Fried Pickles

One of my favorite places back home in Mississippi is Que Sera Sera. It's a local place near Millsaps Campus with good southern food. Of course, the main attraction is the fried pickles dipped in peppercorn ranch dressing.

We search for fried pickles wherever we go. If they are on the menu, we order. We like chips better than spears. I finally decided to try to make some a few months ago. Still haven't perfected but getting close.


Fried Pickles

Thick Sliced Hamburger Pickles (Vlassic Ovals and Mt Olive Hamburger Dills are the ones I have used)
1/2 c Bread Crumbs
1/4 c Corn Meal
1/4 c Flour
Vegetable Oil

Heat oil in large skillet, just enough so that pickles can still float.
Mix dry ingredients together.
Coat pickles in breading.
Drop in very hot oil. When they start to float, flip them over and let cook a little longer, until golden brown.

Remove from skillet onto paper towel to drain off grease.

Serve with ranch dressing.

Party Appetizers

As promised, the recipes for the appetizers from our Tacky Sweater Christmas Party.

Ham and Cheese Rolls

1 pkg Puff Pastry (sheets)

Sliced Deli Ham

Colby Jack Cheese (sliced is best)

Let puff pastry thaw on counter until its easy to work with.  20-30 Minutes.

Preheat oven to 400.

Unfold puff pastry.  Place 2 or 3 layers of sliced ham on the puff pastry, leaving one inch uncovered.  Place one layer of cheese on top of ham.  Starting from the shorter width side, roll puff pastry toward uncovered end.  

If preparing ahead of time, wrap entire rolled log in plastic wrap and aluminum foil and put in freezer.  When ready to cook, let thaw until able to slice.

Slice log in about 1/2 inch pieces and place on greased or non-stick baking sheet.  Bake for 15-20 minutes--until pastry is golden brown.

Each log makes about 12 pieces.  Notice I used shredded cheese because we had a ton of it.  This worked, and was easy to prepare but didn't work as well when it was time to transfer to the baking sheet.  The cheese would fall out.  

These were a big hit and we ran out before all the guests arrived.  I had an extra puff pastry sheet but no ham.  My soon-to-be-sister-in-law Steph suggested I use the Pepperoni Slices that she saw in my fridge.  I layered the pepperoni with mozzarella cheese.  Delicious!

Peppermint Bark

Inspired by FoodieBride

8oz Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate Squares

8oz White Baking Chocolate Squares

Peppermint Candy (I used candy canes)

Melt chocolate in separate double boilers.  I made my own by placing a glass bowl on top of a pot of water, where the water was just touching the bottom of the bowl.  

While chocolate is melting, line a 9x13 baking pan with wax paper and crush peppermint.

When chocolate is melted, drop alternating spoonfuls of chocolate/white chocolate into baking pan (where it looks like a checkerboard).  Using spatula, swirl chocolate just enough so that it covers the pan.  Sprinkle peppermint on top.  Cover and store in refrigerator until hard.  Break into pieces.

Some people layer the chocolate and white chocolate instead of swirling.  Several people on a local message board commented that their two chocolate layers never "stuck" to each other due to the humidity so I decide to use FoodieBride's swirl approach.  Success -- and it looks pretty too!!

Pepper Jelly Cups

Found on RecipeZaar

A couple of years ago, some of our college friends went to my best friend Margaret's lake house in Louisiana.  Their property has two cute, modest houses on it and a huge sloped yard down to the lake (perfect for slip-n-slide).  Margaret's parents stayed in one house, all the kids in the other.  Her mom made sure we had snacks, one of which was a block of cream cheese with Tabasco Pepper Jelly (red) on top.  I fell in love with this snack and often take it to parties.  

I bought some Phyllo Dough on a whim before the party and then searched the web for something to make using it.  When I came across this recipe, I thought it was perfect for the party since I could buy the green and red jelly.

8 sheets frozen phyllo pastry sheets, thawed

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1 (250 g) package cream cheese

1 jar hot pepper jelly (I use Tabasco Brand and got a jar of red and a jar of green for Christmas)

Take 2 sheets of pastry and cover the rest with a damp cloth to keep from drying out.

Brush a thin layer of butter on one sheet and stack the other sheet on top. Brush one half of top sheet with butter.  Fold the stacked sheet in half.  Brush top with butter.

Cut that into 12 equal squares. A pizza cutter works great for this; I used scissors.

Press each square into a greased mini muffin tin.*

Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown, about 10-15 minutes.

Repeat with remaining sheets, remembering to keep unused sheets covered.

Shells may be frozen at this point or filled and ready to serve.

Place 1/2- 1 teaspoon of cream cheese in the center of each tart. Top with 1/2 to 1 tsp of jelly.

*I used my great-grandmother Nana's little tart cups to make my shells.   Grammy gave me these cups at one of my wedding showers where the guests gave me recipes. The note read "Sarah, These little tins belonged to your Nana.  Each one has a "W" on the bottom - you know how Nana identified all her stuff! I wanted to share these with you.  You will need them with one of my recipes!  Love you, Grammy."  Every kitchen item Nana owned had a W on it.  Actually... it was everything she owned, even Papaw's socks!  Grammy and Nana made many batches of little tarts with these cups (lemon and strawberry for sure) and I am thrilled to finally get to use them. 

Devilled Eggs

I do not have a real "recipe" for devilled eggs.  I just add stuff until it looks good and tastes good.

Eggs

Mayonnaise

Mustard

Pickle Juice

Paprika

Boil eggs -- Place eggs in pot and just cover with water.  Bring water and eggs to a boil.  Turn off heat, cover pot and let stand for 18 minutes.

Peel eggs and slice in half, putting yokes in a bowl, whites on a plate.  

Mix yokes with a couple of spoonfuls of mayo and a squirt of mustard.  Add a spoon of pickle juice.  I mix in my mini food processor to get it really smooth.  Use just enough mayo to get the yoke mixture smooth.  If it tastes a little bland, add some extra pickle juice.  

Place yoke mixture in a zip lock bag.  Cut tip off bag and squeeze into egg white cups.  (I got this little tip from Martha Stewart.)  This makes it very easy to fill the eggs without having to make much of a mess, and easier to prepare in advance, store in fridge and fill right before serving.

Sprinkle with paprika.

Pita Mozz!!!

People from Jackson, especially from Millsaps, have a really strong love for a place called Keifer's. It's right near campus and has two great patio's so it was a favorite for lunch and dinner on the weekends. Keifer's is one of those places that those of us who have moved away always crave. It's the one place we MUST go when we make it back to Jackson. The gyro's are good but I think what makes the place, other than the atmosphere, is the Feta Dressing. My favorite thing there is the Pita Mozzarella ("Pita Mozz") -- a pita, with fried cheese on the top, served with Feta Dressing.

While I was home this week, without Ryan, Mom, Dad and I went for dinner. After some talking with the waiter about how to bring Ryan some food home, we decided I would buy a 16oz cup of the dressing. The waiter wrapped the cup in several layers of plastic wrap. I packed it in a box with ice packs and bubble wrap and checked it on the plane for my trip home (Feta Dressing in quantities greater than 3oz are not allowed through security!).

I stopped by HEB and picked up some Pita Bread and Mozzarella cheese to give the Pita Mozz a try. I was not really sure how to make it so I just played around. This is what worked:

Pita Mozz

Pita Bread
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Feta Dressing

Heat non-stick pan over medium-high heat -- it did NOT work in a stainless pan, maybe with some cooking spray but I am still not sure the pan I used can be saved.

Place on pita bread in pan and sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top.Leave on this side until cheese starts to get soft and melt. I sort of pressed it all down with the spatula to make it stick together.

Flip pita so the cheese side is down. Let cook a couple of minutes, until the cheese gets a good brown crust on it. Quickly slide the spatula under and move to a plate, cheese side up. Serve with feta dressing.

I think our new normal will be bringing back a cup of Feta Dressing each time we go to Jackson, or my parents bringing it when we come. This will satisfy our cravings in the off months between trips home!

Grilling!!!

One night last weekend, Ryan and I decided to grill out. We stopped at Kroger on our way home from a day at the lake with his extended family. When we walked in we saw some pre-made kabobs so that gave us the idea... we decided to make our own. Nothing to fancy, just meat, peppers, onions, zucchini and squash. As we walked through the produce section, I couldn't resist a tub of fresh pineapple chunks. Grilled pineapple sounded heavenly, and it was.

Here is our basic recipe.

Beef and Veggie Kabobs

1 - 1.5 lb beef (we got the pre-cut kind)

1 zucchini

1 squash

1 green bell pepper

1 sweet onion

2 cups fresh pineapple chunks

Tony's Cajun Seasoning

Garlic Pepper

Worcestershire Sauce

Tabasco Sauce - Smokey flavor

Slice vegetables in bite sized pieces

Season the meat with Tony's, Garlic Pepper, a few shakes of the Worcestershire and Tabasco.

Sprinkle zucchini and squash with Tony's and Garlic Pepper

Skewer all meat and veggies. We have found that skewering with one item per skewer works best since some things take longer to cook. We also have this nifty skewer set with a stand that allows for the food to not sit directly on the grill.

Place food on hot grill and cook until done. I don't know how long, we just watch it and hope it doesn't burn.

This latest "kabobbing" attempt turned out fantastic. Our grill wasn't big enough for both trays of skewers so the pineapple was dessert. Mmmmm, I could eat grilled pineapple several times a week!

When we grill, Ryan likes to make stuffed jalapenos or stuffed mushrooms. He was in the mood for mushrooms so that's what he made. This is one of those recipes that isn't really a recipe. We just make the cheese stuffing up as we go...

Stuffed Mushrooms

Whole mushrooms, stems removed

1 block cream cheese

grated cheese (Mexican blend, cheddar, Parmesan, mozzarella, whatever you like)

garlic pepper

Tony's Cajun Seasoning

Mix the cheeses and seasonings. Our only advice is to start small and add more of each ingredient as you taste test. Don't go overboard on the Tony's because it makes it really salty.

Fill mushrooms with cheese mixture. Leftover cheese mixture makes a great dip with Wheat Thins.

Place on grill, on indirect heat, until cheese is melted and mushrooms are soft.

We are looking forward to our new house, with a nice, new, bigger grill! Too bad that's over a year away!