A Pickle Pantry Winter Salad

One of my all time favorite salads is a truly fattening one that includes: three bean marinated salad, pickled beets, lettuce, a liberal application of some sort of cheese, and vinaigrette. This is it. What's great about this winter salad is that all of the ingredients are local (OK, hair splitters, not the oil or spices...) and I made all the pickles myself.

This was the first jar of pickled beets I've opened. When you're canning pickles you have to give them time to develop their flavor and texture. Sometimes they don't turn out very well. The suspense is up: the beets are FABULOUS!!!! Oh yeah. You may also notice how pretty they are? The two bean salad from the pantry also turned out really well. I would make it with more herbs next time, but the reduced sugar and the complete lack of green peppers made it very satisfying. (Why do people put green bell peppers in EVERYTHING?!)

Also new out of the pickle pantry are the dilly beans I made. They are so good! I made some with hot peppers for my family and friends who like spicy, and some without for me. They are so delicious. I'm really happy they turned out well because I have A LOT of jars of them.

My sister Tara: The Pickle Connoisseur. We also tasted the bread and butter pickles I made with Lisa E.. Tara and I did not care for them. The good news is that Philip likes them so much he's already inhaled two jars of them. He says they remind him of the deli pickles from his youth. I think it's funny that we're now at the age where we refer to our "youth" as a very distant memory of a fading time gone by.

A gorgeous turnip. I am not a fan of turnips by themselves. I am a big fan of "nips and tatties" though, a Scottish dish of mashed potatoes and turnips with butter, salt, and pepper. This turnip reminds me of a turnip I once bought at the little farm store in Abberfoyle, Scotland. The turnip was the size of my head and made about three meals. We always travel in winter so there wasn't a lot of produce in the tiny store. Just the one giant turnip, some potatoes, and a few carrots. That's all a person needs anyway, isn't it? With a lot little bit of ale?

Such a sad sight. Empty jars with a forlorn little bit of juice left at the bottom to remind us that our supplies are dwindling already and it's only the end of November. (That sounds dangerously like the talk of a hoarder.)


Now, don't forget to vote on the Food Related Gift tutorials from the previous post. You have until Friday to participate and be entered in the drawing for one of the food related gifts I end up making. Go vote!!