Pickled Vegetables

Recently I made homemade quick pickles and they were such a hit that I decided to make some quick pickled vegetables and see how they turned out. I mean who doesn't love fresh, crisp, pickled vegetables?

New to the whole pickling of vegetables I decided to just use the same recipe I used on my pickles with some little tweaks here and there.

I started off my chopping up my head of cauliflower and slicing some carrots, cucumbers and jalapeños. There were a few strips of onion in there, but I didn't care too much for them. 

Once everything was chopped and sliced I started layering my ingredients just like I did with the pickles. Then I poured on the brine, sealed the jars and placed in the fridge. Voila! There you have quick refrigerator pickles.

I would really like to figure out a way to be able to seal these so they have a shelf life instead of having to be refrigerated.

Next time though I will be using bigger jars, these pints are not big enough! 

Quick Refrigerator Pickles

1/2 tsp black peppercorns

a little more than a dash of red pepper flakes

1 tsp dill seed 

1 clove minced garlic

1 whole head of cauliflower, cut into bite size pieces

6 jalapeños, cut into slices

1 medium bag of carrots, peeled and sliced

1 medium white onion, cut into thick strips

Combine :

3 TBS kosher salt

2 TBS sugar 

1 1/4 cup of distilled white vinegar

2 cups of cold water

Add the dry ingredients to the bottom of the mason jar. Then add the chopped veggies to the jar, alternating layers. Be sure to pack them in tight, but not too tight. Pour the liquid mixture over the veggies. Seal the jars and place in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours. It is tempting to want to eat them before then, but I promise that the wait is worth it! 

no more UGLY floors!

When we moved into our house nine years ago we knew that there were going to be things that needed to be updated or just replaced all together. I have already removed the carpet throughout the house (except the bedrooms and they are next) but the floors in the entry and the bathrooms needed to go. Unfortunately it has taken us this long to start working on them.

These were the floors that I hated most looking at day in and day out. I had tried to get them out on my own, but they were a special form of terra-cotta tile that just happened to be cemented to the floor. Every time you would take a hammer or a chisel to it it would just shatter the top layer. And sadly because of this I gave up and let them sit like they were for over 8 months. I feel ashamed that I went for so long with these awful looking half removed floors. 

Here is a closer look...

Then one day Michael decided that an air hammer would work great at removing the tiles. So off to Harbor Freight we went! Let me tell you a little secret... If you are looking for some cheap tools to do a few things around the house Harbor Freight is the place. They may not have top quality items, but they get the job done for a fraction of the price. 

Two and a half hours of hammering and a quarter inch of dust later the floors were gone! GONE!

It is so nice to walk through the front door and not have that tile staring back at me. Now we just need to decide what kind of flooring we are going to install next!

Next was the awful guest bathroom floor! Luckily the linoleum was WAY easier to remove than the tile. I purchased a little multi too at Harbor Freight that had scraper attachments made just for these projects. Even with the right tools it still took me about 5 days to get it off the floor. And to be honest there are still spots that I need to work on around the edges. It now looks better than it has in years! Now we are decided whether to put waterproof wood flooring or tile. So many decisions! 

Sorry no after pics yet, but they are coming soon!

quick pickles

Have you ever tried making pickles? 

Well I have... lots of times.

And I will tell you that it is a pain in the butt. Plus you have to let them sit forever before you get to eat them. No fun! But I found a recipe for some quick refrigerator pickles that is a-may-zing!

Start by washing your cucumbers. 

We don't want any dirt in those pickle jars!

Next cut your cucumbers into spears. 

You could slice them, but I have found that they are easier to eat when you cut them into spears.

Add your dry ingredients to your canning jars.

The recipe calls for dill seed, but all I had was dill weed the first batch. I got pretty much the same results with both batches. Dill seed is just a little bit messier.

Pack your pickles in the jars. 

Pack as many in there as you can comfortably, they all turn out the same. 

Add your liquid mixture to the canning jars.

24 hours later... Open the pickle jar and enjoy the wonderful pickles!

Quick Refrigerator Pickles

1/2 tsp black peppercorns

dash of red pepper flakes

1 tsp dill seed 

(I used dill weed, but dill seed works a lot better)

1 clove minced garlic

5 lb. of pickling cucumbers

Combine :

3 TBS kosher salt

2 TBS sugar 

1 1/4 cup of distilled white vinegar

2 cups of cold water

Add the dry ingredients to the bottom of the mason jar. Then add the cut cucumbers to the jar. Be sure to pack them in tight, but not too tight. Pour the liquid mixture over the cucumbers. Seal the jars and place in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours. 

Eat and Enjoy

chaos with a capitol 'C'

Well Howdy! It has been a really looooong time since I have posted anything.

Sixty nine days to be exact!

That's okay though. It has been pretty chaotic around here and things have finally slowed down enough for my to jump back on the blog bandwagon. You would not believe how much I have to blog about!

To start things off, just recently we thought we found a new house. I am always looking, but I found one in our price range and in the neighborhood I wanted. I could have so lived there. It was definitely not my dream home, but it had more room for entertaining and it was really nice. We really liked it. After putting in our offer I was okay for a day or two but then I started to have serious cold feet.

What if our dream house came along? What if I moved in and absolutely hated it? What if we decided we wanted to move away? What if we can't sell our house? How will we pay for everything?

These were all questions that I had not really considered and I just had this horrible gut feeling that something was just not quite right. So I prayed and prayed every day that God would show me what he wanted me to do. I just wish I would have listened sooner. After tons of talking it over with my husband, a few beers and several bouts with hives from stress we decided to opt out of the contract. I do feel horrible we cam this far in the contract, but this is what was best for me and my family and I hope the other people are not too mad at us. But I also believe that they will get buyers for their house  who absolutely love it and are meant to be there.

Now that we are not stressed and losing sleep over what to do about the house I have more time to spend on our current house and to do a few things I have not been able to do in a while, like blog :)

I hope that you all have had a great couple of months and I can't wait to get all caught up on the blog-o-sphere!

BEST.SOUP.EVER!

You know that feeling when you find that one recipe that you just absolutely love? 

The one that you find yourself craving more times than not? 

Well this Cauliflower-Kale Soup recipe my mother in law gave me is that recipe! It is by far the yummiest soup that I have ever made! And ate. A lot!  Some of you may be looking at your screen with a perplexed look, but you must try it! I would never have tried this recipe on my own. It just didn't look appetizing to me, but now I make it at least once a week. 

Is it bad for your health to eat too much cauliflower and kale? 

The recipe originally came in a Williams-Sonoma magazine, but my mother in law has tweaked it to make it thicker and with a little bit of a kick. 

By the way have I mentioned that this soup is DELICIOUS! 

Cauliflower-Kale Soup

2 large heads of cauliflower, cut into pieces

1 large bag pre-washed kale

1 yellow onion, diced

2 celery stalks, diced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

4 to 5 cups chicken stock

extra virgin olive oil (my mother in law uses green chili oil)

salt and pepper

red pepper flakes (if you don't have green chili oil)

*You can save some of the kale to make kale chips to top your soup with, but I have found that when put in the soup they get chewy and are not very appetizing to eat, but add a bit of texture*

In a large pot over medium heat warm a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Cook your onion and celery until the onion turns translucent. Then add the garlic and cook for about a minute. You don't want to overcook the garlic or it will get a bitter taste to it. Add chicken broth and cauliflower. Season with salt, pepper and if using them, the red pepper flakes. Reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Add the kale and return to medium heat. Cook uncovered for an additional 10 minutes. Puree soup in batches. You can either then ladle the soup into bowls to serve or into individual containers to freeze.

I always double up on the recipe because it freezes so wonderfully. You can just put it in a few (or six) ziploc containers, pop in the freezer and pull one out anytime you get a craving.

snow-y day

Today we got an unexpected surprise...

SNOW!!!

None of the weather reports told us it was coming, so when we woke up to large snowflakes and bitterly cold temps we were excited. Since the roads were not iced over school was not cancelled which made the boys sad that they had to go to school instead of stay home and lounge around in their jammies. But the good news is, since school was not cancelled my hubby decided to take the day off from work (he works outside) and hang out with me! I know, I am one lucky gal! 

The snow was really coming down when I dropped the kids off at school.

We are so cool that on our date day without kids we thought we should go to Office Depot to get toner for our printer. It was so romantic :) And it was still snowing like crazy!

Eventually the snow slowed and then stopped altogether which made me incredibly sad. I really love the snow. Maybe it is because we rarely ever get it, whatever it is I know I love it. The last stop on our date day was to have an ice cold beer on this ice cold day. 

Isn't he amazing?! 

Winter, if you are reading this... please send more snow soon! 

easy one pan skillet lasagna

Good Morning!

I know it has been almost a month since I last posted. I really am a horrible blogger sometimes *sigh*, but I am hoping to change that starting today!

Lately I have been on the hunt for yummy new recipes that everyone will love. I know a great place to do this is Pinterest, so naturally that is where I am doing most of my hunting. There are tons of recipes that look delicious, but I am not sure if they would be appetizing to the boys or my meat-and-potatoes-kind-of-guy husband. I am all about whipping up something yummy, but I have really enjoyed one-pan meals and meals that can cook in the crock pot all day while I run errands or work around the house.

One of the ones that I found was a one-pan skillet lasagna from No. 2 Pencil. There were things about the recipe that I didn't like and a few things that I didn't have on hand or wanted to change, so I wanted to change it. This recipe is so easy and you can modify this recipe to what you have on hand or add different seasoning. It has tons of possibilities! Here is my modified version...

1 lb ground lean ground beef

1/2 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

26 oz box of Pomi chopped tomatoes

8 oz can tomato sauce

1.5 cups chicken stock

18 oz pkg (or 2- 9 oz ) Buitoni fresh four cheese ravioli

8 oz mozzerella chesse, grated

1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Fresh parsley

Cumin

Italian seasoning

Add small amount of oil to non-stick pan and sautee onions and garlic until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add ground beef and cook. Breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon while cooking. Once meat is cooked add tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken stock, cumin and italian seasoning. 

Mix together and add ravioli. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer over medium heat for 15-20 minutes. Sauce should have thickened and ravioli should be tender. Remove from heat and stir in cheese. Serve immediately.