Why I Don't Write Cookbooks

Tonight I mixed up a glass of lemonade and remembered my brother's recipe for perfect lemonade. It goes something like this: Fill a glass 3/4 with water. Add 2 glugs of lemon juice. Put in one ice cube. Pour sugar on the ice cube until it tips over. Stir. (It came out perfect every time.)
This is how my family cooks. We add ingredients "until it looks right". Somehow I don't see a publishing company going along with those kind of directions.

Pickle Dilemma

I have five or six cucumber vines growing in the garden.  There are only two of us.  How much can we eat by ourselves?  I've shared a few cucumbers with my pastor and coworkers.  The ripe fruit come on about 5 or six at a time.  That isn't enough to warrant hauling out a lot of canning equipment.

If I'm not going to put up the pickles in sealed jars, I have two other options.  I can used up space in my refrigerator with my recipe for refrigerator pickles or I can make what we used to call "pickle-sickles".  I have a recipe for freezer pickles.

I would never have opted for freezing them before this, but we recently got a compact box freezer.  My brother thinks it's too small to be of much use, but I'm not planning to freeze a whole cow.  So "pickle-sickles" it is.

This recipe came from my Aunt Florence.  I don't know where she got it.  I know her mother was a pickling ace.  Grandma pickled watermelon rind and those runaway cucumbers that she turned into "slippery jacks".

So here's what I'm doing this early afternoon.

Freezer Pickles

2 qts. cucumbers, sliced
2 medium onions, sliced
2 Tbsp. canning salt

Mix together in a large bowl.  Cover with ice cubes and let stand for 2-3 hours. 
Remove any unmelted ice cubes. Drain well.

Mix with 1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dill weed.

Put in cartons and freeze.

M-m-m-m, tasty!

Thanks for visiting with me.

Kathi

Refrigerator pickles

There is a brand of pickles on the market that we particularly like.  What I've found is that, if you save the juice, you can wash and cut up new cucumbers and pack them in the same juice maybe once or twice before you have to start fresh.  You can't put the jars on the shelf.  They have to stay in the refrigerator.  Give the cucumbers a week or two to absorb the juice, and you'll have yourself a tasty new batch with the same old flavor.  No muss, no fuss.

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi

Dog Stew Recipe

This morning, I was swapping dog stories with a lady at the post office.  We each have a dog who throws up when switched to a new brand of dog food.  She was interested in the recipe for homemade dog food, so I'll share it with you, too.

In a 6 quart crock pot:

* 2 lbs. meat
* *2 lbs. vegetables
1 cup apple juice/cider (no sugar added)
1 cup or so of plain yogurt ( I use nonfat)
4 eggs, more or less beaten
1 Tbsp. salt
1 1/2 cup dry oatmeal
1 1/2 cup brown rice
3 - 3 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup olive or corn oil (optional)

Cook it on high for 3 1/2 hours or 8 - 10 hours on low.

* Meat options
Salmon, mackerel, tuna, ground meat, ground turkey, ham, turkey ham, chicken gizzards, (liver turns to sludge, but the dogs love it), any meat-no bones.  You can use 1 lb. of meat and 8 eggs instead.
The dogs love it when I make dog bread with natural peanut butter, but I don't know if that would work in the crock pot.

**Vegetable options  -   Absolutely no onions!!!
Frozen (thaw at least a little)
Mixed vegs, green beans, peas and carrots, spinach, chopped broccoli
Canned
Diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, pumpkin

This is what my dogs LOVE!!!  Buddy used to get rashes and hot spots.  He doesn't anymore.  Abby used to steal cooling food, and I swear she was eating dirt in the backyard.  She doesn't even dig anymore.  The coats on both dogs have gotten softer and Buddy doesn't seem to shed as much. Both dogs are calmer and have better attitudes on life.  We aren't making as many trips to the vet. 

The dogs each get a dog vitamin once a day.  Buddy, being bigger and older and needing more joint support, also gets dog glucosamine.  I understand that it's the same as human glucosamine, but tastes better.  He chases Abby like a puppy again.

Please feel free to use this recipe on your own dogs, but I will be annoyed if my recipe goes on the market to someone else's profit.

Thanks for visiting with me.

Kathi