Tag: onion

Canning Thousand Island Pickles

I’ve been sitting on this post for a couple days now. This is at least my great-grandmother’s recipe, however it may be older, and I was feeling a bit iffy about sharing. Because this is a family recipe, it may not be approved my canning regulations, however my family has been canning these pickles for several generations and no one has gotten botulism. Before you can, make sure you are familiar with the process of canning. You have to make sure you get every step otherwise the jar may not seal and you’ll have lots of pickles to eat in such a short time. But when you do follow the steps, most jars do seal. To tell if a jar sealed, you check to see if the lid pops when you push the center of it.

These are sweet pickles due to the sugar in the mixture. When canning, I recommend using 2 of one color pepper and 1 of the other color bell pepper. The red and yellow add more color to the mixture and they don’t taste any different then the green. When you are heating the mixture, it can be helpful to use a fork to try the cucumbers. This will help in being able to identify when the pickles are done and need to be remove from the heat. You don’t want the pickles too crisp or too soggy. I did a double batch and ended up getting 16 1/2 jars, with 15 jars sealed. One jar was dropped when being removed from the canner and the top broke off when it hit the counter. The counter was clean so we could salvage the pickles, but you can’t re-can, so they joined the 1/2 can in the fridge.

  1. Quarter and slice 8 medium cucumbers. Core and dice 3 red/yellow bell peppers. Dice 4 medium onions. Add all diced veggies into a large stockpot.
  2. In the stockpot, add 1 tsp ground mustard, 2 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp turmeric, 4 tsp salt, 3 cups sugar, and 2 cups apple cider vinegar.
  3. Place over medium high heat. Stir often and heat to a boil, but do not boil. Fill a large water bath canner 1/2 with water and heat over high heat. In a small saucepan, add your lids and place over medium high heat.
  4. Place mixture into heated and sterile jars. Leave 1/2 inch heat space. remove bubbles by running a metal knife around the outer edge. Wipe off the lip and threads of the jar. Add warmed lid on lip, then hand tighten jar rings.
  5. Place filled and sealed jars into your water bath canner. Drop into boiling water, cover with lid, and let can for 10 minutes.
  6. Lift jars out of hot water. Remove hot jars and place on 2 kitchen towels. Let cool until room temperature. Remove rings, label jars, check to make sure jars are sealed, and store sealed jar in cellar or cool dark area. If jar didn’t seal, place in fridge and eat within a week.
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Homemade Baked Beans

I started this recipe in a saucepan, as you can see in the pictures below. I had never worked with dried beans before, so I had no concept of how long they would take to fully cook. After cooking for a couple hours and straining them, I added the sauce, but they still needed longer to cook. I highly recommend making this recipe in a slowcooker and just letting it go for 24 hours to make sure all of it is done. I wasn’t able to make these that easily, however, the recipe below is how I would make it in the future. The sauce for the beans is very good. They are sweet from the syrup, but have lots of good savory flavors thanks to all the spices. If you want, you could add some fat from any meats you may cook. That would add more savory flavor and also add to the overall flavor of your beans.

  1. In a slowcooker, add 1 pound of Great Northern beans. Rinse, and cover with at least 2 inches of water. Cook on high heat, covered until it boils. Reduce heat to low and cook for 6-12 hours (overnight) or until soft.
  2. Strain your beans and return to slowcooker.
  3. Add 1/2 cup maple syrup, 2 Tbsp Brown sugar, 1/2 diced medium onion, 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 1 Tbsp Mustard powder, 1 Tbsp ground ginger, 1 Tbsp garlic powder, 1/4 cup ketchup, 1 Tbsp Oyster sauce, and 2 Tbsp worcestershire sauce. Stir and heat over low for 1-2 hours.
  4. Refrigerate and serve later, serve right away, or keep over low heat for as long as you desire.
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Tuna Salad Cucumber Boats

Cucumbers are growing like crazy in my garden right now, and besides pickling them, I’m trying all kinds of crazy recipes. I saw a similar idea with zucchini, but I decided cucumbers would be best. Instead of bread, use a cucumber for your tuna salad. They are crisp and refreshing. This idea is fun for parties, or as a cool modern side dish this summer. Also try with shredded chicken or julienne veggies like carrots and radishes.

  1. Wash a cucumber and slice in half. Use a large spoon to remove the core of the cucumber and to create your boat.
  2. In a bowl, place the insides of your cucumber. Add 1 can of strained tuna, 2 diced shallots (or 1/4 cup diced onion), 1/3 cup mayo, and 2 Tbsp Dijon. Mix together.
  3. Use a spoon to fill your cucumber boats. Top with shredded cheese if desired, and serve.
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Ground Beef and Tomato Curry

Curry is an easy dish to make, but all you really need is the spices. I’ve made curry before, but this time I tried a couple different things. This time I used tomato products, and I added enough spices to get some actual spiciness off of the curry. Curry makes a lot of food, and after eating it for several days, we froze the remainder to enjoy again later. The hot spice on this curry mellowed out over time, but I inevitably froze it due to eating up all the white rice I had cooked with it. And, as long as you don’t mix in the rice, the curry will reheat with the same texture and flavor after it’s been frozen. This curry recipe makes approximately 11 adult sized servings. Finally, for this recipe I used leftover sauce from a stromboli we had gotten about a week prior, and I diced up the leftover grilled zucchini, so I didn’t have to heat it as long as you will if you are starting from raw.

  1. In a medium saucepan, add 1 1/2 cup of rice. Rinse the rice under running water until the runoff is almost completely opaque (4-5 rinses). Add 2 cups of water to the rinsed rice, then add to stove over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover and reduce heat to low, then cook for 18-20 minutes. Then, remove from heat.
  2. In a large dutch oven, add 1 qt of diced tomatoes and juice, and 1/2 a jar of tomato sauce. Turn heat to medium low and cover.
  3. In a frying pan, brown and breakup 1 pound of ground beef. Dice an onion and add 1/2 to the beef, cook till translucent. Add the beef and onion to your dutch oven. Add 1 Tbsp oil to your pan. Dice and add 2-3 small zucchini to the pan and cook until very tender. Add zucchini to your dutch oven.
  4. Turn your dutch oven heat to medium-high. Bring mixture to a simmer. Once simmering, add 1 Tbsp curry powder, 1/2 Tbsp cumin, 1 Tbsp chili powder, 1/2 Tbsp ground ginger, 2 tsp Cayenne pepper powder, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 2 tsp paprika. Stir. Cook until rice is done, but for at least 4-5 minutes to let the flavor permeate.
  5. Serve curry over rice.
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Broccoli Pasta Salad

Pasta salad is a summer staple. Cool foods are so refreshing in the summer and all the fresh veggies make it so delicious! For this recipe, I used frozen broccoli. You can use fresh, but I just prefer how much longer frozen veggies last. I used 4 small onions and that was all I really needed. This recipe is really simple and doesn’t take long to make at all. The broccoli adds good flavor and texture, but most of the flavor comes from the onion and Italian dressing. This recipe also made a lot of pasta! We probably got 6-7 side sized servings from it.

  1. Dice up 1/4 a head of Broccoli and stream it for 10 minutes or until fork tender. Or, microwave a bag of frozen Broccoli as directed on package. Set aside and let cool.
  2. In a medium pan, bring water to a boil. Add 1 1/2 cup dried macaroni and boil until al dente. Strain your noodles, rinse with cool water, strain off excess water, then transfer to a medium-larger serving bowl.
  3. Dice up 1/2 an onion or 4 shallots and add them to your pasta.
  4. Strain your broccoli and run under cool water for a few minutes. Add all of your steamed broccoli (1/2 the bag) to your pasta. Add 2 Tbsp italian dressing, 2 Tbsp Ranch dressing, and 2/3 cup mayo. Add 1 Tbsp italian seasoning, and 2 tsp paprika. Stir. Serve immediately or chill before serving.
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