Homemade Dill Pickles - YUM!

I am so excited to share this super easy and fun recipe with all of you!  My sweet Grace loves pickles so when I came across this recipe I know this was perfect for the two of us!  I love anything that saves time, is healthy and is a fun project.....Project!! 

These pickles are crazy easy to make.  My daughter is 11 and this is something she could do with her baking buddies.  They literally take minutes to make plus dill pickles are our favorite so this was just a perfect match. 

The only challenge is you need to find the perfect cucumber.  Thanks to My Frugal Adventures for the cucumber tip and this great recipe!  You want the best cucumbers that don't have that wax-y stuff on the skin.  You also don't want standard English cucumbers.  You want to find the smaller cucumbers. 

I bought 6 cucumbers which were approximately 5 inches long.  I used (2) old pickle jars (pictured above) to soak my pickles in.  You could also use (2) large mason jars. 

Homemade Dill Pickles

Ingredients

• cucumbers
• 3 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/4 cups vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 2 cloves garlic minced or cloves
• peppercorns (this is to taste but about 20 per jar)
• fresh dill

Instructions

1. Start by cutting the cucumbers to your preference- into chips, spears or keep them whole.
2. Add the water and vinegar to a saucepan over high heat and bring to boil.
3. Add the sea salt.
4. Remove from heat and let cool.
5. Add the fresh dill into a large mason jar.
6. Add the pickles in chips or spears or whole and cram as many as you can fit in the jar.
7. Next add the whole garlic or minced garlic to the jar.
8. Add the peppercorns to the jar.
9. Once the vinegar and water has cooled completely- dump it over the cucumbers in the jar.
10. Seal the jar with a very tight lid and shake to mix all the ingredients together.
11. Pop in the fridge for 24-72 hours and Boom! All done

We made these last night and have not had a chance to try one.  Grace did take one for lunch.  I am super excited to hear her reviews when she comes home from school!! 

Make sure all you ingredients are out and you have everything. 

Grace slicing the cucumber.  I think it's a great idea to teach our children to be hands on when cooking and baking. 

Cucumbers all sliced up and ready to become pickles!!  YUM!!

Tell Me About It Thursday - Please Join Me For My First Linky Party!!!!!

Recipe Thursday - Green Beans With Bacon

Green Beans With Bacon
Time:
prep time:  10 minutes
cook time:  15 minutes
total time:  25 minutes

What You Will Need:

1 pound fresh green beans, ends snipped and thrown away.  extra long beans, cut in half cut in half
3-4 slices of bacon
black pepper
salt
vinegar (or you can use red wine vinegar or 1 tablespoon lemon juice)

Let's Cook!

Heat a pot with salted water to a roiling boil.  Add green beans and boil for 4-5 minutes.  Drain and set aside.
While the water is heating up to boil start cooking your bacon until crispy in a large saute pan over medium-low heat.  Be sure to set bacon on a paper towel to let the excess fat drain.
Once the green beans are cooked, saute them for 2 -3 minutes in the bacon fat.  Be sure there is at 1 tablespoon of fat left in the pan.
Dice the bacon and add to the pan and saute another 1 -2 minutes.  Put the beans and bacon into large serving bowl and sprinkle generously with freshly ground pepper.  Toss with vinegar (or lemon juice or red wine vinegar)

Enjoy!!

Served with Crockpot

Swedish Meatballs

Recipe Thursday - Crockpot Swedish Meatballs

Crockpot Swedish Meatballs
Time:
prep time:  15 minutes
cook time:  8 hours
total time:  8 hours, 15 minutes

What You Will Need:

1 lb. pkg. frozen cooked meatballs
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 (10 oz) cans cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup water
1 cup sour cream
2 Tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon pepper
mashed potatoes ( can also be served with cooked hot rice)





Let's Cook!

Place all the ingredients except the sour cream, flour, pepper and potatoes in a 3-4 quart crockpot.  Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

In a small bowl, combine sour cream, flour and pepper and blend well.  Add a spoonful of the hot liquid from the crockpot and blend.  Add the sour cream mixture to crockpot, stir well, cover, and cook on low for 30 - 40 minutes until thickened and blended.  Serve over mashed potatoes (or hot cooked rice).

Enjoy!!

I served the Crockpot Swedish Meatballs served with Green Beans with Bacon.  A new favorite for our family!!

Steak N Shake Chili 5 Way......YUM!!

I honestly have been wanting to make this for a long time.  It is one of my hubby's favorite foods from the Steak N Shake menu.  I must admit it is pretty darn good.  Have you eaten there?  They do have good food!  Okay, onto the cooking.

Steak N Shake 5 Way Chili

Time:

prep time:  30 minutes (depending if you meat is frozen)

total time:  2 - 3 hours

What You Need:

2 pounds lean ground beef

1 1/2 cups onion, diced (for hamburger mixture)

1 teaspoon celery salt

4 cans (8 oz size) tomato sauce
1 cup water
2 cans (16 oz size) light red kidney beans (do not drain)
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
4 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 cans (8 ounce size) tomato paste
1 pound spaghetti
1 package (12 oz. size) Monterey Jack/Colby cheese, shredded
1/2 - 1 medium onion, diced (for topping)
chili sauce
Parmesan cheese
oyster crackers

Lets Cook

In a skillet over medium low heat saute ground beef and onions. When beef has been cooked, drain all grease; place beef mixture in a large saucepan. Add celery salt, tomato sauce, kidney beans, garlic powder, garlic salt, chili powder, pepper, water and salt; mix all ingredients. 

Over low heat, cover saucepan and simmer for 1 hour, stirring frequently. After chili has been cooking for an hour add tomato paste and stir well. Replace lid on pan and simmer for an additional half hour. 

Prepare spaghetti according to package directions. 

For each serving: In a shallow bowl or plate place generous helping of spaghetti, 3/4 cup chili, 2 Tbs. chili sauce, sprinkle Parmesan cheese and chopped onions, to taste; 1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack and Colby cheese mix. 

What I would do different:

I was out of oyster crackers so I had to use saltines.  Still was totally awesome, but next time I will not forget them!!  Also, I will serve in a bowl and not a plate.  Give it more of that restaurant feel.  This is a MUST try!!  I thought it tasted just like Steak N Shakes Chili 5 Way!  It does make a lot so be prepared to have a lot of leftovers.  

Enjoy!!

What Do You Do With Your Holiday Leftovers?

I came across this great new recipe while trying to figure out what to make for dinner tonight.  I do not plan, make menus or go by schedules when it comes to preparing food.  Perhaps I should because then I wouldn't be starring into the pantry while both my husband and I ask, "What's for dinner?"

Do you ever look at the recipes on the back of boxes or the side on soup cans?  I have found some great ones in the past.  Perhaps if I had written them down I could share more with you.  *sigh

I found one tonight on the back of Stove Top Stuffing box.   They actually had 3 different listed.  As we finished eating I knew this was one I wanted to keep.  Well, just moments ago I went to retrieve the box and I remembered I had thrown it away.  Then I also recalled my wonderfully helping husband already took the trash out to the garage cans.  Yes sir, guess I should have written that one down.  We can go from memory.  It really was pretty simple.

Cheesy Chicken Bake ( that actually was the name)
1 pkg. Stove Top Stuffing (Chicken) (or your homemade stuffing)
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
1 package frozen broccoli florets
1 - 1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts (cut into 1 inch pieces)
1 can cream of mushroom soup

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Prepare the stuffing as directed on the box.  (for leftovers use homemade stuffing and set aside).  Cook chicken and set broccoli out to thaw.  In a 9 X 13 pan mix broccoli, chicken and then stir in the soup, cheese and milk.  Then add stuffing on top.  Cook for 30 minutes or until cooked through.

I served mine with mashed potatoes and rolls.  This would also work great with the leftover potatoes and rolls from Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners.  I did find the recipe HERE if you want to check it out and other great ones from Stove Top.

What's For Dinner? Check Out This Cool Website!

Many times as I am trying to figure out what to make or what sounds good.  There have been several times I have gone to the computer and typed in a few ingredients and waited to see what comes up.  Do you ever do this?  I have found some pretty good recipes that way. 
Several nights ago I didn't have a clue what to make.  We were hungry and so I went to the computer and typed the words, "What's For Dinner?"  Up comes this pretty cool web site. 

Some of the cool things you can do is choose recipes by what your main ingredients are. 

• Beef
• Fish
• Pork
• Chicken

Once you find a recipe you can also choose you many servings you are cooking for AND it changes the amount you would need of each ingredients.  How Cool!!  I really liked that!  So if you are planning a big party or event and are planning for 20 it will tell you exactly how much you will need of each ingredient. 

There are a lot of other cool extras.  I will let you check it out.  Let me know what you think!

Crunchy Onion Fish Recipe

Last night I had some Tilapia I wanted to cook.  I went to one of my favorites resources Better Recipes to find a new yummy recipe and it was a hit with my family.  I though I would share it with you! 

Crunchy Onion Fish


Fish fillets (such as tilapia) are coated with a mixture of mayo, horseradish mustard and Worcestershire, then topped with canned French fried onions before baking.  You may also use Sole or even Catfish for this recipe.

Ingredients
•4 tilapia fillets

•1 tsp. Salt, or to taste

•1 tsp. Black pepper, or to taste

•1/2 cup Mayonnaise

•2 Tbsp. French's Horseradish Mustard ( I did not have this so I substituted French's Brown Spicy Mustard)

•1 Tbsp. French's Classic Worcestershire Sauce

•2 cups French's French fried Onions

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees 2) Pat fish fillets dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper 3) Mix mayonnaise, Horseradish Mustard, and Worcestershire until completely blended. Coat fish evenly in this blended mixture 4) Place fish in a greased baking pan 5) Cover the top of the fish with French Fried Onions 6) Bake for approx. 15-20 minutes, until the fish flakes easily.

I decided to serve my Crunchy Onion Tilapia with corn and pineapple.  This is a recipe I would keep and make again.  My daughter loved it and had seconds and my husband loved it too! 

 Pat fish fillets dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

 After mixing mayonnaise, Horseradish Mustard, and Worcestershire until completely blended. I coated the fish evenly in this blended mixture and placed in the greased pan.

 Cover the top of the fish with French Fried Onions and your tilapia are ready to bake.

Yummy!  Fresh from the oven and ready to eat! 

Enjoy !  I would love to know if you tried this recipe and what you and family thought.