Dilly Beans

Thanks to Pat, I’ve fallen in love with bottled dilly beans.  However, my new addition to the garden (the beans!!!) are not even close to being ready for bottling.  Recently, in the last two baskets from Bountiful Baskets, we’ve gotten green beans!!!  Dying to get my hands on more dilly beans, I did a search for them and found a fresh version.  Although they aren’t as good as the bottled kind, they’ll totally do (I’ve even been known to eat them for breakfast… shhhh, don’t tell anyone).

DILLY BEANS

Ingredients: 
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 2 cups whole fresh green beans (ends trimmed and cut to bite size)
-  2 Tbsp chopped fresh dill weed 
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced onion 
- 1/3 cup white wine vinegar 
- 2 tsp canola oil
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 2 cloves garlic, slice (i use at least double that)
- 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

In a 2 quart saucepan, heat water to boiling.  Add beans.  Cover and cook about 3 minutes or until bright green bust still crisp; drain. 

In a medium bowl, toss beans, dill weed, and onions

In a 1 quart saucepan, mix vinegar, oil, sugar, garlic, and red pepper flakes.  Heat to boiling, reduce heat.  Simmer uncovered 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Pour over green beans; mix well.

Cover and refrigerate 20 minutes or until serving.

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

I can't exactly vouch for this one since i absolutely loath mashed potatoes. But, i did make it for DarRell (and Dick) for Father's Day and he swore by it (and Joline took a bunch home for leftovers).
Courtesy of Pioneer Women once again.

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
May be easily halved

5 pounds russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and rinsed.
1 1/2 sticks regular (salted) butter (1 1/2 sticks is the same as 3/4 cup)
1 package softened cream cheese
1/2 cup (give or take) Half & Half (or heavy cream if you’re feeling naughty)
3-5 roasted garlic cloves (find recipe HERE)
Salt
Black pepper

Cut the peeled potatoes into pieces and cook in boiling water until fork-tender.
Drain water and return to pot, and mash potatoes over low heat until lots of the steam has escaped.
Next, mash in softened butter, cream cheese, Half & Half, and salt to taste.
Dump in three to five heads of roasted garlic cloves; stir together, then check seasoning.
Add some fresh ground black pepper
Garnish with one or two roasted garlic cloves on top.

Slow Cooker Stuffing

I'm always looking for new recipies. Always. This particular time i was looking for a different kind of stuffing for Thanksgiving. What sold me on this recipe is the use of the crockpot. It turned out pretty good. I think it might have needed a bit more spices but it was still yummy. And... i had TONS of complements!!!!

Slow Cooker Stuffing
yeilds: about 12 servings

3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 1/2 cups chopped celery
3 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 Tbsp minced garlic
9 oz fresh sliced mushrooms (i chopped about 3/4 of them finely and the rest i left whole)
9 cups dry bread cubes (i added almost 12 cups bakery bread leftovers)
3/4 tsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp sage
3/4 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp marjoram
1 tsp salt (i didn't use it, didn't think i needed it with the salted butter i used)
1/4 tsp pepper
1 lb sausage (i used sage sausage so i ommited the sage seasoning)
up to 4 cups of chicken broth (start out with 1 1/2 - 2 cups and add more as needed)
2 eggs beaten

1. Melt buter in a skillet over medium heat. Cook onion, celery, mushroom, garlic and parsley in butter until tender and translucent.
*NOTE - the mushrooms will sweat off a lot of liquid. It will take a while to cook down the liquid.
2. Spoon cooked vegetable over bread cubes in a very large mixing bowl. Season with seasonings. Pour in enough broth to moisten, and mix in eggs. Transfer to slow cooker and cover.
3. Cook on HIGH for 45 minutes, then reduce heat to LOW and cook for 4 to 8 hours (mine did NOT take that long to cook... only about 3 hours if that).

A few tips:
*stir every hour or so. If you don't the edges will get brown and the center will stay soggy
*spray the crockpot with Pam for easier removal
*cover the crockpot before putting on the lid to help suck up the moisture.
*if the stuffing is too moist, cook the last 30 minutes to hour with the lid off.
*if the stuffing is too dry, add additional chicken stock to your preference.
*it will NOT take as long as the recipe says to cook. Mine was finished cooking about 2-3 hours after i started.