Bread and Butter Pickles

Garden is growing and producing veggies. Canning and Freezing has started!! 
Bread and Butter Pickle Recipe
1/2 cup Sugar
1 tsp. Salt
1 cup sliced thin Onions
1/2 tsp. Celery Seeds
1/2 tsp. Pickling Spices
1/2 cup White Vinegar
3 cup sliced Cucumbers
Bring to boil, sugar, salt, celery seed, pickling spices and vinegar. Stir until boil and sugar is dissolved. Add in the cucumbers and sliced onions, bring the liquid up to boil again. Stirring several times!
I sterilize my jars in the dishwasher. Then I fill each jar to the rim with water and place them in the microwave for 3 minutes. Place jar lids and seals in a wide sauce pan. Pour all hot water from jars on top of lids. ('Careful jars are hot!) Place cucumbers and onions into jars and pour vinegar liquid on top until it reaches the rim of jar. Carefully remove seal and lids from hot water and place on jars and close tightly. Place sealed jars back into the hot water and cover sauce pan. Let them stay in there until cooled. Bring them out of water and dry them off. Turn each jar upside down, (I don't know why but that is what my Granny taught me.) place in refrigerator or pantry.
I do not use a pressure cooker, they scare me. All those gadgets to buy for canning I have never used. Good Luck!! Happy Canning!

Grocery List for a CRAB BOIL

Every year for the past 8 years my husband and I have prepared a crab boil for some friends. We bought an 80 quart bucket and burner. Galvanized buckets and all the tools for eating some good crab. This is a grocery list for 8 people!

3 pounds Shrimp
4 pounds Crab Clusters, 16 clusters
1 dozen Green Mussels
1 pound Sausage Links
8 ears Corn (we like frozen, but can buy fresh and shucked)
1 large Onion, cut in fours*
1 Crab Boil Bag Seasoning*
3 Bay Leaves*
1 Garlic Bulb, cut in fours*
.75 ounces Fresh Dill Weed*
Fresh Parsley*
5 Lemons, cut in halves*
1 cup Salt*
3 tablespoon Pepper*
optional, 3 Jalapeno's, whole*
4 Sticks Butter, melt in crock-pot with a couple garlic cloves and dill weed
16 ounces Cocktail Sauce
2 Table covers that has paper on top and plastic on bottom
Newspaper for on top of  table covers
1 tall garage bag, goes on table under covers
1 black large garage bag, goes under where you pour Crab Boil
Seasoning:
2 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
2 tsp Smoked Paprika
2 tsp Chili Powder
2 tsp Turmeric
2 tsp Garlic Powder
2 tsp Onion Powder
2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Pepper
Place all in a shaker container.
Season everything before cooking and season everything after cooking!!!!
Fill pot half full.
Get Water to boil, add the seasonings. All marked *
Add Potatoes and return to boil and allow to cook 10 minutes.
Add Sausage, and Corn, return to boil cook 10 minutes.
Add Crab Clusters, cook 5 minutes
Add Shrimp and Mussels, cook until shrimp turns pink.
DRAIN and we dump everything into a 10 gallon galvanized bucket. No mess inside!
Time to eat!! YUMMY good

Sweet Hot Pickled Green Tomatoes

When it is to early to have ripened red tomatoes you can always pickle you some green tomatoes.
This recipe is for one jar.
1-16 oz Mason Jar
2 Green Tomatoes, cleaned, chopped
1/4 cup White Onion, chopped
1/2 chopped Jalapeno, optional, can use 1/4 tsp. Red Pepper Flakes
1/8 teaspoon Anise Seed
2 whole Cloves
1/4 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
1/4 cup Sugar
1/2 cup White Vinegar
1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
1 teaspoon Sea Salt

Sterilize your mason jar. I fill the jar with water and place it in the microwave for 3 minutes. Place lid into a 3 cup bowl. After the 3 minutes remove jar from microwave with gloves, it is hot. Pour hot water over lid that is in bowl.
Chop, tomatoes, onion and jalapeno, place into the hot jar.
In a small saucepan, place both vinegar, sugar, salt, anise, cloves and nutmeg. Turn burners to low heat and stir until sugar and salt is dissolved.
When mixture comes to a low boil turn off heat. Slowly pour hot liquid into jar over the onion and green tomatoes. You may need to add just a little water to top off the jar. Remove lid carefully out of hot water and place the lid tightly on jar. Place the jar back into the hot water for 1 hour until all is cooled back to room temperature. After one hour remove from water and turn upside down in the refrigerator over night. Next day turn right side up and leave it there until ready to sample. Can keep in refrigerator unopened for 3 weeks. After opening 1 week, maybe longer but mine never last that long because I eat them.

                                        

Roasted Red Pepper & Sun Dried Tomato Wrap

This recipe is a great one to have for finger foods or an appetizer for party. I used this recipe for a Tea Party. The left-overs will keep in your refrigerator for a week.

1 Jar Roasted Red Pepper, cut into chunks, drained and reserve juice
1 Jar Sun-Dried Tomatoes, in olive oil, drained and reserve oil
2 clove garlic, crushed
2 teaspoon dried basil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Place all ingredients above into a blender into smooth, use reserved juice or oil to get the mixture to the right texture.
Place into a bowl, then add;
4 green onions, minced
2 (8oz) cream cheese, really softened

Stir until smooth texture, refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Spread onto a tortilla and roll up and cut into pinwheels, or add a little spinach and roll up as a wrap.
Spread onto a crust less white bread.
Place spread into a piping bag and pipe onto a Trisket cracker.

(If you don't like basil you can replace with cilantro.)

Vegan & Paleo recipe by Detoxinista

A few people have been asking me if I have any Paleo or Vegan recipes. I have a few recipes that I make, but not that often. Detoxinista.com is where I go to get recipes for vegan or paleo if I am asked to make for someone. I thought I would share the website. 

Clean Green Bean Casserole (Vegan, Paleo)

Author: Detoxinista.com

Prep time:  1 hour Cook time:  30 mins Total time:  1 hour 30 mins

Serves: 9-12

Featuring fresh green beans and caramelized onions, this homemade green bean casserole is just about as clean as it gets. Rather than relying on a cream-based soup, it's held together by a creamy puree of parsnips and mushrooms! The caramelized onion topping still delivers the buttery onion flavor that we all love, without the deep-fried grease and flour to go along with it. All of our favorite flavors covered, without the heavy food-coma to follow!

Ingredients

1 yellow onion, sliced thinly

1 tablespoon coconut oil, or butter

2 cups parsnips, chopped

10 oz. mushrooms, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup nutritional yeast

1½ cups water

1½ teaspoons fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 lb. fresh green beans

Instructions

Melt a pat of coconut oil, or butter, in a large skillet and add the sliced onions. Saute gently over medium-low heat for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally until caramelized. Use a splash of water, as needed, to prevent sticking. Once the onions are tender and golden in color, remove from heat and set aside in a bowl for later.

While the onions are cooking, you'll have plenty of time to steam the parsnips. Fit a steamer basket into a saucepan, and fill with one inch of water and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add the 2 cups of chopped parsnips, and bring the water to boil over high heat. Cover and reduce the heat to low, steaming for about 8 minutes, or until the parsnips are easily pierced with a fork. Transfer the steamed parsnips to your blender container, and set it aside.

Using the same steamer basket and saucepan, break the pound of fresh green beans into one-inch pieces, and toss them into the steamer basket. Bring to a boil, then cover and steam for 6-8 minutes, until the green beans are bright green with a bit of crunch. Transfer the cooked green beans to an 8" x 8" glass baking dish.

*Note: At this point, cook the green beans to be as tender as you like-- if you prefer them softer, steam them longer. The baking process later will not make them any more tender, so this is your chance to achieve the texture you like. (This is where I salt and pepper the green beans a little.)

Once the onions have finished caramelizing, you can use the same pan to saute the mushrooms and garlic. Melt another pat of coconut oil or butter, and saute the garlic for about 3 minutes, then add the mushrooms. Cook for about 6 minutes, until liquid is released from the mushrooms.

Spread half of the mushroom mixture into the baking dish of green beans, and pour the other half of the mixture, along with any liquid, into the blender container with the steamed parsnips.

Into that blender container, add 1½ cups water, 1½ teaspoons sea salt and ¼ cup of nutritional yeast to the cooked parsnips and mushrooms. Blend until smooth and creamy. (This mixture may be a bit salty to taste at this point, but keep in mind that it will be diluted when it's poured over a pound of green beans!)

Pour the creamy sauce over the green beans and mushrooms in the glass baking dish, and stir to coat well. (You may very well have more sauce than you need for this recipe-- I only used about 1½ cups to coat the vegetables well. Save the rest for a future dish!)

Smooth the creamy vegetable mixture with a spatula, and top with the caramelized onions to finish.

*At this point, you could cover the dish and store it in the fridge until you're ready to heat and serve.

When you're ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350F and bake uncovered for about 30 minutes, until bubbly. Serve warm and enjoy!

You have some Spaghetti Squash you need to use pretty quickly. Yummy & Fun recipe

Spaghetti Squash Enchilada Boats

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 (3 lbs.) spaghetti squash

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 yellow onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups fresh spinach

1 (14.5 oz) can roasted tomatoes with green chiles

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 ounces goat cheddar, shredded

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper . Cut the spaghetti squash in half, scoop out and discard the seeds in the center, and place the squash halves face-down on the lined baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the skin can be easily pierced with a fork. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool slightly.

In the meantime, pour the entire can of roasted tomatoes and green chiles (including the liquid) into a blender and add in the ground cumin and salt. Blend until smooth and set aside.

Melt the coconut oil in a large pot over medium heat and sauté the onion until it is tender, about 8 minutes. Add in the garlic and spinach, and stir until the spinach is wilted.

Use a fork to scrape the cooked spaghetti squash flesh into pot and pour the enchilada sauce over the top. Stir well until everything is heated through, season to taste, and then divide the cooked vegetables between the two shells of the spaghetti squash arranged cut-side-up on a baking sheet. (Alternatively, you can just use two oven-safe serving dishes, if you’d prefer.) Top each serving with shredded goat cheddar, and place the baking sheet under your oven’s broiler, set to high, for about 3 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve warm.

*Note: This meal can be prepared very quickly on a weeknight if you have the spaghetti squash prepared ahead of time. I like to cook two squashes at a time, so that I have an extra one to use for a quick future meal! Also, feel free to use a jar of prepared enchilada sauce in this recipe, if you prefer. (Though if you need to remain gluten-free or grain-free, be sure to check in the ingredients– many of them contain flour.)

Hobo Dinners

I'm ready for fall weather! A great family tradition is usually s'mor's when you are around a fire pit or fireplace. How about the whole meal outside in one little wrapping! You can still have s'mor's afterwards.

HOBO DINNERS

                1 pound ground hamburger meat

                2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

                1 pound smoked linked sausage

                8 new potato, pre-cooked and halved

                1 bag frozen carrot, sliced

                1 bag frozen green beans

                1 chopped red onion

                1 can pinto beans, drained

                1 can cream of mushroom soup

                8 tablespoon butter

                2 sheet heavy-duty aluminum foil 

               (18 inches x 13 inches)

                Salt and pepper to taste

                Optional ideas to add; salsa, jalapeno, red bell peppers, corn and peas

Directions

Hamburger meat and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl and shape into a patty;  sausage is cut into bite size rings; place in the center of 2 foil with potato, carrot, onion, and all the other vegetables you like. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, 1 tablespoon of cream of mushroom soup and 1 tablespoon of butter. Fold foil over and seal well. Place your name on top.

Oven - Place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes. 

Grilled - covered 45 minutes

Fireplace- over medium coals (3 inch deep of hot coals) for 20-25 minutes or until hamburger meat is done.

Uncover very carefully, very hot inside.