Pickled Carrots, an easy fast comfort food and healthy holiday recipe!

YUM!

PICKLED CARROTS EASY, FAST AND SIMPLE

In honor of my brand new release, Starke Deadly Delicious Recipes, here's one of my favorites from the new cookbook!

If your holidays are like mine, they wouldn't be holidays without some pickled veggies, so colorful on a holiday table. Okay, this recipe is almost too quick and too easy! It also can be used for other veggies: asparagus, cauliflower, green beans, radishes, etc. etc. And far, far less expensive than store bought pickled veggies. And lots of variations too!

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup distilled white vinegar (or wine vinegar, rice vinegar, apple vinegar or even coconut vinegar)

2 tablespoons white sugar (I sometimes omit this, especially when using a "sweet" vinegar such as apple vinegar)

1 tsp. salt (I use sea salt)

1/8 tsp. black pepper

2/3 cup water

8 large carrots, diced

DIRECTIONS:

In a medium saucepan mix all ingredients except for carrots. Bring to boil. Remove from heat and pour over carrots in glass containers (careful, it's hot!) until covered. Seal containers, let cool slightly, refrigerate and marinate carrots for at least 12 hours.

With other vegetables not as "tough" as carrots you might want to let the mixture cool (a touch) before pouring over them—asparagus for example may overcook. However, I like my pickled vegetables "al dente" and you may want to blanch your carrots, green beans, and even asparagus if you prefer a softer pickled veggie.

VARIATIONS:

Use different herbs and spices for different pickled tastes:

Pictured: I used wine vinegar and added a tablespoon each of sage, thyme and dill for a spicy holiday pickle taste. (Note: these herbs create a strong taste, which I love, but may not be everyone's favorite.)

Add chili peppers for hot pickles.

Mix different veggies together, for example cauliflower florets, carrots and red radishes create a colorful plate of pickled veggies for a holiday table or anytime!

And dear readers, do you have a special food for a holiday tradition that you'd like to share?

Brine Your Turkey for Thanksgiving!

In honor of the release of my cookbook Starke Deadly Delicious Recipes and Thanksgiving, here's how to brine your turkey!

INGREDIENTS:

12 cups water, divided

1 cup sea salt (do not use regular salt as bird will be too salty)

1-2 cups sugar (I use brown sugar and sometimes omit)

1 cup apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons sage

2 tablespoons thyme

2 tablespoons rosemary

1 tablespoon pepper

4 cups ice

DIRECTIONS:

Bring 4 cups of water to a simmering boil. Add salt and sugar. Stir until the sugar has completely dissolved. Turn off the heat. Stir in 8 cups cold water, apple cider vinegar, sage, thyme, rosemary, pepper, and ice. The brine is ready.

Remove giblets and neck from the cavity. Rinse the outside and inside of a thawed turkey. Using paper towels, pat the turkey dry. Completely submerge the turkey in whatever you can find that is food safe. Allow the turkey to marinate for 8-12 hours for a small turkey (8-10 lbs) and up to 20 hours for a really big bird. Do not go past 20 hours because bird may become too salty. Rinse turkey and pat dry before adding additional seasoning, butter, or oil in preparation for roasting.

Note: brined birds can cook faster than a turkey that has not been brined, as the salt breaks down the muscle tissues, so check the bird more often so it doesn't become overcooked.

AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

A Recipe to Honor Dad on Veteran's Day

VETERAN'S DAY THANKS TO ALL VETERANS!

In honor of my dad and all the other veteran's, here's one of his absolute favorite recipes. This is one of the recipes in my upcoming Starke Deadly Delicious Recipes. Enjoy, and please thank our veterans today.

SALMON PATTIES

These are so tasty! And so easy and cheap! And healthy too!

Ingredients:

1 can canned salmon (wild caught is best)

1 cup quick cook oatmeal

4 eggs or egg substitute, if eggs whisk until smooth

1 teaspoon garlic

1 teaspoon granulated onion

1 teaspoon sage (my favorite, it makes these delicious)

Other spices if you want (optional) , a teaspoon of chili powder, teaspoon of cumin, teaspoon of celery seed (good!), 1 teaspoon lime juice, and teaspoon of black pepper

Drain can of salmon (I like to drain the juice into a bowl and feed to my pets, they love it!) Place salmon in large mixing bowl. Now, I prefer to remove the skin from the salmon (and feed to the animals) because the black skin looks nasty to me in the finished product. But the skin is edible and full of good fat, so if you don’t mind the look, keep the skin. Mush the salmon with a fork until fairly fine and then add oatmeal and eggs and spices. Mix well. Let set so the oatmeal softens, about 5 minutes. Heat a skillet on the stove to medium heat; pour a small amount of oil in the bottom. Make patties of salmon mixture and place (carefully-hot oil!) in pan. Place cover on skillet and let cook a good 3-5 minutes until you see patties are cooked on bottom, then flip and cook on top and done! (Note: this mixture makes a lot of patties, so I do two skillets at once.)

Easy Cocktail Sauce: Into a small bowl pour about a half cup of ketchup. Add a teaspoon or to taste of ground horseradish.

Cheap easy delicious Sunday dinner recipe!

Sunday Dinner Slumgullion, YUM!

My of-Scots-descent mom always made slumgullion for Sunday Dinner because it was always different and always delicious. What is slumgullion, you ask? Simple: mixed up leftovers. Not so simple, because if you mix up the wrong leftovers you get ... cooked garbage. Aunt Maddie does this when she makes this dish in my Starke Dead mystery series. But if you follow a few simple rules, slumgullion will become a Sunday dinner staple in your home too!

Rules:

Think of like with like and ingredients you'd use together in dishes. In the example pictured above, I took leftover chili (steak, chili sauce, tomatoes), leftover Mexican casserole (hamburger, corn, chilis and carrots) and leftover pasta and combined. Yum!

If you have a lot of one leftover and a little of another, and not quite enough to make a meal consider another item that would combine well with your ingredients. I might add beans or some spaghetti squash to the recipe above. Or add a side dish too, a salad perhaps.

Avoid mixing too strong of flavors, sweets and sours, for example. If Aunt Maddie was making the recipe above, she'd add apple pie! Okay, an extreme example, but Aunt Maddie is pretty extreme herself. Also avoid too many different added spices. Both these mistakes will make the food taste strange and murky.

If you have "simple" leftovers, such as cooked vegetables and chicken, consider which spices to use and try different ones for a "refreshed" dish. (I might use coriander, thyme and pepper for the vegetables and chicken, for example.)

Avoid mixing tomatoes,vinegar or lemon juice with peas, green beans and/or broccoli as the green vegetables will turn brown and bitter.

That's it! Otherwise, let your creativity reign!

Do any of my readers have suggestions or stories, good or bad, of slumgullion recipes?

Easy Cheap Delicious Mustard Salad Dressing Recipe

Takes five minutes to make and oh, so good!

In honor of my having sold the first in my Starke Dead mystery series, Starke Naked Dead, to my publisher Muse It Up, here's a healthy and fast dressing recipe that's chockablock full of cancer fighting antioxidants! Why? Because I need fast, healthy food so I can work on the next in the series, Starke Raving Dead!

MUSTARD SALAD DRESSING

Basic recipe:

Ingredients:

1/3 cup vinegar (apple cider, coconut vinegar or rice vinegar work well)

1/3 cup oil (olive oil works best, but grape seed, canola oil or walnut oil also work)

1/3 cup mustard (Dijon works best, but any mustard will do)

1/3 cup water

Mix all the ingredients together in a jar and you're done! Easiest way to mix is to shake the jar.

Variations:

Add complementary spices:

1 teaspoon of curry spice makes a tasty curry mustard dressing

Coriander, cumin and/or pepper

1 to 2 tablespoons of nutritious (brewer's) yeast will make this dressing creamier

Substitute mayo for the oil

Substitute dill pickle juice for the vinegar

Add a splash of lemon or lime

For a thicker "creamy" dressing, process 1/3 cup of cooked or canned beans of your choice in a food processor until smooth and then add the ingredients in the basic recipe.

This keeps well up to two weeks in the fridge, although in my house it never stays that long!

Try your own variations as this is a forgiving recipe. Share your variations!

Happy Labor Day and an EASY recipe!

HAPPY LABOR DAY!

Traditionally, Labor Day is a day of rest for all us hard workers. However, if you are in a creative field you know we almost never take time off! So here is a very quick and easy and gluten free recipe that's delicious and healthy. Then at least you won't have to work hard at a treat. This recipe is one in my upcoming cookbook, Starke Deadly Delicious, full of recipes inspired by my Starke Dead mystery series.

 BANANA OATMEAL COOKIES

Ingredients:

2 large ripe or very ripe bananas

1 cup of quick oats

In a food processor liquefy the bananas and then add the oatmeal and mix together. Bananas are different sizes, so if the mixture seems too thin to hold the cookies together, add oatmeal. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes on a greased or parchment covered cookie sheet (depending on size of cookies). The oatmeal makes the dough sticky so make sure to prepare the sheet. Freeze well.

Delicious this plain way but easy to add:

¼ cup of chocolate chips
¼ cup of crushed walnut pieces or other nuts
1-2 teaspoons of cinnamon or nutmeg or cardamom
dried fruits: cranberries, raisins, blueberries, etc.

1 teaspoon vanilla, or lemon extract, or rum flavoring extract (very tasty with rum, cinnamon and walnuts)

Be careful not to add too many additional ingredients—the dough won't hold together.