Coleslaw KFC style

This is a Todd Wilbur copycat recipe and it sure is a good one. To me this tastes just like KFC’s coleslaw, in fact my MIL thought it was. The size of your cabbage and carrot pieces will make all the difference and they shouldn't be much larger than a rice kernel. I shredded mine with a food processor and it worked out perfectly. Give this recipe a try the next time you fry a chicken. This is What’s Cookin on Beaty’s Creek.



Needed:

½ cup mayo
1/3-cup sugar
¼ cup buttermilk
¼ cup milk
2-½ T lemon juice
1 ½ T white vinegar
½ t salt
1/8 t pepper
8 cups finely grated cabbage
¼ cup finely shredded carrot

In a large bowl mix all of the ingredients except the cabbage and carrot until very smooth. Now pour over cabbage and carrot mixture and stir very well. Cover and place in fridge for 2 hours before serving.

Ratatouille

This is a recipe that uses everything fresh from my garden. I made this for Raven’s lunch and everyone ended up eating it. I used whole-wheat pasta but your favorite pasta is fine. This is What’s Cookin on Beaty’s Creek on this cool summer day.



Needed:

¼ cup olive oil
1 purple onion-peeled and diced
2 eggplants-peeled and chopped into 2 inch pieces
4 zucchini- trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces
4 tomatoes-peeled and chopped
3 garlic cloves-minced
Salt and Pepper to taste
¼ cup chopped basil


In a large skillet heat oil over medium high heat, to that add onion until slightly softened. Now add garlic, eggplant, zucchini, salt, pepper, and tomatoes add cook covered until veggies soften up. Pour over pasta of your choice and top with basil.

Bread and Butter Pickles

Bread and butter pickles are Raven's favorite pickles and I love them too. A girlfriend and I had a bread and butter war a few years ago and yours truly won. How you may ask???? I know the secret to a crisp bread and butter pickle. Want to know my secret??? Ice and salt, that's it. You MUST ICE YOUR SLICED CUCUMBERS AND ONIONS DOWN WITH KOSHER SALT. If you do this I promise you will have crisp bread and butter pickles. This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek today.


Needed:

25 Kirby Cucumbers-sliced 1/4 inch thick
5 white onions-peeled and cut into 1/8 inch thick rings
1 cup kosher salt
5 cups sugar
5 cups apple cider vinegar
4 T mustard seed
2 T turmeric
Lots of ice!!
Jars


Wash and slice cucumbers and onions. Let stand 3 hours in the ice and kosher salt. Now mix vinegar, sugar, spices and heat until hot, drain cucumbers and onions and then pack into hot jars. Pour enough syrup in to cover cucumbers and seal. Process in a hot water bath for 12 minutes. Let pickles set for about 2 weeks before eating.

Homemade Sauerkraut

Nothing taste as good as homemade sauerkraut. Of course that is if you like sauerkraut, I am a lover of kraut and so is my family. I raised loads of cabbage this year and was so happy that our garden bunny ate only one head. By the way, he is enjoying my tomatoes way before I have and I may be doing an Elmer Fudd on him before long. Kraut is simple to make but you must have patience. Kraut takes 3 weeks to make at a room temperature of 75'. Any warmer is not good, kraut will spoil and any cooler it will just take longer to make. This is What’s Cookin on Beaty’s Creek today. Note: The best way to keep homemade sauerkraut is to not heat process it, of course this means keeping it in the fridge. But due to space in the fridge I always have to process some of mine. When you process kraut you loose a lot of the good benefits of homemade kraut. Meaning the stuff that is good for you.

Needed:
15 pound green cabbage-hand shredded
8 T kosher salt
Huge crock and time.



When all of the cabbage is done begin layering cabbage, salt, cabbage until all of the salt is gone. You will mix the cabbage with your hands or a huge WOODEN SPOON. Do not use anything but wood or your hands. Metal will ruin your kraut. As you mix the cabbage it will get very watery, this is good. You want watery kraut. If your kraut is not in a good amount of liquid add brine. Brine is 1 t kosher salt to 1 cup of water. I added about 4 cups of brine to mine. You will want to weigh your kraut down with a plate. This is how I do mine. I fill a large Ziplock bag with brine and seal it. I then place it on top of the kraut, this seals off any air. I then place my plate on top of the Ziplock bag. Keep your crock on a cool dark place. Taste in 3 weeks and then fill into quart jars and process in a hot water bath for 12 minutes.

Baked Beans

I could eat baked beans with every meal. My mom always made them when we would have a cookout. My favorite part was and still is the crispy brown sugar coated bacon on top of the yummy baked beans.    I was asked by Foodbuzz to come up with a recipe featuring bacon for their BACONALIA and this one came to mind.I hope you give this a try the next time your family has a cookout.

 This is What’s Cookin on Beaty’s Creek.

Needed:
5 cans Pork and Beans
1-cup brown sugar
½ cup molasses
1-cup Head and Country Barbeque sauce
1 onion cut in quarters
1-pound bacon

Mix beans, brown sugar, molasses, and barbeque sauce very well. Now pour into a large caste iron skillet. Place onion and bacon on top of beans and place in a 350’ oven for 1-½ hours.

Quick Pickles

This a favorite around here. I used all garden produce but this is just as good made with store bought produce. It is great to have with almost any meal and there is no canning involved!! This is What's Cookin (not cookin) on Beaty's Creek.

Needed:

6 Cucumbers-peeled and sliced
1 purple onion-peeled and sliced
3 tomatoes-did not have tomatoes this time but we usually add them in
3 cups apple cider vinegar
1 cup sugar

Mix sugar into vinegar until completely dissolved. Now pour over cucumbers and onion slices. Place in fridge for a couple of hours. Just as good the next day.

Brisket

This is my favorite thing to smoke. Believe me, finding a brisket to smoke this Fourth of July was a journey in itself. See I like to smoke a brisket that has at least an inch of fat on top. To me it makes all the difference in the world in the taste and moisture of the brisket. I finally found the brisket in a nearby town and wouldn't you know, it would be close and the last place I thought to look. I use hickory wood in the smoker but the wood choice is up to you. I think hickory gives the meat a very good taste, not over powering but just good. I hate it when you eat something smoked and it tastes like SMOKE. I think you should still be able to fully taste the meat that you have just smoked. This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek

Needed:
8-10 pound beef brisket with an inch of fat on top
Rub
Wood of your choice to smoke with
Smoker--well duh...

I rub the brisket with a lot of my rub the night before I smoke it. After it is rubbed down, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight. An hour before you are going to smoke your brisket, remove it from the fridge and let it come up to room temperature. You will smoke your brisket 1 1/2 hours per pound. Let your brisket rest for 20 minutes before you cut or chop it up. We eat ours on buns with a lot of sauce.

Fresh Blueberry Pie

I love to pick my own blueberries and thankfully my kiddos do too. We pick several gallons so we can have plenty of fresh berries and also have some to freeze for later use. Right now I have a blueberry pie in the oven begging for some vanilla ice-cream..... Back to the recipe, this is a very good pie recipe in my opinion. This would make a great dessert for the 4th of July. This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek.

Needed:
4 cups of fresh blueberries( I always put a couple of green berries in my pies. I think it makes a difference.)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 T butter
2 T Cornstarch
1 egg yolk mixed with a little cream
Pie crust

Mix berries with sugar and cornstarch and pour into your pie pan that is fitted with your bottom crust. Now dot the berries with the 2 T butter and cover with top crust. make sure you cut some air holes in the top crust, this will help the steam to escape. Brush an egg yolk mixed with a little cream over the top crust and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake on a parchment lined cookie sheet at 425' for 20 minutes, reduce oven to 350' and bake for 25-30 more minutes.

Garden Green Beans and New Potatoes

I love green beans with new potatoes and bacon. What combo is any better?? I cannot believe how many green beans my garden has put out this year. I canned like crazy at first and then I saved the last harvest to eat! Weird I know but that is what I do. We eat ours with crispy cornbread and that is it. Nothing else is needed, well maybe some cukes from the garden but that is it. This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek today.

Needed:
3 pounds of green beans-cleaned and snapped into 1 inch pieces
2 pounds new potatoes-cleaned, but left whole
1 pound bacon-cut into 2 inch pieces
Water
Salt and Pepper to taste

Place green beans into a large pot and cover with water. Now add bacon and salt and pepper to your tastes. Cook over medium heat for 3 hours, now you will add your new potatoes and cook for another hour. We eat ours with crispy thin cornbread.

July 4th Menu

I love the 4th of July!! I don't however like fireworks, Ransome makes up for that. He loves fireworks! We will be cooking out of course, isn't that what everyone does on the 4th??? In our area we are known for being the Huckleberry Capital of the World, and this is the time of year we have our festival. Total small town charm and small town fun! Anyway this is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek this 4th of July!!

Smoked Brisket
Hot Links
Baked Beans
Corn on the cob
Potato Salad
Watermelon