How to Make Koolickles: Pickles Soaked in Kool-Aid

 

Recipe: Koolicles (Fruit Punch Pickles)
Buy at Amazon

Koolickles or Fruit punch pickles are a cool trick to get your kids to eat pickles.  They are also a neat way to get your kids into the kitchen as this is a very easy recipe.

All it is is pickles soaked in a brine that contains kool-aide or other fruit punch.  It does not take very long to make (besides the amount of time setting in your fridge.

Basically to make fruit punch pickles all you need to do its:

  • Buy a jar of pickles (1/2 or gallon sized is best)
  • Empty it of pickles keeping the brine in the jar (I dumped everything out and then poured the pickle juice back in the jar)
  • Mix your fruit punch powder into the brine (make it very strong – I did not and did not get as good of a result my first try)
  • Replace the pickles into the brine (I also quartered some in the video to see the difference between whole and cut pickles – obviously the cut pickles absorbed more fruit punch)
  • Let sit in the fridge until Osmosis (great time for a science lesson with the kids) sucks the punch into the pickles turning them sweet and colored.

I think koolickles are a hoot – so much so that I have a batch in my fridge right now as several of my nieces and nephews are coming over for a cookout to celebrate my 40th birthday and I plan to get their response to red sugar filled pickles…

Recipe: Pickled Celery

Recipe: Pickled Celery
Buy at Amazon

Pickling is an ages old method for food preservation – its works for more than just cucumbers. As a matter of fact, pickled celery is a treat that you must try in homemade chicken salad.

Just like all pickle recipes you need to make a brine, cut up your food, pack it together and let it age.  Pickled celery needs to sit at lease 24 hours after you mix everything, but I try t o wait a little longer before I throw in my egg salad or my favorite tuna fish sandwiches.

I will post the recipe below so you can easily experience the goodness of pickles celery:

 

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 c white vinegar
  • 1/2 c water
  • 1 1/2 T pickling spice*
  • 2 t kosher salt
  • 1 T sugar
  • dash cayenne pepper
  • 4 stalks celery

* A good pickling spice mix is: a bay leaf, 2-3 whole cloves, 2 whole allspice berries, and a teaspoon of mustard seed.

Procedure:

  1. Cut celery into 1/4 slices
  2. Simmer everything but the celery until the sugar and salt has dissolved.
  3. Fill pint jar with the celery and carefully pour the hot mixture over.
  4. Top with water if needed to covered the celery.
  5. Cover and store in the refrigerator. Pickles will be ready after 24 hours

Pickled Celery could not be any easier to make, its a great way to store celery (if processed in a water bath or kept in the refrigerator), and it tastes great.

The best thing is that this pickled celery recipe is not well known so you can surprise everyone with a new recipe…

How to Make Bananas Last Longer

How to Make Bananas Last Longer
Buy at Amazon

With a toddler in the house we keep a lot of fruit.  Unfortunately bananas don’t last as long as they need to, so I started looking for ways to make bananas last longer.

In order to find a solution I had to first understand why bananas turn black and go soft.  Bananas are one of the fruits that uses ethylene gas to cause ripening.  (ethylene gas is also the reason why potatoes and onions should not be stored together)

If you reduce the ethelene gas from the skins being absorbed through the stem you will slow the ripening which will make bananas last longer.

I take a piece of cling wrap about the size of my palm and wrap it around the stems.  That simple process of reducing the gas being absorbed by the stem you will make bananas last longer by about a week.  This saves me from having to make as much banana ice cream because the boy won’t eat a browning piece of fruit.

This extra week also makes a difference in the pocket book and any amount I can save at the grocery makes more I can put in the pantry.

Recipe: Candy Corn Trail Mix (Tastes like a Payday Bar)

Recipe: Candy Corn Trail Mix (Tastes like a Payday Bar)
Buy at Amazon

For being as big as I am, and for the amount of dessert posts I write here, you would think I am a candy junkie but besides a few things like Cheesecake and snickers I really don’t like sweets.  However, I do like payday bars for quick energy when out working  (I would prefer snickers, but the chocolate melts in the heat).

One thing I do dislike is candy corn – its like eating flavored lumps of sugar – however a co worker that ALWAYS has the best recipes (She is a human pinterest post) brought in “Candy Corn Trail Mix” and offered me some.  I turned her down until she mentioned it tasted just like a payday bar.

After grabbing a handful and realizing it DID taste just like a payday bar I told her that if she did not start posting to YouTube, blogging, or pinning her recipes I was going to steal this one (just like I have several of her other ideas).

She said for me to go ahead so I am going to share the simplest candy corn trail mix recipe that you can make.

ready?

Mix equal amounts of candy corns and peanuts together to make the Candy Corn Trail Mix.

That’s it – this is simple and if you add it to your regular trail mix you get the quick energy of the sugar and the sustained energy from the peanuts.

It also totally changes the flavor of you trail mix so you don’t get bored.

How to Make Refrigerator Pickles

 

Recipe: Refrigerator Pickles
Buy at Amazon

Refrigerator Pickles are crazy easy to make.  They are a great first pickle to experiment making.

They are made with few ingredients, don’t require fancy equipment, and are simple to put together.

Besides all of that, they taste great.

Just about anyone can make them and it is pretty easy to keep a batch of refrigerator pickles developing in the fridge on a constant basis.

Once you make them you  can turn them into koolicles if you want but even without fruit punch flavor these pickles are hard to beat.

How to Make Refrigerator Pickles:

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup distilled white vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 6 cups sliced cucumbers
  • 1 cup sliced onions
  • sliced peppers (if desired)
  • tablespoon pickling spice (if desired – omit if peppers are added)

Procedure:

  • First, Bring vinegar, salt and sugar to a boil using a medium saucepan over medium heat,
  • Next, boil until the sugar has dissolved, about 10 minutes.
  • Then, place the cucumbers, onions and green bell peppers/pickling spice in a large bowl.
  • Pour the vinegar mixture over the vegetables.
  • Finally, transfer to sterile containers and store in the refrigerator.

Pickles are ready in about 2 days.