Tag: In the Kitchen

When Life Hands You Cucumbers

When Life Hands You Cucumbers

Posted on by Mama

pickles2b

We all know what to do when life hands us lemons, but what’s one to do when a friend hands you cucumbers? Hint, it’s not make cucumberade.

Our good friend and surrogate family member, Ruby, commented last week that she and her husband, Howard, were going to make pickles from their current cucumber harvest. My response (silly me) was to say that I had always wanted to make pickles but never had enough cucumbers to make a go of it
So Thursday afternoon when the phone rang, I shouldn’t have been surprised when it was Ruby on the other end offering up some left-over cukes. I accepted the offer and picked up the veggies Thursday evening — all 13 plus pounds of excess.

Since this was our first voyage into pickle making, we had to search for a few recipes and finally chose a dill spears recipe and one for hamburger dill slices. The spears recipe was just a shot in the dark, but I chose the hamburger dill recipe because it was one of the only I could find that didn’t require a long ice water bath (I mean, we were in the mood to make pickles).

The process was pretty easy, like canning most things, but unfortunately we have to wait at least two weeks for a taste test.  If they actually taste like pickles, I’ll share the recipes at a later date; if not, we won’t speak of this again.

My Egg Deviling Debut

My Egg Deviling Debut

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DeviledEggsOkay, so y’all have to promise not to make fun of me when I fess up to this juicy little tidbit (unlike my mother who actually laughed when I came to her for some guidance).  Okay, here goes. . . before this weekend I, at 40-something-years old, had never made deviled eggs. Yes, I know, it’s shocking but true!

I’ve wanted to make them for years, but someone always beats me to the egg boiling, yolk whipping and paprika sprinkling punch. So, since I was hosting Easter dinner this year, I kind of assigned the side dishes and kept the deviled eggs for myself. No pressure or anything.

Since I wanted to impress my friends and husband’s family with my deviling debut, I turned to one of my favorite classic cookbooks and mixed that recipe with a few tips from dear old laughing Mom. I also added a punch of color by dying the peeled egg whites various shades of the rainbow — idea courtesy of Pinterest.

This whole process was so easy and the outcome was delicious. I just can’t believe I waited so long to try my hand at these little guys. I mean, who says you can only serve deviled eggs at family affairs and picnics? So if your Easter baskets runneth over, here’s a tasty way to eat up several of those eggs instead of sprinkling salt on hard boileds for two weeks straight.

Deviled Eggs
Yields 12
Traditional deviled eggs
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Prep Time
35 min
Total Time
35 min
Prep Time
35 min
Total Time
35 min
Ingredients
  1. 6 hard boiled eggs
  2. 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  3. 1 tsp prepared mustard
  4. 1 tsp dill pickle juice
  5. 1 or 2 finely diced dill pickles
  6. Paprika
  7. Salt
  8. Pepper
Instructions
  1. Halve hard-boiled eggs lengthwise and remove yolks.
  2. Place yolks in a bowl and mash with a fork.
  3. Add mayonnaise, mustard, pickle juice and diced pickles.
  4. Season with a couple of dashes of salt and pepper.
  5. Mix the yolk mixture together well.
  6. Stuff the yolk mixture into the white halves.
  7. Sprinkle with paprika.
Notes
  1. If you want to color the egg whites, simply place them in various colors of egg dye for a few seconds before stuffing with the yolk mixture.
Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book
Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book
https://www.smalltalkmama.com/
Christmas Cheer Chocolate

Christmas Cheer Chocolate

Posted on by Mama

This great recipe was a new experiment for the family this year. I found the original idea from a girl in Germany, but the measurements weren’t exact and the ingredients were a bit difficult to find so I gave it a try with some substitutions and guess-work. I’m happy to say the end result was a salty sweet chocolate dessert that appears to be sprinkled with holiday cheer.

Christmas Cheer Chocolate
Yields 8
A salty sweet chocolate dessert that appears to be sprinkled with holiday cheer.
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Ingredients
  1. 12 oz. white baking chocolate
  2. 3/4 cup Craisins
  3. 3/4 cup shelled pistachios
  4. cooking spray
Instructions
  1. Slightly chop the pistachios and Craisins into quarters and small bits, but do not over chop.
  2. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler.
  3. Add 1/2 cup of pistachios and 1/2 cup of Craisins to melted chocolate and mix together until everything is well coated.
  4. Line an 8×8 or similar size baking dish with wax paper and lightly squirt with cooking spray.
  5. Pour the chocolate mixture into the prepared dish and smooth.
  6. Sprinkle the top with the remaining Craisins and pistachios.
  7. Cover and cool in the refrigerator until solid.
  8. Remove from wax paper and break into bits for serving.
Adapted from a German recipe
Adapted from a German recipe
https://www.smalltalkmama.com/
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