The Best Bread and Butter Pickles!

I love the flavor of bread and butter pickles- that sweet and sour mixture is just perfect to my taste! My favorite part is the onions, so I usually add a little more than it calls for here, but you can be flexible. Beware: an old wives tale says that the pickles will take on the personality of the person preparing them. So watch your mood- unless you like your pickles sour!

1 gallon cucumbers
8 small onions
2 green peppers (optional, but good)
½ cup salt
cracked ice
5 cups sugar
½ teaspoon tumeric
½ teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons whole mustard seeds
2 tablespoons whole celery seeds
5 cups vinegar (or more if needed to almost cover pickles)
6-8 pint jars, lids, and rings

1. Slice cucumbers, onions and peppers into very thin slices.
2. Cover with salt. Cover completely with cracked ice and stir.
3. Top with a weighted lid. (I put a plate on top that just fits the container and then weight it down with a heavy can, etc. on top of that.) Allow to stand for 3 hours.
4. Prepare the Jars by cleaning and covering with boiling water. Boil for 10 minutes, then keep hot until ready to fill.
5. Drain cucumbers, but DO NOT RINSE.
6. Combine remaining ingredients and cook until the sugar dissolves.
7. Pour over the cucumbers, bring to a boil.
8. Put in sterile jars and seal while still hot. Hand tighten lid. No additional processing is needed.
9. Put jars upside down to cool. Any jar that does not seal should be put in the fridge for immediate use.

NOTES: Your cucumbers should be fresh. If they have been standing around too long, the pickles will have holes in them. If this happens to you, your cucumbers were not as fresh as they could have been. (You can still eat them.) Its best to pick your cucumbers as close to pickling time as possible, but do not let them get too big- you want the small to medium sized cucumbers. The large ones are all seeds.

Easy Peach Cobbler

This is my favorite Peach Cobbler because it is so simple to make. You could use any fruit- cherries, blackberries, canned fruit cocktail is good. The finished cobbler is very moist.

1 large can of peaches or any fruit or sugar sweetened fresh fruit
1 cup self rising flour
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
½ stick butter or margarine

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Put the ½ stick of butter into a shallow baking dish. Place into oven for butter to melt. When butter has melted remove from oven and swirl pan so that all of the pan bottom and sides are covered.
3. Mix the flour, sugar, and milk together in a large bowl until mostly smooth, there will be a few lumps, that is ok.
4. Pour the batter into the butter in the baking dish. Do not stir. The butter will pool a little in the corners.
5. Spoon the fruit and its juice into the batter. Try to spread the peaches evenly over the batter, but do not stir.
6. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes until lightly browned. The batter will rise and cover the fruit.
7. Serve hot or cooled.

Spinach Artichoke Casserole

This is a wonderful recipe for a crowd. Who thought spinach could be so good? Serve as a dip or a side dish.

2 pkgs chopped frozen spinach, thawed and well drained
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 can artichokes (unmarinated), cut into quarters
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 pint sour cream
4 Tablespoons butter

Saute the onion in butter. Mix with the remaining ingredients and put into a casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Makes 10 servings.

Summer Means Boiled Peanuts

Boiled peanuts are a southern favorite. You can tell a true southerner by the look on their face when you mention boiled peanuts. A southerner instantly thinks of family, a northerner will look puzzled. I once tried to educate some friends from Wisconsin, but when they tasted this culinary masterpiece, [Read the rest of this entry...]

Dinner: Healthy Quick Recipe Ideas — Sauteed Pork Chops with Chutney Glaze

A healthy and quick to make recipe for Sauteed Pork Chops with a Chutney Glaze. 

Sauteed Pork Chops with Chutney Glaze
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
4 thin sliced pork chops
¼ cup dry Madeira Wine
1/3 cup chutney, chopped
1 large lime
salt and black pepper

1. Heat oil in large skillet over high heat.
2. Add pork chops and cook until browned on both sides, removing to a platter when done.
3. Add wine to drippings and stir to loosten brown bits on bottom of pan (fond).
4. Bring to a boil and cook until wine is reduced by half.
5. Reduce heat to medium, return the pork chops to the skillet and add the chutney.
6. Cover and simmer until pork is cooked through, stirring occasionally.
7. Meanwhile, slice half the lime thinly for garnish. Squeeze juice from remaining half and add to the pork. Season with salt and pepper.
8. Serve pork chops garnished with lime slices.

Try Minute Steaks for a Quick Easy Meal

Minute steaks are ideal for quick easy meals. Because they are thinly cut, usually less than 1/4 inch thick, and pounded tender, these beef round or sirloin steaks cook very quickly.

Lightly season the steaks and dust in flour if desired. Pan fry in a little olive or vegetable oil for one minute, or until brown, turn and brown the other side. Top with your favorite sauce or make a pan gravy.

To make the gravy, add a teaspoon of flour to the pan and stir fry for a minute til light brown. add a little water to the pan and scrape up any bits of fond stuck to the bottom of the pan. Check for seasoning and pour over the steaks. Fried onions or mushrooms are nice additions to the gravy.
About Minute Steaks:

Minute steaks are cut from the sirloin or round steak. The meat is then pounded thin to tenderize it.

It is important to quickly cook the meat and not allow it to dry out.

Cube steaks can be substituted for minute steaks and are sometimes referred to as minute steaks. Cube steaks also cook very quickly.

Menu Planning for Busy Families

Many families never plan menus. They go to the grocery store with no idea in mind of what they want to buy. Is it any wonder that there is often nothing in the house to eat? When I go to the store with no menus and no list, I return home with $50 worth of chips and snacks and little else. The next day I am back in the store again, trying to decide what to have for dinner. [Read the rest of this entry...]

Coconut Shrimp with Orange Mustard Sauce

These are so good, just like you find at our favorite restaurant. The dipping sauce is good with grouper fingers also (which is what I have now that I am allergic to shrimp).

1 1/4 pounds unpeeled large fresh shrimp
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon paprika
1 1/4 cups beer
2 cups shredded coconut
vegetable oil for frying
Orange Mustard sauce (below)

1. Peel and devein shrimp, leaving tails intact.
2. Combine flour, salt, pepper, and paprika in a medium bowl. Stir well.
3. Make a well in the center of flour mixture. Gradually add beer. Stir until batter is smooth.
4. Dip shrimp into batter, then dredge in coconut.
5. Fry shrimp in hot oil (350 degrees) until lightly brown. Drain and serve with Orange Mustard Sauce.

Orange Mustard Sauce
1/3 cup orange marmalade
1/3 cup orange juice
2 Tablespoons good quality deli mustard

Combine in a small bowl, stirring well.

 

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Easy Elegant Baked Bananas

5 to 6 ripe large bananas
1/2 stick butter or margarine
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup blackberry brandy (or other liquor)
1 tsp cinnamon
grated fresh nutmeg
whipped cream or ice cream (optional)

1. In a 9 inch square pan placed peeled whole bananas side by side.
2. Melt butter or margarine and pour over bananas.
3. Sprinkle with the sugars and cinnamon. Pour on the brandy.
4. Bake in a 350F oven until tender about 20 to 30 minutes.
5. Place bananas in individual dishes, grate fresh nutmeg over and pour over some of the sauce from the pan.
6. Serve with a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream.

How to Make Barbecue Sauce from Scratch

How to Make Homemade Barbecue Sauce

Making homemade barbecue sauce is just a matter of combining ingredients and simmering it to blend the flavors. Choosing ingredients that combine well, with just the right touch of sweet, sour and spice, can be an art. Start with these flavor combinations and spice it up or down to fit your flavor preferences.

Barbecue Sauce Ingredients

With the exception of the mustard based sauces favored in South Carolina, most American barbecue sauce begins with a tomato base in the form of ketchup. You can use pureed tomatoes or tomato sauce instead if you choose, but ketchup is the base most often used.

In addition to the ketchup, you will need to add a balance of sweet and sour as well as spices or heat to add interest. Let us look at each ingredient category.

For acidity or sour, some form of vinegar is commonly used. In addition, lemon juice and orange juice add additional tang and flavor, when included.

Balance the acidity with sweeteners in the form of molasses, honey, maple sugar or brown sugar. Some recipes even use cola or Dr. Pepper as a sweetener. The amount of sweetener used will depend on which sweetener you choose and how sweet you like your sauce. Start with less than you expect to need and taste your sauce as you add more to get the sweetness you prefer.

Additional flavorings are common and depend on your preferences. Common flavorings include sautéed onions and garlic, mustard powder or Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, salt and pepper, minced chili peppers or dried chili flakes and liquid smoke. Do not try to overload the sauce with all of these flavors. Start simply with the ingredients that you like.

Simmer your sauce for 20 to 45 minutes to blend the flavors and thicken the sauce. You can thin the sauce with water, orange juice, lemon juice, or sherry if needed.

Basic Barbecue Sauce Recipe

• 1/2 cup of ketchup
• 1/2 cup of vinegar
• 1/2 cup of molasses
• 1/2 cup of orange juice
• 1 to 2 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of chili flakes
• 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
• Tabasco sauce as desired

1. Mix all ingredients together. Add salt and pepper to taste.
2. Spice it up with and a few dashes of Tabasco sauce to taste. Add more or less spice to your own tastes.
3. Simmer for 30 minutes to blend flavors and thicken the sauce.

Southern Style Sweet Barbecue Sauce Recipe

• 1/2 large onion
• 1 tablespoon butter
• chili pepper, chopped and seeded
• 1 cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon prepared mustard
• juice of 1 lemon
• garlic salt
• black pepper

1. Mince the onion and sauté it in butter for a few minutes until translucent.
2. Add a chopped and seeded chili pepper and stir for another minute.
3. Add the remaining ingredients. Season the sauce with garlic salt and fresh black pepper to taste.
4. Simmer for 20 minutes to blend the flavors.

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