Dill Pickles

My very first attempt at making pickles. I grew pickling cucumbers and the herb dill this year especially for making pickles.

The one on the right is one cup of white vinegar, one tablespoon of salt, enough pickles to fill up a jar, if you sprigs of fresh dill, and two small cloves of garlic, sliced in half, crammed down in between things.

When I finished that one, I needed to expand my options.

The one on the left is a cup of white vinegar, a tablespoon of salt, two small cloves of garlic sliced in half , bunch of Dill cram down in between the pickles , and a teaspoon or so of herb de Provence.

In both cases, I boiled the vinegar long enough to fully dissolve the salt, and I poured it over a cucumbers in the jar, slapped a canning lid and the jar lid on top. I let it sit on the counter for a couple of hours until it cooled off, then it went into the refrigerator. 

Space Jam©

Space Jam©: Left to right: Rhubarb,
Citrus (mixture of lemon and orange)
and Strawberry, plus T&G Powder

I've been making some dried fruit powder, and making Space Jam© out of it.

• Dehydrate fresh fruit until it's really dry and crisp.

• grind it to powder. 

I store the powder in the freezer but i mix some in shaker spice jars.

1:1 mixture of fruit powder and sugar free powdered sweetener. 

Serving: spread peanut butter on a cracker, shake Space Jam© on top to taste. It's pretty darned good, but none of the carbs or calories of sugar. 

I took this mixture on a family campout, and my niece decided this needed to be called Space Jam©. So it's Space Jam© now. 

Also: roast tomatoes with fresh garlic. Dehydrate completely. Grind to powder for T&G (Tomato & Garlic) powder. Still working on the best application for this one. 

NB: Rhubarb, Lemons, Tomatoes and Garlic from my own garden. Strawberries from Spooners. Oranges from the produce department.

NB: Apricot Space Jam© is not worth the effort. Needs a fruit with some zing. Going to try Raspberry and Blackberry soon. 

Lemon Pepper Hot Sauce

Ingredients:

12 Lemon Drop peppers, seeds removed, coarsely chopped
2 Mad Hatter peppers, seeds removed, coarsely chopped
1 small red bell pepper (or ½ standard size), coarsely chopped
½ cup carrots, sliced small
5 small cloves garlic, peeled & crushed
¼ medium white onion, coarsely chopped
1 TBSP olive oil
½ cup rice wine
¾ cup (more or less) water
1 TBSP honey
1 tsp coriander seed, roasted & crushed

Comment: could use some salt.


Instructions:

• Wear rubber gloves and a face mask.
• Seed all the peppers. Coarsely chop them.
• Peel and crush the garlic.
• Chop the onion coarsely.
• Chop the peppers, ⅛” thick.
• Heat the olive oil in a medium frying pan.
• Saute all of the above until the onions begin to think of transparency. Stir constantly.
• Add some of the water and simmer until everything is beginning to soften.
• Meanwhile, toast coriander seed. Crush it.
• Add the rice vinegar, honey & toasted & crushed coriander seed until carrots are soft.
• Cool the mixture some.
• Blend the mixture real fine.
• Cool completely.
• Fill bottle or jar and refrigerate.


Next time:
• ½ tsp or so of salt.
• ¼ cup or so lemon or lime juice.
• a tsp or a TBSP of peeled, ground ginger root.
• a little tarragon, fresh is better, ground is acceptable.
• Some cilantro or even parsley. Maybe some chives.
• a little batch of fresh basil.
(Courtesy Ed Currie of Puckerbutt.)

Lemon Chicken with Brocolli

Ingredients:
2 TBSP all purpose flour
½ tsp salt, divided
¼ tsp fresh black pepper
12 oz uncooked skinless boneless chicken breast, thinly sliced
2 TBSP olive oil
1½ cup chicken broth, divided
2 tsp minced garlic
2½ cups broccoli florets, roughly chopped
2 tsp lemon zest, or more to taste
2 TBSP fresh parsley, chopped

Instructions:
• On a plate, combine 1½ TBSP flour, ¼ tsp salt & pepper. Add chicken & turn to coat.
• In a large skillet, heat oil over medium high flame.
• Add chicken & cook, turning, until lightly browned & cooked through: ±5 minutes. Set aside on a plate.
• Add 1 cup broth and the garlic to skillet to deglaze. Bring to boil, scraping up goodies from bottom of pan.
• Add broccoli. Cover & cook for no more than a minute.
• Mix remaining ½ cup broth, ½ TBSP flour & ¼ tsp salt. Add to skillet & simmer, covered over low heat.
• Cook until broccoli is al dente, crisp-tender & sauce starts to thicken: ±1½ minutes.
• Stir in chicken & lemon zest & heat through.
• Add lemon juice & chopped parsley & toss to coat.
• Serve with couscous, angel hair pasta or rice.

Mexican Skillet with Eggs

Ingredients:

1 medium poblano chili pepper, seeded & finely chopped
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
½ cup chopped onion
1 cup [canned] black beans, drained
1 cup zucchini, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 pinch salt (kosher?)
½ cup green salsa verde (plus more for serving)
4 large eggs
2 TBSP cilantro, chopped
Cooking spray



Instructions:
• Coat 12” skillet with cooking spray & heat over medium high flame.
• Add chili, corn & onion. Cook stirring often until onion is soft: 5-7 minutes.
• Add beans, zucchini, cumin & salt. Cook, stirring often, until zucchini starts to brown: 2-3 minutes.
• Stir in salsa.
• Make 4 wells in vegetables with back of a spoon. Crack one egg into each.
• Reduce heat to medium. Cook, covered, until eggs are cooked to desired doneness: 5-7 minutes for medium.
• Garnish with cilantro.
• Serve with more salsa if desired.

Peanut Butter & Rhubarb Cookies

Ingredients:
1 ripe banana, about ½ cup mashed
¾ cup old fashioned oats
¼ cup creamy peanut butter
¼ cup rhubarb, fresh, diced
3 TBSP mini chocolate chips

 
Double Batch:
2 ripe bananas, about1 cup mashed
1½ cup old fashioned oats
½ cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup rhubarb, fresh, diced
⅓ cup mini chocolate chips

 
Instructions:
• In a large bowl, mash the banana and add oats. Combine with spatula, and stir in peanut butter. Mix everything until all ingredients combined.
 

• Fold in chips and rhubarb pieces. Alternative: use a stand mixer or electric mixer on medium speed, but be careful not to over-mix.
 

• Scoop about a tablespoon of cookie dough on to baking sheet lined with silicon or parchment. The batter will be fairly wet. Once you arrange the cookie dough on a baking sheet, gently shape each cookie into more uniform and rounded shapes with your fingers.
 

• Bake for 12-14 minutes at 350 F. WARNING: These over-bake quickly.
 

• Let the cookies cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them onto wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy warm or at room temperature.

Blackberry Pie

We were given some fresh blackberries. And I like pie. So I made pie. We really enjoyed it. 

Ingredients:

3½ cups (to maybe 4 cups) fresh blackberries

½ cup white sugar, more or less, to taste, divided

½ cup (maybe a little less) all-purpose flour

1 (9 inch) double crust ready-to-use pie crust

2 tablespoons milk

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 425F (220C)

• Load one pie crust onto pie plate. 

• Save out a TBSP of sugar. Combine the rest of the sugar with the flour and the berries. 

• Put the second pie crust on top. Find a fancy way (or at least an efficient way) to seal the edges. 

• Brush the top of the pie with the milk and sprinkle the reserved TBSP of sugar on top. (This would be a good place for fancy large-crystal sugar, wouldn't it?). 

• Cut 3 or 4 modest size vent holes. Be creative with them if you feel like it. 

• Bake 20 minutes at 425F. Reduce to 375F (190C)  until filling is bubbly and crust is golden brown, an additional 25 to 30 minutes. 

• Bring it out and let it cool on a wire rack or such for at least half an hour. 

• Serving suggestion: serve with vanilla ice cream of some sort. 

• In a day or two, it should look like this:

Comment: We really loved this pie. This recipe is absolutely a keeper.