Dill Pickles and More

Happy Monday!  I hope everyone had a great weekend.  I had some things that I wanted to get done over the weekend and I succeeded...yay!    I love it when I get my goals accomplished...don't you?   This morning I had my usual smoothie.  This one was made with green tea, a date, frozen banana, frozen peaches, and some blueberries.  I normally like to add some kale or spinach, but I'm all out.  Looks like I'll have to run to the grocery store today after work.  



Saturday night I had some black eyed peas (one of my favs), some olive oil garlic pasta, and some Sesame Garlic Tepeh strips.  Have you ever bought any of those marinated strips?  I think they are by Turtle Island Foods.   They were on sale at Whole Foods when I went a couple of weeks ago, so I decided to buy them to try.  I thought they were okay, but not my favorite.  I doubt I'll buy them again.  The strips look like they were put in the spot light on my plate, but I didn't think they were spot light worthy.  Apparently the sun did though.  :o)

We've been getting tons of bell peppers out of our garden, so I've started freezing some of them.  I cut them up into strips then lay them out on a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer for a couple of hours.  After they are frozen, I then put them into a freezer bag.  Have you ever frozen bell peppers like this?   I figure they'll at least be good to cook with.

I finally tried my homemade pickles yesterday, and they were yummy!  They aren't real crispy, but the taste is perfect.  I had told you that if the outcome was good that I'd reference the recipe that I used.   So, here's the link to the the recipe..  http://southernfood.about.com/od/picklesrelishes/r/r80820g.htm .   The recipe is definitely worth sharing!  I'll be making these again next year. 

Okay, this next picture is for Molly since she likes Dragonflies.  I snapped this picture last week as I was walking to feed the turtles on my break.  I knew Dragonflies ate insects, but never would have dreamed that they ate moths. This little guy was chowing down.  I know it's kinda gross, but it really was cool to stand there and watch him eat.

That's all for today.  I hope everyone on the eat coast is safe!  I've had you all in my thoughts and prayers.

~Peace~Love~Happiness~

Thank You....Maggie's Doing Better!

Hey everyone!  I just wanted to say thank you very much for all the prayers and well wishes for Maggie.  I also appreciate all the suggestions and information that you guys gave me.  I got myself in check Sunday after I read some of your responses to make sure that I was going to be giving off good positive energy for Maggie.  You guys were right.  Me being upset and sad wasn't the energy that Maggie needed to be feeling.  I also stopped doing everything or her and reassured her that she could do it and that she was going to be okay.  All these things seem to be helping in her recovery.  Maggie is doing a lot better.  She is getting around better and is eating on her own now.  She doesn't freak out as much when we leave the room now either.   I took her back to the vet yesterday for a checkup to see how her healing was progressing and she got a great report.  She still has a little swelling, but the Doc said it should be totally gone after a few more days....YAY!  So, hopefully after a few more days Maggie will be back to normal.  :-)   Again, thank you guys so much.  I don't know what I would do with out your love, kind words, and support!

On the food side of things, I did make some dill pickles with some cucumbers out of our garden a few weeks ago.  The recipe I used said to wait 3 to 4 weeks before eating them, so in about another week I'm going to be trying them.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they are going to be good.  This is the first batch of pickles that I've ever made like this.   Of course...dill pickles are my favorite....love...love...love dill pickles!

Hopefully all the overtime that I have been working is about to come to a stop, so I can get back into the groove of blogging and reading your blogs.  I sure hope so, because I miss all of you!  Anyway....I hope everyone is having a great week and continues to do so!

~Peace~Love~Happiness~

Sunday Dinner & More Canning

Happy Monday! It was a crazy weekend....well part of it. Saturday was crazy, but Sunday was a very much needed rest day! I'll start off by telling you about our supper that we had last night. I had a Boca burger with fresh green tomato salsa on top. This salsa was from the 2nd recipe (more about the salsa in a bit). We had fried green tomatoes and onions. I tried the fried green tomatoes a different way this time. I took my mom some green tomatoes the other day and asked her if she was going to fry them. She said she needed an onion first. She had me puzzled as to why she needed an onion until she explained that she likes to fry the onions in with her tomatoes. So, this time I diced the green tomatoes with some onion and then threw them in a baggie with some flour, cornmeal and some seasonings. For the seasonings, I used salt, pepper, basil, and oregano. No measuring done this time though. The fried green tomatoes and onions were great. Moms know what they are talking about! :o)



We also had fried potatoes....yes, it was a fried Sunday night, and everything was great. I used some Red Robin seasoning on the potatoes after Tony finished frying them. If you've ever been to Red Robin and sprinkled this stuff on your fries, then you know how good it is. If you haven't, you have got to try it! The last time we were in Red Robin, we asked if they sold it, and what do you know....they did. Of course we had to buy some and it was only $3.50 for a big jar! :o)

Okay, on to the canning that I did on Saturday. First we had a lot of the Roma's to ripen, so I made some tomato sauce out of those. Most of the day was spent on the green Roma's though. This salsa recipe was very different from the first one. This one was more seasoned. You can really taste the spices. On that note I am really undecided as to which one I like the best. I just can't pick a favorite. My mother-n-law on the other hand liked the 2nd one the best, because it's not as spicy. She said the first one was hotter than the 2nd. So far the 2nd one has the top rating. :o)

The jar of salsa on the left is the first recipe which called for red bell pepper. I think it looks prettier than the 2nd recipe, which is the jar on the right. The first one is sweeter tasting. I'm very excited about both of them. I think they both turned out great. Especially for my first canning experience. Now I can't wait until next year, because there will be a lot more canning going on. :o)

Here's the link to the second recipe, which I doubled. Of course I used green Roma tomatoes instead of the tomatillos. This is the recipe that Food Snobbery is my Hobbery recommended. It's yummy! http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_salsa/tomatillo_green_salsa.html

Here's the recipe to the first salsa that I made.

2 1/2 lbs green tomatoes, peeled and chopped

3 yellow onions

1 1/2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped

2 large red bell peppers, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1/2 cup lime juice

1'4 cup vinegar

1/2 tablespoon salt

1/4 tablespoon cumin

1/2 tablespoon dried oregano leaves

1 teaspoon pepper

1/8 teaspoon cayenne

1 teaspoon sugar

Combine everything in a large stock pot, mixing well. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, and cook for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

To continue canning, bring salsa back to a boil.

Ladle salsa into hot sterile jars, leaving 1/2 inch head space. Wipe lids and jar edges clean before tightening lids and placing them back into the boiling water.

Process (boil) jars for 15 minutes.

Remove carefully and let sit for 24 hours. Leave about an inch in between the jars, so they will cool better. Check the lids to make sure they are all sealed. Refrigerate any unsealed jars.

~Peace~

Pizza / Green Tomato Salsa

I hope everyone is having a great day! Tuesday nights menu was PIZZA. I feel like the cookie monster when I say that. I think I love pizza as much as he does cookies! My portion of the pizza is the right side. We don't have to talk about what's hidden under all that cheese on Tony's side. ha I don't know about Tony's half of the pizza, but my half rocked! The sauce was made from canned diced fire roasted tomatoes. I had some vegan mozzarella sliced cheese, so I put a couple of slices of that over the sauce and then layered on the veggies. The veggies consisted of sauteed onions and red peepers, mushrooms, spinach, asparagus and some fresh Roma tomato slices. Tony thought asparagus on pizza was very odd, but it was awesome! He had veggies on his side to. I just had to omit the spinach and asparagus on his portion. :o)



Next on the agenda for Tuesday night was my first experience with canning. I have two recipes that I am using to make some green tomato salsa. I made the first recipe Tuesday night and am going to make the second one this weekend. The one that I am going to make this weekend actually sounds better than the one that I made last night. The 2nd recipe was recommend by Food Snobbery is my Hobbery, which sounds awesome! I have a feeling that the 2nd recipe will be the winner, but I will let you know after the taste test has been done over the weekend. I'll then share the recipes with you or at least the winning recipe. :o) I also want to say thank you to The Kuntrageous Vegan for recommending that I check out Food Snobbery is my Hobbery for some canning recipes.


I ordered a 5 piece home canning kit and porcelain water-bath canner with a rack from Amazon.com yesterday to make my canning easier. I am hoping that they will be in before the weekend. I had to use my stock pot to sterilize the jars and to process them after I had filled them with the salsa. I then had to use regular tongs to put the jars in and get them out of the boiling water. That was very interesting, but it was a success. I do believe that there will be a lot more canning done in my future. I actually had fun doing it, but let me say that I could not have done it with out my husband. He chopped all the tomatoes up while I chopped the onions and peppers. He's just sweet like that! :o)

~Peace~