Category Archives: Recipes
More Ribs
We currently are running an excess supply of pork ribs. Kroger often sell three racks packaged together in a big sealed bag. Ordinarily I separate them and freeze individual racks but somehow a package went entire into the big freezer. So. We ended up with three racks to use up, thaw one, thaw them all. This is round two.
The patio garden produced a couple of nice red bells, one was roasted to add to the beans, along with a large sweet onion, bbq sauce, ketchup, and brown sugar.
I poked several already cooked ribs into the beans and cooked them at 350 for half an hour.
Advertisements
Garden Fresh: Jalapeno Relish and Easy Salsa
My garden was hit with both hail and an infestation of earwigs. I managed to get a small crop of tomatoes, jalapenos and potatoes despite the destruction. The ducks have been great at keeping the rest of the pests at bay, but earwigs are nocturnal, so they managed to escape the duck patrol.
My dad and youngest brother sent home cucumbers and jalapenos on my last trip, so I decided it was time to put everything to good use before they went bad on my counter.
First up, Easy Salsa, recipe here.
I love pickled jalapenos, so I wanted to pickle some this summer. I have had plenty, but I thought if I was going to do that, it wouldn’t hurt to have extra from my brother. Add my dad’s huge English cucumbers and I got a fresh, spicy combo that is terrific on everything, especially grilled hot dogs. Yum.
Pickled Jalapeno-Cucumber Relish
- 10 large jalapenos
- 1 large cucumber (or two medium)
- 2 tsp fresh dill (opt)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled, quartered
- 1 cup water
- 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 1 tbsp kosher salt
- 3 tbsp sugar
jars, blender, saucepan
You can rough chop all the vegetables, since this will be run through either a food processor or blender. If you want to tone down the spice – remove the seeds and ribs from the jalapenos. I did not peel the cucumber because it was garden fresh.
I added just a touch of dill – because I thought the cucumbers would need it. It’s not overwhelming and it could easily be omitted.
In the saucepan combine water, vinegars, sugar and salt. Bring to a low boil
In the blender or food processor, add jalapenos, cucumbers, herbs and garlic and just enough water to cover. Pulse until all the ingredients are finely chopped. Add to boiling mixture, bring back to a boil, reduced heat and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool before adding to sterilized glass jars.
I did not can this recipe – jars will last about two weeks in the refrigerator. I froze several of the jars and they should last a good six months.
As a side note – those are grapes from my vines. I have one red vine and one concord vine. Last year they were barren, the year before they tasted like concord grapes, this year the vines are overflowing and taste sweet and are almost seedless. This fall I’m going to espalier them to create a screen and hopefully keep the dogs out of them. It’s been a challenge this year. Bixby loves to pick them off the vines and grapes are not good for dogs.
BLT Pr0n
I’m bummed to admit it, but these are the first decent tomatoes from our garden this year, We replanted twice because of late frosts, and the weather has not cooperated since.
Palisade Peach Season Is Here
Peach Pie photo by JeffreyW
My family waits for this time of year…and always hope it coincides with my summer trip home. It did this year and my mom made a great Peach Crisp (if you use this Perfect Apple Crisp recipe – click here – substituting peaches – you can cook off most of the liquid – making a great syrup – before adding the crisp topping for a Perfect Peach Crisp)
I’ve been eating them, several a day, fresh from the box. But as you know, peaches go from fresh to eat to almost too ripe in the blink of an eye. That’s when all these recipes can come in handy.
For all the peach week recipes, click here. Enjoy!
Peppers Out The Wazoo
We can’t keep up with the peppers even when we lose many to the worms and bugs.
We gave it the ol’ college try, though. I wish we had more of the classic bell shapes because the pointy ended ones are hard to stand up in a pan.
These are filled with the classic hamburger, tomato, and rice mixture with lots of chopped pepper tops and onions. I seasoned these with basil, oregano, thyme, parsley flakes, and marjoram with plenty of onion and garlic powder. I think I’ll go back to the white, stringy cheeses the next time. There is something a little off with the cheddar, seems like.
Soup’s On
I took down of jar of posole that I canned back in ’14, and added a few leftover hash browned potatoes and a little bit of pork chop that has been in the fridge for a week. I did open a fresh bag of chips.
I had a frozen block of gumbo that wasn’t quite enough for a meal without adding some chicken, okra, and a package of crawdad tails. 
Same thing on the beef stew leftovers, they needed more bulk – a can of green beans was called into action.
Muffins!
I don’t do muffins very often but it seemed a good time for them. This recipe worked fine for me. I had to turn the heat to as low as it would go on the griddle and shuffle the muffins into and out of the hot spots lest they burn before the internal temp reached 190°.
Mmm… sausage, egg, and cheese muffins! The pepper jelly worked well on these.
Wood Grilled Pizza For The Win
Little D wanted pizza tonight and I asked if it would be all right if we tried cooking it on the wood pellet grill. Since the answer was yes and it was an inexpensive Red Barron frozen, I felt we had nothing to lose.
It was delicious. Like the best frozen pizza I’ve ever made. Can’t imagine I’ll ever make it any other way. Can’t wait to try it on a fresh, homemade one next.
I followed the directions on the box for oven baking it. The crust was nicely browned without burning, but I think it could have been crisper. I think the only thing I would change would be to preheat the grill to 500 degree F, add the pizza and reduce to about 375. That should crisp the crust without burning.
Breakfast Pr0n
I wish I had made biscuits, that pepper jelly is so good on sausage. Mrs J is voting that we have biscuits tonight for supper. Probably will do sausage, egg, and cheese biscuits with that jelly slathered all over them. Maybe muffins?
