a new place, but we hated living in somebody else's home. And so we weren't sure what we were gonna do about that, and, we met up with some old high school friends while we were there that lived in an RV, and it was like the answer to all of our problems. We had never considered living in an RV. We had never in our entire lives spent one night in any kind of a camper of any kind. We're just not the camping kind of people. But we went home from that trip, and, within 5 months, we had sold our house and bought a 5th wheel RV and moved ourselves into it. So the first night we ever spent in a camper, we had already sold the house and bought our RV. So and that it's been a long time 5 years.

Stephanie Hansen [00:03:00 ]:

Did you feel brave doing it at the time?

Rebecca Blackwell [00:03:04 ]:

You know, we just felt very exciting until the night we closed on our house, and then I got a little freaked out. Understandably. What have I done? But, you know, the first night, we, we lived in Colorado, and we drove, we closed on our house on a Monday, and we drove to, Katy, Texas to pick up the RV on a Tuesday and, picked it up on Wednesday. And that first night in the camper, I wasn't worried at all. It it instantly felt like the right decision. We felt at home in it almost immediately. And, you know, we really haven't looked back. We we say that we'll keep doing it until we get tired of doing it, but so far, you know, it's been almost 5 years, and we're not anywhere close to being ready to stop.

Stephanie Hansen [00:03:53 ]:

What I think is kinda hilarious about you in particular is you have this sort of idea of who might be in an RV park, and I've been in a lot of RV parks.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:04:02 ]:

Yeah.

Stephanie Hansen [00:04:02 ]:

And you're I don't know about your husband, but for sure, you are like this type a organized, hyper productive person who's doing all this work from an RV park. I mean, your substack newsletter alone with Let's Get Lost kind of focuses on the RV living aspects and the travel aspects, but also recipes. And then as if that wasn't enough, you've launched the Lost Supper Club that just launched. What made you decide you needed yet another outlet? Because you just seem super prolific.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:04:34 ]:

Yeah. Well, you know, ask me at the end of the year if I regret adding another thing, and I'll I'll let you know. But but, really, at the end of last year, I I was just looking for more ways to connect with people on a more meaningful way as we travel around. It you know, we love being in a new place and kind of immersing ourselves in the culture of the place as much as we can. And we have met people without even trying all over the country, and that's been really fun. But this year or this last year, I I was just thinking a lot about how, when we're in a new place, when I have the opportunity to spend a few hours with somebody that lives there, it it just enriches both of our lives, in a in a really meaningful way. And so I thought, well, with the lost supper club, if I can do that and then write about it, then maybe I could also inspire other people to get together with friends over dinner on a more regular basis. I feel like it's kind of a a lost art that, and we're we're we're just craving that in person connection.

Rebecca Blackwell [00:05:42 ]:

Everywhere I go, I t