Thursday Recipe - Bottled Bean Salad

I adore bean salad, when it's done right. Pouring a bottle of Italian salad dressing over some canned green beans, garbanzos, and kidney beans isn't doing it right. If you like it that way, eat it. I won't judge. I just won't eat it with you. I love the sweet and sour pickled bean salad at Costco, but it only comes in giant bottles and I'm the only one who really eats it at my house. The bottle is too much for me.

I picked a big bucket of beans from my garden and decided to try out a bottled recipe for bean salad, sort of based off this recipe (the second quick one, not the overnight one). Of course I switched it up based on what I had available, so this is my version. I'm also not a fan of the garbanzos and kidneys, so I left them out entirely. Feel free to substitute one cup of canned kidney or garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed well, for one cup of the fresh green beans. The recipe makes about 4 pints.

Bottled Bean Salad

8 c. fresh green beans, washed and cut into 1-1.5 inch pieces (I used a mix of green and yellow beans because that's what I planted)
1/2 c. chopped celery (don't be afraid of the leafy bits in the center, those are great in this recipe)
1/2 c. diced onion (I used red onions from my garden, it's about 1 medium-small onion)
1/2 c. diced bell pepper (red and yellow are pretty, but green works, too)
1 c. sugar
1 1/2 t. mustard seeds
1/2 t. celery seeds
2 t. pickling salt or kosher salt
1 1/2 c. white vinegar (5% acidity)
3/4 c. water

Place the vegetables in a big pot. Cover with hot water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain and pack into pint jars.

Mix sugar, mustard seeds, salt, vinegar, and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Pour over vegetables in jars. If you don't have quite enough, finish filling the jars with vinegar. My recipe didn't make quite enough of the pickling syrup.

Wipe off the rims of the jars, then seal and process according to your altitude. I processed my jars for 15 minutes.

Thursday Recipe - Quick Dill Pickles

Yep, more pickles. I love neighbors who can grow veggies and make up for my black thumbs. These are super easy to put together and customize, plus you can use those cucumbers that got too big for most pickle recipes. If the seeds are hard and nasty, just quarter the cucumbers and cut out the seeds.

Dill is really easy to grow. It's called a weed for a reason. It makes a really decorative plant. It's lacy and tall and has fun seed heads. Wait until the seed is fully formed before picking and harvesting the seed heads. The lacy leaves can be picked and used fresh or picked and dried anytime.

And as always, a warning about home canning. Make sure you know what you're doing or you could give you family something nasty like botulism. I stick mostly with jams, jellies, and pickles because they have the least chance of spoiling. Make sure your jars and equipment are very clean, sterilize in your dishwasher if you can. Scrub the vegetables really well. Don't try canning with grocery store produce, most of it has been treated with chemicals and things that might affect the end product. Buy good produce from a farmer's market or roadside stand or grow it yourself. It's pretty easy to grow most vegetables, unless you have black thumbs like me.

For more information on home canning, check out the USDA website.

Quick-Pack Dill Pickles

Wash and slice enough cucumbers to fill 8 pint jars. Pack them in tightly.
Add:
1/2 t. dill seed PER JAR
1/2 t. dried dill weed PER JAR
OR one full seed head of dill PER JAR

Mix the following in a large saucepan:
6 T. pickling salt
3 c. vinegar (white 5% acidity)
3 c. water


Bring to a boil. Pour hot liquid over the cucumbers in each jar, filling them to within half inch of the top. Clean the rims of the jars and cover with a new lid. Screw on the ring and tighten.

Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes (for pint jars) at sea level, 20 minutes at my altitude (~5500 ft). Let cool completely. Check the seal, then store in a cool, dark location for at least two weeks before eating.

OR

Store the jars in the fridge for a week, then open and eat. They'll keep for a month or two in the fridge.

Spicy Dill - add 1/4 t. peppercorns and 1/4 t. red pepper flakes to each jar before adding the hot liquid.

Thursday Recipe - Mustard Pickles

My mom used to make these incredible mustard pickles. They weren't crunchy, but they were like spreading chunky mustard goodness on hamburgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, vegetables, roast, just about anything. My family has a thing for mustard. One of my brothers used to make himself mustard sandwiches - a slab of bread overflowing with mustard, nothing else. My mom bought mustard by the gallon and still couldn't keep any on hand. So when my neighbor gifted me a huge bowl of giant cucumbers (I can't grow these either, I have a black thumb of death when it comes to plants - see the zucchini muffin post from last week), my first thought was, I can make mustard pickles out of these! Because that's what my mom did when the cucumbers grew overnight from way to small to enormous. She chopped those puppies up and turned them into mustard pickles that we devoured.

This recipe was easy. I didn't have onions on hand so I substituted a couple of fresh jalapeños and banana peppers. My kids don't mind a kick to their mustard. I now have eight jars of mustard pickles waiting in my basement. I haven't tasted them yet, because pickles need time to develop good flavor. **Update - my kids couldn't wait. They pulled out a jar of these pickles after only two weeks (I write the posts several weeks ahead, so I don't get caught with nothing to post) and they were delicious - crispy, crunchy, slightly spicy, with a very mellow mustard flavor.

(The recipe comes from this old pickle recipe book I found at a used book store a few years ago. They just don't make pickle recipe books like this anymore but you can still buy used copies online.)

Mustard Pickles

6 pounds of cucumbers, sliced (use a scale if you have one, it's about 18 medium to large cucumbers)
1 c. finely diced fresh peppers - jalapeños or banana peppers are great (tip - use gloves when handling spicy peppers) (the recipe called for 1 pound of sliced onions, you choose which you'd rather add)
1 1/3 c. sugar
1/2 c. pickling salt (this is uniodized so it won't discolor your pickles)
1/2 t. turmeric
2 T. cornstarch
1 t. ginger
1/4 t. black pepper
1/4 c. yellow mustard (the prepared stuff, not mustard powder)
3 c. vinegar (5% acidity, white vinegar in the gallon jug is fine)
1 c. water

Scrub the cucumbers thoroughly before slicing. Remove blossom and stem ends. If they are really fat, you may want to slice them into quarters the long way, then into 1/4" slices. Pile the cucumbers in a bowl and set aside.

Wash eight pint jars. Leave sitting in a sink full of the hottest water you can stand, steaming is a good sign. Or you can use your dishwasher's heated drying cycle. You want the jars hot and you want to keep them hot.

In a very large pot (at least 2 gallons, I use my giant stew pot/past cooker), mix the sugar, salt, turmeric, cornstarch, ginger, and black pepper. Add the mustard, vinegar, water, and hot peppers. Stir until the lumps are mostly gone. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until mixture boils. Add cucumber slices. Have fun trying to stir it. I ended up lifting the cucumbers up from the bottom with a big scooping spoon thing with holes in it. Bring it back to a boil. Remove from heat. Scoop cucumbers into the jars, packing them up to 1/2 inch below the rim. Pour the liquid in the pot into the jars to finish filling the spaces. (I ended up with about 1/4 c. of sauce left over.) Clean the rims of the jars and top with new, clean lids and rings.

Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes if you're at sea level, 20 minutes if you're at my altitude (~5500 ft). Remove the bottles from the boiling water bath and let them stand on the counter until completely cooled. Check the seals before labeling and storing in a cool, dry, dark place. Let them sit for at least two weeks before devouring. For more information on home canning, please check this site out.

Bonus recipe! Because I really want to try this out sometime. I told you about my mustard addiction, didn't I?

Home-Made Mustard

2 1/2 oz. mustard powder
2 T. sugar
2 t. salt
4 T. vinegar
1 t. Worcestershire sauce
2 T. olive oil
dash tabasco sauce

Mix mustard powder, sugar, and salt. Add remaining ingredients. Blend well. Store covered in the refrigerator.

Thursday Recipe - Chili Sauce

This is an old recipe from a church cookbook I got as a wedding present. It's attributed to Helen Lake, so wherever you are, Helen, thank you. I first made it years ago when one of my kids was allergic to corn to the point they couldn't even have corn syrup. He was only a year old and loved ketchup, but every brand I could find back then had corn syrup. I found a bottle of chili sauce that didn't have anything he was allergic to, but it was expensive. So I tried making my own.

This is a mild flavored sauce, with a kick of vinegar. You can chop it as fine as you like. It will still be a bit watery, not thick like commercial ketchup. I like to use it to make sloppy joes.

Chili Sauce

2 dozen large tomatoes (about 18 c., peeled and chopped, seeded if you like)
4 green bell peppers (chopped very fine, about 2 c.)
2 red bell peppers (chopped very fine, about 1 c.)
5 large onions (shredded fine, about 3 c.)
1 t. ground cloves
1 t. dry mustard
1 t. nutmeg
3 1/2 c. vinegar (5% acidity, IMPORTANT! This is for food safety, make sure you use the right acidity. Plain white vinegar is the best, although you can use cider vinegar.)
2 1/2 c. brown sugar
3 T. pickling salt (non-iodized)

Mix everything except vinegar, sugar, and salt, in a very large, heavy saucepan, 10-12 qt stock pot should be big enough. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for one hour, until sauce thickens. Make sure you stir it every 10 minutes or so to keep it from scorching on the bottom, especially as it thickens. Stir in vinegar, sugar, and salt. Cook for another 5-10 minutes. Ladle into clean pint jars and process to seal. This recipe makes anywhere from 6 pint bottles to about 10 pint bottles, depending on how long you let it cook and juicy the tomatoes are.

For processing, clean rims and screw on a new lid insert. Boil for 40 minutes (this is at my altitude of 5000 feet above sea level) to seal. Remove and let cool. Wash jars and label with date and contents. Check seal before storing.

For canning, check out these books and sites:
USDA Guide to Home Canning (PDF download)
http://www.homecanning.com/
Ball (brand of canning jars) site
http://pickyourown.org/allaboutcanning.htm
National Center for Home Food Preservation

Sloppy Joes My Way

1 lb. ground beef
1 pint chili sauce
2 T. prepared mustard
1 c. quick-cooking oatmeal

Brown hamburger in large frying pan, drain off grease. Stir in chili sauce and mustard, bring to a simmer. Reduce heat, cook for 15 minutes. Stir in oatmeal. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes. Stir well before serving.

The oatmeal helps thicken it, stretch the meat a bit farther, and add fiber. If you don't like the gummy texture, try using 1/2 c. of instant grits or cornmeal, or 1 c. instant rice.

Serve over buns or bread with plenty of extra chili sauce, mustard, ketchup, sliced tomatoes, etc.

Thursday Recipe - Zucchini Bread & Butter Pickles with Pictures!

My kids love these pickles. I ran out of pints one summer and used quart jars. They still ate the entire jar at one meal. These go great with sandwiches, hot dogs, potato salad, ham, just about anything that goes with sweet pickles. It's also a great way to use those monster zucchini you always find in the garden.

Easy and fast, these take only an afternoon, and most of that is letting the vegetables sit in ice.

Zucchini Bread & Butter Pickles (makes about 6 pints)

4 quarts sliced zucchini - don't bother peeling it, just cut it into three or four sections, then slice it lengthwise and remove the seeds, and slice into thin pickle slices.

1 large onion, or 2 medium onions, peeled and thinly sliced

2 - 3 bell peppers, red is pretty but not necessary, sliced into small strips

1/2 c. pickling salt, use noniodized salt, not regular table salt. The iodine in regular salt makes the pickles turn dark brown.
1 c. water

1 1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. white vinegar
2 T. mustard seed
1 t. celery seed
1 t. ground turmeric

Mix zucchini slices, onion slices, and pepper strips in a large bowl. Mix salt and water, pour over vegetables, scraping out any extra salt. Cover the veggies with a layer of ice cubes. Place a heavy pot lid over the veggies, this is to hold them under the ice/salt water, and let the whole thing just sit for at least 3 hours.

Drain the veggies, squeezing out any extra water.
Mix sugar, vinegar, and spices in a big cooking pot. Bring to a boil, then add veggies. Bring the whole mess to a boil. Pack into jars and process. I usually do pints and 1/2 pints and process for 20 minutes, but I'm also at a high altitude. Larger jars require more processing time. Contact me if you have questions.

Picture version-

 Slicing zucchini...

 Slicing peppers...

 Slicing onions...

 Mixing the salt and water to pour over the veggies...

 Covering the veggies with ice...

I

 Using the other monster zucchini to weight it down...

The finished pickles, with a jar of pepper relish on the right. Aren't they pretty?