Mama's Home Made Pickles

I love...love...LOVE pickles! The last couple of years my cucumbers haven't done so well in the garden so I would head to the farmers market to buy my cucumbers but not this year!! My plants have exploded and I was so happy to be able to make my pickles with the cucumbers I grew in my garden. It just makes me feel good that I know my cucumbers are fresh and organic. No pesticides, just a wonderful home grown vegetable that I didn't waste. Of course I had to give a few away but what I harvested at the end of my gardening season made 6 full jars that I can provide to my family and enjoy myself.

Because we love pickles so much, I do not do the whole canning process. I give a few jars away and they never last for more then a few weeks in the refrigerator. Even without the canning process they will hold in the fridge for 3-6 months easy.

I can't tell how easy this recipe is. To make things real easy I use the Mrs Wages Kosher Dill Pickles and add my own spices. You can usually find this with the Ball Canning supplies at your local Walmart. 

Here's the recipe:

• 1 package of Mr. Wages Kosher Dill Pickles
• Hand full of Fresh dill - For this recipe I only added fresh dill but I usually add fresh garlic cloves as well. You could add some mustard or celery seeds or spice it up with some red pepper flakes as well. I did that for a special batch for my step-father one year who loves spicy foods.  
• Vinegar
• Sugar
• Salt

Mrs Wages Kosher Dill Pickle seasons.

Put your jars and lids in a warm bath on the stove while you prep the cucumbers and pickle seasons. Follow the instructions on the back of the Mrs Wages season packet. When the seasons are ready, pull your jars and lids and dry them on a clean towel. 

Clean your pickles and then cut your them into spears. 

Add any spices before and after you fill the jars with your cucumber spears. Don't over crowd your jars, I like to give my pickles a little wiggle room so that they are nice and seasoned. 

Then ladle the pickle juice into each jar and seal with lids. I mentioned earlier, I rarely do the whole canning process. I stop at this point and let them cool completely before I put them in the refrigerator. They will last for a few months without being canned. I'd love to hear about your pickle recipes. Please comment. Enjoy!

Old Family Favorite

Sausage & Cheese English Muffins

This is a old time favorite in my house. My husband grew up eating these little breakfast muffins and now I am addicted to them. They are so easy to make and freeze very well.

I make them often just to have on hand during the week and are excellent for vacations. If you are like me, I like to make as much prior to a vacation so I don't have to put much thought into the cooking and preparation and can enjoy my family R & R.

This recipe is so simple and only has 5 steps to prepare. On Sundays I make these for the coming week and it takes about 20 minutes to cook, prep and then freeze. The below recipe will make 12 sausage muffins. You can use 2lb of sausage and 1 large Velveeta cheese block to double it.

1 lb Pork Sausage
1 small block of Velveeta Original Cheese
1 package of English muffins
1/2 tsp of garlic powder

Cook the poke sausage in a saute pan, then drain. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
Cut the Velveeta cheese into cubes and then add to drained sausage and mix till melted
Cut the English muffins in half and place on a baking sheet
Spoon the sausage and cheese mixture evenly over each muffin
Bake for 10 minutes.

You can dive right in and eat a few or let them cool completely before you put them in the freezer. Once frozen, put them in a zip bag for storage and enjoy through the week!

When you need a morning snack, grab one and put it in the microwave for about 40 seconds and enjoy.

Stawberries!!

 

Who doesn't love strawberries? We look forward to picking them every year. Living in the South they are always sweet and juicy!
 
I make strawberry salads, salsa and eat them as they are. My daughter can hardly to wait till we get home from the local farm before she wants to snack on them. My favorite use for strawberries is in salads. They add a just enough sweetness and texture to spice up a salad. In our house salads are with almost every meal. Here is a quick and easy salad I do with strawberries.

• Use any type of salad; I used a spring mix.
• Chop up some strawberries
• Throw in some gorgonzola cheese; any type of crumbly cheese will work. I have used blue cheese crumbles, feta and goat but my favorite is gorgonzola
• Pecans or almonds. The Honey glazed pecans are awesome! I can find them at my Walmart by the nut section in the produce isle.
• I use a strawberry vinaigrette to lightly coat. Any balsamic dressing would work. Enjoy! 

This year I have been seeing dehydrated strawberry recipes all over Pinterest so I decided to take a try at it. I have a dehydrator; serval to say the least but I mainly use them for Venison. I decided to do something different, I used a recipe that called for oven dehydrating at 210 degrees for 4 hours. They are a nice healthy treat; not too chewy or to dry.
 
First you start with a fresh picked strawberries from the garden or from the grocery. Slice them about 1/4 inch; I used a egg slicer to cut mine to make sure I got them all the same size.
 

 

Line your baking sheets with parchment paper and lay the strawberries in a single layer.

 

 

Place them in the over set at 210 degrees for 4 hours. Vent to oven by leaving the door open enough to allow the moisture to escape and turn on your hood fan.
 
I checked my strawberries every hour; you'll want to watch them and you might need to cook them longer than 4 hrs depending on your over and location.
 
This is the strawberries at the halfway mark; 2 hours.
 

 

Once they are dry pull them from the oven and let them cool completely before you store them. I used a mason jar but they can be stored in a Tupperware or zip back. I keep mine in the pantry where there is not too much light. We eat them within a day or so but I would guess they would hold for a week or so if you can make them last that long. :)
 

 

 

Reuse Makes Good Use..

Last year I upgraded my daughter's swimming pool. I'm not one for just throwing stuff away so I took this pool and reused it for my raised garden bed. I had hubby punch some holes in the bottom and then he filled her up with soil.

It is a great use of a old kiddy pool! We planted our first garden with cucumbers, tomatoes, basil, and peppers. With some extra love it took off. We had a great harvest so last year so I decided to expand this year and included a snap pea tee-pee and a did some companion planting with Sunflowers.

We stuck with the same variety of plants included some new ones. We added some Jalapenos and carrots. I can't contain my excitement for the carrots. In my area they are ready for harvest after 90 days and when you start to see the tops poke through the soil. Every now and again, I pull one just to see how big their getting and they are coming along pretty well. This post is to share my garden design. It is what I would call primitive but with a purpose and built with love. Enjoy

Here is my baby pool raised garden bed and the snap pea tee-pee. My little one prefers her snap peas raw so I came across some great designs on Pinterest and fond the tee-pee design. Once it starts to grow and climb, she can sit inside and eat her peas.

It's a perfect reuse don't you think? The carrots are in the front and there is some basil, jalapenos, green peppers and 2 varieties of tomatoes. I had to put one big sunflower right in the center too.

 

This year we also decided to do some companion planting with sunflowers and cucumbers. I planted them along the fence where it is full sun. I did this because I wanted to get a bigger harvest of cucumbers and I love sunflowers. The sunflowers are just starting to bloom. Some of my cucumbers have a mind of their own, I guess I didn't plant them close enough to the sunflower so they started spreading instead of climbing. So I resorted to putting cages on a few of them.

 

 

I did 2 different types of Sunflowers. I can't recall the names but this one is very pretty and so delicate. The other type has about 5-6 blooms on each flower and they are a deeper orange-yellow color with darker leaves.

 

 

Basil...Basil and More Basil!

Every year I must plant Basil in my garden. I don't do a big garden; I actually use a old baby pool to grow what we need. We do a couple verities of Tomatoes, Peppers, Cucumbers and of course Basil.

So each year I end up with lots of basil to harvest. I love Bail, it is great in salads, sauces, soups and I like making my Basil Olive Oil. This lasts me through the winter and then some. Once you make it, just store it in the refrigerator. When you need it, scoop some out onto a plate and let it come to room temperature. It's great for sauces and dipping Italian bread. Just add a little cracked pepper and salt and you'll fall in love! 

Basil Olive Oil

You'll need Basil, Salt, Olive Oil and a glass jar; I use a mason jar. 

Harvest your Basil; or you can buy a bunch at your grocery store. Clean it and lay it out to dry.  

Add a little bit of Salt on the bottom of the jar then add some Basil and Olive oil. Repeat this until the jar is almost full. Then just store it in the refrigerator. Voila...excellent favor source for your salads, soups and sauces!

Corn, Basil and Cucumber Salad

Another  use we do in my house is this corn, Basil and Cucumber salad. It is one of our favorites and it is so simple to make!

3 ears of corn shucked from the cob

1 cucumber sliced and quartered

Fresh Basil...the more the merrier!

Onion (I've used red and yellow onions)

Salt

Pepper

2 TB of Mayonnaise

Mix all ingredients together and enjoy.