Potato Salad with Pickled Eggs

Ingredients:

Cooked potatoes

Diced Beet Pickled Eggs

Mustard 

Diced Butter Pickles or Relish

Pickle Juice or ACV

Sour Cream

Cane sugar/Cream of tartar to taste

Salt to taste

I thought I had posted this a while ago, I guess it got lost in the shuffle. 

I know I used a Russet type potato and adding the pickle juice gave it the right moistness.

Adjust proportions to your personal tastes...I kept adding stuff until it tasted "right"....and I can't remember what I did anyway.....

See Ya In The Gumbo  
Fat Tuesday 
Hearth and Soul Hop

Avocado - How do I love thee? Let me count the ways......

Avocado Salad with Beets and freshly squeezed Lemon

An avocado, like a potato, has a small amount (about 4%) of high quality protein, like an egg.  It's very high in potassium and mono-unsaturated fat, similar to olive oil.  It does contain some polyunsaturated fat, so it's good to add some coconut oil for balance.  It does contain some sugars, mostly in the form of fiber.


http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fruits-and-fruit-juices/1843/2

Avocados can be frozen for later use if they are mixed well with lemon juice before freezing.  ("They" say the texture doesn't hold up well if left whole. ) I have done this quite successfully using the juice of one lemon for every two avocados.  I added additional juice to the top of the jar to prevent browning, just in case.  I don't know if it needed the extra or not, but it worked.

How do I know when an avocado it ready to eat?  The skin color changes from bright green to dark green/black as the fruit softens. No squeezing (which causes bruising) necessary. ;)


People with latex and other allergies should be cautious about eating avocados.  Forced ripening and injury causes the fruit (bananas and chestnuts too ) to make increased levels of chitinases, an enzyme that can cause issues in latex sensative people.  Organic fruit not subject to gas ripening may have lower levels.  Cooking may inactivate the enzymes.



Avocado Sandwich
Slice or two of bread*
Slather mayo, preferably homemade, onto bread
Layer avocado slices onto bread
Drizzle with coconut oil (unless it's in the mayo already)
Salt/Pepper to taste

Optional Extras
Homegrown, crispy bacon with gelatin
Leftover chicken pieces with gelatin
A slice of white cheese


Avocado Halves
Take an avocado, slice in half.
Take the half and cut with a butter knife vertically and horizontally, making a checker board pattern
Sprinkle generously with salt
Drizzle with lemon juice and coconut oil.
Squeeze gently at the bottom and eat as the pieces pop out.

Pit will usually pop out on it's own when the half is gently squeezed from the bottom.


Avocado Salad
Take an avocado, cut in half and twist to open
Make a criss cross pattern in the fruit and squeeze gently to remove from skin into a bowl or plate
Drizzle generously with coconut oil
Drizzle with fresh squeezed lemon or lime juice
Salt to taste

Optional Extras
Peach slices
Fresh cut orange sections or mandarins
Cheese curds or bite sized cubes
Feta crumbles
Beets - pickled, fresh roasted or canned
(Hint: commercially canned whole beets retain slightly more flavor than the sliced version,  nothing like making your own though.)


Avocado Dressing
Avocado
Coconut Oil
ACV or Citrus juice (lemon, lime and/or orange)
Salt
Herbs/Spices

Mush with a fork leaving a few chunks or blend together for a whipped, thicker dressing. Serve over fruit or root vegetables....like an out of the ordinary potato salad.


Guacamole (Of course!)
Avocado
Coconut Oil
Lemon or Lime juice (ACV in a pinch, but the flavor isn't the same)
Salt

Optional Extras
Tomatoes
Chilis or a touch of cayenne powder
Onions
Cilantro
Sugar/COT (I add this if using canned tomatoes or commercial salsa)

Add ingredient to a bowl sized at least twice as big as the avocado in order.  You can keep it chunky or mush with a fork after adding the oil, salt and juice.  Add other ingredients as desired. Fold gently and serve with homemade tortilla chips or on top of quesadillas or......

One restaurant I went to actually served the guacamole WITH the pit...said it kept it from browning as fast....don't know if that's true or not....it didn't last long enough to find out.



* There was a time when Alvarado St. Bakery was a small bakery that made wonderful, sprouted whole grain breads that were flourless, naturally sweet and weird ingredient-free.  The bread was local and lovely and FRESH and made spectacular avocado sandwiches. Those days are gone......


Friday Potluck
Seasonal Saturday
Simple Lives Thursday
Calling all Salads

Pickling Cherries

I was able to purchase 18 lbs of unsprayed RIPE black cherries for less than $2.00/lb.  They are exquisite!   I was planning on canning some and cooking with some and eating some fresh.  Then I came across this recipe for WHOLE (meaning with the stems and pits intact) pickled cherries...and I was intrigued.  We like sweet pickles in our household.  I like eliminating unnecessary steps.  It is the perfect combination in my mind.

So inspired by the previous recipe and the flavoring of this pickled cherry recipe,  and this other pickled cherries recipe, I set out to make my own.

I currently have 6 liters put up.  I washed each batch of cherries in a vinegar /water solution first.  I filled each jar with a handful of cherries at a time, checking for too soft or damaged fruit.  2 cherries got rejected.  One was disposed of in my tummy and one was thrown out to the chickens.

I chose to make one 2 liter batch sweet and spicy with 3 whole dried jalapeños and about 2:1 vinegar to sugar with 2 TBS sea salt.  The other 2 batches are 1 star anise each, some whole cloves and peppercorn with approximately 3:2 vinegar to sugar.  One is a little heavier on the cloves and peppercorns than the other.  I used raw ACV for the vinegar and will just keep them in the back of the fridge.  There's 2 TBS of sea salt in each jar plus 1 tsp of cream of tartar for extra potassium.

Will have to get back to you on how they turn out...but I have high hopes.  Worse comes to worse, I can make a chutney out of them or something.


Update Day 3:  These have been sitting on the counter for  about 3 days.  I hadn't gotten around to making space in the fridge for them yet.  I couldn't resist a nibble....
A little softer than I was expecting...but I think that's because they weren't cold.  Tasted good....not quite the same as a fresh cherry but not a vinegar bomb either.  I like it so far...especially if they keep long term.  There's quite a bit of the undissolved sugar at the bottom on the jar, I should probably just use less next time but I was afraid of making them too sour.


Seasonal Saturday 
Foodie Wednesday
Simple Lives Thursday
Full Plate Thursday
Fresh Food Friday
Friday Potluck
Fightback Friday
Savory Sunday 
Barn Hop
Monday Mania
Make a Food "e" Friend Monday
Your Recipe, My Kitchen

The Classic Cheese Sandwich updated

A cheese sandwich is kind of boring...yet is so satisfying.  I became hooked on them on my first real babysitting job (non sibling and good money) many, many.....many years ago.  It has been very hot lately and cooking  is as appealing as teeth pulling right now.  Nourishing foods that can go directly from fridge to plate are coveted. (We made an exception for one of the optional ingredients initially, but it became a fridge item soon after cooking.)

Old Version as taught to me by the kids I was in charge of:
2 slices of bread
Mayo on BOTH slices
Mild Orange Cheddar Cheese slices to cover bread
Cut in half, NOT diagonal (these things matter, you know.)

New Version as dictated by an adult palate
2 slices of bread
slathering of mayo on one slice
slathering of mustard on the other (optional, may use mayo for both)
sprinkle of cream of tartar
sprinkle of cane sugar (optional, depends on the mayo used)
sprinkle of sea salt
Raw, white, sharp cheddar  to cover bread

Opened face cheese sandwich with bacon and nectarine

Optional ingredients:
baked bacon strips
tomato or cucumber
bread and butter pickles or dill slices
fruit of choice
salted or pickled beet slices

I used Brunkow raw milk "Aged cheddar" in a 5 pound block which makes for square slices that fit perfectly on the bread.

The mayo was Hain's Safflower Mayo (no soy or HFCS) instead of homemade because I needed to use it up.  Once it's gone, it's gone.

The mustard was Gulden's spicy brown mustard.  I grew up with Gulden's and now a days, it's one of the only ones I can find that hasn't been watered down.  Seriously...even "gourmet" mustards are now sporting water as one of the top 3 ingredients.

Bread was a sourdough spelt from Berlin Natural bakery....just spelt, water and sea salt.  I don't make my own bread....not for one loaf a year.

The bacon is homegrown and baked in a  350* oven on a broiler pan for 25 minutes, not preheated. I used the oven instead of frying because I think that helps make flatter bacon and we don't need the extra fat in the summer.  We will save it to flavor a cool weather dish someday.

I used a nectarine for mine because it needed using and made an open faced sandwich because I only had one piece of bread left.  The sandwiches were more popular than expected...not a bad problem to have.

Simple Lives Thursday
Full Plate Thursday
Pennywise Platter Thursday
Friday Potluck
Fight Back Friday
Friday Food
Fresh Food Friday
Simply Delish Saturday 
Weekend Gourmet Blog Carnival 
Made From Scratch Tuesday

Mexican Sour Gherkins

First harvest of the Mexican Sour Gherkin

This is the first year I've planted these...well, any gherkin, for that matter.  I've had the seeds for a while, bought them at Baker Creek a few years ago.  I finally got around to planting them because I wanted to make pickles and liked the idea of not having to cut them.

I planted late and really didn't think they would ever come up.  I spent a long time thinking I had pulled them by accident, confusing them with a weed. When they finally did grow, they grew up the cattle panel, across the panel and back and forth a few times.  Very prolific foliage!

These have taken much longer than 70 days to harvest as this is October and we've just had 2 nights of "almost" frost.  There's a little damage to the leaves at the very top, but there's more plump fruit than there were a few days ago too.  I suspect our marathon, week after week heat wave may have arrested the development of the fruit...or fried them.

I am hoping the cold of the past few days was a glitch and we can have a nice fall and prolonged harvest.  There are a lot of immature fruit on the vines right now.  Next year I would like to grow them on an arbor (bent cattle panel) so the fruit hang down away from the leaves for easier picking.  They are much smaller then the leaves and hide very well.  Sure are pretty though.....

I took what few gherkins I had and mixed with some vinegar, salt, sugar and cream of tartar.  I am not sure how long to wait for refrigerator pickles...maybe just as long as you can stand it, I guess.

Tuesday Twister

Pickled Beets

Beets are at their peak right now and are the lowest in price of the season if your are buying them.
We LOVE pickled beets in our house...straight out of the jar.  They are tasty with other things too, like carrots and olive oil or onions or potato salad or whatever...but sometimes the jar is emptied from nibbling while the more elaborate adventures are being prepared.

Ingredients:
Beets
ACV (apple cider vinegar, preferably raw and unfiltered)
Unrefined Sea Salt
Sugar (optional)
Cream of Tartar (1/4 tsp per TBS if using sugar)


I put the whole beets (just the greens removed, keeping the root intact) in a SS pressure cooker with a little trivet or something to prevent direct contact with the bottom.  (This and cranberry relish is all I use my pressure cooker for now a days.)  Add a little water to the bottom.  You want steam, not beets IN the water.  Cook at 15 lbs of pressure for 10-15 minutes depending on size of beets and remove from heat.  When it has cooled down and the pressure is gone, I remove the lid and let the beets cool.

When they are cool enough to handle, I remove the skins by cutting the stem and root off and "wiping."  Sometimes I have to help  the removal with a small paring knife, but not often.  When the skins are removed, I either quarter the beets or slice in the Cuisinart...depending on my mood.  I stick the cut beets in jars and pour in the ACV with salt and sugar.  These will keep in the fridge for a VERY long time.  Months at least, maybe longer...they've always been eaten before they've spoiled.  They might be fine in a cool basement without canning, but I've never tried.

We save the pickle juice for soaking baby carrots.  They turn a weird purple, but they are tasty for nibble food.

This post part of Tuesday Twister