Fresh Green Bean Salad

Sounds light and refreshing, doesn't it?

Now we all know I am not known for health food recipes, or even really, remotely healthy recipes, but occasionally I give it a go.  Let's be honest, we are all, wait... MANY of us are trying to live healthier, be lighter, and more active and I am no exception to that idea.  I just happen to like to cook  really delish stuff that might not be the healthiest choice.  That will not change, however, I will be trying to incorporate a few healthier dishes as well.  

This will be perfect for the summertime.  If you have a garden it will be even more awesome.  Nothing is more gratifying than strolling out to your backyard crops and picking fresh veggies, that you have planted, nurtured and grown, to feed yourself or your family.  I mean, it doesn't get much better than that as far as foodies go!  This salad is a great side dish,  and I have a feeling it will accompany a few grilled chicken breasts or steaks this summer!  It is also perfect for a bbq or picnic, no mayo to worry about!

You can certainly add finely minced onion to this recipe, and you could use fresh garlic.  Nobody but me in my family enjoys raw garlic, so I opted for garlic salt (2birds 1 stone ya know).  Keep that in mind when you are making that choice for the recipe. Here we go!

1 lb. fresh green beans, (ends snapped and cut into approx. 1-2 inch long pieces)
1 medium cucumber, diced ( I did NOT peel mine but feel free to do so if you like)
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

Dressing:
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1/3 tsp. garlic salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper

Bring a medium pot full of water to a boil.  Add in a generous amount of salt and add your green beans.  Let boil for 4 minutes.  No longer!  Drain them into a colander and immediately toss them into a bowl of cold water and some ice.  This is an, "ice bath" and "shocks" the green beans so they stay bright green and immediately stop cooking.  You want them crisp tender.  (I hate that phrase fyi).  While they are being shocked into submission, take care of your tomatoes and cucumbers and put into a large bowl and then, make your dressing!

To make the dressing, add all ingredients into a small bowl.  Whisk to combine and set aside.

Drain green beans again, and then dump into a clean, lint free kitchen towel.   Make sure they are all dry and then add them to the large bowl of tomatoes and cucumbers.  Pour your dressing over and toss those veggies quite a few times to get them all coated.  Now you can serve this immediately but let me assure you, if you make this the night before, or even 2 hours before, and you chill it, they will come!   It is one of those dishes, the longer it sits, the better it gets!

Enjoy my friends! 

Summer Cucumbers

Did you have to help in the garden as a kid?  Boy we did.  In a family of 12, gardens became a large source of our food, ALL year.  My mom canned and froze dang near everything.  Tomato sauce, juice, spaghetti sauce, diced tomatoes, whole tomatoes.  She would can, 200 qts of dill pickles and some bread and butter pickles.  Green beans, carrots and relish were also canned.  Green peppers, corn, and onions were frozen.  Picked beets were canned.  I could go on and on.  Fruits were canned and frozen as well.  We had to hoe, weed, dig, water, and pick.  I knew how to snap green beans before I could talk I think! 

Cucumbers were always my favorite.  We would sneak them out of the garden and eat them in vinegar and with salt.  We would take a salt shaker to the garden and steal tomatoes too!  What great memories.  I have grown into less of an outdoor girl but none the less I enjoy vegetable gardens!  Oh we even had potatoes a few times.....I had forgotten that until now.

This recipe is so much a part of my childhood.  My mom had one bowl in particular she would put the cucumbers in to sit with a random plate and huge bottle of vinegar to force out the liquid.  I can remember meals where we had sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, corn on the cob, maybe some green beans.  and that was it!  That was a summer meal at my house!  I loved it and I still do.

I know that this is easy.  It is very simple, but sometimes the simplest things are the tastiest.  I like to put up recipes for beginners, and readers in other countries.  I think more than anything it is the method with this recipe that makes it so good.  I can remember my mom slicing these SO thin.  No, she wasn't OCD at all.  I swear each slice had to be the same thickness and the actually had to be the same THIN-NESS.  She was meticulous about crazy stuff like that!  Sorry ma......but we both know it is true!

I used about 10 medium sized cucumbers.  Much of this recipes is to taste but I will give you the amounts I used on these "cuc's" as we call them at our house!

10 medium cucumbers
1 onion sliced
salt
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup sour cream (optional)

Peel cucumbers and slice.  I use my food processor but if you don't have one no worries.  Use a big bowl and slice a few then put them in the bowl, put on a layer of onion, salt GENEROUSLY and keep going.  Do this until all cucumbers are sliced and use all the onions.  (I went light on the onions, I don't like raw onion but I like the flavor it lends)

You will think you are going to die from high blood pressure with the amount of salt you are using but remember, we are drawing out liquid and you will drain that liquid off so you are good.  Put a plate of the top facing down, one that fits close to the edge and then put something heavy on top to weigh it down.

I let these sit for a good 3-4 hours, draining off the liquid as it accumulated.  They can go a lot longer with no problem.  It makes the cucumbers crunchy but limp which I love!  After you have drained them you simply add your vinegar and mix.  You can use any vinegar you want, I prefer apple cider.   You will know if you didn't use enough salt, because the bite of the vinegar will be overpowering so USE ENOUGH SALT!!   If vinegar is all you want on them which is the way I eat them you are done!!!  ENJOY!

Creamed Cucumbers
Do not add vinegar, add 1/2-3/4 cup sour cream and then just 1 tbsp vinegar.  Mix until thoroughly combined!  Now, you can enjoy YOUR version!!

And can I just warn you the longer these sit in your fridge the better they become!!!  I am certain most people have their own versions of this exact salad but this......is the Smith version!!

Your "cucumbers make the world go 'round" chefwannabe
 

My mom's Macaroni Salad.....kinda

Ok, ok, so I have made fun of my mom and her cooking plenty of times.  She always made lots of good things.  Seriously she did.  Roast beef jerky every Sunday to the point I can't stomach it as an adult.  Who doesn't love that?  Sorry mom, just kidding.  Kinda.  She did make meatballs the size of your fist, that were awesome. She also made fried chicken that rivals the best ever made and this simple macaroni salad that I just love. 

 

I have admittedly changed a couple of small things.  My husband is making me confess one of the changes that never happened.  I cooked 3 extremely crispy pieces of bacon, to, ya know...crumble on top.  But  *insert almost incoherent mumbling*..I accidentally ate them.  WHAT????  It WAS an accident.  He said they accidentally must have fallen in my mouth and then had some other completely inappropriate analogy for these kinds of "accidents".   It is like 2 hours later and he keeps randomly saying, "Only one thing could have made that better.....BACON".  I was in the shower and he knocked on the bathroom door to tell me.  Whatev....that is my intelligent answer.


I believe my mom uses the ranch dressing packets, however I used my own dry mix, that I have a recipe for and concocted my own.  You will need 1 1/4 cups in total.  Here is what I did if you are using your own ranch dressing mix:


2 tbsp Ranch Dressing Mix
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayo
1/2 cup milk 
Combine and set aside. 

You could use ranch dressing right out of the bottle, 1 1/2 cups or until it is "enough" for you.  

Here is what else you will need:

3 cups UNcooked pasta (shells)

1 cucumber, peeled and diced

6 ounces cheddar cheese, cubed (I used mild)

1 large tomato diced (or more)

Cook your pasta according to package directions.  Drain. While draining go against every single pasta rule you have ever learned.  RINSE it with cold water!  Just so you don't put hot pasta into your nice cold mix.  Drain well.  

Add veggies and cheese to your bowl.  

Mix in dressing and pasta.  Mix well and chill for at least 1 hour.  Overnight is best.  


If you like you can top with crumbled bacon.  Unless yours accidentally falls into your mouth too.  You can also top with green onion, parsley or nothing at all!  Paired with my moms amazing fried chicken you have a 4th of July meal at the Smiths!!


Enjoy my friends!!

Your "bacon is good"chefwannabe

Chris

PS  .....it was no accident.

Garlic Dill PICKLES! QUICK STYLE!

What is more relaxing and calming than the sound of rain?  It is cloudy almost as if a thunderstorm is coming, candle lit, laying on the bed with the dog, just typing away.  I love the sound of the rain, the sound of any water is so soothing to me.  Anyway, just wanted to share my moment of "Ahhhh".

When I was a little girl, my mom canned everything.  We had a huge garden and her summers were spent canning like a banchee, preparing and stocking our pantry for the winter months.  She canned tomato juice, sauce, whole tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, green beans, some with bacon and some without, jellies, relish, carrots, frozen and canned corn, canned chicken and beef, beets, sauerkraut,  and the best of all?? PICKLES.  She was known for her dill pickles.  She would sometimes can 100 quarts.  I hated our basement but it is where the laundry and canning room and big huge deep freezer were.  We would sneak down there, open an jar of pickles and eat the whole thing, then we would fight over who got to drink the juice!  Yes we did, we drank and still drink pickle juice in our family!   We walked to dance class with 2 friends, and sometimes we would carry a jar of pickles with us and eat them on the way to dance class.  I wonder how we danced and tumbled without being sick but we did it!  

I love to can, but have never lived where I could have a garden big enough for more than just daily eating.  I also have a hard time with waiting to eat pickles when they are canned.  My mom would always tell us they weren't ready but the reality is they probably were and it was her ploy to keep us from devouring them before the snow flew!  I have attempted "quick" dill pickles a few times.  Of course, the first time they were perfect, and each time after not quite as good.  So after much thought and many attempts I think I have it down.  These pickles can be put together in the morning, and eaten for dinner!  The longer they sit the better they get, I suppose.  I frankly enjoy a crunchy pickle that is so full of garlic and dill I can't stand it!  I enjoy a mild flavor of the cucumber in the background that I get when these are eaten after 6-10 hours too.  So fresh, I just love it.  I make these in a quart size Chinese soup container.  Use a jar or anything you like.

You will need:

2 cucumbers (sliced to a thickness you choose, or spears)
2 cups water
1/3 cup vinegar (white or cider)
1 slice of onion
6 whole cloves of garlic (peeled)
5 stalks of dill
2 tbsp. salt  (I used sea salt, use any)
1 qt container

In a small saucepan heat up water, vinegar, salt and 1 clove of smashed garlic until it boils and salt is dissolved.

While it is heating up, slice your cucumbers and pop garlic peels off.  Cut one 1/4 inch slice of onion. In your container, arrange in layers, cucumbers, dill, onion, garlic.  The order makes no difference just spread the rings of sliced onion, and garlic and dill pretty evenly.  When liquid mixture comes to a boil, slowly pour it into the container.  Let sit for 2 minutes and then put the lid on.  Give it a good shake and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.  The longer you let them sit the better they are (in my opinion they are perfect after 4).  I like the way they look and taste at 4-5.

These are absolutely delicious.  In hindsight I would add 1 tsp of mustard seeds, I just didn't have any on hand.   If you like Claussen Dill pickles you will love these.  I am hoarding the pickled garlic and onion for myself.  I will also be drinking every bit of juice.  Yes, I said it.  And yes, I meant it.

My mouth is watering just typing about this out.  WHY does my mouth water when pickles are involved?!?

Can't you just TASTE these on a grilled cheese sandwich???

Your "dill pickle juice drinking" chefwannabe

Chris