7/11/2021 – Washed and stemmed our Pepperoncini Peppers from the garden and sliced in half. Packed them into a ½-gallon jar. We included 8 large whole cloves of garlic that had been lightly crushed to remove the husks. Tried them on 1/10/2022 and they were firm and tasted good.
Continue reading7/18/2021 – This Tartar Sauce was inspired by the recipe by Ina Garten here. Served it with fried catfish and fried okra it was good. Mary added a little cayenne pepper sauce to hers and that made it great…but then it was pink tartar sauce.
Continue reading7/15/2021 – This recipe was inspired by Ina Garten’s recipe here. We liked it as it was rich and the garlic was not too bold. Served it with her Salmon & Melting Cherry Tomatoes which was also very good.
Ingredients:
5 large garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped
~½ cup extra-virgin olive oil; enough so the garlic chunks are almost floating in it.
4 medium red potatoes, partially peeled
Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper
~¼ cup half-and-half
Directions:
In a No. 3 cast iron skillet, bring the garlic and oil to a boil, then turn the heat to low and cook uncovered for 5 minutes, or until the garlic is lightly browned. Turn off the heat and set it aside. The garlic will continue to cook in the oil.
Boil the potatoes in salted water and cook until the potatoes are very tender. Remove the potatoes from the water and save the water. Remove the garlic from the oil, reserving the oil.
Mash the potatoes and garlic with a potato masher.
Add the reserved olive oil from the garlic; salt; pepper; and half and half.
When ready to serve add more hot cooking water until the potatoes are creamy but still firm. Adjust the salt and serve hot.
7/11/2021 – Washed and stemmed our Jalasco Jalapenos from the garden and sliced through the top and bottom to let out the air…and let in the brine. Packed them whole into a 1-quart jar and had a lot left. Sliced them 1/4″ thick and packed them into a pint jar. Still had some left and sliced them in half length-wise and packed them into another pint jar. They turned out very good. Lotsa flavor without much bite.
Continue readingKelley made this cheese dip/spread for the July 4, 2021 party and it was great. It is based on Ina Garten’s recipe.
Yield: 1 quart
Ingredients
- 10 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon celery seed
- 1 cup pickled jalapenos, chopped small
- 6 ounces piquillo peppers, chopped (regular pimento peppers can be substituted)
- 5 cups shredded Cheddar (approximately 1 1/4 pounds)
- “long squirt” of Sriracha
Directions
- Combine the cream cheese, mayonnaise, garlic powder, onion powder, and celery seed.
- Mix in the pickled jalapenos, piquillo peppers, and grated Cheddar.
- Add the Sriracha and combine. Taste and add more mayonnaise and Sriracha, if necessary.
- Chill before serving.
6/24/2021 – Below was adapted from Ball Canning’s recipe here. Made 7 half-pint jars and a one-pint jar. They did not turn out such that we liked them. Will not make it like this if we ever try it again.
Ingredients
- 9 cups chopped cored tomatoes from our garden (¾-1″ inch pieces)
- 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 cup semi-dry Chardonnay wine
- 1 cup white wine vinegar
- ½ cup water
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 2 Tbsp dried basil
- 2 Tbsp dried oregano
- 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
Directions
- In our large Calphlon SS pot, combine garlic, wine, wine vinegar, water, sugar, basil, oregano, and balsamic vinegar. Bring to a full rolling boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Prepare boiling water canner. Heat jars in simmering water until ready for use. Dipped lids in hot water to sanitize.
- Pack tomatoes into hot jars leaving a ½-¾ inch headspace with a few air pockets. Ladle hot vinegar mixture over tomatoes, leaving a ½ inch headspace. Remove air bubbles with a table knife. Place lid and rim. Place jars in boiling water canner, making sure water covers jars by at least 1 inch.
- Bring canner to a gentle boil and process jars 20 minutes. Turn off heat, remove the canner’s lid, let jars stand 5 minutes. Remove jars and cool 12-24 hours. Check lids for seal.
Comments
- We had a lot more tomatoes and brine than needed for seven ½-pints.
- Ball’s directions said to pack the tomatoes to within 1/2″ and then add the seasoning brine to within 1/2″. That would be impossible so we left a few air pockets in the packed tomatoes by not packing them down completely.
- We ladled the brine into the ½-pints so they did not get much of the solids parts of the seasoning. In the pint, made last, we left the tomatoes down about ¾-inch and then spooned the brine with a lot of garlic and the other solids on top along with the seasoned liquid.
- Be sure to note when trying this the difference, if any, in the level of seasoning in the ½-pints vs. the pint.
- A good approach could be putting about ¼-inch of seasoned brine and solids in the bottom of the jars, then the tomatoes, and topping it with ¼-inch of seasoning brine so there is ½-inch of headspace.
6/23/2021 – Had enough smaller Greek Pepperoncini peppers to pickle and so did them like we did the slices of the Italian pepperoncini last year. Removed the stems and cut a single slice into each one from end to end so the brine solution would get inside and they would not float. They filled 3 pint jars. They turned out almost mushy so the texture was not good. The flavor was fine.
Continue reading6/22/2021 – This was our first tomato canning day of 2021 using the Better Boy and Celebrity tomatoes from the garden. All had been picked over the past 3-4 days. We culled out the few with soft spots and holes and ended up with about 14 lbs. before skinning and cleaning. Both varieties had a lot of “meat” and little juice and seeds. They made 5 quarts. We followed the Ball instructions here.
Continue reading6/18/2021 – This experiment turned out great and uses similar stuffing to what we made for Shrimp Stuffed Mirlitons. Mary added Conecuh’s Hot & Spicy Sausage and pre-baked the patty pans rather than boiling them as done with the Mirlitons.
Continue reading6/16/2021 – Mary made this up as she went surrounded by piles of yellow squash and zuchinni and boneless chicken thighs in the refrigerator. It turned out very good and one she will want to repeat so here it is.
Ingredients
- 4 large boneless chicken thighs cut into 2″ pieces
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Bacon Grease
- 3 smallish young yellow squash from the garden this morning cut into 3/4″ coins
- 4 small zucchini from the garden this morning cut into 3/4″ coins
- 1 small bell pepper from the garden this morning
- ½ large yellow onion chopped into minimum ½” pieces
- 2 garlic cloves sliced thin
- Our Mediterranean Seasoning
- Kosher Salt and fresh coarse ground black pepper
- 3 medium tomatoes from the garden this week
Directions
- In our 10″ All-Clad skillet, sauteed the garlic in the olive oil and bacon grease until the oil is flavored but the garlic is not beginning to fry. Removed the garlic and saved it.
- Season the chicken with the Mediterranean Seasoning plus salt and pepper and saute until it is done. remove it.
- Added the onion, bell pepper, and the saved garlic and stirred until the edges begin to soften. Then added the squash and zucchini stirring as it all cooked.
- Sprinkled with more Mediterranean Seasoning and coarse ground black pepper and salt. As it cooked it became a bit dry several times so enough chicken broth was added to keep it simmering.
- Once everything was getting close to done, returned the chicken and added fresh tomatoes cut into 8ths.
- Once the tomatoes had heated and the edges began to soften, plated it and sprinkled with parmesan cheese slivers.