Sweet Pickle Relish

 If you are new to the world of canning this is a great starter project. It is easy, uses only a few ingredients and super yummy!

There are a few things you will need to make this process easier. Stainless steel bowls, measuring cups, knife, chopper, and a food mill. Luckily my sis-in-law had one that I could borrow. The food mill makes chopping the cucumbers much easier. It preserves the juices and texture of the cucumber.

The consistency your cucumbers should be

Yield about 8 half pints

• 4 cups chopped cucumbers (about 4 medium)

• 2 cups chopped onions (about 2 medium)

• 1 cup chopped sweet green pepper (about 1 medium)

• 1 cup chopped sweet red pepper (about 1 medium)

• 1/4 cup canning salt

• 3 1/2 cup sugar

• 1 tablespoon celery seed

• 1 tablespoon mustard seed

• 2 cups cider vinegar

         

Combine chopped cucumbers, onions, green and red peppers in a large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and cover with cold water. Let stand 2 hours. 

Then start to prepare your jars. After washing them thoroughly with hot soapy water, put in water bath canner and bring to a boil to sterilize. Leave them in covered canner till ready to use. Or you can use another separate pot to boil the jars and the lids in, I found this method easier. If you are so blessed to have a dishwasher, you can put them in the dishwasher as well. You need them hot when you put the relish in them. Never put hot liquid in a cold jar. 

While you are waiting the 2 hrs for your ingredients to soak, you can prepare your second batch by chopping up more vegetables. This way you keep the ball rolling and there is no down time. 

Once the two hours is up:

• Drain; rinse and drain thoroughly. 

• Combine sugar, spices and vinegar in a large sauce pot. Bring to a boil. 

• Add drained vegetables; simmer 10 minutes. 

• Remove sterilized jars from the water bath canner and place on counter

• Bring that water back to a boil, you can add a little bit of vinegar to the water in your water bath canner to keep the mineral deposits off the jars. 

• Pack hot relish into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. 

A batch will typically be 8 half-pints. My 2nd and 3rd batch I was able to get 9 jars. It just depends on how accurately you measure out your ingredients. 

• Remove air bubbles by tapping side of jar or using a knife along the inside of the jar
• Wipe off rim of the jars with a damp paper towel to ensure a tight seal
• Adjust two-piece caps securely, don't tighten the rings too tight, you need the air in the jars to be able to escape. 
• Process 10 minutes in a boiling water-canner. 

After the 10 minutes of processing:

• Turn off the range
• Using a jar lifter, remove the jars from the canner and place on a kitchen towel
• When you hear a popping sound, that is the jars sealing. If they don't seal you can add the relish in with the next batch recook and try to process again, or you can put that jar in the fridge and eat in the near future. 

• Leave the jars to cool 
• You will need to wash off the jars after they are completely cool. Mineral deposits from your water can leave a film on your jars making them look cloudy. 

"We are indeed much more than what we

eat, but what we eat can nevertheless help 

us to be much more than what we are."

Adelle Davis

Fried GF Pickles

Fried pickles, oh yes I did it. :) Some think gross, others its pure heavenly bliss in your mouth. Whatever your opinion is on them, these were simply amazing. I couldn't make them fast enough! The first couple tries I just couldn't get it right, I either burnt them or they weren't done. So third times the charm. :)

By now, you can probably assume that all of my meals are GF. Regardless of what the title is. I must say I am getting pretty good about finding substitute recipes for all those wheat filled recipes. 

The first attempt was with pickle spears. That didn't work at all. So I sliced up large pickles super thin which seemed to do the trick. 

First step. Get a deep pan/skillet put enough oil in them so the pickle slices can float. I used about two cups of coconut oil. Adjust depending on what kind of pan you are using. 

Get one bowl for your eggs, water, and lemon juice, mix really well. Then another bowl for your crumbs, spices and flour mix well. 

One Egg

3 TBSP Water

1 TBSP Lemon Juice (optional)

1 Cup Flour

1/2 Cup GF Bread Crumbs

Sprinkle in Red Pepper Flakes or any other seasoning you would like to add to them. 

We had a huge jar of the large whole pickles.  Slice two pickles super thin then toss them in the egg mix bowl. I just let them sit there while I was heating the oil. Once the oil is up to temperature you can start frying them. (My oil was a little over 300'F) . Do the slices one at a time or they will stick to each other in the flower mix. Then drop them in the oil, making sure they aren't sticking to each other. I had about 7 in the pan at a time. Once those were done, I would add more. They will get a golden brown and a little puffy. 

Use a slotted spatula to fish them out of the oil and put them on a paper towel to drip dry. Then enjoy! 

You could easily use pickles that are already sliced in a jar, dill, sweet, whatever sounds good to you. We just used what we had on hand. :) 

Now some of you may be thinking, FRIED! PICKLES! UNHEALTHY! AHHH!  Well, yes they are fried and pickles have lots of salt and No I wouldn't recommend eating them daily, but hey, who says you can't have a fried pickle every now and again? By using coconut oil and GF ingredients it cuts down on the fatty unhealthy quality that you would find at the fair. So no, I am not fixing a decadent salad here, I am simply enjoying some homemade Gluten Free fried pickles :) 

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Okay, so at first I thought yuck! How does that work or worse...taste!?! I first saw this recipe in a gluten free cookbook, but I didn't get the guts to try it till I saw a friend of mine post how amazing it was.

Ingredients you will need.

1 head of cauliflower

1/4 cup of cheese (your choice of kind)

2 eggs

thyme

oregano

cumin

italian seasoning

1/4 cup red pepper chopped

1/4 cup green pepper chopped

1/4 small onion chopped

pizza sauce or tomato paste

ground turkey 

Pre-heat oven to 425'F. 

Using a cheese grater, shred the cauliflower then put it into a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 8 minutes. Then let it cool for a few minutes. 

Add cheese, eggs, and spices. (I used 1/4 pepperjack cheese in the base and 1/4 shredded colby jack for the final topping) Stir until it starts to hold its shape and is mixed thoroughly. Spread out on a greased cookie sheet or pizza pan. 1/4 inch thick seems to be the perfect depth for the cauliflower crust.  

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. While that is baking, brown your meat. It doesn't take much, but it really depends on how much you want to use. 

Obviously we had A LOT of meat left over, but I will freeze it for later. 

Now prepare your other toppings. I love peppers, so we made that the bulk of our pizza. You can add mushrooms, pepperoni, really whatever you want. I kept it simple to ensure that it was GF. 

Once the crust is browned pull from oven and top with sauce, then your other toppings. Spring with oregano and bake for another 5-10 minutes or until cheese is melted. 

Cut and enjoy! 

p.s. it doesn't taste like cauliflower at all!! It is amazing and is a new favorite in the Wagner household. 

Gluten Free Jalapeño Poppers

Here is my recipe for Poppers. As a for-warning. WEAR RUBBER GLOVES when handling hot peppers. It makes your hands burn and leaves the juice on for hours regardless of any amount of washing, and do NOT touch your eyes.

First pick out about 16 larger jalapeños. The larger they are the easier they are to scrape out the seeds without mutilating them. Cut them long ways from tip to stem leaving about 1/4 uncut.

Then using the back handle of a soup spoon scrape out the seeds. If you want the poppers to have a kick to them, leave in a few seeds. And I mean one or two.

They pack a mighty big punch and are what holds all the heat. Once they are cut, rinse the peppers thoroughly and lay on a paper towel. Then prep your filling.

Mix in your cream cheese, ranch dressing dry mix, and bacon bits in a bowl. May need to heat up the mix a little bit to make stuffing easier. I used a disposable cake bag, but a zip lock baggie with the end cut would probably work just fine. Done try to use a spoon, it will make a mess. Ones they are stuffed, place on a cookie sheet in the freezer for 15-20 minutes.

 Just long enough to let the insides set up. Do not over freeze, this will break down the cell wall of the peppers. Not freezing them before baking or frying will result in the inside oozing out. Which you do not want. While the poppers are in the freezer, prepare your breading. Put about 2 cups of GF bread crumbs and rice flour in one bowl and 2-3 whisked eggs in another bowl.

Once the peppers are chilled, dip them individually in the eggs, then the crumbs. Repeating till completely coated going back and forth between eggs and crumbs. I did at least two coats of crumbs to ensure that the breading doesn't fall off during baking.

Spray pan and tops of poppers to add to the crispy coat. Heat oven to 350'F and place the poppers back in the freezer till the oven is heated. Then bake for 30 minutes or till completely crispy.

Pull from the oven and enjoy hot, warm, or cold. May want to keep a glass of milk on hand, they can be powerful! But oh so yummy :)

• 16-18 Jalapeño Peppers
• 8 oz of Neufchatel Cheese
• GF Bacon bits
• 1/4 cup of ranch dry mix