Recipe for the Day

[Lucky]

Refrigerator Pickled Beets

Recipe yields 1 QT of liquid/brine
Fills 3 tightly packed PINT jars
About an hour, start to finish.

Originally from whatscookingamerica.net, modified by me and I added the brand names of ingredients I use. This is not a canning recipe so it does not require canning equipment, just clean jars and some refrigerator space. Be sure to use apple cider, not white, vinegar.

You will need:

1 medium red onion, cut in wide/thick strips
6 large beets (or about 10 medium beets)
2 cups apple cider vinegar (I use Bragg organic, raw, unfiltered)
2 cups water
1 and 1/8 cup Sugar in the Raw natural cane sugar (or use 2 cups white granulated sugar)
4 garlic cloves, sliced in half
2 clean pint jars with lids

1) Wash beets with a vegetable brush and cut leaves off. Cook using preferred method until tender. I half and boil them until they are really soft, this usually takes a good 35 minutes. Another method is to oven roast, instructions online.

2) Strain and allow beets to cool enough to handle. Peel the skin off with hands or use paring knife to assist. Beet juice stains very easily so wipe splatter off kitchen appliances/counters immediately. You might also wear gloves but they don’t stain your hands for too long, if at all.

3) Prepare the brine: In a large pan, bring apple cider vinegar, water, sugar, and garlic cloves to a boil. Stir until sugar melts. Turn off heat and allow to cool while loading jars.

4) Cut peeled beets into pieces you can easily get out of your jars with a fork- any size or shape will do. Load jars with beets and raw onion. Take garlic out of brine and divide evenly into jars.

5) Pour warm brine over beets, leaving about one inch of head space between brine and rim of jar. Allow jars to cool to room temperature before adding lids and storing in refrigerator.

They are ready in 5-7 days and are safe in the fridge for at least two months. If you like vinegar, or pickled anything, these won’t last long in your house. Beets and onion excellent on their own and amazing on salads. A small cold beet salad can be made by simply tossing a few cups of beets with feta cheese and slices of either banana pepper or chopped green onion. When beets are gone, don’t toss brine immediately- instead, boil 4 or 5 eggs. Drop cool, peeled eggs in brine. Put the lid back on, store in fridge about 5 days. Amazing.

[Lucky]

Refrigerator Pickled Asparagus
Recipe yields about 3 cups of brine
Fills 1 tightly packed Quart jar (Note: picture shows 3 jars, recipe is for one.)
30 minutes, start to finish.

Originally from foodpreservation.about.com, modified by me and I added the brand names of ingredients I use. This is not a canning recipe so it does not require canning equipment, just clean jars and some refrigerator space. Be sure to use apple cider, not white, vinegar.

You will need:
1 bunch (roughly 40 spears of fresh asparagus)
2 and 1/4 cups water
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar (I use Bragg organic, raw, unfiltered)
1 and 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon Sugar in the Raw natural cane sugar
3 cloves garlic, peeled and cut in half
1 and 1/2 teaspoons Ball Mixed Pickling Spice*
1 clean quart jar with lid

(*Original recipe calls for 2 sprigs fresh dill, 1 tsp whole mustard seed, and 1/2 tsp whole black peppercorns. I tried that once, it’s great, but then I discovered Ball’s Mix. Whoa. It has these three plus: cardamom, cassia, ginger, coriander, all spice, chili pepper, cloves, and bay leaves. So good.)

1) Wash asparagus and cut/trim to fit in your selected jar. If jar tapers at all up towards the lid, cut some shorter and really pack them in the widest part of jar.

2) Remove asparagus from jar and blanch. (Drop vegetable in boiling water for 20-30 seconds. Remove with tongs and drop immediately in a bowl of ice water. Allow it to sit in water 30-45 seconds. Remove with tongs, set on a plate.)

3) Prepare brine: In a large pan, bring water, apple cider vinegar, salt, and sugar to a boil. Stir a little and remove from heat as soon as salt and sugar have dissolved.

4) Load jar with raw garlic and your chosen spice blend. Lay jar on its side and load asparagus in before standing it upright again. Pour warm brine into jar, leaving about an inch of headspace. Allow jar to cool to room temp before adding lid and storing in fridge.

These are ready in about 5 days, but they’re even better in 14 days. Stores in fridge at least 3 months before the texture starts to change. They are good alone, on salads, as a side dish with brisket or freshwater fish, and go great in a Bloody Mary.

[Irving]

Rabbit

After field dressing and skinning, let brine in salt water for a few hours.
Separate the front half from the back half by cutting just behind the last rib. From there you can cut off the legs and you are left four legs, the shoulders, and the saddle. I think people use the shoulders for stew.
I cut along the spine to separate the saddle meat into two boneless sections that end up like small chicken breasts.
Heat oil in a pan.
While the oil is heating, dry all the cuts of meat with a paper towel and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Roast the rabbit in the oil like you would chicken.
Eat.

[theGinsue]

Been making this for years and it's always a holiday & potluck favorite. I got the recipe from my grandmother back in the early 80's.

Orange Tapioca Salad

Ingredients
2 small packages Vanilla Tapioca Pudding
2 2/3 cup water
1 small (0.3 oz) package Orange Gelatin (Jell-O)
1 - 11 oz can Mandarin Oranges - chunked up (keep juice)
1 - 8 oz can Crushed pineapple (must be the crushed kind, not chunked; keep juice)
1 pint Whipped Topping (Cool Whip)

Directions
Put the tapioca pudding in a pan and add water. Cook on Medium heat until thick (stirring regularly).

Remove from heat and add chunked up mandarin oranges (plus juice), pineapple (plus juice), and orange Jell-O (works better if you evenly pour the gelatin mix across the surface of the mixture versus just dumping it on top).

Stir well & ensure the Jell-O is fully blended (no chunks). Refrigerate for about 1/2 hr to help cool the mixture.

When the mixture begins to jell and has cooled significantly, fold in the whipped topping.

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or until set.

[theGinsue]

And now for something completely different: (aka, Let's see who reads this thread)

Homemade Ballistics Gel

Let's face it, most of us don't have $400 or more to plop down on a chunk of ballistics gel like you see on T.V., but would love to try it out. While still not cheap, per se, you can make your own ballistics gel at home for less than $100.

What you'll need:

• Stove
• Refrigerator
• Shoebox sized plastic food storage container(s) for your mold(s)
• Pan large enough to hold your mixture which you'll later pour into your mold(s)
• Kitchen sink (no, really)
• Kitchen cooking thermometer
• Water
• Non-flavored gelatin powder

This will be messy to make AND to clean up, and you definitely don't want to get any of the mix on your stove burner or you'll never hear the end of it from your roommate(s) or significant other. Another drawback is that you'll be lucky to get two shots out of this block. If you'll be shooting it with a high-powered rifle/caliber, you'll need to use 2 or even 3 blocks of these gel blocks placed end-to-end.

Essentially, the best recipe for mixing this up is to add 1 cup of water to 1 ounce of non-flavored Knox brand (or similar) gelatin.

First, get your mold. Before you start mixing the ingredients, measure exactly how much liquid (water) your mold can hold. This will tell you how much gelatin you'll need (based on the 1 cup/1 oz recipe above). Pre-measure your gelatin.

Next, put the measured amount of COLD TAP WATER into your pot then stir in your pre-measured gelatin until all of the clumps are thoroughly stirred in. Place this pot in the refrigerator for 2 hours to allow the gelatin to "bloom".

Now, fill your sink (I told you you'd need this) with HOT TAP WATER - allowing enough space for the displacement caused by your pot - remove your pot from the refrigerator and place it into this hot water bath. This will slowly heat the gel to create a liquid. Once your gel is liquid, remove the pot from the sink and place on the stove. You need to SLOWLY HEAT the liquid on low to medium heat until the gelatin is completely melted. DO NOT allow this mix to go over 130 degrees F. Once the gelatin is completely melted, remove the pot with your mixture from the stove and carefully pour the gelatin mixture into your mold(s).

Lastly, let your gelatin set up overnight in the mold(s) and THEN place the molds in the refrigerator in the morning & leave it for AT LEAST 24 hours. DO NOT freeze the gel or let it to get too hot or you'll ruin the whole batch.

Now that all of the work is done, get out and shoot and have some fun blasting your homemade ballistics gel.

[Obligatory disclaimer/notice: While the write-up is my take on the original article, this recipe was originally printed in the Jan/Feb 2015 edition of the Rocky Mtn. Elk Foundation's Bugle magazine.]

[theGinsue]

Wilted Lettuce Salad

Prep 10m
Cook 10m
Ready In 20m
This wilted salad is lightly coated with a delectable warm dressing."

Ingredients
5 slices bacon
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 head leaf lettuce - rinsed, dried and torn into bite-size pieces
6 green onions with tops, thinly sliced

Directions
Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Remove from skillet, crumble and set aside.
To the hot bacon drippings, add the vinegar, lemon juice, sugar and pepper. Stir over medium heat until hot.
In a large bowl, combine the lettuce and green onions. Add the warm dressing and toss to evenly coat. Sprinkle with bacon and serve.

[Ah Pook]

Chorizo Olive Lasagna

Sauce
3 Nuevo Mexican chilies
3 Chipotle chilies
3 Ancho chilies
3-4cups Water to cover dried chilies
½ White onion
3 Cloves garlic, chopped
Salt to taste
1/2tsp Cumin

Place dried chilies in a pan and cover with water. Simmer on med. heat for 20-30 minutes or til chilies are soft.

Remove chilies from pan (save water) and pull off stems and seeds if desired. Add chilies, onions, garlic, cumin and salt to a blender. Add 2-3 cups of the chili water or chicken stock (if water is bitter). Add puree back to pan and simmer for 30 minutes. Add more water if needed.



Filling
1lb Chorizo sausage
3 New potatoes
1½ White onion
½ Olives, sliced

Preheat oven to 350˚.

In a skillet add chorizo, onions and potatoes. Cook over med. heat til sausage is crisp. Add olives at the end.



Tortillas
12-14 Corn tortillas
Canola oil
8-10oz of Monterey Cheddar mixture

Heat about ½” of oil in a skillet til it ripples. Add tortillas and cook til just chewy (not crispy).


In a 9x13 pyrex pan, 1^st a layer of tortillas. Next spread some sauce, filling and cheese. Repeat. Top with sauce, olives and cheese.

Bake 20-20 minutes or until warm and bubbly. Serve hot.

[Jonsey]

I am pretty sure you guys are better cooks than most of the ladies I know.

[Jonsey]

Good bump. Anyone have a good sauerkraut recipe?

Take a green cabbage and slice or grate it. Put the shreds in a big bowl and toss it with a liberal amount of unrefined sea salt. Don't worry, if you over salt it, you can rinse some off. I just taste it when I am done. It should be nice and salty, but not way too salty. The salt will cause the water to start leaching out of the cabbage. Let it sit for a while until you start seeing the water separate. Then put all the cabbage and the liquid into a fermentation crock or a large mason jar. Weigh your cabbage down with a fermentation weight...or a really clean rock...so all the cabbage is submerged. You may have to beat it down with the handle of a wooden spoon to achieve this. Pack it in tight. If enough water doesn't come out to cover the cabbage, you can just add a little filtered water. The key is for all the solids to be submerged in the brine to protect it from bacteria. Cover with a cloth or put the lid on your crock. It needs air. I set mine on the counter or in a cupboard for up to a month, but you can start sampling it after about a week. When it tastes nice and sour, you can put it in the fridge with a regular lid. Putting it in the fridge will slow fermentation and will keep for several months. A root cellar works for this too if you have one.

[Irving]

I'm unlikely to put forth the effort to do this, but do you have a brine recipe for those that will?

Have you seen the pickle thread yet?

https://www.ar-15.co/threads/138693-...hlight=pickles