Fire & Ice...How to turn Store Bought Pickles into Homemade!

The Bob and I like to try and have a weekend getaway once a year. Our spot choice for the getaway, or Minimoon (as in short honeymoon), is Natchez, Mississippi. We love it. I love the old antebellum houses. They have something like 25 that you can tour, and there are more than that on the historic register. I love the old civil war history of the town. Example: The reason Natchez still has so many old, antebellum homes is because the Union Army thought the town was so pretty that they did not want to burn it when they took control of the town during the war. Anyway, we looooove our yearly voyage to Natchez. I also love their local cuisine. They have some dang good eatin' there! Pearl Street Pasta, King's Tavern, The Carriage House, Magnolia Grill. Yuuuuummmmy! On our last trip, we tried a new place called Fat Mama's Tamales. I don't normally like tamales. When I think tamales, I think about those nasty ones that come in a jar from the store. My Daddy used to eat those. Bleck. Well, Fat Mama makes homemade tamales. There is a world of difference, and I really, really liked them. But what I liked even more was Fat Mama's Fire & Ice pickles. Sweet pickles with a bit of a kick, a little spice. They were the best I had ever eaten. When we left Fat Mama's, I bought several jars of pickles to bring home like any good tourist would do. As I was paying for them, the cashier said, "You know you can make these. They start from store bought dill pickles." I'm sure Fat Mama would not appreciate that cashier letting customers know that. Although they did not give me the exact recipe, however. My Mom ran down a recipe online, and they are sooooo good. Just like Fat Mama's. Fat Mama would be so proud. I made them from our online recipe, but changed them just a tad, so here you go:

Fire & Ice Pickles
1 quart of whole dill pickles
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1/4 HEAPING tsp. red pepper flakes
2 cups sugar

Empty jar of pickles draining off all juice. Cut into slices that are not too thick and not too thin. Mix in garlic, red pepper flakes, and sugar. Stir all ingredients and let them set on the counter for 3-4 hours, stirring occasionally. Over time the sugar will bring out more juice from the pickles and turn your dill pickles into sweet pickles. After several hours put back into the jar and chill. I think they are the absolute best when they've had a chance to get their chill on.

Also, I heap my tsp. of red pepper flakes, because I like the extra, little kick the red pepper gives. Sweet yet a hint of spicy. Yum.

Blueberries & Cream

We have a very large blueberry bush in our backyard which yields more berries than we can eat. I don't have a picture to go with this recipe, but trust me, it's super yummy. And it won this:


Pardon the cheap, yet sentimental jewelry hanging with it. And yes, I'm tooting my own horn. So without further adieu, the blue ribbon winning (just a bit more horn tooting) Blueberries & Cream:

Blueberries & Cream

First Layer:

1 cup of flour

2 sticks of butter (yes, I said 2)

1 cup chopped Walnuts.

Mix the following and cook on 375 deg. until golden brown and crust-like. Cool completely before adding second layer. If you don't it will melt your second layer.

Second Layer:

8 oz. cream cheese (slightly softened)

8 oz. cool whip

1 cup powdered sugar

Mix the following with electric mixer and spread over cooled first layer.

Third Layer:

3 cups blueberries

1 1/2 cup water

1 1/2 cup sugar

5 T. corn starch

Place this in a sauce pan and cook until thick (like a pie filling). Cool completely and spread over second layer. If you don't cool this completely, it will melt the second layer. That second layer is a bit on the sensitive side.

Fourth Layer:

8 oz. Cool whip

Chopped nuts to garnish

Fish Allison

Fish Allison. That doesn't sound very appetizing - does it? Oh, but it is. This recipe is from one of my fav-o-rite cookbooks ever, and it comes from The Crown restaurant in Indianola, Mississippi. The official name of the recipe is Catfish Allison, and it calls for catfish. However we used it on tilapia last night. It was still really good. I really think you could do this with any fish. I may try it with salmon in the future.

Fish Allison
6-8 fish fillets - I only use the amount of fillets I need for my family (4) - and remember you can choose the fish :)
1 c. grated Parmesan cheese
4 T. butter/margarine
6 T. mayonnaise
1/2 t. Worcestershire sauce
generous dash of hot sauce
1/3 cup chopped onions

Mix the cheese, butter, mayo, Worcestershire, hot sauce, and onions. Poach fish in simmering water for 4-5 minutes. When finished poaching, place fillets on baking pan and cover with 3 T. of the cheese mixture. Broil for 2-3 minutes until cheese mixture is lightly brown.

My children aren't big fish eaters, but they like this. Also if you are using a smaller number of fillets you can cut back on the measurements for the mixture. See Gayle at Grocery Cart Challenge for more recipes :)

Behold the Bean

This is a re-post of a post from my former blogging days. I'll re-post some other things from those days later on. Anyway, I love beans. In particular, I love black beans. Love them. This is very frugal as it was a recipe by Joni McCoy of Miserly Moms that I tweaked a bit to fit my palate:

Black Beans & Rice
2 cans black beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1 large diced onion
1/2 T. minced garlic
1 T. oregano
1 cup of chicken stock

Mix all the above and cook in crock pot for at least 6 hours. With a slotted spoon, serve up some of those beans over rice. Especially yummy if you top with a little cheese, a little sour cream, and homemade or fresh salsa.