Summer is just about over. We have plans to go to Hiawassee this weekend for some great food, family, friends, pickin and grinnin. It is the last big hooha of the year up there and due to age and health issues of my uncle it may just be the last one ever.
I have to decide what dish I am going to take and while I was browsing around I thought perhaps you might need to make the same kind of decision for a hooha that you are going to attend this weekend. So, I though I would bring to you a list of my 5 favorite summer dishes, since this is the last blowout of the summer and all.
1.) Spaghetti Salad
This dish is super easy to make, feeds a lot of people and is delicious. It also has a “light feel” to it and can be served warm or cold. That makes it the perfect dish to carry to any hooha you attend. Also, it only has 5 ingredients so it is economical to boot.
Another favorite in our house and to take on the road. Again, 5 ingredients, easy to make but it has to be kept cold. Light, refreshing and ohhh so good.
It is getting harder and harder to find Vidalia’s. They are only here for a short time so we have to take advantage while we can. If you can still get your hands on a few, grab them and make this pie! I promise, you will groan at the goodness.
This was one of my Granny’s favorites. You could always count on her having a bowl full in her refrigerator when you went to visit in the summer. It just evokes fond memories of sitting on the front porch snacking away…that it’s good doesn’t hurt either.
5.) Kool-Aid Pie
What can I say? Great dessert. Easy to make. 4 ingredients. And you can make it any flavor that you want.
All of these recipes are from the earlier days of The Post-It Place so none of them have photos. I need to go back and rectify that for ya’ll one of these days. I can promise that they won’t disappoint though. So, get out from behind the computer screen, quit worrying about Forex trading software and enjoy the last remaining days of summer with some family, friends and some good food!
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I like pickles, but if you offer me a jar of my Aunt Ruth’s pickles…I hide them. Seriously. I sit in a dark corner where no one else can see and eat just one. Then I hide the jar again. They are a precious commodity. One that isn’t shared in abundance and is extremely hard to come by. You are only offered one jar each year. ONE jar. You have to make it last and I don’t care how much you love your spouse and kids…this is the one thing you just don’t want to share. ONE jar, that’s it. That equals out to about 24 pickles. That is 2 per month. That is all you get and if you decide to share they are gone in one week. They have been known to be gone in one day.
If you are really, really lucky your Mom lives next door and you can sneak over to her house when she isn’t home and eat a pickle out of her jar of Aunt Ruth’s pickles. At her house you have to be careful though. Their have been known to be imitations in her refrigerator. You have to know the difference or else open every jar of homemade pickles and take a sample till you find the right jar. Not that I would ever do such a thing mind you.
This year, I decided that I would take Aunt Ruth’s recipe and try my hand at making my own pickles and hope like the dickens they turn out like hers.
I had a couple of issues right off though. First, I couldn’t find fresh dill…ANYWHERE. And I looked, and looked, and looked. I went to 14 different grocery stores. I went to the Mennonite’s. I asked everyone I knew to ask. I ended up using dill seed since I wasn’t ever able to find the fresh stuff.
The next issue is that I was unsure of what to do about one of the instructions in her recipe…you will see, because I am going to write it exactly as she did. I wish I had a portable xerox phaser 8560. That way I could just go in a copy all of her recipes….
RUTH’S KOSHER DILL PICKLES
1 mess small cucumbers (as many as you have)
2 quarts vinegar
2 quarts water
1 1/2 cups Kosher Salt
1 head Dill Weed for each jar
1/2 tsp Alum for each jar
1 clove fresh garlic for each jar
Wash the cucumbers. Mix the water, vinegar, salt and alum* and bring to a boil.
*This is where I had a little bit of a problem. I wasn’t sure how many jars my cucumbers would make so I estimated. My guess is that she can probably look and know how many jars she is going to make but I am not at that level yet.
Using hot quart jars, put 1 head dill weed and 1 clove of garlic into each jar. Pack with cucumbers. Fill each jar with the boiling mixture and seal each jar with a hot lid and ring.
That is all there is to her recipe. And I made 12 jars. I would really like to have made 52 jars. That is a jar a week. Then I might would be open to sharing. Might be, mind you…I didn’t say I definitely would. Ok, so I would and I will. But when I get my jar from Aunt Ruth this Christmas, I am still going to hide that one.
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I spent today making Salsa. I am loving all of the great stuff that I have been able to make and put up this year thanks to all of the tomatoes that great friends and family have gifted me with. There is just nothing better than going to the cabinet on a cold dreary day and pulling out something that reminds you of sunshine and warmth.
And this is definite warmth!
The Salsa Recipe:
18 tomatoes
1/4 c.vinegar
2 onions finely chopped
1TBSP salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
2 cups peppers (I used 1 cup of mild and 1 cup of medium and just 1 hot pepper)
1/4 c. chopped cilantro
1 1/2tsp. chili powder
2 TBSP lime juice
I drop my tomatoes in boiling water and then put them in ice water to make them easy to peel. I then squeeze out any excess liquid and throw them in the food processor but you can dice them really fine, then simply combine all of the ingredients together. Let it sit in the refrigerator overnight. The next day bring the batch to a boil then put in pint jars. Place your jars in a pan of water and let boil for 20 minutes, this seals the lids. It’s that easy!
My pictures of food never show the true color no matter how hard I try. Especially if it is red. Maybe I need some floodlights in my kitchen or something. I took about 20 pictures just to get this one half way decent. If you make the salsa it will be a bright red. All of my photos look either orange or burgundy.
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This has been a crazy busy week around here…and it just keeps getting better! Monday I had the privileged of going to my Aunt Ruth’s house and helping in the Chow Chow making process. Now, let me tell you a little about Aunt Ruth. She is in her 80’s and has more energy than me and you put together. She has a huge garden every year and cans hundreds upon hundreds of jars of home grown goodness. Her sense of humor and fun are unrivaled by anyone else I know. In other words…we might have gone to work, but like always it was more fun than work.I came home with a big mess of tomatoes, several home-grown cantaloupes and some freshly made chow chow.
And just look at her canned goods room:
That is only one section of one wall! This stuff you can’t buy in a store with coupons. It is home grown, home canned, home goodness!
The first step, which happens to be the biggest is to get everything chopped up. Sandra (in the back) is chopping the green tomatoes. Mallory is chopping the bell peppers and I was in charge of chopping the onions. It got me a little teary-eyed.
Ruth had gotten up early that morning and peeled all the green tomatoes that go into making the chow chow. Once we all arrived and got the assembly line going it went pretty fast. See, that is the thing about canning, gather up a couple of family members and friends and you can make a party out of it.
Once you get your green tomatoes and your onions all chopped up your going to add some salt and cook for about 20 minutes. Once all it is finished cooking you have to drain it really good before you add all the other ingredients. After you have drained it you are going to add in the peppers:
Make sure you stir it all up really good and then add in the celery seed, vinegar and sugar:
Now that all the ingredients are in you are going to cook it for about 20 minutes making sure to stir often.
Pack the Chow Chow into hot jars and seal with hot lids and rings.
Chow Chow is great with any kind of beans or peas or greens. And of course you can’t forget the cornbread!
The recipe:
1 gallon green tomatoes
1 dozen onions
6 green bell peppers
6 red bell peppers
2 hot pepper (optional)
3 lbs. sugar
1 quart white vinegar
1 TBPS celery seed
1/2 cup salt
Peel the tomatoes and onions, chop them both ( I use a food processor). Mix together and add a 1/2 cup of salt and cover with water. Cook for 20 minutes and then drain well. Then add the chopped peppers, celery seed, sugar and vinegar. Cook for 20 minutes. Pack into clean hot jars and seal with hot lids and rings.
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