okra bean stew

 This was ok.  Idea from here.

- 1/2-1 onion, chopped

- 1 stalk celery, chopped

- 1-2 carrots, sliced 

 - 2 cloves garlic

- diced tomatoes (1 can was too much if they're saucy)

- 1 c. (ish) stock or bouillon

- 1/2-1 jar white beans

- 10 oz-ish okra

Heat up a pan and saute onion, celery, and carrots until soft. Add garlic for 30 seconds or so, until aromatic.  Add tomatoes and stock and bring to a boil.  Let simmer for 10ish minutes.  Add okra and beans and let it cook another 10-15 minutes.  Season with salt, pepper, Tony Chachere's.  Eat with rice. 

pickled okra

 Years ago I made an amazing pickled okra but I apparently did not record the recipe. 

So here goes.

This is what I did today, and I can adjust accordingly.

Sterilize jars in boiling water bath.  Warm lids.  

Make brine:

- 2 cups white vinegar

- 2 cups filtered water

- 1 T. salt

Heat it up for salt to dissolve.

Clean okra and trim caps (but not all the way).

Into each jar (pint size or somewhat larger*):

- 1 tsp mustard seed (scant)

- 1 tsp dill seed (scant)

- 1 tsp peppercords (heaping)

- 1 garlic clove

Fill with okra, pour in the brine to 1/4".  Put on lids.

Process in hot water bath** for 10 minutes.

Let them brine for three weeks or so before opening.  Shelf stable though I refrigerate after opening.

*I reused some jars a neighbor gave me, probably about 24 oz, that had grape leaves in them and were nice and round.

**The jars were too tall so I processed on low in canner for 10 minutes. 

kale-ground beef-sweet potato meal

 I like simple fare, and this using up of things I have on hand was very tasty and nutritious.  All sort of substitutions would work great.

Bake 

• sweet potatoes.  (New trick I learned: cut in half and cook in toaster oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.  Perfect!)
  

Saute:

• onion (I used leftover 1/2 of a large onion)
• garlic 
  
• ground beef (3/4# or so, from a local farmer who grinds in organ meats - liver, heart)

 Once the onion is soft and ground beef barely pink, add:

• kale (I put in an equal amount of kale as ground beef, by eyeball; it was frozen)

Let it cook until kale is preferred texture.  Season with salt, pepper, etc. (I used garlic powder instead of cooking garlic in it.)

Put sweet potato on plate, serve with ground beef/kale and sides (I added sauerkraut and feta).  

It makes enough for about four meals so I'll have it for breakfast the next few days.

*I got this from a local farmer, and they added in organ meats (liver, heart).