Cucumbers, The Bumper Crop

Cucumbers – The Bumper Crop                                   with Lou Worden

 

I planted four cucumber vines this year.  Not only has it begun to produce abundantly, but it has grown way more than I ever expected it to.  This posed a question of what to do with them and how to enjoy the flavor as long as possible.  Well of course, you can make one of a number of salads you find on line.   I find a lot of my recipes on Cooks.com.  I have taken the liberty to try a few of these and make a blog on what I found about each dish.

Also, for those of us who don’t want to cook our pickles, I have also found an easy recipe for bread and butter pickles made in the fridge; and if you prefer dill, well then I have one of those too.   

First, though, a little history on this blog and what inspired me to write it.

It all started a few days ago.  I went out to tend to the garden as usual.  I started to find cucumbers ready to pick.  I started picking and by the time I was done, I had a full dozen cucumbers.  This led to the decision to make pickles in the fridge and find some new salads to make.  This dozen was just a harbinger of what was to come as the steady supply I have been getting is necessitating I do something with them.

First, I found the quick fixes, the salads.  There are many, but I have selected two from the list that I will try and give my opinion on.  Finding recipes on line is as easy to search as you can get.  There are many recipe sites out there and my advice is to try what looks good to you.   

TOMATO CUCUMBER SALAD   

2 cucumbers
2-3 medium sized tomatoes
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1 teaspoon pepper (or to taste)

1 teaspoon garlic powder (or to taste)
2 tablespoons olive oil (or to taste)
2-4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (or whatever vinegar to taste)

 

Cut the tomatoes and cucumbers into small pieces; place in bowl, add all remaining ingredients and stir.

Refrigerate for an hour while all flavors come together. Add more of above ingredients to suit your taste.

Cooks Note: 2 fresh garlic cloves may be substituted for garlic powder; crush or finely mince (or use a blender) the garlic into the balsamic vinegar and allow to sit for 15 minutes to take the "edge" off. Fresh, chopped basil is a wonderful enhancement to this salad!

Critique: This one is very good.  Nice and tangy.  Vinegar is variable to whatever taste you like.  I used Pomegranate balsamic and it was delicious.  I also used fresh herbs; parsley and chives, and it was very good.  This also helped to use tomatoes in a delicious way.  This recipe is basic and you can go from there.  The next time I make It I am thinking real bacon bits to add some protein and savory flavor.  I ate the leftovers the next day and found it to be still delicious and tangy…..:)

I wanted something different so I found this one and I found you can also throw in some tomatoes and whatever suites your fancy and it will be delicious.

MARINATED CUCUMBER SALAD 

2 large cucumbers, peeled and sliced paper thin
1/4 teaspoon dill weed 

1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup mayonnaise

Combine cucumbers with other ingredients and chill for 1 to 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

CRITIQUE: I added bacon bits for a great flavor.  Can you tell I like bacon?  J This salad is delicious.  I used a little more mayonnaise to make it creamier and it has a very nice sweet and sour flavor accentuated by the dill.  Very fast and easy to make. 

I give it a thumbs up!  I will keep this one in mind for a potluck or bring a dish to pass event as it is very simple and tastes great!

The next recipes I haven’t tried yet, I plan to acquire the remaining ingredients to make them this week.

PICKLES:

Now let’s talk pickles. 

I found this recipe ala Cooks.com and it looks like as simple as it gets for Bread and Butter pickles.  Whether you can your pickles or refrigerate them, it’s all about choices and what you want to do.  I prefer the ease of refrigerator pickles and love the crispness of them.

AUNT SYBLE'S REFRIGERATED PICKLES 

7 cups thinly sliced cucumbers
2 cups sugar
1 cup sliced onions
1 cup red vinegar
1 tablespoon celery seed
1 tablespoon of canning salt

Combine all ingredients together in a gallon jar, Place in Refrigerator, will keep until gone!

Can add more slices to mixture. They're Good!

And for a dill taste I found this one also which really looks simple. 

12 HOUR (1 GALLON) REFRIGERATOR DILL
PICKLES 

In a one gallon jar, put:

1 onion sliced or coarsely chopped
2 c. white vinegar
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. salt (not iodized)
Several sprigs of dill or
1 tbsp. dill seed (herb)

Slice cucumbers lengthwise and put into gallon jar with above ingredients. Fill jar with cold water to the top. Shake to dissolve sugar and salt.  Ready to eat in 12 hours. Keep in refrigerator. 

In Summary:

 

 

I think I would be tempted to leave the sugar out and try them sour also.  I can’t wait to try these pickle recipes.  Whatever you chose to have on your table, when the cucumber from the garden is served, the flavor is spectacular!  Happy gardening and pickle eating to all of you foodies!

Make it yourself: Sausage

Melissa here!

I thought I'd share with you tips on stretching your food budget! With me being an unemployed student, we have a pretty tight grocery budget in our house. I rarely buy things like sausage or cookies or muffins at the store - instead, I purchase the ingredients and make them myself. Sometimes this is more time-consuming and can be a pain, but not always.

I recently got a hankering to make myself a breakfast bake, but didn't have any sausage in my freezer. I had plenty of other ground meats, though, so I felt it wasteful to go to the store and buy something that I could easily make at home. I opened up my trusty friend, Google, and found a recipe for making sausage out of ground beef or ground turkey.

I don't keep much ground beef or pork in the house, mostly because we love making hamburgers on the grill so it disappears within a couple of days after coming home from the store. I do, however, have a large stock of ground turkey and ground venison. Ground venison is one of those things that are best seasoned and cooked to death, really, so I decided that it would make a great addition to my breakfast bake!

Now, I did modify the recipe to meet my own needs based on what I had on-hand. It calls for:

• 1 pound of ground turkey or very lean ground beef
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of garlic salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of pepper
• 1 teaspoon of cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon of sage
• 1/4 teaspoon of basil
• 1/4 teaspoon of oregano

What I actually used:

• 1 pound of ground venison
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of garlic salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of pepper
• 1 teaspoon of ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon of Pampered Chef Italian Seasoning Mix

The reason I substituted the sage, basil, and oregano with the seasoning mix is mostly because I didn't have the sage on-hand and I figured that the mix (which also has basil and oregano in it) would be a welcome substitute, though if you don't have sage on-hand, you could also substitute rosemary or marjoram in its place.

All of the ingredients were mixed together in a bowl (and I didn't take photos because... ahem... raw meat looks gross no matter how good your lighting and camera), and then I threw it in a pan and browned and chopped it for my bake.

I kind of used the same idea as the bake recipe on the same page that the sausage recipe gave, but I don't buy canned biscuits or crescent rolls and didn't feel like spending the time to mix that dough up. I dug through my freezer to find either hash brown potato shreds or something similar, and settled on some tater tots, mostly because I was out of hash brown potatoes and had no raw potatoes on-hand either! 

So my recipe went something like this:

• Tater tots (enough to put a single layer on the bottom of your 9x13 baking dish... it took 71 Schwan's Tater Rounds - which is apparently a discontinued product they no longer offer in their catalog)
• Browned ground sausage from recipe above
• 4 raw whole eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place the tater tots along the bottom of the pan, enough to create a single layer. Create a second layer with the browned sausage. Mix the eggs and milk together in a bowl and then pour over the top of the sausage-potato layers. Layer the shredded mozzarella cheese over the top. Place in oven and bake for 15 minutes. Let sit 5 minutes before serving.

It turned out to be pretty delicious! I was a bit skeptical about using the mozzarella cheese because I typically use shredded cheddar on breakfast bakes because of the stronger flavor, but the mozzarella still added something to the dish while still being mild enough to let the sausage be the star. 

So, there you have it. When you're in a breakfast (or dinner, in our case) pinch, and don't have any sausage on-hand, you can make your own in just a few minutes. Not only does it save money, it also cuts the sodium down completely, avoids nitrates and other chemical preservatives, and gives you more control over how strong the seasonings in your sausage are!

Until next time!

Stuff being reviewed and other fun stuff!

Dear foodies, I am so sorry for the delay in my entry. As you may or may not know, I have been spending a lot of time pounding the pavement with hopes of obtaining a job. Hopefully, that will yield something soon. In the meantime, I must catch up with you…

Contents:

1. Discussion Recaps
2. User Submissions
3. Product Review
4. Restaurant Review

School Menu Recap

I remember back when I was a kid, and the thought of school lunch was scary. I mean, I loved their pizza day, and there were a few other things that were awesome… But it was one of those things that nobody I knew seemed to get excited about. For instance, I so hated when they served spaghetti. It always tasted like they dumped it from a can, the sauce was always bitter to me, and the noodles mushy. I also would never eat their hot dogs because I never really liked them. My favorites included Walking Tacos, pizza, and I absolutely loved it when they had sliced oranges.

I asked foodies:  If you could pick a food that was a frequent listing on the (school) menu and you hated seeing it, what would you do to give it a make-over and why?

A lot of the answers that were given were about the pizza that schools served, and the mixed reactions. Some people considered how greasy and fattening the school pizzas were, others raved about how awesome they were. Most of the replies were about health and taste, which I have to give kudos to. You know what? A lot of school lunches are pretty fattening if they have not changed in the years since I was a kid.

Salad is very important in my opinion, but I have to agree that this (above the rest) should be changed. Kids need to eat a variety of veggies. It is hard enough to get them to even try some. My suggestion: Schools should have their very own garden and have the kids help tend it. I believe that this hands on approach would be a great way to teach several lessons: Math, science, and nutrition, which are all very important lessons to be taught…

Oh no! I forgot to defrost something.

There have been days where defrosting something has been overlooked… Either we were working all day, or we simply forgot. So what do you do? Do you slap together a sandwich and call it good, or do you take risks? I know that when I make this common mistake, I wish that I hadn’t, but it isn’t the end of the world!

When I asked foodies what they would do in this situation, I got some interesting responses. I have screen captured most of the conversation. Some things were added since I started to work on the blog, so please do go check out this conversation and any others in the group (http://www.facebook.com/groups/foodiezoo)

In Celebration of a growing community, we have some…

User Submitted Recipes and photos

TOMATO CUCUMBER SALAD 

2 cucumbers

2-3 medium sized Roma tomatoes

1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

1 teaspoon pepper (or to taste)

1 teaspoon garlic powder (or to taste))

2 tablespoons olive oil (or to taste)

2-4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (or to taste)

Cut the tomatoes and cucumbers into small pieces; place in bowl, add all remaining ingredients and stir.

Refrigerate for an hour while all flavors come together. Add more of above ingredients to suit your taste.

Cooks Note: 2 fresh garlic cloves may be substituted for garlic powder; crush or finely mince (or use a blender) the garlic into the balsamic vinegar and allow to sit for 15 minutes to take the "edge" off. Fresh, chopped basil is a wonderful enhancement to this salad!

(Picture and Recipe submitted by Lou)

Stuffed Shells with home made spaghetti sauce, submitted by Milissa

Potato Salad, submitted by Lou

Mandarin Orange Chicken with Fruit, submitted by Alicia

Lasagna, submitted by Gayle

Tarragon Chicken with Tomatoes and CousCous, submitted by Emily Z

Grillin with Kathy

Pistachio and raw honey Baklava, submitted by Emily D

Spiked Raspberry Lemonade, submitted by Melissa

Reviews

Handy Can Opener

Product Info/Ad

http://youtu.be/KcE7PTPibSc

Open ANY can practially hands-free in seconds! Small, medium, or large size can, The Handy Can Opener opens it easily and safely... no more sharp edges.

It's so EASY to use... just place The Handy Can Opener on the can, push and hold the button until it starts to move... let go and it will open shortly... That easy!

Review

The Handy Can Opener is a nifty little gadget that reduces the amount of space taken up on your counter because you don’t have to keep it there. It’s really useful for times when you don’t have power, and it really does eliminate the sharp edges that other can openers leave behind. I like using this product a lot, but the one complaint I have is that sometimes it will keep going after it’s finished cutting the can open. That is my only complaint, because they have a dial on the side that is supposed to be used when the can stops in mid cut (like, if the battery dies.) Whenever it keeps going, I clamp down on the dial and pull the top of the can away. It does not start working until you put it onto the can, and it runs on two double A batteries.

Rating (Up to five points each category)

·                     Ease of use:  ***** (5)

·                     Function: **** (4)

·                     Practicality: ***** (5)

·                     Cost: ***** (5)

Overall:  19/20 - 4 1/2 Gold Whisks

Olivio Coconut Spread

Product Info/Ad

http://www.olivioproducts.com/ourproducts/spreadablebutter.aspx#

Review

The first time I heard about this product, I wrinkled my nose. I like real butter because of the flavor. I also dislike things that are more like margarine. So I pretty much stayed far away. I kept making excuses about it, “It probably costs too much…” “It’s not real butter.” But then I was convinced to try it. Why, oh why did I fight it so hard? This spread is so delicious! The ONLY thing that I didn’t like about it was that it does not work with eggs.  I recommend it for stuff like waffles and pancakes.

Rating (Up to five points each category)

·                     Cost:  ***** (5)

·                     Function: **** (4)

·                     Taste: ***** (5)

·                     Health Factor: ***** (5)

Overall:  19/20 - 4 1/2 Gold Whisks

Bunz Burgerz

969 ½ Baxter Ave

Louisville KY 40204

(502) 632 – 1132

Ahem… YUM!

http://www.bunzburgerz.com/

Bunz is a quaint little burger joint nestled in the Highlands of Louisville. I had passed them by a few times and wondered what they were all about. My boyfriend took me there as a surprise, which was cool. We went inside, and the atmosphere was laid back. I personally loved how they decorated the place, the lighting, etc. The staff is very friendly and helpful. If you have questions, they will answer, they don’t hurry you along. The menu is simple to read, pretty straight forward, and offers six signatures, and several combinations for custom orders. If you want a specialty, all you have to do is ask.

The best thing about this establishment is the food, in my opinion. When you order your food, they don’t just rush through cooking it, they make it fresh and they make it right. I ordered a custom build my own burger, and my guy had the Lexington Roadhouse Burger. I forgot to tell them I like mine pink in the middle, but I didn’t have to. It took them about 15 minutes to cook the food, which is great because they do it right when you order and right in front of you. When we got our food, it was piping hot, and the chef offered a Creole aioli sauce. We took the offer, and then we ate.

The first bite of burger was delicious and had me hooked. The burger was tender and juicy, and slightly pink in the middle just the way I liked it. It tasted fresh, and the bun was perfectly toasted, and the cheese was bubbly, yum. I was impressed by the fries, and loved the sauce. They were nice and crispy, and they weren’t as greasy as some places would offer… I could taste the potato instead of oil. It was filling, delicious, and well worth the price.

This is not fast food. These are gourmet burgers offered for $8 or less. I can go to some bars and pay a few dollars extra for a burger that isn’t gourmet, and they aren’t always cooked they way they should be. This place SPECIALizes in burgers, they give you what you want and you get a good portion (1/4 lb, baby), and you can get the cheesy bacon basket for less than five bucks and share with your date, and be full. The prices are great.

Overall, I liked this place and would go back again!