Most Amazing Homemade Pickles Ever!

I think I might need to rename this blog, if I decide I need to maintain it.  This post should start out like so many others- "Hey!  Look what I found on Pinterest and tried!"  I haven't posted in over a year but that doesn't mean that I haven't been trolling on Pinterest trying everything that seems like I might be able to pull off.

I have always had dreams of being one of those people who can grow a garden and can their own food.  Every year I start out with the best intentions and my garden grows good for a while.  Then it needs watering and I forget and everything dies OR I do great with the watering until school starts up, everything goes to seed and we don't end up eating what we grew.  Oh well, maybe one summer everything will come together how it is supposed to.

I found this amazing pickle recipe on Pinterest.  These pickles are absolutely perfect and they taste just like Claussens.  They aren't actually canned, just refrigerated in jars- which is a total bonus as well because I'm not sure I have the canning thing down.

This is the second year I have made them and the first time I tried to make relish.  I get everything I can at the local Farmer's market, because I can't grow anything I will actually eat.  The first year I made these, I had extra brine and I didn't want to waste it.  I had purchased some fresh onions along with everything else that morning so I decided to make pickled onions.  Umm, HELLO!  SO freaking yummy!  So now I make the onions every year too.

If you love pickles, you definitely need to try this recipe.  It is very easy to follow and doesn't need to be tweaked at all.  You will definitely be glad you did!

Healthy Alternative for Tortillas

I love me some tortillas but while trying to eat healthier,  they just don't make the grade.  Yes, they have the healthier versions, but they taste like paperboard to me.  So I fixed that problem, I make my "tortillas" out of egg whites.

I really stink at separating egg yolks and whites, so I cheat and buy the little carton of eggs whites.  I heat the non-stick pan and pour just enough egg whites to cover the bottom and I cook them on low until the top is almost solid as well.  The edges will most likely start peeling away from the sides when it is ready to turn.  I shake the pan to loosen the eggs and do the in the air flip to cook the other side.

When they are done, I let them cool and store them in the fridge.  They are good cold with lunchmeat wrapped in them, or use them to make your breakfast burritos.  They can even make a cold omelet on the go.

If you are a follower of the Point Plus system, using 2-3 egg whites will result in a points value of 1.  Works for me!

One piece of advice:
 Do NOT add anything to the egg whites while they are cooking.  They will not hold together very well.  Add everything to the inside after they are cooked.

Cleaning Stove Top Drip Pans....

I found this idea on Pinterest in a very round about way.  I was looking further into the blog where I found the Carpet Spot Cleaner and I found a link to The V Spot and her exceptional way of cleaning cooked on crap off of your stove top drip pans.

Of course I forgot to take pictures, but when I do it again I will update this post with photos!

Take your drip pans, put them in plastic zip top (not zipper/slider top) baggies.  Add a bit of ammonia, seal them up, and let them sit for 12-24 hours.  You don't need to soak them, it is the fumes that gets the crud off.

I put mine in bags yesterday after dinner.  I put them on the enclosed porch, in case they leaked I didn't want the smell in the house, and I let them sit until this afternoon.  I opened the bags and removed the cast iron burner things and the drip pans and scrubbed ever so slightly and almost everything peeled right off.  Mine weren't perfectly clean but it was below freezing last night outside so I'm thinking it didn't work as well as it could have had the bags been warm in the slightest bit.

My plan is to do this again this summer and let them sit in the sun all day to heat up, I'm thinking this will activate the fumes much better than the cold.  I will let you know how that goes when I do it again.

In any case, my stove top is much cleaner and I didn't have to use much elbow grease.  A success in my book!

Thanks to The V Spot and One Good Thing by Jillee

Snowman Themed Day

We got quite a bit of snow recently and decided that we needed to build a snowman. My older daughter had a the great idea of building a snowman family. Needless to say we got started immediately.

While the rest of the family was putting the finishing touches on the family I went in the house and decided to continue the snowman building of my own. Using hamburger buns, spaghetti sauce, cheese, tomatoes, and turkey (we didn't have pepperoni or ham). I baked them on our pizza oven and there you have the perfect winter lunch!

Salad in a Jar

Two week old lettuce washed and packed on the same day- one in a plastic container the other in a vacuum-sealed jar.

I found this idea on Pinterest and I knew I had to try it. I have been trying to eat better but it seems that the better I try to eat, the harder it is for me to pack a healthy lunch. I don't have time every night to make a new salad and it seemed like if I packed them for the entire week, then on Friday they were just nasty. So when I found this idea, I was all for it. It works SO well!

I clean an entire package of 6 heads of Romaine Lettuce that I get from Costco (less than $5.00). I cut it with a plastic lettuce knife (highly recommended, it keeps the lettuce from browning so fast), spin it dry in the salad spinner, and package it into the jars.

The picture above has grated carrot in the bottom of the jars. I have tried vacuum-sealing the lettuce with broccoli and grape tomatoes but both of those get really gross by the end of the second week. So for now I'm sticking with carrots in the jars.

Once the lettuce is in the cleaned jars, I place the flat lid (without the ring) on the top of the jar and attach the Food Saver Wide Mouth Jar Attachment over the flat lid. I turn on the Food Saver and let it do it's work. I usually leave mine on anywhere from 30 seconds to one minute. When I take the attachment off, I check for a good seal by pulling on the flat lid gently. I then screw the ring onto it and put it in the fridge. From cleaning to last jar in the fridge is about 30-40 minutes; not bad for 2 weeks worth of healthy lunches.

In my experience as long as the lettuce is fairly fresh, the jars can last about two weeks. Each night, I add a small container of bacon bits, dressing, and other pre-cleaned veggies to my lunch bag and assemble in seconds the next day at lunch. I throw all the parts of the jar into the dishwasher.

There is nothing like a homemade lunch that didn't take forever to make!

Thank you Salad in a Jar!

Waffle Maker

What the heck are you supposed to do with a Waffle Maker anyway? I know the most obvious answer is, "Make waffles?" But how often do you use them to make waffles anyhow? We buy the cheap knockoff Eggo's from Costco and call it good. The kids love waffles and I'm not mixing up batter everyday.

I own one, and recently it got placed in the "Garage Sale" pile that I am making in hopes of actually having a sale next summer. A few days later, I pulled the waffle maker out of the pile because my parents (who gave me the maker when they were done with it) are coming for Christmas and are going to use the waffle maker for the one time this year.

Then I remembered watching an episode of Rachel Ray, where they were asking themselves the same question. They came up with the idea of putting refrigerated pizza dough with some spices into the hot maker and making foccia bread. We tried it and it was good. We added some sauce and cheese and put it on the pizza oven (we have too many kitchen gadgets) and it was pretty good. We then promptly forgot about doing that again, until now.

But back to the original question, what else can you do with a waffle maker? Last night, I got to thinking, "What a great way of making French Toast!" We are going to try making French Toast Waffles tomorrow morning and see how the kids like them. I'm thinking I might be able to sneak *some* healthy in under the egg layer and syrup and the kiddos will never know. I will let you know how it goes.

**UPDATE**

Ok, we made the French Toast Waffles and they were super yummy. We actually made them two days in a row, since we had company for breakfast this morning.

I just took a few eggs and a dash of milk and whisked it together. I dipped the bread in it and threw it into the hot waffle maker until it looked done. It was fabulous.

After telling my mom what my plans for the French Toast Waffles were, she told me that she had seen a show one time that put thawed from frozen, hash brown potatoes that had been pressed between paper towels to remove water, added a dash of olive oil and put them in the hot waffle maker. Yummy, cripsy hash browns in half the time!