Random Recipe Wednesday: Pickled Dill-Caraway Carrots

I should probably warn you now that I'm on a pickling spree.  Those pickled grapes made me conjure up a whole list of odd things to pickle.  But let's make carrots first, I don't want to get too crazy on you quite yet.

Our pickling possibilities are endless.  In addition to various vegetables, a few fruits and some other odds and ends, we can mix and match our herbs and spices.  There's also a variety of vinegars to experiment with.  For once I can't seem to work in peanut butter, popcorn or cookies.  I'll have to work on that.

Oh, I also managed to pickle the bottom shelf of the refrigerator followed by the produce drawer and kitchen floor as I spilled pickling brine all over.  On three separate occasions.  Three.  All I can say is, use a container that has a tight fitting lid, not a random disposable container with a mismatched almost-fitting lid.

Tuesday's Twist: Pickled Grapes

Tuesday's Twist:  A basic recipe with a fun twist.  In other words, just another excuse for me to play around with weird recipes I've been dying to try.

Pickled grapes?  Yep, that's right.  Pickled grapes.  Stop giving me those strange looks.  Why would a girl who doesn't even like pickles make pickled grapes?  Oh wait, now I get why you're giving me those odd looks.  

Actually, I think I'm starting to like pickles.  Well, sort of.  So far I like some things that are pickled, but I'm not huge on pickles themselves.  I know, weird.  But since this new pickling trend has popped up I've tried pickled asparagus and pickled carrots.  I was quite surprised at how much I like them.  So surprised in fact, that I decided to try a few kinds of "pickle" pickles again as wells as pickled beets.  Nope, still don't like either of those.  At least not yet.  But what about grapes?

Tuesday's Twist: Whipped Honey and Lemon-Rosemary Honey

Tuesday's Twist:  A basic recipe with a fun twist.  In other words, just another excuse for me to play around with weird recipes I've been dying to try.

I performed an operation yesterday with my dad.  It turns out my vintage mixer isn't quite as spry as it appeared to be two months ago.  I think it has arthritis.  Instead of its effortless whir, the gears and joints started to sound like nails on a chalk board.  I suppose it was to be expected seeing as she was built between 1944 and 1953.  Invasive surgery was our only option.

We prodded and pried then whacked and wiggled.  Much to my horror I have now seen her greasy, grimy guts.  And let me tell you, there's a lot of grease.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but certainly not a good 1/4 cupful of ancient grease with far too much resemblance in both color and consistency to earwax.  But hey, it was better than blood.  At first I thought it was old Crisco and was ready to wipe out every last glob.  Thankfully my dad reminded me that grease keeps the gears working.  It was intentionally placed lubrication, not rancid Crisco or cookie dough. We (ummm, he) spread the grease back around and we eventually got everything sealed back up.   I'm happy to report our patient is back to moving with soundless ease.  With no complaints of pain or grinding joints she even felt up for a little something new, whipped honey.

Random Recipe Wednesday: Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

You know my obsession of trying weird and random things with food?  We're going to focus a little more on the random than the weird by (temporarily?) replacing Weird Recipe Wednesday with Random Recipe Wednesday.  Wait, it's more like renaming than replacing, because knowing me the recipe will likely involve some sort of weird factor anyway.  Okay, now that that's out of the way let's get started.

I'm a sucker for sales and deals, even when I don't need the item.  What can I say, it runs in the family.  Anyway, last week I happened upon jars of roasted red peppers marked down to 99 cents.  I proceeded to put 3 jars in my cart even though I've had an unopened jar of roasted red peppers in the pantry for several months.  Much to my delight, these sweet peppers rang up for only 89 cents a jar.  Since I now had four jars on hand I figured it was time to open one.  Guess what?  I think I know why they were on clearance.  Instead of the sweet roasted flavor you get when you roast your own red bell peppers, I tasted only a fake-smokey-chard flavor.  They certainly look like roasted red peppers, and the ingredient list doesn't say anything funky alluding to added flavoring.

Winter Wednesday: Snowmen Snacks

It's weird that I don't feel like making anything weird.  Or maybe it's normal, which would be weird for me.  I don't know, it's probably the winter blues.  Let's just make it a Winter Wednesday for this week, okay?  It's been a little too chilly for real snowmen, so let's bring the fun inside where it's warm.

Tuesday's Twist: Black-Eyed Pea Salsa

Tuesday's Twist:  A basic recipe with a fun twist.  In other words, just another excuse for me to play around with weird recipes I've been dying to try.

Eating black-eyed peas is a long-standing tradition for New Year's Day.  Some trace the good luck tradition all the way back to 500 A.D. and the Jewish New Year.  Others attribute the tradition to the Civil War era. (source)  I wasn't alive for either, so I guess I missed the memo.  I picked up a can at the store, imagining this might be the year I might participate in the tradition.  A new year and new foods.  How have I never eaten black-eyed peas?

 Well, that can of black-spotted beans sat in the pantry, paying no regard to my good intentions.  Apparently those little black eyes couldn't see that the calender read January 1st.  Probably because the new calendar wasn't up yet, details, details.  Anyway, a week later I got around to using these lucky beans.  I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do with them, but eventually decided to stir up some salsa to munch on.  

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Citrusy Carrot Marmalade

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Because some recipes are so weird I just HAVE to try them.  My curiosity always gets the better of me.

This recipe started as the uniquely creative kind of weird, but wound up a little differently than preferred after an impulsively irreversible decision on my part.  In other words, I unintentionally upped the weird factor.

You see, I was in a bit of a hurry and the marmalade just wouldn't thicken.  Adding pectin was my first choice, and I even had a spare box of pectin on hand, but the amount of soupy orange mixture boiling away on my stove wasn't enough to warrant an entire package of pectin.  What would I do with a partial package of pectin lurking in the pantry?  And so, just before I tore open the package, I stuffed it back in the box, stood tip-toe, and placed it back on the top cupboard shelf.  Soon I spotted a box of unflavored gelatin packets.  My fingers reached into the box, tore open a packet and sprinkled it over the simmering pot.  Blast, why did I do that?