Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Tasty Tuesday....

woke up feeling like the truck ran over me... mmm neck troubles... so laid low for awhile...

those pickled onions just couldn't wait for me... soooooo up i got.. turned on the canner and got cracking... i now have 3 beautiful pint jars of pickled onions... yum yum...
here's the recipe if your interested...



Ingredients

5 lbs silver skin onions ( i only had enough for 3 pints)
1 cup pickling salt
4 cups granulated sugar
4 cups white vinegar
2 tablespoons whole allspice, spices

Directions
1 In a large pot, add onions, cover with boiling water and let cool.
2 Peel and discard skins and water.
3 Rinse onions and return to pot.
4 Sprinkle onions with pickling salt.
5 Cover onions again with boiling water and let stand for 24 hours.

6 Drain and reserve salted water.
7 Rinse onions with cold water and return to cooking pot.
8 In a separate pot, bring reserved salted water to a boil.
9 Pour over onions.
10 Repeat this same process for another 2 full days.

11 At the beginning of the 4th day, drain and discard water.
12 Rinse onions thoroughly.
13 In a cooking pot, add sugar, vinegar and spices that are wrapped in a cheese cloth and boil for 2 mins.
14 Pour this liquid over the onions.
15 Cover and let sit for 24 hours.

16 Drain off liquid, save and reheat.
17 Pour this liquid over the onions again.
18 Repeat this process for a total of 3 days, which is now the 6th day.

19 On the 7th day, which is the last day, drain and reserve the liquid.
20 Wash onions thoroughly.
21 Reheat the reserved liquid.
22 Prepare and sterilize jars.
23 Fill jars with onions and pour the hot liquid over the onions in the jars to within 1/4 inch of the top.
24 Wipe tops of rims very clean.
25 Place prepared lids on top and screw on screw lids just finger tight.
26 Place jars in a hot bath in a canner and boil for 5 minutes.
27 Remove from bath and place on a towel.
28 Cover with another towel to cool.
29 Jars are sealed when the tops"pop" and are concave, (turned down.).
30 Wipe jars clean, lable and store in a cool, dry place.


yum yum...

i figured that now the weather has broken and no longer blazing hot that a good baked dinner was needed... so made a delicious veggie casserole...

the basis is any veggies you have in your fridge, cupboard or garden... chopped and sauteed in olive oil, with a chopped onion and 3 or 4 cloves of garlic... throw on some leftover cheese or sauce and bake...

for today i had
1 onion
3 or 4 cloves of garlic
couple of potatoes
zucchini
green beans
celery
carrot
eggplant
spinach

fresh tomatoes
canned tomatoes

i put the canned tomatoes on the bottom, added a layer of eggplant, then the sauteed veggies, added a layer of some leftover pesto sauce, some slices of fresh tomato and topped it off with some leftover mozzarella and some other hard cheeses..
and baked for 350 till bubbly and browned.....

well i think that the dreaded 'fall' is on the way... i saw geese in formation and some of the maple leaves are starting to turn.... and it's chilly and raining hard... sighhhh
seems like summer just got here.. 2 weeks of warm and poof, it's rained away....