Two years ago I planted four jalapeño pepper plants on a whim. The plants thrived and I got a small bounty of peppers. Obviously when the frost came I had to do something with them, so I pickled my first three jars of jalapeños.
Last year I did two small batches, one in early August and one at frost. Bear in mind that I have never pickled more than four, 500ml jars at a time so I have never heat processed them. They get eaten in under a month so it hasn’t been necessary. This year we had some thieving deer wander up from the ravine and eat the leaves off the plants stunting their growth and killing some. If we get a bigger crop next year I will heat process them, but this year it looks like I’ll get about three jars.
I googled a simple recipe. They turned out nicely so I wrote the recipe in my recipe scribbler. Every year I go back to that recipe and wonder because it has no sugar or salt, but it works.
Quick pickled jalapeño peppers:
I started by blanching the peppers, then slicing them.
The slices go into a pot with equal parts water and white wine vinegar and clove of two of garlic, which I bring to a boil.
I ladle the peppers into jars, and cover them with the remaining liquid.
Then I stick the jars in the fridge. They taste best after a couple days, then they go fast.
These were a particular favourite of my middle son. He likes that they are crispier that store bought. I like them because they are more garlicky. The boys all put them on pizzas/calzones, sandwiches, paninis, and my husband puts them on his meat, cheese and pickle snack plates.
It’s pretty small scale pickling, but it’s very satisfying to see how enthusiastically they get eaten.
I’m in the midst of a kitchen renovation. My dishes and pantry items are squirreled away in another room, and the fridge is in the garage. It’s a temporary but annoying situation.
I have a BBQ, two crock pots, and a coleman stove. There’s a fairly good range of meals I can put together with these. I have, however, one more tool in my kitchenless cook arsenal.
wine vinegar and bit of oil. I removed about 3/4 of that mix, and started adding diced veggies. I added potato and carrot (the recipe asked for parsnip which I love but did not have), then layered some of the onion mixture over it. Then I added squash and celery (celery was not in the recipe but I added it I like how celery fills in flavour gaps), and again topped that with the onion. I then layered ripe tomatoes, also from my garden, topped again with the remainder of the onion. Next was zuchini – this time from a 
friend’s garden. Here the recipe called for corn on the cob, but I had been too lazy to go to the grocery store so instead I just poured in some frozen corn. On top of that, until the potji was full, I placed fresh spinach – also not from my garden thanks to some thieving deer.
improvement – so I started some briquettes in a tin roaster and placed the potji over the coals on the patio. It cooked 2 hours. I could see steam escaping and I could hear bubbling, but I resisted the urge to lift the lid and stir.
I quickly grilled some flatbread and voila – we had a wonderful 
meal. A wonderful meatless meal full of flavour. Meatless is the challenge without an oven so this was a perfect fill in for my slightly meat heavy kitchenless meal plan.
One of the reasons I started this blog is because I have been really struggling to cook for a blended family for the past four years.
but food has been an ongoing problem.
I raised my son with the same relationship to food that I was raised with (thanks mom!). He was encouraged to try new foods, but never required to. There was no punishment for not trying, and certainly no punishment for not liking a new food. He was also encouraged to revisit foods he had already tried and disliked. We both have certain foods we simply would never choose first and a few we just avoid, but we’re overall good eaters.
My step sons have a completely different relationship to food. They were brought up old school and dinner was mandated eating. As a result, new foods cause them quite a bit of anxiety and they are very hesitant to try anything new. When they do try new food it’s usually a fake attempt because they’ve already decided they don’t want to like it.
The second consistent issue is meat. I’m not a fan, neither is my son. I started turning away beef as a tween. I now rarely touch pork (but bacon, am I right?). I eat chicken in small portions. My son eats all of those meats, but also prefers small portions in relation to the vegetables and grains offered.
beef centric cultures, with some potatoes and veggies haphazardly placed on the side.
(thanks again, mom!). I cook from scratch with very few prepared ingredients. This results in far healthier meals. I think they are tastier too because I can’t stand too much salt and sugar.
The real rub is that it also means I put a significant amount of thought into planning and
like prepared foods either because we were raised on them and are accustomed to the taste of real food, without all the salt and sugar.
palates, and set them up for better lifelong health.
Make me eat my words. 