Fat Frog Diary

 Piccalilli is pretty darn old. I was able to trace this recipe back at least 100 years. It's probably much older than that, since it's a way to preserve vegetables from the garden in a "pickle", which is the easiest type of preservation method, requiring no special equipment other than good quality preserving jars and lids. However, I do recommend picking up a set of canning tools for safety's sake.  The recipe below is from a Kerr Bottle Company preserving book from the early part of the 20th century.  Terms to Know:  A peck is 8 dry quarts or 16 pints. Four pecks make a bushel.  Gherkins are a smaller variety of cucumber, also called a "pickling cucumber." They can be nubby-skinned. They are easy to grow, and many gardeners have them in large numbers because they are easy to pickle.  Ingredients:  8 quarts fresh green tomatoes 1-quart large pickling cucumbers (aka gherkins) 2 green peppers 4 onions 1 cup salt  1 cup sugar 1 T. whole peppercorns...

Frankly, I've never made the Creamy Cucumbers. I went straight to the Marinated Cucumbers because it's basically a refrigerated pickle and works with many vegetables. 

Broccoli Cheese Potato Topper Who doesn't love baked potatoes? There's a lot to love, but elevating the humble baked potato beyond butter and sour cream to make it a meal is my idea of a lazy comfort food, especially if you make the baked potatoes in the Instant Pot. Notes: 1. The condensed cheddar cheese soup is worth hunting up. I keep several cans in the pantry, ready for a fast cheese sauce.  2. Use the steam-in-the-bag varieties of broccoli florets. You can even change it up to any one of several veggie mixes such as broccoli and cauliflower.  Disclaimer: I am not a chef, nor a licensed food service professional of any kind. I'm a grandmother who loves to cook and loves efficient cooking. Anything I post has been checked out by me, but in no way do I guarantee that my suggestions will work for you. YMMV (Your mileage may vary.) Some links may give the original poster a small commission on products sold via the link. I personally am not an Amazon affiliate and make no...

I don't need to add anything to this recipe, but I did. I added some cooked cubed pork I had left over from another meal and needed to use up. I started this recipe in the morning.  This was another one I made in the Instant Pot. I cooked the dried chickpeas on high pressure for 25 minutes, with about 4 cups of water. Most of the water had been absorbed when I did an NPR (natural pressure release.) I drained the rest and set the chickpeas aside.  I sauteed the onion, garlic and celery in the olive oil in the Instant Pot, then added back the chickpeas, potatoes, tomatoes, water, pork, and spices. I then set the Instant Pot to slow cook, covered without locking pressure, and walked away for a few hours. One hour before I planned to serve, I stirred in the pasta. The aroma was glorious! 

  Basic Bavarian Another classic from the unjustly maligned Joys of Jello 6th Edition, this dessert is a versatile workhorse for the busy cook. I personally modernized it by substituting Cool Whip for the original Dream Whip.    Notes: 1. Note it can be molded or made into a pie. While Jello molds can be great fun, don't hesitate to try out any of the new flexible silicone molds. One year, I used a brain-shaped mold at Halloween and squeezed red decorative gel for a bloody look.  2. Line a 1-1/2 quart mold with ladyfingers before putting in the filling. This works especially well in a trifle bowl or any clear glass bowl. Different cookies change the look and the taste. Even graham crackers jazz this versatile recipe.  3.  You can use this recipe plain, add fruit, coconut, nuts, candy or cubed colorful Jello, or layer two different flavors for a spectacular yet easy effect. You can even change out the cold water for juice or add flavors to the cold w...

  Haymakers’ Gatorade aka Switchel Note: This recipe makes a LOT of liquid. Use a gallon jug/pitcher for my recipe, 2 gallons for the original. ************** Original Recipe: 1-1/4 gal water (5 qts) 2 cups molasses, honey, and/or maple syrup 1 cup apple cider vinegar 2 T. powdered ginger Rum (optional) *************** My Reduced Version 2-1/2 qt water 1 cup molasses, honey, and/or maple syrup (Mix it up until it equals 1 cup. Molasses is too bitter to be used alone. I personally use 1/2 honey and 1/2 molasses) ½ cup apple cider vinegar 1 T powdered ginger, though candied ginger can be substituted. Rum (to taste, still optional)   No, seriously. That’s it. Mix it up in the jug, jar, or pitcher. Chill and serve. I know, it’s weird, but oddly refreshing. This is an old New England recipe used during the hay harvest to refresh the weary farm hands while they worked in the summer heat to bring in the hay for winter. I discovered it works best for ...

  Homemade Spice Blends from AllRecipes.com I love spice blends I make myself, and not just because I save a ton of money. I know what's going into my spice blends and can make adjustments if needed. For instance, I'm slightly allergic to rosemary and both my roommate and I can't stand cilantro. These adjustments are important to us, since they truly affect our enjoyment of food.  These links below are my go-to recipes for some of my favorite spice blends, plus a few I'm dying to try too! Who says an old dog can't learn new tricks?  Homemade Spice Blend Recipes (allrecipes.com)   Homemade Seasoned Salt Recipe (allrecipes.com) (1) How to Make Pumpkin Spice (Pumpkin Pie Spice)! - YouTube   4 DIY Spice Blends | Recipes (tasty.co) In a previous recent post on September 12, I mentioned making your own blends to keep around in Ziploc snack bags. Well, I'm correcting myself. I have an alternative place to store your single-use or small batch seasoning blends. Pop one o...

  Sweet Quick Bread Mix Not only does this make a great "shelf special", it's a gift you can give with a few additions and a card.      Recipe Notes:  Preheat oven to 325F. To make the bread, use 3-1/2 cups of the mix. Add 2 eggs, 1/3 cup of vegetable oil, 1 tsp of vanilla or other flavoring, and enough liquid like juice, milk, or water to moisten. Keep in mind that your add-in like pumpkin, banana or zucchini may also have moisture inherent to the add-in, so you may want to hold off adding liquid until after you've included your add-in. Nuts may be rolled in the powder mix before beginning the recipe to avoid them sinking to the bottom. On average, most sweet breads take about an hour to bake in a standard loaf pan.    Personal Notes: As seen in the picture, the possibilities are varied and may be adjusted to fit what's seasonally available. Carrot-Orange loaf in the spring, Zucchini Bread in early summer, Pumpkin Bread with Pumpkin Spices...

 SLOPPY JOE SEASONING MIX and PANTRY GOOPS This one is a good one for keeping handy in the pantry. There will always be nights when you can barely manage to shuffle into the kitchen to cook a meal for yourself, much less something nutritious and filling for anyone else in your household.  While the recipe for the seasoning mix says to create a foil packet and label it, I recommend instead a small snack-sized Ziploc bag.  That way you can create several bags at once to keep on hand for those nights when you might be able to manage something quick and easy in the electric skillet.  Now, let's take this concept of "dinner on the shelf" a step further. Why buy boxed products to make up a dish full of chemicals when you can have your own ready on the shelf?  Think of the different boxes of dinner "options" available in the grocery aisles. Most of them are a starch (pasta or rice) in one container, a seasoning packet made of seasonings appropriate for that particular ...

RUSSIAN REFRESHER This delicious hot drink was the thing to give your friends and family in a fancy jar set  back in the 1970's. I loved it as a kid, and my mother was happy to make a big batch every fall.  Tang can be purchased via Amazon using this link:  Amazon.com : Tang Jumbo Orange Naturally Flavored Powdered Drink Mix 2 Count 63 Oz Canisters : Grocery & Gourmet Food My choice for the lemonade mix is Countrytime Lemonade, but you can decide based on what's available to you.  Please note that I personally substituted instant tea for 1 cup of the orange drink mix (aka Tang.)  Get creative with this, especially for any tea drinkers in your friends and family. What if you sealed this in a fancy jar and included it with a fun and fanciful tea set for a host(ess) gift or housewarming? 

 ONION SEASONING MIX Love this! I hate paying extra for a box of two envelopes of onion seasoning mix when I use this several times a month at minimum! If you can't find the Bon Appetit Seasoning, try this: Simply Organic All Purpose Seasoning . I've also substituted Bea Monde seasoning in a pinch.  So easy! Save a bottle from the recycle bin to keep it in. I keep mine in a pint jar. Yes, I use that much! Each foil bundle saves me so much time and money. 

  Canned' or 'Jarred' Butter!! I'm re-sharing this post because I've been hearing and reading about a possible butter shortage and continuing high prices for butter. I don't know if that will happen (I hope it doesn't), but just in case it does I wanted to share this again to help you all be as prepared as possible for whatever may come... bad weather, shortages, rising food prices, inflation, illness, job insecurity, etc... The more prepared we are the better we can handle whatever comes our way! I firmly believe we should 'Be Prepared - Not Scared'!! Before I go on I want to post a portion of what I've written in my 'about' section... I'm not an expert, but I am a wife, a mother, a grandmother, and a great-grandmother who likes to cook and bake and store up for my family! I'll be sharing some favorite recipes. I will also be sharing canning recipes - methods - and pictures. Some of the canning recipes I share may not be FDA or U...

1 can Eagle Brand Sweetened Cond. Milk 1/3 c lemon juice 8 oz sour cream 1 t. vanilla or almond extract fruit of your choice Mix the first four ingredients with a whisk. Pour 2-4 T over the fruit. Serve cold.  Easy to make, easy on the budget. Great on a hot day. Let me know if you try this and what fruit did you use. I used a fresh fruit mix with grapes, melon, strawberries, and pineapple.  

 What makes a recipe qualify to call itself by that illustrious title of the Versatile and Time-Saving Casserole? A casserole contains the following basic ingredients. 1 cup of aromatics such as onion, carrots, celery, peppers, and/or mirepoix. 3-4 cups of cooked protein or beans 2-3 cups of cooked carbs (pasta, rice, couscous, potatoes, chips, etc.) 1-2 cups of vegetables 1-2 cups sauce or binder (condensed cream of soups, white sauces, cheese sauce, gravy, sour cream, ricotta, tomato sauce Seasonings to taste 1 cup topping such as breadcrumbs, cheese, snack chips, nuts, etc.  This is the basis for almost every "dump and go" casserole ever invented. Even the layered casseroles like lasagna follow this rule. Stir the first six ingredients together in a large bowl, spray a casserole dish with non-stick spray, dump in the mix from the bowl, sprinkle on the topping, and bake at 350F for about 30 minutes.  Why do you think grandma loved this type of recipe? Because so much of...

https://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/uses-for-household-borax/   I'm giving this lady full credit! We all know about baking soda and how many wonderful things it can do, but borax equals or exceeds it. I've made the laundry soap and found it beyond excellent. I've used it to scrub delicate china without removing the artwork, and I knew it could do other things but I was stunned by the advice from a friend to try it for an insect infestation. Little brown cockroaches had invaded my home from a grocery bag kept a little too long, and bug spray just wasn't doing the job. Not only was it expensive, I was tired of inhaling the poison while I wielded the Raid spray like a weapon. Not the way I want to enjoy my coffee in the morning. I live in Florida, and bugs are a constant issue. We have cockroaches the size of your thumb we term "palmetto bugs" but let's not mince words. They are giant flying cockroaches you have to kill with a hammer. No, I'm not k...

Let me state up front that I'm well aware I'm different. I have a work from home job in the medical industry and I'm a born introvert. I'm buried in work all day, then loving the Zoom meetings on certain nights of the week that fulfill what little craving I have for social interaction. I have always preferred to shop online and --when I indulge at all-- carry out or delivery of a meal is fine by me. I know there are a lot of people without a job, struggling to put food on the table, unable to leave the house to even search for work. The gig economy and the service industry are struggling and dying. There's no one leaving the house to go to a show, have a meal out, or even meet with friends for drinks. The entertainers, bartenders, wait staff, and even the zoo staff have no one to entertain. You don't realize how much of the economy depends on the service industry until it isn't there. The only ones left working are fast food/carry-out restaurant workers an...

Call me a skeptic. This I had trouble believing in. I could mix my own powdered laundry detergent? Well, I had an old cannister that had once contained cat food leftover from a trip to Costco, so why not? My daughter recommended it and she's as frugal as I ever was. 1 Box of Borax 3 bars Fells Naptha soap, shredded using a box grater 1 5 lb tub OxyClean 3 c. baking soda 1 box washing soda 2 bottles of scent crystals I spent about $25 at the grocery store to get those. No biggie. If it works, that's several months of laundry for a large family, and since there's just the two of us here, it should be even longer. Shred the Fells Naptha soap first into a small bucket or bowl. It takes awhile. Sit in front of the TV or something and wear gardening gloves, just in case. My scraped hand was a hard lesson in paying attention. Box graters are cheap at the dollar store, but handy when you need to shred just a little bit. All ingredients get dumped into any la...

I found this on the side of a box of Jell-o Vanilla Sugar Free Pudding and tried it. I made one change and one omission. I changed the cookies to a sprinkle of graham cracker crumbs and I didn't use any Cool Whip. Oh, and I used the sugar free varieties of the pudding and gelatin. However, I will type the recipe faithfully. Do what you want. It's your life. Mini Lemon Cream "Pies"  1 pkg (3.4 oz) Jell-o Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding 1 pkg. (3 oz) Jell-o Lemon Flavor Gelatin 1-1/2 cups boiling water 8 vanilla wafers (or graham cracker crumbs) 1 cup thawed Cool Whip whipped topping (optional) Combine dry pudding and gelatin powder in a medium bowl. Add boiling water, stir for 2 minutes, until completely dissolved. Refrigerate 15 minutes. Place 1 wafer in the bottom of each of the 8 dessert dishes. Cover with the pudding mixture. Top with the Cool Whip. Chill for at least an hour. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Saucy Pork Chops Note: Please read all the recipe first.  I've made this recipe since the early 80's. Any recipe that survives that long in my recipe box is delicious, cheap, and easy to make. While the recipe calls for boneless pork chops, use what you have in the pork family! I've made this with slices of pork loin, bone-in pork chops, and even slices of a pork roast too big to serve as one meal when we were poor as church mice. (I have joked I could serve this sauce over a brick and my husband would have eaten it.) If you have a mandolin, use it for the onion to get the thinnest slices possible. If you use a food processor or a knife, you'll just get thicker slices. It won't ruin anything. Splurge a little and use a good brand of cream of chicken soup. The off-price brands are often gray-ish in color, and we do eat with our eyes first. Equipment: Mandolin, food processor with slicing attachment, or chef's knife Electric skillet or stove top skillet...

Crock Pot Bread Pudding Credit: http://www.inthekidskitchen.com/holiday-fun/crockpot-bread-pudding/ Crockpot Bread Pudding Recipe Note: This recipe can be made gluten free and/or dairy free with a few simple substitutions. Simply use non-dairy milk and/or gluten free bread. Slow-cooker Bread Pudding Ingredients 2 loaves of french bread 8 eggs 2 cups milk of your choice 1 tsp. cinnamon Brown sugar topping: 3/4 cup butter softened 3/4 cup brown sugar 2 tsp. cinnamon Melt butter in microwave-safe container and whisk in brown sugar and cinnamon until smooth and thick. Kitchen supplies you might find useful: Crock-pot Non-slip mixing bowls Wire whisks Directions: Chop up the french bread into bite-sized cubes. Spray the inside of slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. Place half of the bread pieces in the bottom of the crockpot. Pour half of the brown sugar topping onto the bread, taking care to distribute as evenl...