OKRA-Pickled
1 Large bowl of fresh picked Okra
3 cups water
3 cups white vinegar
1/3 cup canning salt
2 tbsp. fresh ill
6-8 cloves garlic
6-8 hot peppers
Prepare the canning jars, wash the okra. Bring vinegar, water and salt to a boil. Divide dill among the jars and place one
clove of garlic and one hot pepper in each jar.
Pack okra into the jars. Pour boiling water over okra to cover. Seal jars according to manufacturing
instructions and boil in hot water bath for processing 25 minutes. (Adjust salt/vinegar/water proportion
accordingly to how much okra you are using).
OKRA-Fried
1 lb. (or so) small okra pods (10-15)
1 cup cornmeal
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 egg, beaten
¼ cup milk
1 tsp. Texas Pete hot sauce
Salt & Pepper
Cooking oil
Slice okra pods into bite size pieces. The
smaller the pod, the sweeter the taste. Combine milk and egg and hot sauce.
Place pods in mixture. Stir to cover all and let stand for 15 minutes.
Heat up oil in deep fryer or large skillet.
Dredge okra pods through cornmeal mixture and deep fry for 5-8 minutes,
flipping often to brown. Serve with your favorite condiment.
Food for thought:
Preserving in the Kitchen
The air is hot and humid and the scent
of strawberries fills the kitchen.
Summertime and jalapenos,
green peppers, cucumbers,
and ripe cherry tomatoes fall off the
vine.
Fresh plump figs droop on the branches
waiting to be picked.
The kitchen today is hot and steamy
with the old canning pot bubbling away.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not
complaining…yet.
First we whip up a specialty batch
Of strawberry fig preserves
(be sure to stir that pot often,
honey).
There’s nothing better on a homemade
grilled biscuit than fresh preserves.
Follow up with a batch of mustard
pickles
– a very secret recipe,
oh and just for shits and giggles
throw that Okra in one of those jars,
no point in letting them go to waste.
Garlic and fresh basil
with diced onions and oregano
simmered all day long
cooks up a delicious tomato sauce.
Twenty-six jars preserved and
my chores are done for today.
Tomorrow is a brand new adventure.
Thirty ears of corn await metamorphosis
into
Old Time Corn Relish once those
ears get husked.
Tonight I’m going outside in the heat
and pretend to be a kid again.
I’ll find a rock and wrap it
in a white handkerchief and
toss it up in the darkened sky
and wait for bats to come diving after
it.
Just so I can laugh at the thought
of doing nothing,
or something close to nothing.
Welcome to the 2018 A-Z Blogging
challenge. This will be my fourth year. Every year I take on the
challenge with hopes of disciplining myself to keep writing throughout the year
as much, if not more than just through the monthly challenge. (It certainly is
a challenge.) Some years are better than others. Some I
just lose track of time. This year I have decided to put my favorite
hobbies together. A recipe that is tried and true as well as some thoughtful
insight. Please note some of these recipes have been shared before,
however they have gone through years of testing and this is the perfected
recipe. I really hope one of my recipes or “Food for Thought”
inspires you to do something great. Enjoy the read and the photos,
try the recipe, share your thoughts or comments, and most of all, have FUN with
the challenge this month!
Cheers,
