Miscellaneous
 Breads  Breakfast and Egg Dishes  Desserts and Sweets
 Soup Entrees and Main Dishes  Salad and Salad Dressing

Lime Pickles (Sweet)
Kahlua
Granola

Return to Recipe page

 

 

 


Lime Pickles (Sweet)
These are my favorite pickles. My grandma and my mother made them.
I will warn you that I made them with burpless cucumbers, once, without much luck. The center of the pickles fell out so they taste fine, but I ended up with pickle doughnuts. Use your regular cucumbers when you make them.

7 pounds cucumbers
2 cups lime (not the fruit; pickling lime)
2 gallons water
2 quarts white vinegar
4 ½ pounds (9 cups) sugar
1 Tablespoon salt
Wrapped in cheesecloth:
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon whole cloves
1 teaspoon pickling spice

Slice cucumbers. Mix lime and water in a large crock or plastic container. When lime is dissolved WASH YOUR HANDS and add the cucumber slices. WASH YOUR HANDS again. Allow slices to soak for 24 hours.
Rinse well. Cover with clear, cold water and soak for 3 hours. Mix vinegar, sugar, spice bag, and salt together. Drain the cucumbers and cover with the vinegar solution. Soak overnight.
Pace on stove and boil for 35 minutes. Pack in sterilized jars while hot and seal.

M-m-m good!

Return to top of page

Kahlua
This Kahlua is SO good, I can't even use the stuff you buy any more. My favorite thing is to put a bit in a cup of International Cofffee, usually Swisse Mocha . Its good in white russians or what ever you would use Kahlua. It keeps for forever, but I end up giving mine away to people as gifts so I make it every few years or so. Enjoy!

Blend:
6 cups water
6 cups sugar
2/3 cup instant coffee

Mix in large pan over medium high heat. When it begins to bubble reduce heat and simmer for one hour. [Word to the wise: Watch this until you get it to the simmer stage because if it boils over, it is a sticky mess.]

Add:
6 teaspoons vanilla
1 fifth 100 proof vodka

Let mixture cool. Place in bottles or chosen containers. Let "cure" for 2 weeks-if you can wait that long.

Makes 3.5 fifths.

[Another personal note: I've always used inexpensive vodka with good results. I then used Absolute Vodka with smoother results. Next time, I'll use Chopin Vodka. It is more expensive, but I think it will produce a quality product. So choose your poison. Regardless, I think you'll enjoy the results. And remember, this is PROBABLY going to last you for a while.]

Return to top of page

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Granola
This come from Nigella Lawson's Feast cookbook. It is really tasty.

4.5 cups rolled oats
1 cup sunflower seeds
3/4 cup apple sauce
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/3 cup brown rice syrup or rice malt syrup or, if you must, golden syrup
1/4 cup honey
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 cups whole natural almonds
1 teaspoons sea salt
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
2 cups raisins

Mix everything except the raising together very well in a large mixing bowl. Two curved, rigid spatulas are handy for this. You can use your hans but you'll be covered with everything.
Spread this mixture out on two baking sheets and bake in a 300° - 325°F oven, turning over about halfway through baking and re-dstributing the granola evenly during the baking process. The object is to get it evenly golden without toasting too much in any one place. This should take anywhere from about 40 minutes to an hour.
Once it's baked, allow to cool and mix together with the raisins.
Store airtight. Makes approximately 10 cups.

Variations:
Use 2 cups of raw peanuts in place of the almonds and add 1/4 cupt coca powder along with the oats, sunflower seeds, and sesame seeds, giving everything a good stir so that the cocoa is even dispersed before adding the remaining ingredients. Don't add raisins to this version, but you might consider dried cherries.

Return to top of page