Grandma's Dill Pickles
Ingredients
- 11 cups water
- 5 cups white vinegar
- 1 cup canning salt
- 12 pounds pickling cucumbers, quartered or halved lengthwise
- 9 dill sprigs or heads
- 18 garlic cloves
- 18 dried hot chilies
Sides and Salads
Peach Salsa
Ingredients
For the Salsa
- about 10 to 12 large peaches
- Juice from two limes or ½ cup 5% vinegar
- ½ cup honey
- 1 large and 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped (use more if you like hot and spicy)
- 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 4 tablespoons of cilantro, chopped
Applesauce Fruit Blends
To prepare for canning, I heat 5 pint/500 ml mason jars in boiling water and left them in the hot water until ready to be filled. The sealing discs and ring bands were also warmed in a small pot of boiling water and left in the hot water until ready to use.
Peaches in Vanilla Syrup
Makes about 10 pint jars or 4 quart jars
1 teaspoon ascorbic acid mix, or 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar
8 pounds peaches, freestone preferably because your life will be easier : )
4 cups sugar (This seemed like a lot to me, so I cut it down to 3 cups)
2 vanilla beans, split, each piece cut into inch-size pieces
Prepare the peaches…
Fill a large bowl with cold water and stir in the ascorbic acid mix/lemon/vinegar.
Blackberries
Blackberries I prefer to raw pack. Take whole,stemmed,cleaned blackberries and fill into hot mason jars. Ladle a light sugar syrup (3 cups of water to every cup of sugar) into each jar, leaving a ½-inch headspace. Wipe off the top of each jar, and seal with a lid and ring. Place jars into a boiling water bathcanner and process pints and quarts for 15 min. When processing is over, remove hot jars, place on a padded surface, and wait for them to seal overnight. Clean and store in cool dark place.
Blackberry Applesauce
Yield: 7 half-pint jars
Cook Time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
5 pounds apples (a mixture of sweet apple varieties, such as Gala, Fuji, Rome, Golden Delicious, or Pink Lady will make the best applesauce)
1 lemon, juiced (about 3 tablespoons)
1/4 to 1/2 cup granulated sugar (more or less to taste)
8 ounces (2 cups) fresh or frozen blackberries
Mexican Street Corn
5 ears fresh corn, husked
For the Spread:
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons sour cream
Juice from one lime
For the Topping:
1/4 cup grated Cotija cheese
1 teaspoon smoked paprika (or chili powder if you want heat)
Soak 5 wooden skewers in water for 30 minutes. Pierce a skewer halfway into the bottom of each corn cob.
Preheat the grill to medium heat (between 350-450 degrees F).
Place the corn directly over the heat, cover and let cook for 10 to 15 minutes, turning often, until the kernels are spotted brown.
Chipotle Scalloped Potatoes
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup half-and-half
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 canned chipotle chile in adobo sauce
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 1/2 cups whipping cream
- Vegetable cooking spray
- 3 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/8-inch slices
Potatoes Patio
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 3/4 teaspoons table salt
- 1 garlic clove, pressed
- 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 3 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
- 2 cups freshly grated Gruyère cheese
- 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Tasty Tex-Mex Mashed Potato Bake
Ingredients
- 4 pounds baking potatoes
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 1/4 cups warm buttermilk
- 1/2 cup warm milk
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 (4.5-oz.) can chopped green chiles
- 1 1/4 cups (5 oz.) shredded pepper Jack cheese
- 1/2 cup finely chopped cooked chorizo sausage