Garlic, Red Pepper, and Apple Quick Pickles

Hey again everybody. I'm just wanting to share my experience with the pickles that I previously made that actually blew the lid off the first attempt...which was actually very successful (or so I thought). This time I didn't focus on the vegetable as much I did the brine. I thought and contemplated about the flavors that I wanted out of the pickle and watched YouTube videos to see if I could've improved over the last batch and I noticed one that did quick pickles. Its an awesome way of making pickles and it is much easier. Without the need of sealing and canning ball jars, its as simple as heating and setting the brine and slicing the vegetables. I've got to work a little bit on the ingredients in the dry set which I'll explain here in a short while. Here are the things you will need to make these delightful pickles:

2-3 Cucumbers depending on size.
1 plastic container
Plastic wrap
1 cup water
1 cup apple juice
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup kosher salt
1 tsp sugar
Black peppercorns
Coriander seed
Mustard seed
2 whole sprigs of fresh dill
4-5 cloves of garlic (minced finely)
2 tsp red pepper flakes
2-5 shakes of cayenne pepper sauce
1 tsp lemon juice

The one major component of doing the pickles is the wet brine. Its very simple...mix the water, apple juice, vinegar, salt, and sugar and heat to the point of boiling in a pot on the stove. While slicing the cucumbers into chips, stir the liquid mixture to make sure that the flavors marry. Once boiling, turn off the heat. Place the other ingredients into the container and add the cucumbers to the brim, leaving about a 1/4 inch at the top of the container. Pour the hot brine into the container to cover the pickles, cover with plastic wrap and pop on the lid. Let the pickles marry for a good 3 days and dig in. Sure, its a test of patience for those 3 days. However, its a labor of food love. If you want the typical dill pickle, reduce the garlic down a little, take away the apple juice and sub it with more water, and use white vinegar instead of cider vinegar. I just like the sweet punch that the apple juice adds. Also...these will only last about 2 weeks after opening the container...use them up quickly. My suggestion? Fry some up.

Yummy, Cheesey, Spicy Pimento Cheese

Ahhhh...pimento cheese. How I've missed thee. I didn't start eating it until way later in life until I found a brand that had some flavor. The downside to that is the truth that i can't afford $6.50 a pound for it. If you can catch the ingredients on special at the friendly neighborhood grocery store, you can get the cost down to about $2 a pound. A lot of people use cheese that has no bite. They use miracle whip which makes it sour. Then, I found the secret and tasty combination of ingredients. Here's a fantastic recipe for a classic dip, stacker, topper, and otherwise beautifully tasty southern delicacy. Here are the ingredients.

2 cups of shredded extra sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 cup of light mayonnaise
1/2 cup of sour cream
1/4 cup reduced fat cream cheese
2-3 pieces of jarred marinated red pepper (diced)
1/2 onion (diced)
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp Cajun seasoning (or 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes)

Best thing to do is to have the cheese very cold for mixing purposes. I personally freeze it overnight and let it sit and thaw for about 20 minutes before mixing. Put the ingredients in order into a mixing bowl and mix until fully distributed wet to cheese. It will be decently firm and you won't be able to see any shreds of cheese. Its creamy, its spicy, its sharp. Its everything that's good about pimento cheese with a third of the cost and twice the taste of the cheap Ruth's brand that has no flavor. Hope you enjoy it. Another variation of this is pepper jack pimento cheese. Just sub the cheddar with shredded pepperjack and reduce the pepper. It's delicious