In a Pickle

It seems that I left you high and dry for the month of September. Even though I attempted to revive my posting momentum with a supposedly weekly feature (Fridge Fridays), I still found myself in the pickle of life taking precedence over blogging. Maybe it is time that I quit apologizing for my absences and just take them in stride. I blog when I can and not necessarily when I want. Isn't that true of so much of life? Why would this online journal of what is On My Plate be any different?

The month of September was filled with out-of-state visitors, delivery of my new fridge, my first cycling event in 2 or 3 years, a milestone birthday, a wonderful birthday gift, canning and preserving, and daily sighing and repentance because I was neglecting the blog. September has been a pretty good month, but I am going to give up the sighing and repentance. This blog is what it is. I don't need to feel that I am in a pickle if I don't have time to post something. That's life.

It is the same life that brought me a bounty of pickling cucumbers from a friendly neighbor lady. Last year, I had made a ton of refrigerator pickles that we liked, but found impossible to use in the proper time frame. This year, I decided to hot water bath with another recipe and make shelf-stable pickles with most of the cukes. I haven't yet tried them, but they look very pretty. I will have to report back if they are fabulous, as my last attempt at canning pickles didn't produce the flavor or crispness that I wanted. *Fingers crossed for this one.*

Of course, one pickle recipe wasn't enough.  I had to try another small batch of refrigerator pickles. I only stuffed 2 pint jars full of sliced cucumbers, onions, and a few red peppers from my garden to play with Alton Brown's Refrigerator Pickle recipe. They are slightly sweet...like a bread and butter pickle would be...but dill, garlic, and hot peppers kick them up a lot. We have been enjoying them on burgers, sandwiches, and straight from the jar. Nobody is in a pickle with My Version of Alton Brown's Refrigerator Pickles On My Plate.

 My Version of Alton Brown's Refrigerator Pickles

1 onion, thinly sliced

4-5 medium cucumbers, thinly sliced

2-4 cloves garlic, peeled

2-4 small hot peppers

2-4 sprigs of dill

2 cups water

2 cups cider vinegar

3 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon celery seeds

1/2 teaspoon pickling spice

Drop a clove or 2 of garlic into each of 2 pint canning jars. (I use wide-mouth for ease of packing.)
Layer onion and cucumber slices in jars, adding a couple small hot peppers and sprigs of dill between the layers.
Combine the remaining ingredients in a non-reactive saucepan and bring to a boil. 
Simmer for 4 full minutes to meld the flavor.
Slowly pour the hot pickling liquid over the onion and cucumber slices, completely filling the jar. 
Refrigerate for 24 hours before serving.
Use within 2-3 months. (Yield: 2 pints)

Muffin Top

I tried on my jeans today for the first time in a couple of months. I have been enjoying the summer in shorts, capris, skirts, and sundresses. Jeans have not been a part of my wardrobe. Maybe, they should have been. Maybe, I should have forced my thighs into the unforgiving denim a few times just as a means of checks and balances. I really wasn't happy as I sucked in my flab to zip up my favorite pair of jeans and revealed a blubbery muffin top. Gross.

The only muffin top that I want is on a real muffin, like a Spiced Zucchini and Walnut Muffin. Fragrant with cinnamon, dense with shredded zucchini, packed with the crunch of walnuts, these muffins are anything but gross. But, if I want to fit back into my jeans, I might have to pass on the Spiced Zucchini and Walnut Muffins On My Plate for awhile.

Spiced Zucchini and Walnut Muffins

3 eggs, well beaten

1 cup Canola oil

2 cups sugar

2 cups grated zucchini (peel if you must, but I don't)

3 teaspoons vanilla

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon nutmeg

3 teaspoons cinnamon

1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325.

Mix first 5 ingredients.

Sift together rest of ingredients.

Add to the first mixture.

Coat 24 muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray.

Divide batter evenly among the muffin cups. (I use an ice cream scoop.)

Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until top springs back with light touch and pick comes out clean.  (24 muffins) 

NOT Fridge Friday

Yesterday, I missed Fridge Friday. I am going to blame it on the fact that I no longer have a fridge in my kitchen. Yes. That's right. I don't have a fridge...sort of.

I do have a fridge...but, it is in the basement. For the past week, every time I have needed a chilled item, I have had to go out into the back entryway and down some steep, old-house basement stairs...and then back up again with whatever I needed...and then back down again for whatever I forgot...wash, rinse, repeat as necessary.

You see, back in May (or so, I don't exactly remember), the fridge that was originally in the basement died. Everything (cheeses, butter, produce) that I had hoarded stashed there had to be transferred to the upstairs fridge. At that time, it was decided that we wouldn't just purchase another plain, utilitarian, white refrigerator for the basement. We would temporarily get by as a one fridge household, and when extra funds were available, we would invest in the stainless-steel, french-door, freezer-on-the-bottom, ice-and-water in the door baby that I had been dreaming about forever.

My dream came true a month ago...sort of. We purchased an awesome stainless-steel, french-door, freezer-on-the-bottom, ice-and-water in the door GE Profile (to match my GE Profile stainless, gas range...and that purchase is another story entirely). I was in heaven...except the store didn't have any in stock. They were on order. We were promised that within 2 weeks, the beautiful, shiny cold box could be delivered to my home. My Plain Jane fridge was moved from the kitchen to the dungeon basement in anticipation of the delivery of this new purchase. (And my daily stair running workouts began.) Fast forward to today, and I am STILL waiting. The refrigerator was supposed to be transferred to an area sister store for final delivery. However, nobody knows where it is. Nobody can tell me when it will be delivered. Nobody knows how close to going postal this makes me. 

So...I missed Fridge Friday because I don't have a fridge, but I do have zucchini. Oh yes, it is that time of year again. Gardens are overflowing with the green squash. How about a Chocolate Zucchini Snack Cake to ease the pain of my missing fridge? This is a recipe that I have seriously been making for over 20 years. It was in a cookbook that I received as a shower gift before Hubs and I were married. I love the addition of cinnamon and cloves. Chocolate chips and walnuts on top make frosting totally optional (and I usually don't bother). The cake is dense and rich and makes use of the abundant zucchini without any refrigeration needed. If I can't have my new fridge, at least I can have Chocolate Zucchini Snack Cake On My Plate.

Chocolate Zucchini Snack Cake

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup Canola oil

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 1/2 cups flour

4 tablespoons cocoa

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cloves

2 cups zucchini, grated (I leave the skin on; peel if you feel the need.)

chocolate chips

chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325.
Cream butter, oil, and sugar. 
Add eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk. 
Stir in dry ingredients and beat well.
Stir in zucchini.
Pour into a 9x13 pan that has been coated with non-stick cooking spray.
Sprinkle chocolate chips and nuts over the top.
Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, or until pick inserted in center comes out clean. (beware of melty chocolate chips on your testing pick)

REMEMBER: The recipes are now printable. Just click on the title to open the printable page. I hope to edit the archives to make all recipes printable in the future.

Fridge Friday: Episode 10

Hey! It is Fridge Friday! Did you think that I forgot about giving you little peeks into my fridge? Never. I may have neglected your inquisitiveness, but I didn't forget. I am back this Friday with a gem.

Check it out. That is my hotel room fridge. We have all the basics: water, wine, leftovers, and a Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treat. What could I possibly blog about from that fridge, you ask? Honestly, nothing. Or, at least nothing that I would want to eat when combined and heated in the little in-room microwave.

Instead, I am going to tell you that when we left home, Hubs had his mind made up that we were going to eat Mexican food. All day, I salivated at the thought of perfectly seasoned and grilled shrimp folded inside a warm corn tortilla with some creamy coleslaw to make the most awesome shrimp tacos. I wanted. I wanted badly. With beans and rice. Then, we got to the big city and Hubs decided he wanted pasta. So much for Mexican food. *shrug*

However, that doesn't mean that I couldn't still share a great Spanish Rice recipe with you. I have been making Denise's Spanish Rice for several years and pairing it with Spicy Black Beans whenever I serve a spicy Mexican/Tex-Mex themed meal. It is, in my opinion, excellent. Why wouldn't it be? It has bacon. Everything that includes bacon is good. Period.

So...it is Fridge Friday, and I have just a miserable hotel room fridge, and I didn't get Mexican food, but that doesn't mean that I wouldn't jump at the chance to have Denise's Spanish Rice On My Plate.

Denise's Spanish Rice

6 strips bacon

1 tablespoon butter

1 medium onion, chopped

1 small green pepper, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup chicken broth

1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chiles (Rotel...mild or hot, your choice)

2 cans roasted green chiles

1 cup long grain white rice (I use Jasmine)

In a large skillet, fry bacon until crispy.
Set aside on paper towels to drain.
To bacon grease, add the butter and melt.
Add the onion and peppers, sauteing until the onions are translucent.
Add the garlic and cook until soft, being careful not to burn.
Add the tomatoes, green chiles, and chicken broth.
Simmer about 5-10 minutes to blend flavors.
Add the rice, cover and simmer approximately 20 minutes, until tender. (May need to add more liquid.)
Before serving, crumble bacon over the top of rice. (Serves 4)

A Hit and A Miss

Today, I made my first pot of from-scratch baked beans. 

Reporting this accomplishment produced shock waves among some friends. They knew that I made baked beans. They knew that some family members are in love with my beans. But now my true secret is out. They are not from scratch. (I am sorry...but not really.) My usual creation always starts with a can of Bush's, adds onion, garlic, bacon, ground beef, brown sugar, molasses, dry mustard, and other seasonings along with a variety of pre-cooked beans. I love the calico look of combining butter beans, navy beans, black beans, and pintos all in the same pot...but they really aren't homemade baked beans. (Again, I am sorry...but not really. They ARE good.)

Not even knowing that I wanted real, homemade baked beans, I was intrigued by a recipe on Phoo-d's Blog for Bourbon Bacon Baked Beans. Real, homemade, from-scratch baked beans. The ingredients were collected, and today, I sauteed and simmered and simmered and simmered. The aroma of molasses and bacon wafted through the house during the 6 hours of cooking time. My stomach growled in anticipation of these slow-cooked, from-scratch baked beans. And, when they were finally ready, I was...slightly disappointed.

Don't misunderstand. The recipe is good. It just wasn't quite what I want in baked beans. I loved the smokiness that came from the bourbon and the coffee, but the combination of the pineapple and brown sugar was just too sweet for me. I also like more of a kick to my beans, and only a pinch of hot pepper flakes didn't make my taste buds sing. While I did create a perfectly serviceable pot of from-scratch baked beans, in the future, either this recipe will be tweaked or I will try something new. It wasn't a hit for me.

Anyway...after I had dropped all of the ingredients into the pot for the beans, I realized that I had focused so intently on the fact that I was finally making real baked beans that I didn't have anything planned to serve with them. Duh. Something told me that regardless of how the beans turned out, dinner would be a miss for the Hubs if it was only beans.

An informal poll on Twitter came away with suggestions for corn bread, ribs, and sausages. While I did defrost a couple racks of lamb ribs to be smoked at the farm tomorrow (and served up with the leftover baked beans), it was sausages that won the chance to appear on my plate beside the beans tonight, simply because they could be defrosted easily. However, just because the sausages were a second thought, didn't mean that they got second rate attention. I pulled a sure hit recipe from my files for my kielbasa.

Sausage Sandwiches with Sauteed Pepper and Onion Sauce are a blend of flavors that do make my taste buds sing. How can you go wrong with onions and pepper fried up in olive oil? Generally, I wouldn't have thought to pair red wine and kielbasa, but it works. Really. No disappointments. It isn't a miss with Sausage Sandwiches with Sauteed Pepper and Onion Sauce On My Plate.

Sausage Sandwiches with Sauteed Pepper and Onion Sauce

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 medium onions, sliced

3 bell peppers, cut into strips

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 pound kielbasa, cooked and cut in half lengthwise and cut crosswise into 6-inch long pieces

1 cup red wine

2/3 cups sliced black olives (kalamata are even better)

4 hoagie buns or other firm rolls, toasted

In a large skillet heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over med high heat. 
Add onions and sauteed until onions are soft. 
Stir in peppers and saute until peppers are lightly browned. 
Add sugar and paprika and stir to coat.
Transfer mixture to a plate but leave drippings in pan. 
Add remaining oil (1 tablespoon) to skillet.
Add sausage and heat until browned and heated through. 
Transfer sausage to plate with onions and peppers. 
Add wine to skillet and heat until reduced by half. 
Return sausage/pepper/onion mixture to skillet and stir in olives. 
Cook until heated through. 
Fill each toasted bun with sausages; top with onions and peppers; spoon juices over.
(Can also make open-faced and top with Provolone cheese and heat under broiler until bubbly and melted.) Serves 4

The Pits

Is there anything that you have done in the past, learned the hard way that you shouldn't have done it that way, but STILL do it again? No? None of you are slow learners like me? Really? Be thankful that you have the brains that God gave a goose, because some of us aren't that lucky. It's the pits.

Example: I have a wonderful cherry/olive pitter from Pampered Chef (which after just looking on their website doesn't seem to be available any longer...sorry). The only tiny complaint I have about this amazing, little gadget (and I am not a gadget person, as a rule) is that it doesn't have a spatter shield. As the rod pushes through the cherry stem and pops the pit out the bottom of the fruit, juices spatter everywhere. I am left with what could be the crime scene of a million bludgeoned mosquitoes. Red, blood-like droplets cover every surface within spitting distance.

The first time that I pitted cherries, I was wearing a white shirt and had a stack of freshly washed dishes in the sink beside me. It was awesome to have everything covered in sticky, sweet, bright red spatters of cherry juice. Not. *eyeroll* You would think that I would have learned from that mistake, but unfortunately, I have a very hard head. I am left with the remains of a crime scene pretty much every time I pit cherries, and today was no exception. I wanted to make Cherry Studded Brownies and a Fresh Cherry Sauce to serve with them. And, wouldn't you know it...while I put on an old apron to protect the ancient t-shirt that I usually just wear as pajamas, I didn't think twice about everything on the counter around me. Splat. Splatter. Splosh. Slap! Yes, someone should have slapped me over the mess I made. I am the pits.

But, I think the mess was well worth it when this evening my dinner guests and I dug into ramekins of rich, chocolaty brownie studded with sweet cherries. Scoops of vanilla ice cream melted under the warmth of the candied, fragrant drizzle of fresh cherry sauce. Mmmmm. It is not the pits to have Cherry Studded Brownies with Fresh Cherry Sauce On My Plate.

Cherry Studded Brownies

(recipe adapted from Hot Polka Dot's Cherry Brownie Clafoutis)

6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
3/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
30 sweet cherries, pitted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 
Spray 6 dessert dishes or ramekins with non stick cooking spray and set them aside on a large baking sheet.
Melt the chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally. (Can use a double boiler, microwave, or as I do, just a really heavy cast iron sauce pan on very low heat.)
In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. 
Stir in the cocoa powder. 
Add the melted chocolate mixture.
By hand, stir in the flour and salt until the batter is smooth.
Pour the batter into the prepared dishes, filling 3/4 full. 
Arrange 5 cherries in the top of each baking dish.
Bake for 30-35 minutes until the tops are shiny and a toothpick inserted into the middle doesn't not show wet batter...some moist cake crumbs may cling to the pick.
Cool on rack for 20 minutes. (Serves 6)

Fresh Cherry Sauce

1/2 lb fresh cherries, washed & pitted
2 cups water
1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons orange extract

Combine cherries, water, and sugar in saucepan.

Simmer for about 30 minutes or until sauce thickens. Skim occasionally.

Stir in orange extract.

Serve drizzled over ice cream or other desserts.

Roasting

Temperatures are in the high 90s and even boiling into the 100s these days. Humidity levels make us feel like we are breathing water. We are roasting, literally. And, even though I should be focusing on cool, no-cook meals to keep our energy levels up for all of the farm work, yard work, roofing, painting, glazing, and sweating we do each day, I am roasting dinner. 

I know that it isn't very environmentally conscious to turn down the A/C to Brrr! and the oven up to Hot!Hot!Hot!, but I can't help myself. The call of Honey Mustard Pork Tenderloin is too strong. The sweet, but savory glaze baked onto the moist and tender pork and paired with hearty potatoes and almost candied carrots sing a siren song that I can't resist regardless of the summer heat. I am roasting, and Honey Mustard Pork Tenderloin is On My Plate.

Honey Mustard Pork Tenderloin

2 cups baby carrots

12 baby red potatoes, halved

1/2 cup spicy brown mustard

1/4 cup honey

1 tablespoon mayonnaise

1 tablespoon garlic pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 pork tenderloin (12-16 ounces)

Preheat oven to 425F.
Bring carrots and potatoes to a boil in a large saucepan; cook until just about fork tender, but not soft.
Drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, combine mustard, honey, mayonnaise, oil, and garlic pepper in a bowl.
In a roasting pan, coat the pork with half of the mustard mixture.
Toss the carrots and potatoes with the other half of the mustard mixture and spoon around the pork in pan. 
Roast uncovered for 35-45 minutes, or until meat thermometers reads 160 degrees.
Stir the vegetables once while cooking. (Serves 4)