Dilly Beans

Alright. I've been awful. It's been nearly a month (okay, probably more) since I've posted consistently....and it's probably going to be longer. It's just hard to be a food blogger without a kitchen aide, a stove, an oven, or a working knowledge of where my food props are (hint: still in boxes). Excuses, excuses. Except they are valid. If you could see my kitchen, you'd understand. I took down the upper cabinets and I'm now convinced at one point there was a fire...and rather than fix that wall, they just put a cabinet over it. Yeah. That happened.

Despite the overwhelming and negative daily discoveries, I've been in the house for five weeks, and there are a few bright sides.

Such as this:

I feel like this should be the "What 5 things are different in the second picture?" game.

1. Drop ceiling. Ugh. That was awful. Beware of snipping wires......sometimes half comes down at once if you snip the wrong wire. 
2. Mauve carpet. Hardwood oak floor? Yes please.
3. Vertical blinds....never liked them. 
4. Grey walls instead of ones that were probably white ten years ago.  
5. The drapes. My goodness the drapes. Oh what drapes. Don't kid yourselves. Those were heavy. 

The second piece of good news is that after this weekend with tons of great help from my friends Charlotte and Brandon the dining room is now equally lovely....or would be, if my fridge and stove weren't in there. I dare to dream of a day when my kitchen appliances are working and in the kitchen. Well, not these kitchen appliances. The bright shiny new ones I'm getting delivered as soon as that stupid wall doesn't look like a wayward grenade hit it.

Sigh. I will be back. Eventually. I promise. Butchie and I are making baked apples tonight....in her kitchen....as mine is a foxhole.  But I found another post that I just somehow never put up!

Be back soon!


Dilly Beans

1 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
1/4 cup kosher salt
1 1/2 cup very hot tap water
2 heads fresh dill weed

4 garlic cloves

4 dried chilies

1 1/4 fresh green beans, washed and trimmed

Preheat oven to 200 degrees fahrenheit. Put mason jars, lids and rings in the oven to sterilize for twenty minutes.

Combine the water, salt and vinegar in a large pot, and bring to a boil. When it begins to boil, reduce heat to low and keep at a simmer. Meanwhile pack the jars.

Divide the remaining ingredients between two 8 oz jars.

For refrigerator beans:

Cover the produce with the brine. Cover and refrigerate. Let sit for four days before eating. Lasts up to two months.

For canning beans:

Pour the simmering brine over top with a quarter inch left to spare. Seal with rings and lids. Place lid-side down. Allow to sit upside-down on your counter for 45 minutes.

Store in a dark cool place. The dilly beans will keep in the refrigerator for two months after opening.

BBQ Pickle Chips

Pickle chips created for the Salisbury 2011 BBQ Festival with a brine made from Eastern Style Vinegar BBQ sauce are sweet, tangy, and not like any pickle you've tasted before!  

 Have you ever sat, staring at your nine bottles of BBQ sauce and thought to yourself: How in the @#$&* am I going to make that into an ice cream flavor? Of course not. If you did you'd be sick, twisted, lacking in palette and good sense. You'd be a chef on the verge of mental break down. In short: you'd be me.

I actually have been caught staring at BBQ bottles a little more often than usual lately, BUT I can finally divulge to you the reason for my short term insanity:

I, Jana Marie, have been donating my time and culinary skill set to the Salisbury Cultural Arts Festival in North Carolina. For the past three months I've been a chef, a recipe producer, photographer, event coordinator, and most importantly BBQ Ice Cream inventor. Yes, it is real, and it's actually surprisingly good! AND drum roll please (rat-a-tat-tat) my ice cream flavors, including BBQ Ice Cream, will be up for sale at a special ice cream social! Tired of looking at your computer screen, drooling on your keyboard, longingly wishing you could just reach out and swipe that scoop of ice cream for yourself? Well you can! For all of you in the 139 North Carolina cities I've had blog hits in, consider taking a little drive on Saturday, May 14th! I'll be there! BBQ Ice Cream will be there! What more do you need? How about a little preview?!

I created a number of recipes that will be featured in the gourmet tent, the chefs pre-cook-off breakfast, and BBQ feast dinner! As a part of this awesome project, between today and the May 14th Salisbury BBQ Festival  I'll be posting twelve of the recipes I've created on this journey. You don't know it, but you've already seen three of the dozens of other recipes I've created! My buttermilk cheddar jack biscuits, cheese straws (YUM), and pork pot stickers were all made with this project in mind!

It's been a grand adventure in muscadine, cheerwine and BBQ to get here. On a near weakly basis I've had everything from Cheerwine Syrup to Muscadine wines and jellies from Old Stone Winery, to actual pig butts mailed to me. Yes, you read that correctly. I received two pigs in the mail. They. Were. Delicious. It's a good thing too since I need to hone my BBQ tasted buds because.....

I'm gonna be a judge for the BBQ cook off!

Whose excited?! I AM!

To kick all this off, here is the first of a twelve part series in recipes created for the Salisbury BBQ Festival!!!

BBQ Pickle Chips

created for the Salisbury 2011 BBQ Festival

1/2 cup Eastern Style Vinegar BBQ Sauce

5 tablespoons of sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt

1 cup very hot tap water

2 large (10 inch) cucumbers sliced, 1/8th inch thick

For refrigerator pickles:

Stir together the first four ingredients to dissolve the solids, and pack your pickles into a mason jar. Cover the produce with the brine, cover, and refrigerate. Let sit for four days before eating, lasts up to two months.

For canning pickles:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Put two half pint mason jars, lids and rings in the oven to sterilize for twenty minutes

In a small sauce pan, Stir together the first four ingredients to dissolve the solids. Bring the mixture to a low boil.

Pack the pickle slices in to the sterilized mason jars. Pour the simmering brine over top with a quarter inch left to spare.  Seal with rings and lids, and turn, lid side down. Allow to sit upside-down on your counter for 45 minutes.

Store in a dark cool place. The pickles will keep in the refrigerator for two months after opening.