Easy Refrigerator Pickles

12-15 small pickling cucumbers
2 cups cold water
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1 Tbl. sugar
1 Tbl. kosher salt
1 tsp. whole black peppercorns
about 10 twists of fresh ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, sliced

Scrub and rinse cucumbers.  Put cleaned cucumbers in a large ice bath(lots of ice) and let set for at least half an hour.  In a measuring cup add remaining ingredients except garlic and stir often to dissolve sugar and salt.  Remove cucumbers from ice bath, cut ends off and quarter lengthwise.  Put pickles in large gallon size ziploc type bag.  Add garlic and cold pickling mixture to bag.  Add fresh dill, jalapeno, citrus peels, or other flavor enhancers if you like. Refrigerate for 2 days before eating.  Will keep for 1 week after pickling is done.

I'm not a pickle fan, but I saw someone make some on t.v. and thought these looked easy enough and worth a try.  I'm SO glad I did!  What I did learn is that the ice bath is crucial to keeping the pickles snap crisp.  And they are!  I picked up these organic pickling cucumbers at our local farmers market.  

Broccoli Salad

Salad:
1 lg. head broccoli, cut into small pieces
6 oz. dried cranberries
1 pkg. chopped walnuts
1/2 cup reduced fat bacon pieces(such as Hormel)

Dressing:
1/2 bottle Maple Farms Fat Free Raspberry Dressing
1/2 bottle Maple Farms Fat Free Poppy Seed Dressing
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
1 lg. clove garlic, pressed
1/2 tsp. sriracha sauce
1 tsp. reduced calorie soy sauce
1 packet stevia sweetener
3 packets True Orange

Combine salad ingredients in large bowl and set aside.  For the dressing, combine all ingredients in blender until smooth.  Pour over salad and mix well.  Let sit for at least an hour in refrigerator and serve.

I didn't realize Maple Grove had high fructose corn syrup listed in it's top ingredients.  Next time I make this I'll be trying another brand.  If you prefer a creamier broccoli salad you can also add light mayonnaise.  This is unbelievably high in anti-oxidants and fiber with just a little guilty but lower fat bacon.

Back to School

You can almost hear the sass in their attitudes.  Not kewl for mom to take back to school pictures.  

And someone asked who was going to take a picture of Mermaid so I stole this from her Facebook page.  Mermaid's friend on the left, and Mermaid on the right.  Already started school on the Central Coast.

Spicy Peanut Shirataki Noodles (WW=4pts)

Ingredients:
4 oz. sliced, cooked boneless skinless chicken breast (130 cal./2 fat/0 fib.)
1 package Shirataki Noodles (40/1/4)
1 Tbl.  Better n' Butter Peanut Butter (50/2/2)
1 tsp. reduced sodium soy sauce (3/0/0)
1 tsp. Gourmet Garden Cilantro Blend(5/0/0)
1 tsp. minced garlic(use less if you're not a fan of garlic) (0)
a few drops each of sriracha sauce, sesame oil, and liquid Stevia(if you prefer it a little sweet) (approx. 10 cal)

Rinse noodles and squeeze out all liquid, set aside.  Spray a non-stick skillet with a light coat of non-stick spray and heat pan to medium heat.  Heat chicken breast slices in pan.  In a small bowl with a tiny wire whisk, combine the remaining ingredients.  Add a little water to bring the sauce up to 1/4-1/3 cup liquid.  Set sauce aside.  Add noodles to chicken and stir until noodles are heated through and "dry".  If you don't squeeze out all the liquid the noodles will taste gummy and feel slimey.  When noodles and chicken are heated through add sauce and mix well.  Let reduce a little until slightly thickened.  (238/5/6)=4 pts. on Weight Watchers.  Make without chicken(108/3/6) = 2 pts. (13 TOTAL carbs, 5 NET carbs)

Was a Little Peanut Sittin' on the Tracks. 'Long Comes a Train, WOOOWOOO! Peanut Butter!

We refer to peanut butter as "Puppy Crack".

Golden Butterscotch Blondies

1 stick butter flavored Crisco shortening stick (Or ½ cup shortening, ½ cup Nucoa marg.)
1 C packed brown sugar
½ C sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
½ tsp baking soda
2 ½ C all-purpose flour
1 package butterscotch chips
Gold Glitter Sugar for decoration

Preheat oven to 350' and spray a 9x13" pan with non-stick spray well, set aside.  Cream "wet" ingredients together(includes both sugars) until creamy and smooth.  Add flour and baking soda all at once and mix until combined.  Pour in butterscotch chips and mix.  Spread mixture evenly in 9x13" pan.  Sprinkle top with Gold Glitter Sugar.  Bake for approx. 23 minutes, until golden brown on top.  Let cool.  Use a knife and go around edge of pan to make sure bars are not stuck to pan.  Flip onto cutting board and cut into pieces.

Blackened Chicken

6 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast Halves, pounded thin
3-4 Tbl. Olive or Canola Oil
2 Tbl. Paprika
1 Tbl. Cayenne Pepper(you can use less but we like a lot of heat)
1 Tbl. Dried Oregano
1 tsp. Salt(kosher or sea)
1 tsp. White Pepper
1 Sprig Fresh Rosemary, chopped
1/2 tsp. Ground Thyme

To De-Glaze Pan:
1 cup red wine
2 Rounded Tbl. Brown Sugar
1/2 Stick Cold Butter, Sliced into Tablespoons

Bring chicken up to room temperature, about an hour on counter.  Combine the spices together and spread evenly on the bottom of a 9x13" pan, reserving some.  Press each side into the spices until well coated and rub reserved spices into chicken.  Set aside.  Using a large non-stick skillet turn heat on to medium/medium-high heat for about 3 minutes, until pan is hot.  Add oil and when "ripples" start to appear it is hot enough.  Add chicken, spread out as even as possible.  If chicken doesn't fit well in pan you may need to do this in batches.  DO not move the chicken around, just leave it alone.  Cook about 7 minutes on one side.  Flip and do not move the chicken around again, it's tempting, but you can do it.  Turn heat down to low-medium.  Juices should run clear if you cut into it after about 5 minutes.  Put lid on and turn off heat.  Let rest about 10 minutes.  Remove chicken from pan. 

To De-Glaze Pan:
After removing chicken from pan, turn heat back up to Medium.  Add wine and scrape drippings and spices from pan while bringing the mixture to a boil.  Add brown sugar and let reduce by about half.  Remove from heat.  Add one pat of butter and mix until incorporated.  Add another pat and mix again, repeat until all butter is incorporated.  Pour over chicken if desired.

My Favorite Salad Dressing

We love Melissa D'Arabian from Food Network's Next Food Network Star.   I've started making my own salad dressing for all of my salads now.  I use a lot less olive oil though, or even some homemade chili oil or white truffle oil.  It has SO much flavor!  Sometimes I'll throw in a splash of agave nectar or honey, even a packet of Stevia to have a sweetened dressing.  Play with your vinegars too!  Rice Vinegar is REALLY good.  I also use a golden balsamic almost daily, and champagne vinegar.  And try different mustard types, Jack Daniels is good, and there's a cranberry mustard that is really tasty too.  Just play, it's really hard to go wrong!  The soy sauce was a surprise, but I found it really does make a difference.  Yummmmm!

LINK

Ingredients

Mustard Vinaigrette:

• 1 garlic clove, sliced in 1/2
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• Small splash soy sauce
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

3 cups mixed greens, the darker the better (not iceberg)

Rub the inside of a large wooden bowl with the garlic clove and then either discard it or save it for another use. Put the mustard in the bowl and whisk in the balsamic vinegar and soy sauce (a French secret!) vigorously for about 10 seconds to get a creamy consistency. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Drizzle in the olive oil as slowly as possible with 1 hand while whisking as quickly as possible with the other hand to emulsify. Lay the salad greens on top of the dressing and toss just before serving.

Rootbeer Cookies

1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 egg
1/4 c. buttermillk
1 tsp. root beer extract
1-3/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Mix brown sugar, butter, and egg until fluffy. Stir in buttermilk(you can also use milk curdled with vinegar or lemon juice equaling the same amount), rootbeer extract, flour, soda, and salt, and mix until smooth. Cover and refrigerate for about an hour. Heat oven to 400'. Place cookies 2" apart on cookie sheet and bake for 6-8 minutes. Let cool on rack and glaze with recipe below.

Rootbeer Glaze for Rootbeer Cookies
2 c. powdered sugar
1/3 c. butter, softened
1-1/2 tsp. root beer extract
2 Tbl. hot water

Mix powdered sugar and butter. Stir in rootbeer extract and hot water. Place wax paper under cooling rack. Spoon glaze over the cookies. This glaze will do a double batch of cookies. 

Another easy option is:
1 box yellow or spice cake mix
1 tsp. rootbeer extract
1 egg
1 stick of melted butter(but not hot)
Combine all ingredients.  Use a cookie scoop to get equal portions.  Flatten with the bottom of a flat glass that has been dipped in sugar.  Bake at 350 for 11-12 minutes, don't let the edges brown.  Let cool and spread with the same icing as above or add a bit more powdered sugar to thicken it up.  Spread a generous amount on the bottom of one cookie and sandwich with the bottom of another.  These are best if you let them sit overnight.  Good luck with that though.  :)

PW Blackberry Cobbler

We've sent the kids to pick wild blackberries around the neighborhood the last few days.  We've had them over pudding, over ice cream, in salads, etc...  But today I challenged them to get enough to make a pie.  Well, I didn't really feel like make pie crusts, so I looked up The Pioneer Woman's recipes and she had many possibilities.  I used THIS recipe, Blackberry Cobbler #1(doubled).  If only there was smell-a-vision. 

20 Years....

The 4th of July is a special anniversary for Mr. D and I.  He proposed to me 20 years ago, standing in a giant cheeseburger float, wearing a hula skirt and a bikini top in Cayucos' 4th of July Parade.  This year, we left the parade with one less child, leaving her behind to go to school there.  It was an emotional week, but it's all good.

We started off the week going to Hearst Beach and hung out with old ward members, it hardly felt we've been away for 3 years.  It's always fun to visit with old friends, in fact we NEED to visit our old friends, they are family.

While we had some time we headed a little farther up the coast to San Simeon.  The gates were closed to the lighthouse so I had to take the pics from there.  Then on the way back down to the beach we pulled over to see the Elephant Seals, they're always so impressive even though all they seem to do is lay out on the beach and snore and snort.

Then the boys and dad went on a hike out at Montana de Oro, even Grandpa went.  You'll notice the "extra", that's my nephew, A, who LOVES Avatar.  He's visiting Grandpa & Grandma for the summer.

 Then we ALL headed over to Montana de Oro for Mr. D, his brother C, and his daughter, Long Lashes to go try to do an ocean entry dive.  It's not the greatest place to go, but it can be done.  They got there and there were no waves, it looked perfect.  But, by the time we gathered all the dive stuff out of the back of the car and they started getting geared up, the waves were curling and it wasn't exactly the best conditions.

 Mr. D went in first and now looking back I probably could have gotten some great training pics as to how to attempt an ocean dive under these conditions.  But I pulled my camera down and missed it.  But, you can tell by the look on Mr. D's face, he was WIPED out, literally. 

 So then Mr. D helped C and Long Lashes get into the water and they did it!!!  Yay!  But then he had to try again.  Long Lashes sister was such an awesome help!  She's always looking for an excuse to get wet anyways, but she really is always just right there to help. 

 Mr. D ALMOST made it.  A few more tries and he called it quits.  With all those added weights and the waves, it really sucked the breath out of him.  We saw C and Long Lashes heading back in anyways.  They couldn't dive, the water was too choppy.  So, Mr. D helped them in.  Long Lashes had to take her tank and vest off to get back in.  It was tough getting back in with the currents, and one of her fins also broke.  :( 

 C wanted his fins off NOW.  lol  They packed it all up and headed over to Morro Bay where they could just slip into the water.  The rest of us packed it in and headed for a pool since we knew it would be much safer.  Like there was anything we could do anyways at the beach for them. 

 Little A couldn't resist burying himself in the sand.  LOL  I'm still cleaning it out of the back of car ;)

 Marco!  Polo!  Marco!  Polo!

 The Parade:  Cayucos, CA

 This lady was just smiles ear to ear and a huge bounce to her step.

 The SS Sea Shanty!!!!

 The Yellow Submarine Meanies

 The Whole Gang

The Brothers:  C and Mr. D

MMMMMmmmmm  Chocolate Mousse

 Carol brought out this, tons of ice cream, loads of whip cream and lots of spoons :) 

And then, we hugged, I cried, and we drove home without our big girl.  Thank goodness for texting and Facebook, and unlimited long distance calling.