Grandma's Freezer Pickles

My grandma always makes these with cucumbers from her garden in the summer! I love that it's something I can do without canning and when I found a bulk of keiki cukes from the Big Island on sale, I knew I had to make these! So yummy!

INGREDIENTS:
8 cups sliced cucumbers
1 onion, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced (I use the mandolin on those three ingredients to get them sliced very thin!)
1 TBL salt
2 cups sugar
1 TBL celery seed
1 TBL mustard seed
1 cup vinegar

DIRECTIONS:
Mix 1st four ingredients and let stand for 2 hours. Drain the mixture. Add last 4 ingredients together in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Let cool. Pour liquid over the cucumbers and put in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Stir once a day. On the 3rd day you can put in freezer contains to freeze (or they are ready to eat!).

Bratwurst with Onions and Peppers

This is such a simple way to really make the bratwursts super yummy! We always buy Hillshire Farm Gourment Creations Beef and Jalapeno- they are just the perfect blend of spice!

For the onions and peppers:

INGREDIENTS:
1 white onion
1 red pepper
Salt/Pepper

DIRECTIONS:
Slice the onion and pepper into thin strips. Cover with salt and pepper and put into a microwave-safe bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave for about 3-6 minutes. Transfer the onion and peppers into a foil packet and add it to the grill with your bratwurst. When done, put the sausages into buns, top with mustard and onion/peppers. Yum!

Sea Asparagus Pesto

I bought a jar of Sea Asparagus Pesto from a Famer's Market (you can find it HERE) and made some shrimp pasta with it. I just boiled the pasta (also homemade organic from the Farmer's Market!) and cooked the shrimp in olive oil in a skillet. It was super light and yummy... although my favorite way to eat the pesto was on my toasty, crunchy bread (also fresh baked at the Farmer's Market!!)! Yum... so awesome to try new things here!

Hawaiian Salad

One of my favorite things about living in Hawaii is the Farmer's Markets! The weather here is generous to fresh produce happening all year long! This salad has become one of my favorites- it's a North Shore medley of greens, wild grown tiny tomatoes and Lilikoi Papaya Seed Dressing. If you visit Oahu, make sure you come to a Farmer's Market and try it first hand... but you can also order the dressing on this website: http://hawaiisspecial.com/. The other lettuce that is AMAZING is the Pupukea Greens. YUM!

Publix Goodies!

I posted earlier on the Hummus I was trying to make to re-create of the Publix version. I'll also miss their bakery- this is my FAVORITE bread and their Italian Whole Grain loafs are awesome, too. They also carry this Dei Fratelli Pizza sauce (that I use on their home-made pizza dough they sell in their bakery section!) that is amazing. I haven't found it anywhere else, but I'm determined to keep looking. Anyways, if you have a Publix Store nearby- GO and try these things!

Edamame

This is not really a recipe- just something I wanted to post to remember... this is such a good, healthy compliment to any meal- and my kids LOVE popping them out of their shells. I only found out about this a few years ago, so look for it in the frozen vegetable/asian foods section- they steam in the microwave and are so good!

Superbowl Grub

This is mostly for my memory- because every Superbowl shopping trip I make, I'm always trying to remember what I made last year- I always remember it was GOOD, just don't want to forget anything!

In the crockpots:
Rotel/Velveeta Dip (serve with Tortilla Chips)
Little Chicken Weinies (I like the chicken better than beef) with a yummy BBQ sauce- like Extra Hot Gates or Johnny Harris) and toothpicks come in handy to serve these (I forgot this year!)

Sub Sandwich:
2 tubs of Pillsbury French Loaf Bread
Non-Stick Spray
Garlic Salt
Oregano
Basil
Hard Salami
Turkey
Ham
Muenster Cheese
Baby Swiss Cheese
Onion, sliced thin
Green Pepper, sliced thin
Tomato
Lettuce (shredded)
Mayo
Salt/Pepper
Italian Dressing

I put the dough in a circle on a round cookie sheet- spray with non-stick spray, and sprinkle seasonings on top- bake at 350 for about 25 minutes. When it's done, cut the top off and layer ingredients. Cut into smaller portions... so yummy!

Wings:
I bought a frozen bag of Tasty Bird's wings- they were already fried and coated in buffalo sauce, I just had to bake them in the oven. I did pour some of my own sauce (melted butter and hot sauce, with some Tabasco) on top of half of them because I like wings really saucy (my husband doesn't!). I mix sour cream, mayo and blue cheese crumbles with salt and pepper for a dip and cut up celery to go with it.

Puppy Chow:
The recipe for this is on the back of the chex box- called "Muddy Buddies"... but I like using the corn chex instead of rice chex because the rice chex always taste stale to me once done. Basically chocolate chips, peanut butter, vanilla, butter and powdered sugar. Easy and fun to make! Always get more chocolate chips than the recipe calls for- it never coats enough!

Guacamole:
I use 2-3 avocados, diced onion and tomato and cilantro and a seasoning packet from the produce section. It's always a hit.


And that was it! Yummy food!! :)

Christmas Traditions

Well, it's that time of year! Thanksgiving has passed, and so we are all gearing up for Christmas. I know everyone has a different level of activity when it comes to Christmas- but my family is deep-rooted in Christmas traditions. Without them, it just doesn't feel like Christmas. Here are some of ours- some are unique, others are common. None-the-less we have A LOT. It's hard to keep up... and I might be forgetting some, so I'll continue to add to this post as the month goes on. What are your traditions?!


Decorating the Inside of our House: We've been slowly accumulating things over the years (after Christmas sales!) and thanks to my Mom's awesome craftiness and sewing skills- we have a beautiful table setting this year!

Maybe one day I'll have Christmas dishes and a dining table to display them! :)


I LOVE these- my Mom sprayed the little wooden rings with chalkboard paint and so we can write with chalk a different name on them. She also made the napkins!

We have personal stockings, too- they are personalized and each with a different scene. Growing up, my family hung stockings, but we never actually had 'stocking stuffers' nor did we do St. Nick's Day or anything. My husband's family did the stuffers- so we are starting to for our kids as well! What do you do?

Advent Calendar: Another super cute project my Mom made! She made these little envelopes and I printed off the bible story into 25 different days. We hung them from a garland strand across our kitchen window- easy access to do the envelopes each night after dinner! I also have a "Berry Merry Christmas" advent calendar where the little bear moves every night to search for Christmas. It was from my childhood, so kind of neat.




I love this, because it is so easy to get distracted from the real meaning of the season. We have to tailor the story to be adaptable for our young children's ages, but they also have a little Fisher Price Nativity Set in their room- set up on a special table that they can play with and we talk about the story of Baby Jesus' birth.


We have done the "Elf on a Shelf" although not the official one. I have an elf figurine that my brother gave me when I was little that we're using instead. I love the idea and it's helping SO much for behavior reminders... not to mention pretty fun to hide each day! My favorite decoration is our mistletoe...even my one year old stops under neath it and says "KISS"!!

Tree decorations: Two traditions from my childhood....

Ribbon Garland. Each year the kids get to pick out two ribbon colors and we cut sections and add to the garland. This is the first thing we put on the tree, and each year we'll add to it. (The first year it started so small, it looked funny!). I remember being so excited to get to pick out ribbon and add to our garland- and the one at my Mom's house is still one of my favorite parts of her decorations!

Hallmark Ornaments: Each year, my Mom and Dad picked out a Hallmark Ornament that best fit what I was up to that year (one was a telephone, one was a barbie, etc.) and then would write a little paragraph about why they picked that ornament. They did this until I got married- and then I was presented with the entire box and papers of the past 24 years. It was pretty neat to have ornaments for our first tree married, and to also look back on all those memories through my parents' eyes. We started this for our children, too!

Our kids each have a mini-tree in their room, too. It's so easy to put those out and they LOVE having their own personal tree.

Christmas Card Garland:

Another super cute idea my Mom did! She took our Christmas cards and modge podged them onto wooden slats, and tied with a ribbon. Right now since we only have 2, they are just hanging up on our candle deco, but eventually, they'll hang from garland (hopefully if we have a home with a staircase, going up the steps!).

We always take the kids to visit Santa, make Christmas cookies (chocolate chip, sugar and Ultimate Chocolate Dipped Cookies and Reese's Cookies) and do a tour of driving around to all the Christmas lights while singing Christmas carols and drinking hot coffee or hot chocolate. Not to mention decorating our own house with lights:


Christmas Eve, we go to Mass, and come home to get our first presents- Christmas Pajamas and Christmas Books (we read the books before bedtime!) and on Christmas morning, we discover that Santa has visited us throughout the night (that is, if our Elf on the Shelf has given Santa a good report!).

Merry Christmas- I hope you are embracing the season!

Thanksgiving Traditions

While this time of year- so much focus for us is already towards Christmas (not to mention 2 of the 4 birthdays we have in the family are celebrated in December!), I wanted to take a second to share a few traditions we do- they don't take much time, but they are special!



A Thanksgiving Tablecloth! This is the first year we're going to be doing this. My mom took a king sized white sheet, and embroidered around the edges and put 4 turkeys in the corner with fabrics (which, also are neat because they are scraps from all the clothes she's made for the kids over the year!). We are going to take Fabric Markers and each Thanksgiving Meal, whomever we share our holiday with gets to sign their name around the year. It will be fun when it's full to look back and remember each holiday- especially because we are military and spend most of our holidays away from family, but with our military friends (aka our family away from home!)




Thankful Wreaths. I take 2 paper plates, cut out the center and then stencil my leaf cookie cutters and cut those out of construction paper (when the kids get older, they'll do that step!) and each night at dinner, the kids name something they are thankful for, and why. I've seen people do this as a giant tree on their wall or with hand prints cut out as the leaves- all cool ideas; this just works the best for us with the space and time we have.


Last: On Thanksgiving, we always go around the table and say the "ABC's" of thanks. The first person gets the letter "A" and has to say something they are thankful for that starts with A. This can be pretty funny, insightful and sweet. We sometimes do the alphabet multiple times, and I'll never forget the year my step-dad got the letter "M" (my Mom's name starts with an "M") and he yelled right away he was thankful for his "MOTHER"... over his wife. He has never lived that down. Good times, for sure!!

What are your Thanksgiving Traditions!?

Halloween Food

I always make "THE CHILI" for Halloween, along with cornbread muffins in pumpkin shapes- but here is what we also had this year:

Mummy Dogs

(Hot Dogs wrapped in strips of crescent roll dough, baked in the oven)

Pumpkin Platter of Veggies

Witch Hat Cookies (the kids actually made these- they loved assembling them!)

(Keebler Stripped Cookies upside down with orange frosting as the glue for a Hershey Kiss) 

What fun foods did YOU make for Halloween?! 

Stain Removal Secret

As a busy mother of 2 children ages 2 and 1, I find my clothes with more stains now than ever before! Not to mention my children's clothes after 1 wear look like they are years old! I have been through every name brand product to attempt stain removal, and declared many of our favorite clothes "lost"... however, my Mom has always been able to get just about any stain out of any fabric- so I finally started following her advice, and it's so simple and cheaper than the name brand stain products! Here's her step-by step of a pair of my shorts:

Here's the stain. Greasy sausage spilled down my shorts. This method is especially good for grease and tomato/red based stains that are usually the hardest!

Here are my two little tricks: 

Lighter Fluid and Dawn dish soap (please note it HAS to be Dawn!) 

Start with the lighter fluid- squirt enough to cover the stain

Then spread the Dawn dish soap into the stain. I just rubbed the soap in gently with my fingers- but you can scrub the material together if the stain is deep/old or bigger. 

Then, I just toss them in with my normal laundry.... AND:

VIOLA! 

All gone!

A few tips to this method: If you just use the lighter fluid the first round, the grease may lift out of the clothing, but I've found sometimes it leaves a ring around where the lighter fluid was (on some thin fabrics, like t-shirts) and so then you'll have to do the step again with just Dawn. That's why I started combining the methods. For color stains without grease- you can just use the Dawn. For more color filled stains, if after the wash cycle, you notice they are still set, DO NOT put them in the dryer, instead lay them outside in direct sunlight for up to 5-6 hours. It's important they are laid out wet- a lot of times I will lay them out wet at night, let the evening/morning dew re-wetten the clothing and let the sun soak on them all day. The sun will lift those color stains right out. You'll have to wash the item again, but it has a very high success rate! White clothes are the hardest to get color stains out of- but I use the bleach stick to touch up those. I've also heard hydrogen peroxide works like a charm on blood stains- I have used Dawn with success on those, but it might be worth a try, too. And hairspray does lift pen/marker on fabrics if you can't get them in the wash machine (i.e. couch, fabric chairs, etc.) 

If you have any laundry secrets, leave a comment! 

Helpful Tools for a Busy Mom

So, a little off the cooking theme- but had to share these ideas that were given at our last MOPS meeting! They both take on the "eating an elephant one bite at a time" mentality and have it already divided up for you- you just have to follow it! How simple!?!

1. Christmas Organized- this has a 6 week (well, if we'd have started earlier, a longer) plan to execute a seamless, stress-free Christmas. I LOVE all the lists and check offs. Fire up your printer!!

2. FlyLady.Net- this is for breaking up household chores, tasks, etc. and helps to not feel so overwhelemed. I'm a natural list maker, so I love her site!

3. Messies' Manual- I haven't read this book yet, but it was another source that came highly recommended about breaking down household chores and tasks.

GrowBottle for Herbs

I got this very cool herb plant from my in-laws for my recent birthday! While I was visiting them, we'd noticed it in a magazine, so I was super excited when it showed up on my doorstep to try it out! I love cooking with fresh herbs, and would love to have a garden of my own- and what a cool way to do that! Love it!!

RelishRelish.Com

If you REALLY hate thinking of meal ideas, but like to cook- you might try a month's subscription to http://www.relishrelish.com/ I had a friend recommend it- I haven't personally used it yet, but I am thinking of it! She said the meals are still "gourmet" quality, and you can adjust the serving sizes, which is nice. Let me know what you think!

2 Easy Box Dinners

I don't really cook out of a box very often at all... but when I need something easy to make, with a quick clean up- I have tried both of these brands with great success! I bought a few to have on hand in my pantry (with frozen chicken) for after the baby comes so I don't have to worry about grocery shopping. I always add some kind of veggie into the dishes to make them a little more healthy, and they turn out so good!

Submit Your Favorites!!

Hello Blog Recipe Followers!! I have been posting lots of our family favorites- so I'm wondering... what are yours!? Send me your recipes, pictures (if you have them) and directions! Leave a comment or email me at: ericadavis16@yahoo.com

Can't wait to see what we get!!

A Few Cooking Sites

Here are 3 other blog sites that have lots of good cooking ideas:

http://www.kevinandamanda.com/recipes/

http://cookingoncloverlane.blogspot.com/

http://sisters-labonnecuisine.blogspot.com/

Some Ideas...

A few ideas that aren't really original recipes, but just ways to some traditional meals delicious. I love eating at other people's house to steal their traditions and ways of cooking, so here are a few of mine!

Saturday, we had Steak Fajitas, Rice, Beans, Chips and Salsa and Guacamole, yum! I use an envelope of Old El Paso Fajita Seasoning and strips of steak that are pre-cut at my grocery store- add green, red, yellow peppers, onions and it's all set! Too easy! The rice I recommend is Rice-A-Roni Mexican Style. I use fat-free refried beans and mix in cheddar cheese and Taco-Bell hot sauce. For guacamole, I use an envelope of seasoning with the avocados- plus chopped onion, cilantro and chopped tomatoes. I was going to take a picture, but it was seriously gone before I could get to my camera. So good!!

Sunday, Andy grilled Rib-Eye Steaks- our secret to great steaks is our charcoal grill, Andy's skills...and Worcheshire Sauce, Garlic Salt and Chef Paul Prudhomme's Meat Magic. It is really good seasoning! I made baked potatoes and 'steamed' broccoli to go along with it. I melt butter in a skillet, and some sesame seeds until they are toasted, then add the broccoli until it's bright green. I add chicken broth, Nature's Seasoning (another must have on the seasonings), cover and let simmer until we're ready to eat. So yummy! The baked potatoes- I cover in shortening or butter, sprinkle on pepper, garlic powder and kosher salt- wrap in aluminum foil and bake. The skins are so tasty that way!!

We are always hungry by the time we eat- so I like to have some kind of appetizer set out. One of our favorites has become Edamame. It's normally a Japanese food, but we eat it at least twice a week before any meal- we buy them frozen, in the pods, and heat them up in the microwave with kosher salt. They are fun to pop out of the pods, are healthy and good for you- and help tide you over until dinner is ready.

Sorry no pictures, but just a few ideas for you to try!