Beet Repeat

Made them again! the link below is all about this activity and you may review it by clicking on the link below.

Pickled beets and eggs 

The Beet Biter

Beets Beat

For anyone who has trouble hard boiling and peeling eggs I am not on that list! I have no tricks. I use fresh (very fresh from a nearby neighbor) large beautiful brown - sometimes greenish or bluish eggs. I do one dozen at a time in a pot that holds exactly 12 and none lay on top of another. I start them in very cold water and when it starts to boil I time a fast simmer for 15 minutes. When time is up, I immediately pour off the hot water and fill the pot with very cold water from the tap. I change the cold water three times, and then start the peeling. I tap the round end in the sink to break the shell and then roll the eggs until it is all cracked. I open the round end first and the rest just slips away!

I open two cans of small whole beets and make up a mixture of brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, water, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, sea salt and the beet juice. This mixture is brought to a boil and simmered for about 15 minutes and is then poured over the 12 eggs and 26 little beets. When it has all cooled down, it is poured into a large jug which is just the right size to cover the eggs and beets. Into the refrigerator it goes for at least 3 days, but mostly is not touched for a week. 

Golly did it smell good in here! Sometimes I think I should boil up some cinnamon sticks and whole cloves just for the aroma. 

Now they are married and shall stay that way until the temptation to eat them is broken. Time to jug up!

Better than candy any day!

For real recipe ingredient measurements (grandmother's, mother's, friend's husband's) that I combined to my satisfaction, see below.

1 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup water

2 cans red beets and juice

10 whole cloves

*3 sticks cinnamon

12 eggs, hard boiled and peeled

Mix sugar, salt, cider vinegar, water,  beet juice, cloves and cinnamon, and heat and let simmer for 15 minutes. Add red beets into mixture after it has cooled. 

Pour over hard boiled, peeled eggs. Let stand in refrigerator 3 days or longer. It gets better as it ages.

*Do NOT use powdered cinnamon. 

Valentine Specials

I don't crave chocolates or wish for bouquets of flowers; just a dishwasher person to clean up after my kitchen adventures.

It's not what you might think! My heart creations consist of two favorite treats for us. I made them both today.  (recipes for each have been posted previously) 

 These will be ready in about 3 days

We already had a chunk at lunch!

OH! be still my heart!

Frypan Almond Butter Cake
AKA Skillet Cake

Have I ever mentioned that an old Griswold fry pan lives here? It is dependable and necessary. 1865-1957 ERIE  - Some of the finest cast iron cookware products came from this early time period. It was marked ERIE for the Pennsylvania city it was made in and ERIE iron remains among the finest of Griswold's foundry products.To the best of my knowledge my pan is from the 1937-1957 era due to the block lettering and the small cross logo. It was passed down from family.

click on image to view larger

A link to the history site is here: Griswold

Kitchen Activity

It seems that I just cannot stop the cooking and baking. Today I made a potful of homemade soup using broth I created with some frozen chicken bones and skins that I had kept from several dinners. The red, orange and yellow pepper strips that I cut and froze this summer were added, along with my chopped and frozen celery and onions. I added a few leftover green beans as well. Since my rice has walked off, I had to use elbow noodles but it was all good! 

Our daughter who lives nearby stopped in and joined us for the soup lunch. She even got into the pickled beets and egg jar that I had just filled, not caring that it is supposed to be used after a three day aging period. We worked on her picture frames and some 8 x 10" prints I made for her last week. I sent her home with some chili, meatballs, split pea soup and an extra chap stick! It was snowing as she drove off. 

The pumpkin pie that I recently made is gone. No, change that, it was devoured. 

please click on image to view larger

Tomorrow I have another project in mind. Stay tuned......

Perfect

On January 9th I posted about making Red Beet Pickled Eggs. I posted the picture of the finished product on the 10th. Well, this evening we tasted them for the first time. They are supposed to cure for 3 days.
Oh! My!

I have never taken a photo right in the middle of a meal but that's exactly what I did this night. The pickled eggs and beets were SO DELICIOUS that I put my half eaten plate of leftover ham, corn casserole, mashed potatoes and my first-time taste of the preserved beets and eggs on the counter where I have to be able to shoot well. WOW! That is all I can say.

I really think the difference was that I used a newer product of vinegar with peppers. We don't like anything hot, but it wasn't hot at all. I was afraid the eggs and beets were really too dark in color and would be too strong in flavor. They were NOT.

Please forgive me.  I was overwhelmed with my meal and my Mister was too. Yea! Winner!

No dessert yet. We are full.

Water

So many people in WV (over 300,000) have the warning about their water being affected by a serious leak. A chemical spill.  I have a very close and wonderful couple of "beach-friends" who are in that number. I have telephoned them; they are older people and it is a difficult situation for them not drinking, bathing, or using it at all except to flush the toilet. She has had to put "reminder" paper towels around their faucets to remember not to turn them on. Her son lives 50 miles away and he has an unaffected well and when they cannot find more safe water locally they will have to drive to his home and either stay there, or bring a goodly quantity back to their apartment in their little car. Their other option is to drive south to the campground where we both have a trailer. 

Do you know that most water distribution centers limit you to receive 20 gallons? Do you know how much the average person uses in one day? WOW! Some of the water distribution centers require proof of residency to show that it is in one of the affected areas before giving the water.

There is not much people can do. There doesn't seem to be a way to prepare for such a disaster. We prepare for running generators, snowblowers and ice in the area where we live during the winter. Water is mostly associated with freezing walkways, pipes and ice fishing here. We take it for granted.

Click on image to enlarge.

I couldn't have made my pickled beets and eggs today without safe water. I couldn't have taken a shower, washed dishes, or done many other household activities if it stopped being safe. 

And I appreciate safe water - you can bet on it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First hand report just came to me...

WOW, all of you can bet, I will certainly appreciate drinking water,  and running water for showers, washing dishes, and being able to wash my clothes,   Yesterday morning around 8:15 AM (I did not suffer this) but people along the interstate  64 crossing the Elk River which forks in Charleston, WV began to smell a liquor smell,  very sweet, if I hear the story correctly - this went on until around noon, when a small  chemical company on the Elk River discovered one of its holding tanks was leaking a  chemical into the Elk River.  Just below this small chemical plant sets nothing else but  the West Virginia - American Water Company which supplies almost all this area with  water. Bob and I didn't hear of the leak until about 5:30 PM yesterday, when his daughter called  us and told us not to drink, take a shower, or wash clothes - in fact, all they have  approved us doing is flushing the commodes in our homes. We made a run for all the stores trying to buy up bottled water - pop - anything liquid  - - - - but we were too late.  We did not have a very good supply because we knew  we were coming to the beach and was letting our supply of everything run down to  nothing. However, the good part is, our family is very blessed because my son has a well and  it is pumped into his home at Ripley, WV (50 miles away) but my family can get to  water and if we have to we can take showers and wash clothes at my son's house.   Course, this afternoon, National Guards were everywhere passing out bottled water  - - there were emergency areas to go to and pick up water, etc.  They advised all of  us this afternoon about 2:30 to fill our bath tubs up with water to flush our commodes  because they were going to turn all the water off.  THEN, 30 minutes later, they  were telling us do not fill your bath tubs up (this is after we had already filled ours up)  because the smell will seep out into your homes and make you sick.  So we have  our bathroom shut off and the take-out vent running to keep the smell from coming  out into our other three rooms.  The latest thing we have heard is that they were unable to shut off the water so the  restriction is still in effect - it is now 4:24 PM. So far, they say that there has only been six people check in at the some 10 area  hospitals for treatment due to the chemical leak. Thanks Gere for checking on us - I had one other friend call me around noon to see  if we were under the water restrictions.  It is nice to know that I have friends that really,  really care. I will keep you posted ~~

Nuttin' New Now...

Unproductive day because I was hopping around doing so many things that I completed few. I always like the day to end with a feeling of accomplishment and the only thing I accomplished was updating my recipe box and printing a few to give to a backlog of requests at the SC place. OK, that WAS an accomplishment. Of course I had to replace the ink cartridge right in the middle of that project.  I also boiled some eggs. I WAS going to make them pickled but got myself diverted with disjointed projects and time ran out! Tomorrow is another day. The eggs aren't even peeled yet! What's for supper? I'll have to dig into the freezer because I have no idea and it is 5pm already.

Pickled Beets  7 to 8 lbs of Beets (Gma's Recipe) (Drake)

               4 cups vinegar (5% acidity) 

               1 teaspoons canning or pickling salt 

               2 cups sugar

               2 cups water 

               2 cinnamon sticks 

               12 whole cloves  - about 1 tsp 

               12 allspice nuts (whole) - about 1 tsp

Red Beet Eggs       (Mother's Recipe) (Nulton)

               1 cup brown sugar

               1/2 teaspoon salt

               3/4 cup cider vinegar

               1/4 cup water

               1 quart canned red beets and juice

               3 pinches mixed pickling spice

               12 eggs, hard boiled and peeled

Mix sugar, salt, cider vinegar, water, 1 cup beet juice, mixed pickling spice, and heat and let simmer for 15 minutes. Add red beets into mixture.

Pour over hard boiled, peeled eggs. Refrigerate overnight. Slice in half before serving.

Pickled Eggs  (Jack Watt’s Recipe)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups cider vinegar

1/2 cup water

2 cans red beets and juice

10 cloves

1 stick cinnamon

18 eggs, hard boiled and peeled

Mix sugar, salt, cider vinegar, water, 1 cup beet juice, cloves and cinnamon, and heat and let simmer for 15 minutes. Add red beets into mixture.

Pour over hard boiled, peeled eggs. Let stand in refrigerator 3 days.

Tomorrow I will pick and choose from each of the above and make my own concoction. I guarantee it will be tasty! (I use canned whole beets now that I don't grow a garden any more.) That is, if I get to it.