Homemade bread and butter pickles.

I know I say this pretty much every time I post something new, but it has been forever since I have posted anything on my blog. I feel bad about it because I had all these plans, but then things got crazy and super busy. I started college on a few week ago, which was crazy. It has been a long few weeks.

A few weeks ago, my grandma and I were searching for a good pickle recipe that would yield good, crunchy pickles. We had two cucumber plants, and I never knew how fast cucumbers produce until this summer. We had so many cucumber, so we thought we would make pickles. My family loves pickles. My grandma used to can pickles all the time. She'd do bread and butter, lime, and dill. However, her dill pickles never stayed crunchy, and usually ended up salty. We knew that we could make bread and butter pickles with some success. So, we did some searching for a relatively easy user-friendly recipe. And we, of course, found one. I have made three or four batches of these now and they are really amazing. My family loves them, and pretty easy to make, which is why I thought I would share them with you. 
Bonus: they only require a water bath to can, and they are required to be canned. They can be stored in the fridge. 
Good luck!

Bread and Butter Pickles

adapted from Surviving on a Teacher's Salary

Ingredients:
14 medium cucumbers
2 large onions, sliced
2/3 cups canning salt
6 cups sugar
2 tsp. Turmeric
1 tsp. whole cloves
2 1/2 Tbs. mustard seed
7 cups white distilled vinegar

Directions:

1. Cut unpeeled cucumbers thinly (I do a 1/4 or smaller, depending on the size of cucumber). Place sliced onions and cucumbers in a large pot. Mix in salt, evenly. 
2. Refrigerate for 3 hours. 
3.  Clean (sterilize) the jars, if canning.
4. After 3 hours, rinse salt off cucumbers and onions and drain. 
5. In a large pot, combine sugar, Turmeric, whole cloves, mustard seeds, and vinegar. Scald (a hard boil). Stir regularly. 
6. Add cucumbers and onions. Bring to boil and then remove from heat. 
7. If canning, spoon cucumbers into jars. Add the liquid to the jars covering the cucumber and leaving about 1/2 an inch of head space (just to the lip) in each jar. If you are not canning, just place in a container to store in the fridge. 
8. If canning, boil in a water bath for 25 minutes. Let cool for 24 hours. 
9. Serve and enjoy!

Even if you don't have any experience canning or pickling, I believe you can make these. The recipe is really straight forward. If you have any questions or just want to comment, please do. Thanks! 


                                                                                         Andrea 

 

Mini Bagel Pizzas.

I don't know about anyone else, but I sometimes I am at a loss to fun easy creative lunch ideas for the kiddos. Finding fun and easy lunches can be a challenge during the summer. I mean I don't mind putting a ton of effort in occasionally, but it is my summer vacation too. So if I can do as little as possible sometimes and still have yummy lunch then it's a win-win. 

I have two brothers and two sisters. My youngest brother is seven, and my youngest sister is eleven. They both love to help me in the kitchen, so I usually try to find a meal where they can make their own lunch creation. One that we just tried and made together was mini bagel pizzas. They were so easy and fun to make together. They are effortless, and the best part is the easy clean up.

I loved this lunch because the kids got to do all the work. All I had to do was put it in the oven and remove it from the oven. The very best thing was that the kids loved it, which made it all worth it.

Mini Bagel Pizzas

Inspired by my love of carbs, cheese, and smiles.

Ingredients:

Mini bagels (purchased from grocery store)

Cheese, such as mozzarella 

Pizza sauce 

Any other pizza topping desired

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray.
2. Slice each bagel in half. Top each bagel with sauce. Add toppings (Don't forget the extra cheese;the more the merrier).
3. Place on cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven 10-17 minutes or until cheese is melted (I always bake mine until bottoms are crispy because you don't want chewy pizza). 
4. Remove from oven. Allow to cool for a few minutes. Eat up and enjoy your hard work! 

Don't forget to let the kids decorate their pizzas. I remember as a child, I loved to make pizza. My friends and I would have pizza parties, where we would decorate pizzas. Those were the good ol' days. To be young and only have to worry about what you were going to top your pizza with. Anyway please enjoy your summer, and don't forget to stay cool with a sip the perfect sweet iced tea. 

Peace, love, bake on.

                                             Andrea 

                                                                       

                                     

Perfect Sweet Tea.

Well, I am officially a high school graduate. I graduated on the sunny day of May 18th. May was a month of joy and tears. I truly enjoyed my time in high school. However, I am ready to move on. I know that what comes ahead will require hard work and focus, but that doesn't deter me. My family and friends believe that I can succeed, and with hard work, focus, and their support, I know I can. 

April and May were both so busy. As soon as I was done with this huge event that I was coordinating with a friend was over with (which was a huge success), my friend and I had to plan our graduation party. We had about 3 weeks to plan and coordinate our graduation party. It was really tough to get invitations printed, addressed and sent out in time, but we managed. We made all our decorations, which were so cute (I'll have to find some pictures). As soon as that was over, I had all this graduation things to attend to, and, of course, FINALS. That part of the May was relatively stressful, but it's over and I have graduated.

Now it's summer. I can sit back and enjoy the breeze and let my skin soak up some sun-- that is if I put on sunscreen SPF 100. While soaking up the sun and enjoying the breeze, I will take a nice cooling sip of iced sweet tea. Just thinking of iced tea is refreshing. 
Ever take a drink of a tea, and it just isn't all that smooth? Well, I have found the secret ingredient to solve this very serious problem-- baking soda. A pinch of baking soda will give this sweet tea an extra smooth finish, making everyone come back for more. Baking soda really makes all the difference.

Sweet Tea 
adapted from No. 2 Pencil 

Ingredients:

3 family-sized teas bags or 10 regular sized tea bags
4 cups boiling water
12 cups cool water (such as tap water or filtered)
1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar (I add 1 1/4 cups)
1/4 tsp. baking soda

Directions:

1. Sprinkle baking soda into bottom of pitcher. Add tea bags to pitcher. 
2. Pour boiling water into pitcher. If there is a lid for the pitcher place it on the pitcher. Allow to steep for 10-12 minutes (I do 11 minutes). 
3. After steeping, add sugar. Stir until sugar is dissolved completely. 
4. Pour in remaining 12 cups of water and stir one last time. 
5. Serve in cups with ice. Enjoy. 

*Tips: Store tea in refrigerator. After a few days sometimes the tea becomes dark and has a harsh after taste. I have found that to refresh the tea, I just add a couple cups of water.

Please enjoy this recipe! It really does make really amazing tea. My sister hates sweet unless I make it. This secret really does make all the difference. But it's called a secret ingredient for a reason, so SSSHHHH! It's a secret. Anyway sit back and take a sip of the perfect sweet tea. Happy summer. 

Peace, love, bake on.

                                          Andrea