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gazpacho
In , on August 4, 2018 with No Comments

Gazpacho

My Dad found this recipe in the Des Moines Register newspaper, and with an abundance of garden veggies, we decided to give it a whirl. Everything in the recipe came from the garden, with the exception of the hot sauce and balsamic vinegar. The garlic I planted didn’t produce, but I’d picked up some really gorgeous organic garlic at the local farmer’s market, so technically it was produced within a few miles of my kitchen 🙂




You can easily adjust the amount up or down depending on how many mouths you have to feed and how many bowls you each will eat. It’s a great cold soup to eat on a warm summer’s day, and it’s a great way to use up produce if you have just a few of this and that in the garden.

Gazpacho

1-1/2 pounds tomatoes, cored and cut into 1/4-inch dice

2 red bell peppers (or use whatever peppers you have), stemmed, seeded, and cut into 1/4-inch dice

2 small cucumbers (or 1 large one), peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/4-inch dice

1/2 small sweet onion, or 2 large shallots, minced

2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

1/3 cup good balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper

5 cups tomato juice (I used homemade)

8 ice cubes

1 teaspoon hot sauce (optional)

Extra-virgin olive oil (for serving)

 

Combine tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, onion, and garlic in a large bowl. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons of salt. Season with black pepper to taste. Let stand for about 5 minutes or until veggies release their juice. Add the vinegar, tomato juice, ice cubes, and hot sauce if using. Stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate to blend flavors, at least 4 hours or up to 2 days.

Discard any unmelted ice cubes, and season soup with salt and pepper to taste. Serve cold, drizzling individual portions with olive oil. Garnish with extra veggies, croutons, chopped pitted olives, or finely diced avocados if you like.

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In , , , on April 3, 2017 with No Comments

Fermented Garlic Dill Pickles

I’ve made a lot of pickles over the past 25 years: garlic dills, sweet pickles, bread and butter pickles, pickled beets, mustard pickles, and even dilly green beans. I’ve made tons of cucumber relish and salsa too, but everything I’ve done in the past has been vinegar based. That’s great if you have a huge garden and want to preserve your veggies for winter storage. However, after working for a Paleo diet expert, I’ve come to the realization that I’m not getting much nutrient value from these types of pickles.

The best way to preserve your veggies and get the most nutrition from them is to ferment them. It’s so simple to do, and fermenting has been around forever. And the best part is when you eat fermented foods, you’re adding good bacteria into your digestive system.

It doesn’t take much for special equipment to ferment your veggies. I already had a ton of canning jars (although other jars will work fine). All I needed to do was purchase some air locks (can find a variety of styles on Amazon), and I was all set.

I wanted to experiment with some cucumbers before gardening season arrived so I could decide 1) if I liked fermented pickles and 2) how much garden to plant. Wal-Mart actually had a small bag of pickling-sized cucumbers, so I snagged those and proceeded to start my experiment.




I had enough cucumbers to do 2 quart jars of fermented pickles. One I decided to do as close to my usual garlic dill pickles as possible, and the other quart jar I experimented with some pickling spice. The recipe that was closest to my usual dill pickles turned out terrific, and my youngest son told me I had to make crocks of them this summer when we’re overloaded with cucumbers. These pickles did not last long. The second jar – not so much a success. It fermented as it was supposed to. I just didn’t like the taste of the pickling spice, so the chickens got a fermented treat.

For my experiment, since it was March and fresh dill just isn’t available in Iowa, I used a combination of both dill seed and dill weed in my quart jar, but come summer, I’ll be using fresh, probably a big head of dill per jar. I like lots of dill and garlic in my pickles, but if you prefer less, feel free to adjust the amounts. The red pepper flakes are also optional. Sometimes I would make my usual garlic dills with a small piece of pepper to kick up the flavor, but the pickles will taste just fine if you don’t want the extra heat. I also didn’t have any grape leaves or horseradish leaves ready in the garden yet since it’s March, but I do add them when available. However, these pickles were perfectly crisp without them, so if you don’t have access to the leaves, don’t worry about it. Just be sure to keep the salt-to-water ratio the same so that you have enough salty brine for the fermentation to take place.

The spices and brine recipe are for 1 quart jar. Double as needed depending how many jars of pickles you want to make.

 

Fermented Garlic Dill Pickles

6 to 8 pickling size cucumbers (whole or slice into chunks as you prefer)

1 to 2 cloves garlic, peeled

1-1/2 tablespoon dill seed

1/2 teaspoon dill weed

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Grape leaf or horseradish leaf (optional – this provides tannin to help keep pickles crisp)

For the Brine (per quart):

3 cups water (room temperature)

3 tablespoons fine sea salt (can use canning/pickling salt too)

 

To each quart jar, add the grape or horseradish leaf if using, the garlic, and the spices. Pack your cucumbers in tightly. Combine brine ingredients until the salt is dissolved, and pour the brine over the cucumbers.

Add a glass weight to the jar to keep the cucumbers submerged in the brine, and place an air lock to the top of the jar. Let the jar sit on the counter for 2 to 3 days out of the sun. How fast fermentation takes place will depend on how warm the room is. Ideal temperature would be around 70 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit, so if it’s wintertime, it will take longer, and fermentation will definitely speed up when it’s hot.

You’ll see the brine turn cloudy after a day or two. Don’t panic – that’s what you want to happen. It means things are fermenting as planned. After a couple of days, remove the air lock and the glass weight, and taste a pickle. It should be crunchy and full of dill and garlic flavor. If it isn’t, replace the glass weight and air lock, and let the jar sit for another day before re-tasting. When you’re happy with the pickles, remove the air lock and glass weight, place a different lid on the jar (I use a new canning lid and ring), and put the jar in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

Note: If you slice your cucumbers, the slices will ferment a bit quicker than if you leave the cucumbers whole in the jar. My whole cucumbers took about 4 days in mid-March before they were fermented all the way through, but my slices were ready in 2-1/2 days.

 

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In , on July 29, 2014 with No Comments

Canning 101: Dilly Dog Relish and Zucchini Pineapple

I just love summer and canning season! There are so many new recipes out there to try, along with my family’s tried-and-true recipes, but this post is about two new recipes I’ve tried this summer. We have tons of cucumbers and will have tons of zucchini, as do most gardeners, so perhaps these two recipes will help you out with your abundance of both.

First up is Dilly Dog Relish. I found this recipe in the e-book The Pickled Pantry:  From Apples to Zucchini, 150 Recipes for Pickles, Relishes, Chutneys & More by Andrea Chesman. I got my copy through my Scribd subscription, but it’s also available through Amazon. It’s definitely well worth a read-through, especially if you’re a crazy canner like me who is looking for a few new and different recipes to try. I did vary from Andrea’s recipe by adding a red bell pepper – never said I followed a recipe exactly!

Dilly Dog Relish

6 cups finely chopped cucumbers (about 12 pickling cucumbers)
2 onions, finely chopped
1 sweet red bell pepper, finely chopped
1/4 cup pickling salt
3 cups white vinegar (5% acidity)
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
6 sprigs fresh dill, chopped (about 1/4 cup)
1 head garlic, cloves separated, peeled, and chopped (I used 9 garlic cloves–adjust to your family’s taste)
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Combine the cucumbers, onion, and bell peppers in a large bowl or container. Sprinkle with the salt and cover with ice water. Let stand for at least 2 hours and up to 6 hours. Drain the vegetables in a colander, pressing out any liquid.

Combine the vinegar, water, sugar, dill, garlic, and mustard seeds in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the drained vegetables and stir until well combined. Simmer until hot, about 5 minutes.

Pack the mixture into clean hot half-pint caning jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Remove any air bubbles and seal.

Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Let cool undisturbed for 12 hours before storing in a cool, dry place.

Don’t open for at least 6 weeks to allow the flavors to develop.

Yield:  Makes 8 to 9 half-pints

I love Pinterest. I’ve found a ton of canning recipes there, and I have a huge collection of recipes on my Pinterest site that I one day want to try, and today is was the day for Zucchini Pineapple. I found this yummy recipe on hickeryhollerfarm.blogspot.com, and it’s definitely a keeper! I always have too much zucchini, and I get tired of simply shredding and freezing it for future use – it almost always becomes freezer burnt and tossed out because I just don’t bake enough zucchini bread. But, I think this recipe will help me go through all that extra zucchini. My youngest son Travis just loves pineapple, so I can’t wait to get his opinion on this recipe.

 

Zucchini Pineapple

4 quarts zucchini, peeled and either grated or diced (your choice)
1-1/2 cups bottled lemon juice
1 can (46 ounces) unsweetened pineapple juice
3 cups sugar

Remove the peel and seeds from zucchini. Coarsely grate or cube zucchini into smaller cubes.

Mix all ingredients thoroughly and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring frequently.

Fill clean hot jars with hot zucchini mixture, leaving 1-2/-inch headspace. Adjust lids.

Process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Remove jars and allow to cool completely.

Yield:  6 pints

Note:  Only use pints and half-pint jars for this recipe. Anything larger and the mixture will be too dense to can correctly. This recipe originated from the Missouri State University Extension Service.

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In , on July 24, 2014 with 1 Comment

Canning 101: Coleslaw and Mustard Pickles

I love coleslaw. Any recipe, any variety. Whether it’s a mayo-based slaw or freezer slaw, if it’s on the menu, I’m in.

We planted 12 cabbage plants this spring with the idea that we needed to make sauerkraut this year. Unfortunately after taking an inventory of all the jars on the canning shelves, we did NOT need to make any. So, what to do with 12 cabbage heads??  Why make coleslaw, of course!

I’ve done freezer coleslaw in the past, but freezer space is a bit tight right now, so I was on the hunt for what to do with cabbage that can be processed by canning. I came across a recipe for canned coleslaw, and that got me thinking. What exactly is coleslaw anyway? Really, in a canning sense, it’s pickled cabbage. You add cabbage and any other vegetables and mix with a vinegar brine/syrup/solution, and so the idea for canned coleslaw was born.

While I was quite liberal with the amounts of veggies used in my slaw, I didn’t mess with the proportions of vinegar in the syrup portion of the recipe. That’s what preserves the veggies and is necessary to make sure things don’t spoil. Feel free to double/triple the syrup solution (I did) to make sure you have enough to cover all the veggies you put into jars.

 

Canned Coleslaw

1 medium head cabbage
1 large carrot
1 red bell pepper
1 small onion
1 teaspoon salt

Syrup:
1 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup water
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon celery seeds
1 teaspoon mustard seeds

Shred together the vegetables. Add the salt. Mix well. Let stand 1 hour.

Drain water from the vegetables. If preferred, can rinse and drain veggies.

Boil syrup ingredients together for 1 minute. Keep warm.

Pack veggies into hot pint jars and fill jars with hot syrup liquid. Add lids and seal.

 

 

 

Process jars in boiling water bath for 15 minutes. Remove from canner and let stand for 12 hours before moving.

Yield:  Approximately 7 pints

We’ve been checking the cucumber patch daily and have picked a few here and there to make salads, but there just haven’t been enough to do anything with. Until day that is. So, while I didn’t have my usual dill and grape leaves ready to go for my traditional dill pickles, I did come across a recipe for mustard pickles that I’d been dying to try.

 

Seeing as we had a few (sarcasm here!) cucumbers that were larger than I like to use in my dill pickle recipe, I thought I’d chunk up a few and try them in the mustard pickle recipe.  I found the recipe on Scribd. They have a ton of booklets from A Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin, and this recipe is from their Favorite Pickles and Relishes booklet.

 

 

Quick Mustard Pickles

1-1/2 cups white vinegar
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup prepared mustard
2 teaspoons pickling salt
1 teaspoon prepared horseradish (I used homemade horseradish relish..recipe in a future blog!)
8 cups cucumbers, sliced or cut in 1/2-inch chunks

In a large saucepan, combine all but cucumbers and bring to a boil. Pack cucumbers into hot, sterilized pint jars. Add boiling liquid, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Seal. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Yield:  4 pints

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