Half Sour Pickles recipe

This summer I found some really great pickling recipes to preserve our harvest in a jar. I tried so many of them and they are all very good but many of them have vinegar as an ingredient. While the vinegar is great to preserve food, I am trying to cut on acidic foods if possible, so I really like Inessa's (vintageer shop on Etsy)  half sour pickles recipes. The pickles are easy to make and ready to eat in about 3 days. I slice them and put them on a sandwich - delicious!

I don't have the black currant leaves and tarragon but pickles taste great anyway.

 

So with Inessa permission I am publishing her recipe on my blog today.

 

Ingredients:
Small pickling cucumbers (enough to fill 1 Quart jar)
Enough water to cover said cucumbers
2 Tbsp (per 4 cups of water) pickling salt (or sea salt)
4- 5 garlic cloves cut in half
3-4 stems fresh dill (with seeds and flowers)
1 tbsp black pepper corns
1 tbsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp celery seeds
3-4 fresh black currant leaves (or horseradish leaf)
1 tarragon stem (optional)

Wash the cucumbers well and let them soak in a bowl of cold water for an hour. Put the cucumbers in a clean glass canning jar. Add the spices, the garlic cloves,  black currant leaves, tarragon and dill to the jar.

Dissolve the salt in the boiled water and pour into the jar over the cucumbers. Make sure the cucumbers are completely under the water.

Cover and let sit for three or four days in cool shaded space. Then move to the fridge to chill. Enjoy!

Baked eggplant with Parmesan

One more great recipe from National Cuisine Week, baked eggplant with cheese. Originally it was published on Svetlana's blog. I printed it, made some adjustments suitable for our family and I have to say, this recipe is a keeper.

I sliced the eggplant to about 3/8" thick, add some salt and let it sit for about 20 minutes. I brushed the both sides of the eggplant with olive oil and arranged it on a baking sheet lined with foil also brushed with olive oil. I made a mayonnaise spread using a light variety of mayonnaise and some granulated dry garlic powder. Then I spread a thin layer of the mix on top of each slice.

I baked the eggplant slices at 425"F for 15 minutes until they became slightly golden. Then I add some shredded parmesan cheese on top and returned it to oven for additional 5 minutes.

It's delicious like it is, just let it cool a little :) or you can add fresh sliced tomatoes to make it even better.

You can either make an eggplant tomato sandwich  or just top each piece of eggplant with a tomato slice. I also added some freshly ground cracked black pepper on top.

An absolutely great dish, healthy and very easy to make. It will probably become one of my favorites!

Carrot and Zucchini bars

Summer is here and I'd like to get as much fresh fruits and vegetables as possible. The nectarine season is over in our garden but we celebrated our harvest with lots of ripe fruit right off the tree and fresh baked nectarine pies.

I renewed my subscription to the Better Homes and Gardens magazine and I received a couple of wonderful gifts, 2 recipe books. Everything looks so good but I was anxious to try this carrot and zucchini bars recipe so much. The recipe is very simple, nutritious and there is 2 1/2 cups of shredded vegetables in them!

I change a recipe slightly, I used a yellow squash instead of green but the bars turned out just wonderful. So I baked them, let them cool and spread a cream cheese citrus frosting on top.
It's very good, try it!

Here is the recipe:

Carrot and Zucchini Bars

Ingredients for the dough:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 1/2 cups shredded carrot

1 medium zucchini, shredded (1 cup)

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup cooking oil

1/4 cup honey

1 teaspoon vanilla

Ingredients for the citrus-cream cheese frosting:

1 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon lemon or orange peel, finely shredded

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, ginger, and baking soda. In another large bowl stir together eggs, carrot, zucchini, brown sugar, raisins, walnuts, oil, honey, and vanilla. Add carrot mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until combined.

Spread batter into an ungreased 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Bake about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

Make citrus-cream cheese frosting: In a medium mixing bowl beat cream cheese and powdered sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Stir in lemon or orange peel.

Frost cake with citrus-cream cheese frosting and cut into bars.

Where salad is coming from

Summer heat during day but wonderful evenings are perfect for the friends gathering. Traditional BBQ and salads are in favor right now! Fresh produce is on sale now at the stores and we love to try some new recipes over light dinner with friends. Some ingredients are coming straight from the garden, and it can not be fresher or tastier!

So I'd like to share with you the salad recipe we enjoying now pretty often since we have first tomato harvest this year. We like it with grilled chicken and a glass of chilled Pinot Grigio but you can have it your way.

Ingredients
(you can change the quantity of ingredients - after all, you know what taste you like!):

3 ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
1/2 cup red onion, diced, soaked in cold water for about 20 minutes and drained
1 cup fresh mozarella cheese, chopped
10 sweet basil leaves, diced
sunflower oil
red wine vinegar
salt & pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients and enjoy :) Please let me know how you liked it!