Grandma's Pickles

So I’ve been making pickles for a while now – mostly fermented dill pickles, which Mom doesn’t care for. I tried making “Bread ‘N’ Butter” pickles, which are not fermented, and for a while she seemed to like them, but eventually she decided they were too sweet. They weren't the pickles she had grown up with, made by her mother!

Bread-N-Butter Pickles

So this past Friday I started another (40 lb) batch of my fermented dill pickles. Most of my relatives seem to like my pickles (at least that's what they say!) but my Mom is not a big fan them... in fact, Mom isn't particularly fond of dill at all, nor does she particularly like most sour foods, . In discussing that fact yesterday, she allowed as how she does like what she calls (and my Grandma used to call) bread-n-butter pickles.

Mariner's Home-style Vegetable-Beef Soup

I've been making this soup, on rare occasion, ever since I retired, at which time I temporarily assumed some of the cooking chores for which my Honey would otherwise have been responsible. I don't know why I haven't already posted it, because we really like it, and so has everyone who has had any of it. Anyway, I had a need to make some today, so I decided it was time to share my recipé. If you decide to re-create this, you'll need the following:

Canning Mariner's Black Bean Soup - Revised

This post is "Canning Black Bean Soup v2.0, and revises and supplants the original post on the subject. I have changed the process to accommodate additional experience with the recipé.  The previous version was my first attempt to achieve consistency in the distribution of soup components between jars of the same batch of soup. It worked, in terms of improving consistency, but it resulted in a tremendous increase in the complexity and amount of effort.  In this version, I have abandoned that approach, opting instead for a little more care in charging the jars with product. As before, the recipé for this soup isn't radically different from the original crock pot version; it has only been slightly modified to accommodate processing with a pressure canner.

Hummus Fail - or - Why I Can Chickpeas

My sister lives some distance away, from both me, and the area in which we grew up, and she has ever since she married a sailor and moved away, at the ripe age of... well, never mind!   Just accept that it's been a long time. I visited her in her home for the first time, a few years ago, and in addition to entertaining us, she fed us some great home-made snacks.  I had never had hummus before, but I really enjoyed spreading her hummus on some sesame crackers.  In fact, both my Honey and I enjoyed it so much, we badgered Sis until she gave us the recipé!  We've been making it ever since. I won't publish the recipé here, because it's not mine to share, but until recently it seemed nearly foolproof.

Sauerkraut!

Saturday, April 22 2017

Everybody who knows me knows that, especially since I retired, I despise weekend traffic.  Too many people going too many places, too fast, and too rude!  Since I don't want to be seen on the 11:00 PM news, being hauled away by the police for a "road rage" incident,  I just stay home.  This may seem to have little to do with food and cooking, but it explains (at least in part) why I am able to put together this blog about making sauerkraut.