Tuesday=Date Night

Not feeling very ambitious this morning and I loaned my food mill to Kim yesterday so I think the pears will wait until tomorrow.

We had a good time with the Popp's yesterday.  We did burgers on the grill, corn on the cob and I served up several salads that I thought I would share with you today.

 

First my easy peasy homemade refrigerator pickles.  This was my Pop's recipe.

 



 

7 cups cucumbers, thinly sliced

1 cup onion, thinly sliced

1 green pepper, thinly sliced

2 T. salt

2 T. celery seed

1 cup white vinegar

2 cups sugar

 

Place all vegetables in a large bowl and sprinkle with salt and celery seed.  Let stand while you mix the vinegar and sugar, stirring until sugar is dissolved.  Pour this over the vegetables and let stand for 1 hour.  Place into jars and covering the vegetables with the liquid and refrigerate. These can be used immediately and will last for up to 6 months in the refrigerator.  Print Recipe



 

 

Next is my homemade pearsauce which I make just like applesauce.

                                    

 

I love this salad and I love serving it because it is so pretty.  I simply roast fresh beets from my CSA.

I first cut all but about 1/2 inch of the greens from the beets (you can use the greens for another purpose) and leave the root tip in place, scrub the beets, place them on aluminum foil and drizzle with olive oil.  I wrap the foil around the beets and throw them on my grill on med high heat with the grill cover closed until they are easily pierced with a fork, 30-45 min. depending on the size of the beets.  Once removed from the grill I run cold water on them and the skin peels right off.  Slice up the beets and layer with sliced fresh tomatoes, sprinkle with salt and pepper, drizzle extra virgin olive oil over the top and sprinkle on feta cheese.  You can also garnish with basil but I didn't have any on hand. Print Recipe

 

 

 

This lovely green bean salad came from a recipe found in Serving up the Harvest by

Andrea Chesman. Find this book

 

I hope you enjoy these side dishes.  They are all very easy to make but look very impressive on the table.

 

This afternoon I continued to work on a couple of Christmas gifts.  It's never to early to think about Christmas, right?

 

I made these placemats and napkins, 4 placemats and 2 of each napkin, for my sister using this pattern .

 



 

 

Speaking of my sister, Mom goes to her home on Tuesday nights giving Frank and I some much needed alone time.  This evening we will be going out to dinner and a movie.  I think we will be seeing "The Butler".  I will let you know what we think tomorrow.