December 23, 2024

Sweet and Sour Cucumber Salad

June 5, 2015 by

Sweet and Sour Cucumber Salad

Happy Summer!  Today was my daughter’s last day of school.  Memorial Day is in the past, and it’s quickly heating up.  That means it’s BBQ time!  Next cookout you go to—bring this Sweet and Sour Cucumber Salad.

This is an alternative to that played-out coleslaw.  Feel free to double or triple this recipe.  The cucumbers keep it light and crunchy.  You can adjust the balance of sweet to sour to suit your own taste.  I like this salad fresh, but the longer you leave it to mix and mature – up to two or three days – the more pickled and nuanced the flavors get.  Ready?  Let’s go!

Sweet and Sour Cucumber Salad

Ingredients:

  • 1 large cucumber (I like English in this recipe)
  • 1/2 sweet onion
  • 2 tablespoons vinegar – white or rice
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 4 tablespoons whole milk
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise, then slice into thin half-moons.  Place in a large bowl
  2. Slice the onion as fine as possible.  Add to the cucumber.
  3. Mix together the vinegar, sugar, and milk.  Taste, and add more of what you like, or leave it as-is.  Pour over the cucumber and onion.  Season with salt and pepper.  Keep refrigerated until ready to eat.  This is great the next day, and even more pronounced after two days.  Eat with spicy foods, BBQ’d meat, or really salty foods.

Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana

To view even more of Dana’s unique recipe, you can visit her at Frugal Girlmet!

 

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Baked Beans

July 4, 2014 by

Baked Beans resize Happy Independence Day!  I’m hoping you are able to celebrate with family and friends today.  What’s on the menu? One of my guilty food pleasures is a right-off-the-grill hot dog.  I know, not the most gourmet of foods, or the healthiest, but everything in moderation, right? And what goes better with hot dogs than baked beans?  Now you could just open a can of baked beans and plop them in a saucepan, but where’s the fun in that? Make your own!

Once I decided to do just that, I found my Mom’s recipe for baked beans.  That poor note card has seen better days, but its hard-used appearance proves what a popular recipe it is.
Baked Beans Recipe Card Mom resize
 
I didn’t have any canned white beans in the pantry, but I did have a one-pound bag of dried white beans. They take more preparation than canned beans (obviously – canned beans come out ready for use) but are worth the effort.  First, dried beans are cheaper than their canned cousins, because once you soak and rehydrate them, they double in weight. (Put another way, when you buy canned beans, you are paying for water.)  Second, you are avoiding any salt, preservatives, or chemicals in the canned beans, not to mention the chance of BPA in the can itself.
 
Anyway, I soaked the beans the night before, but they double in size, so I only used half. (You could freeze the rehydrated beans in a Ziploc bag and thaw them when you have another recipe for them.)  I used my Mom’s recipe as a jumping off point, and they were just as delicious as hers were.  I realized they don’t need to bake in the oven and are great on the stovetop—that way you won’t have to heat up your kitchen on a hot summer day to make them.  These are easy, cheap to make, and will impress everyone who has them.  Hearty, smoky, and fantastic, these put those  gloopy canned baked beans to shame!

Baked Beans

Ingredients:
  • 1/2 pound dried white beans, soaked overnight in 6 cups water (or use 2 cans of white beans, reserving some of the canning liquid)
  • 5 slices bacon, diced 
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 3/4 cup ketchup
  • 1 tablespoon mustard
  • 1/4 cup BBQ sauce (optional, but I like the smokiness – you could also try a few dashes of liquid smoke)
  • 1/4 cup molasses
  • 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
Directions:
  1. If you are using canned beans, skip to Step 2.  If you are using dried beans: Drain the water from the beans you soaked overnight. Put the beans in a pot, cover with about 4 cups of water and a lid, and cook over medium heat for about 2 hours. You don’t want to cook off all the water, so check in on them every once in a while. When they’re done, save about a cup of the cooking water to use in the baked beans, in case you like them a little “saucier” than I do.  
  2. In a Dutch oven or very heavy-bottomed pot, fry the bacon. When it’s about halfway to crunchy, add the onion. When the bacon looks done, add the beans. Turn the heat down to low and stir everything together for a few minutes.
  3. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine. Give it a taste and see if you need to adjust the seasonings. It likely won’t need salt, but you may like some pepper.
  4. Cover and cook on low heat for half an hour. Check the consistency – if it’s too thick, add some of the bean cooking water; too thin, take the lid off and let simmer.  Serve hot.
Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana

To view even more of Dana’s unique recipe, you can visit her at Frugal Girlmet!

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