Pickles!!

Happy Memorial Day weekend! I hope you are enjoying this time with some family or friends, or both!

My garden is coming along nicely, save for a few cucumber beetles that I've discovered. I thought they were weird-looking ladybugs, but upon further research found out that they are terrible pest! ACKK!! I have a plan to get ride of them which will be discussed in a future blog post - for now I am just hand-picking and killing, and I'm also using Neem oil about twice a week.

In spite of the bugs, I am getting a few cucumbers and zucchini.

While the cucumbers are still small I thought I'd try my hand at refrigerator pickles. I happened to catch an old episode of "Good Eats" called "American Pickle" and Alton came through for me again! It's a super-easy recipe, and I really only had to go buy a few ingredients. I had most of them already in my cabinet! Here's the full recipe:

1/2 onion, thinly sliced

2 medium cucumbers

4 whole garlic cloves, smashed

1 cup water

1 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup champagne vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsp. plus 2 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. whole mustard seeds

1/4 tsp. ground turmeric

1 tsp. celery seeds

1 tsp. pickling spice

I'll start by saying that the original recipe says to slice the cucumbers thinly - I did mine in about 1/4" pieces.

Place the cucumbers, onions and garlic in a glass jar, you can use regular canning jars or the spring-top kind.

Place the remaining  ingredients in a non-reactive pan (non copper or aluminum) and bring to a boil. Simmer for 4 minutes.

Carefully pour the pickling liquid over the vegetables, filling to the top of the jar. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate. Give the pickles a good 24 hours before you try them.

I thought these pickles were very good, and super crispy! I am going to try something different next time, I am going to trade the pickling spice for dill and see how that works. I hope you'll try these, and if you don't grow your own cucumbers, try visiting your local farmer's market. Don't know where it is? Try this link: www.localharvest.org

Have a great holiday tomorrow, and don't forget to thank someone you know in the military!!

Mark's Apricot Chicken

This is a super-easy recipe, and it happens to be a favorite of my husband's. I normally start it in a skillet and then bake it in the oven, but today my chicken wasn't quite thawed, so I decided to do it in the crock-pot. It still turned out GREAT! I really haven't made it very much the last few years because one of the ingredients (there are only 4 of them!) is Catalina dressing which has red dye in it. Now, it didn't occur to me to look since I was in a hurry, but there are recipes to make your own, and here is one of them: http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/1960s-Catalina-Dressing-33561

I don't know if Annie's or Newman's Own makes it, you can look.

ANYWAY, back to the recipe. Like I said about, there are only really 4 ingredients, and basically the outcome is a sweet and sour chicken. Here is how I made it today:

Place your chicken breasts in the slow cooker, you can sprinkle them with a little salt and pepper if you want, I used Tony Chacheres' cajun spice.

Cook on high for about 4-5 hours or until mostly done. Next mix the bottle of Catalina dressing, a jar of pure apricot jam or preserves, and most of a can of Durkee Fried Onions. Pour over the chicken and cook on low for about 45 more minutes.

Place in a serving dish, making sure you get all the sauce!!! Top with the remaining fried onions.

Okay, told you it was easy!!! lol

If you want to do it in the oven, I normally brown the chicken in a skillet first, then transfer to a baking dish and cook for about an hour depending on how big the chicken is. 

Mark prefers it served over rice, and for the two of us, we add tobasco or some other hot sauce to give it an extra kick. 

Enjoy!!!!

Spring gardening

Well, my garden has been in the ground since early March and I am starting to see the fruits of my labor. We added a fourth bed this year, and I planted a few new things this year. We have a full herb garden with Rosemary, Basil, Lime Basil, Oregano, Stevia, Chives, Parsley, Cilantro and garlic.

I have four tomato plants in a whiskey barrel, two are cherry and two are Roma varieties:

Our other beds have jalapenos, squash, cucumbers, red and yellow bell peppers, eggplant, okra and peas. This bed has our watermelon and cantaloupe - it seems underplanted but I promise it will be full of vines in no time!

Today I went to check on things and found a cucumber of pickling size!!

Here are our jalapeños and bell peppers.

Well, it's actually been a few days since I started this post, so we had a small harvest today. :)

I picked the 2 small cucumbers on purpose, I thought I'd try an experimental batch of refrigerator pickles. If the plants are any indication, I should have plenty to use all summer long!

Anyway, I guess that's all for now. I hope to be sharing picts and recipes all summer long. Happy gardening!

Low Carb Enchiladas

Hi everyone! Or should I say "Hi Mom!" since I know she is one person who actually reads this! lol Anyway, I ran across a recipe a few weeks ago for low carb enchiladas, and I finally got around to making them, sort of. I didn't really have everything for THAT recipe, but I know how to make enchiladas so I made them how I wanted to. Here is what I did:

For the "tortillas":

Separate 8 eggs, putting the yolks in a container in the fridge for later. Beat the whites with a little cumin and chili powder (about a dash of each) just until mixed.

Spray a small omelet pan with oil and heat to medium low. Pick up the pan and slowly pour a small amount (about 1/8) of the egg whites into the pan while carefully swirling it around so it is evenly distributed and forms a thin tortilla. Set back down on the burner and cook for about 2 minutes or until you see it start to pull away from the edge. 

Carefully flip it over (I was able to use my fingers, but be careful!!) and cook for another minute or so. Remove to a warm plate and continue to make the remainder. I was able to get 8 out of this, you can always make more if you need them.

For the filling, I just browned some ground beef with a little onion and seasoned it with garlic powder, chili powder, cumin and salt. Once it was drained I added about 1/4 cup of red enchilada sauce.

Now to assemble:

Spray a 9x12 baking dish and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Take a tortilla, fill with a small amount of meat, then some shredded cheese. I used a combo of sharp cheddar and monterrey jack, but use what you like. 

Roll up and place seam down in the baking dish. Repeat until all are filled. Cover with the rest of the enchilada sauce, and more shredded cheese.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the cheese is melted and starting to brown.

Serve with your choice of sour cream, fresh cilantro, sliced olives, jalapeños or salsa. ENJOY!

So there you have it. Once you know how to make the "tortillas" you can fill them with anything and make sour cream chicken enchiladas or your favorite veggie-filled enchiladas. Mark agreed with me that the egg "tortillas" reminded us of tempura battered chili rellenos, and the whole family thought they were delicious! I hope you give them a try.

The much anticipated recipe for Crock Pot Cream Cheese Chicken!

Hi, it's me again! I posted on FB the other night that I had made this recipe and got several requests for it. Unfortunately I didn't take photos to properly blog, but for now I'll post the recipe and then add in photos after I make it again.
I've realized that I have several recipes that are all versions of this, one was actually a shrimp recipe that I always make with chicken instead, one has white wine, some have different soups. So it's a very versatile recipe that you can play with. Below will be the original recipe as I found it, and I'll try to note where I go astray.


Cream Cheese Chicken


4 lbs chicken thighs, no skin (I use boneless chicken breasts)
2 tbsp butter or margarine, melted (I skip this part)
1 small pkg dry Italian Salad Dressing mix
2 tbsp chicken broth (I don't use)
1 lg onion, chopped (I don't use)
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup chicken broth (or white wine)
2 cloves minced garlic


Brush chicken with butter (or don't) and place in layers in a crockpot, sprinkling each layer with dry Italian dressing mix (I use about half the package). Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours (about 4-5 with breasts).
When chicken is ready, brown the onion in the 2 tsp of chicken broth. Add the remaining ingredients with the rest of the dressing mix and stir until smooth. (Since I don't use the onion I just microwave everything at half power to make the sauce.) Pour over the chicken in the crock pot and cook an additional 30-45 minutes.


You can serve over pasta or rice, I eat mine without. I also have been known to add in some sliced mushrooms. One of the skillet versions I have adds in broccoli and sun dried tomatoes - when making in the crock pot I'd add those with the sauce. Just try what you like and enjoy!!


I will try to take pictures the next time I make this. Please let me know if you make it and what you change!