Pickles!

I have to work on my "blog balance". I've been posting away over on my book blog, but I've been neglecting this blog. It could be because I haven't had a moment to do anything crafty.

I'm currently the UFO Challenge Queen over at Stashbuster, so I'm trying to finish the binding on a quilt. Hopefully I'll be able to post about that in the next day or so.

I also like cooking, so I tried to find a simple recipe that has been enticing me. I decided to try pickles. I feel like I've been seeing recipes frequently in the blogosphere. I have a daughter who loves to cook, and I tried to turn it into a Cooking with Kids moment, but pickles didn't excite her. Especially when I suggested pickling carrots. She thinks I'm weird.

I remember my grandmother making these with a bit of a kick. So I found a few recipes and riffed off of those. This was my first time making pickles, and I was rather surprised at how easy it was. I guess mine are considered refrigerator pickles since I didn't do any hot bath. I started with a small amount of brine that was supposed to be for two jars. but it wasn't enough for my big jars, so I had to make more.

Are you supposed to taste the brine? I didn't so I don't feel like I know how they will turn out. The brine smelled good, though. I sliced carrots into sticks, and added onion wedges and sliced red sweet peppers. It was easy and fun, and I think I'll experiment with different combinations of spices and different types of vinegars.

For more books about food and/or other foodie type discussions, visit Weekend Cooking.

Freezer Cooking

I was inspired by Money Saving Mom's days of freezer cooking, so I checked out this book from the library. I intend to buy it, but I went ahead and tried some recipes to see how it worked.

One great feature of this book is that some recipes involve cooking everything and then freezing and others, perhaps the majority?, are about putting the ingredients together and freezing. I chose six of the second type to try today.

While the book doesn't encourage marathon sessions, I had meat that I wanted to do something with before freezing. Following the recipe as written means getting three packages of the same item. Due to the size of my family, I would get two packages of the same thing. I chose to half the recipes that I used so that I could try more.

The result is that I ended up with six different entrees in an hour and a half. I think that's pretty awesome. All I will have to do is take an entree out of the freezer the night before and throw it in the oven when I get home (or put it in the crock post as I leave in the morning). By the time I check homework and make sides, dinner should practically be done.

I think I could get used to this.

Review: Fix, Freeze, Feast

I'm probably late to the party, but I just found Fix, Freeze, Feast. I've tried freezer cooking before, but I found myself tired of the same old thing, and I lost interest.

This book is full of recipes that sound interesting, and it contains tips for easing your way into the process. I don't currently have a membership in a warehouse club because I tended to allow things to go to waste. But these recipes sounded good enough to make me reconsider.

The book is divided into sections for Chicken, Beef Pork, Meatless, Sauces, and Breakfasts. Recipes are geared towards the purchase of  a large tray of meat at a warehouse club from which 3 meals are assembled. Since ingredients are mixed together and distributed among 3 freezer bags, you get three of the same meals. You could either serve the same meals 3 times that month or over three months. I like that several recipes have similar ingredients so that I can utilize bulk ingredients without a lot of leftovers.

For my family size, I would likely divide between two bags. For recipes that I want to test on my kids, I think I might divide in half and make one recipe the first time. I think I'll start with a couple of recipes and see what I think. Since I don't have a club membership, I'll go with what's on sale at my grocery store and work from there.