Dixie Grace Cooks
Fourth of July Zucchini Pickles
Delicious with your burgers and barbecue.
Servings 8 pint jars
Equipment
- Large bowl
- Large, nonreactive stockpot
- Medium, nonreactive stockpot
- Hot water bath canner and utensils
Ingredients
- 8 to 10 cups fresh zucchini, partially peeled, cut into bite-sized chunks
- 6 medium sweet onions, peeled and sliced thin
- 3 mixed sweet peppers, sliced thin For example, red, green and/or orange bell, banana peppers
- 5 medium cloves of fresh garlic, diced
- 1/3 cup table salt
Brine
- 4 to 5 cups sugar, to taste
- 3 cups white vinegar
- 1.5 tsp turmeric
- 1.5 tsp celery seed
- 2 tsp mustard seed
Instructions
- Wash and prepare vegetables. Place in a large glass bowl. Add salt and gently mix. Cover contents of bowl with ice and set bowl aside for three hours at room temperature.
- Drain liquid from vegetables and remove any unmelted ice. Transfer to a large nonreactive stockpot. Set aside, while preparing brine.
- For brine. Combine sugar, vinegar, turmeric, celery seed, and mustard seed in a medium, nonreactive saucepan. Bring to boil. Pour hot brine over reserved vegetables. Cover stockpot and let set for two hours.
- Prepare sterilized glass jars, lids, and rings and set aside. Fill a large hot bath canner with enough water to adequately cover the pint jars. Bring water to boil.
- Place stockpot filled with vegetables and brine on stovetop and bring mixture to boil. Carefully transfer vegetables and brine to warm pint jars. Stir to remove air bubbles. Carefully wipe off rims and add lids and rims. Finger-tighenten rims.
- Using canning tongs carefully add jars to canner allowing room between jars. Cover with canner lid and process in boiling water for ten minutes. Water should exceed height of jars by at least an inch.
- After ten minutes, turn off the burner. Very carefully use canning tongs to remove hot jars to towel-covered, protected countertop or another flat surface. Jars will be hot and fragile. Keep away from edges, children, and pets. Jars will need to cool for 24 hours before removing rings.
- After 24 hours, remove rings and check that each jar has sealed properly. Place any unsealed jars in refrigerator. Open jars should be refrigerated.
- Serve chilled. Enjoy!
Notes
Prep time: 1 hour
Resting time: 5 hours
Cooling time: 24 hours
Fresh Garden Zucchini Relish
This recipe puts the zing in zucchini with just enough spice and tang. Delicious on burgers, hot dogs, cooked pinto beans, and more.
Equipment
- Hot water bath canner and related utensils
- 6 Half pint jars, lids, and rims
Ingredients
- 5 cups shredded zucchini (Wash thoroughly. No need to peel.)
- 1.5 cups red onion, shredded
- 1 large bell pepper (Use red or yellow pepper for added color)
- 1 large banana pepper
- 1/4 cup shredded carrot
- 2.5 T salt
- 1.5 cups sugar
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp ground mustard seed
- 1/2 tsp restaurant grind black pepper
- 1/2 tsp celery seed
- 1.5 cups apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Shred zucchini, red onion, bell and banana peppers, and carrot by hand or in a food processor. Place in a large bowl. Add salt, mix well, and cover. Let stand at room temperature for eight to ten hours. Transfer veggies to a colander and rinse thoroughly with water. Strain out as much water as possible and transfer to medium-sized stockpot. Add spices and apple cider vinegar; mix well. Bring to boil, reduce heat, and hold at a gentle boil for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer hot mixture to warm, sterilized jars. Add lids and rims. Simmer in a h0t water bath for twenty minutes. Carefully pull jars out of hot water and set on a heat resistant surface. Let rest for twelve to twenty-four hours at room temperature so lids will seal.
Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
When it's COLD outside ... or you're fighting a cold, there's nothing better than homemade chicken noodle soup.
Servings 10
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken (Springer Mountain Farms brand preferred)
- 4-5 stalks celery, stringed and diced (Include celery leaves)
- 1 large skinned and peeled sweet onion
- 1 cup shredded or minced carrots
- salt, to taste (about 2 teaspoons)
- 2 boxes chicken broth
- 1 Tbsp Better Than Bouillon, Chicken Flavor
- 1 pkg. wide egg noodles (gluten free noodles can be used)
Instructions
- Rinse the chicken with cold running water and then place it inside a large stockpot. Fill stockpot with enough water to cover the chicken. Turn heat on high.
- Rinse and prepare celery, onion, and carrots. Add chopped celery (including some celery leaves), chopped onion, and minced carrot to stockpot. Add salt to taste.
- Cover stockpot and bring liquid to boil. Reduce heat to simmer. Keep pot partially covered, being careful to not let liquid boil over. Cool until chicken is fully cooked, turning occasionally. Be careful not to splash hot liquid.
- Let the chicken and stock cool slightly. Carefully move chicken to a large bowl; remove skin and debone. Pull or chop chicken into bitesized pieces and add back to the pot.
- Add commercial chicken broth and bouillon to increase quantity of broth. Stir to incorporate. Put stockpot back on heat and reheat to boiling. Add noodles and cook until noodles are tender.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Tip: If you're not planning to use all of the soup at once, cook only enough noodles for each use to avoid having the noodles overly-absorb broth.
Dixie's Southern Fried Chicken
Dixie adds custom spice to her best chicken recipe.
Equipment
- cast iron skillet
Ingredients
SEASONING MIXTURE
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp dried ground sage
- 1 tsp dried ground oregano
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp salt more or less, to taste
- 1/2 tsp dried ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp dried ground basil
- 1/8 tsp ground cayenne more or less, to taste
FOR CHICKEN BREADING
- 1 tsp chicken seasoning (above)
- 1/2 cup general purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp yellow corn meal
CHICKEN PREP
- 1 lb. chicken Use the kind of chicken you prefer. Bone-in with skin, boneless skinless, white meat, dark meat, tenders, or a combination.
- 1 cup buttermilk Use the amount of milk it takes to cover chicken.
Instructions
To make seasoning
- Mix spices together. Seal in a glass jar. Use as needed.
To prepare chicken
- Wash chicken pieces and soak in buttermilk for several hours or overnight.
To cook chicken
- Add cooking oil or shortening to cast iron skillet. You will want to use a good amount of oil—maybe 1/2-inch, depending on the depth of your skillet—but not too much. You're frying not deep-frying. If you chose to use the deep frying method, use the proper tools, which includes a deep fryer.
- After oil has heated, add chicken pieces. Some people like to leave a lot of room between pieces, but I've always found that chicken placed single layer in the skillet and reasonably packed will brown better.
˜
Simply Delicious Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
A very moist banana bread that's loaded with chocolate chips!
Equipment
- Loaf pans or bundt pan, metal is preferred
Ingredients
- 1 18.25 pkg. yellow cake mix (Make batter per package directions. Some box mixes require melted butter, eggs, and milk.)
- 2 overripe bananas
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- cooking spray
- flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Prepare baking pan by spraying with cooking spray, then coasting lightly with 1/8 - 1/4 cup flour. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, prepare cake mix per package directions. (A gluten free yellow cake mix will work well for this recipe.)
- Mash or puree bananas. Add mashed banana and spices to cake batter. Mix well.
- Gently fold in chocolate chips.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes. Don't overtake. Bread will be done when a knife or toothpick inserted into the center will come out clean.
- Remove from the pan while still warm. Serve warm or cold. If desired, serve with a dollar of whipped cream and/or chocolate syrup.
New Year's Day Black-Eyed Peas
A side or main dish that's delicious any day!
Equipment
- crockpot
Ingredients
- 1 lb. dry black-eyed peas
- 6 oz. country ham
- 3 cloves fresh garlic
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary
- black pepper, to taste
- 4-5 cups water
Instructions
- Rinse black-eyed peas with water, place into a crockpot and cover with water. Soak overnight.
- The following morning, pour off the old water and replace with 4-5 cups fresh water. Turn crockpot to high.
- Chop country ham into bitesize pieces. Add to crockpot.
- Dice garlic and add to crockpot.
- Add ground black pepper to taste to crockpot. There's no need to add salt, because the country ham is salty.
- Wash the rosemary sprig and add it to crockpot.
- Cover crockpot with lid and turn to high. Cook peas for 5-6 hours. Check for doneness. If peas are tender, turn the crockpot to warm until you're ready to serve your meal. Remove rosemary sprig before serving.
- This dish makes a delicious side for fried chicken or pork loin, or it can be make as a meal on its own served with Thunder & Lightning (Green Tomato Relish) and a pan of hot cornbread.