Recipes to Share

I wanted to share some more recipes that my family enjoys.

Spicy Oven Fried Potato Wedges

The recipe for Spicy Oven Fried Potato Wedges can be found here. This Hillbilly Housewife recipe is a hit with my family.

Short Bread Cookies

Another Hillbilly Housewife recipe we like is the Short Bread Cookie recipe found here. They don't last long when I make a batch.

Black Bean Soup

The last Hillbilly Housewife recipe to share today is the Black Bean Soup recipe found here. The changes I make are to chop all of the vegetables pretty finely. I also successfully canned a double batch of this soup yesterday. I used my pressure canner and processed 10 pints (The double batch made exactly this amount.) for 1 hour and 15 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure.


The final recipe I will share is my own for fried zucchini. My family loves these.

Fried Zucchini

1 Medium Zucchini
1 Egg
¼ Cup Milk
¾ Cup Flour
½ tsp. Salt
¼ tsp. Pepper
Vegetable Oil

Peel and slice the zucchini. Mix the egg and milk in a bowl. Dip the zucchini slices in the mixture. Combine the flour, salt and pepper in an empty bread sack or baggie. Add the zucchini slices to the bag a few at a time. Shake to coat. Fry the slices in a skillet heated with oil (enough to cover the bottom of the skillet). Brown the slices lightly on each side. The time will vary based on how hot your pan is, etc. Place the fried zucchini on a plate with paper towels to drain. Salt to taste.

Recipes to Share

Sweet Pickle Relish

I made a batch of relish Saturday using our bountiful supply of cucumbers. I was able to turn these


into this.


My mom has used this recipe for years, and this is my second year to make some. The recipe made enough to can 7 pints and 7 jelly jars full of relish. My mom always used to do the open kettle method, but I am too leery of possible problems, so I use a water bath canner to process the jars. This ensures a proper seal.

Sweet Pickle Relish

4 Quarts Shredded Cucumbers (Remove seeds before shredding.)
2-4 Diced Green Peppers
2-4 Diced Medium Onions
Mix the above 3 ingredients with ½ cup of salt and let stand at least 3 hours in a large bowl. Drain.

4 ½ Cups Sugar
1 Quart Cider Vinegar
¼ tsp. Ground Cloves
½ tsp. Turmeric
Bring the above 4 ingredients to a boil in a large pot.

Place the following 3 ingredients in a cheesecloth bag.
2 ½ Tbsp. Whole Mixed Pickling Spice
½ Tbsp. Celery Seeds
½ Tbsp. Mustard Seeds

Add the drained cucumbers, peppers, and onions to the vinegar mixture, and add the spice bag as well. Bring to a boil again.

Remove the spice bag. Ladle relish into hot jars. Add hot lids and rings. Process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes.

Sweet Pickle Relish

My Daughter the Seamstress

I have to share about my sweet daughter. She was in her first year of 4-H this year, and she took sewing as one of her projects. She chose to make an elastic waist skirt and a simple tote bag. We chose a cute fabric from the Tutti Fruiti collection at Joann Fabrics. It is 100% cotton, and very easy care. Her skirt won champion of her division, and also gets to be entered into the state fair. Her tote bag won reserve champion of the non-wearable category. She was also in the fashion review and won champion of her age group for modeling her skirt and tote bag. I was so pleased with how well she did. She also entered 2 arts & crafts projects and received blue ribbons on each. I think she had fun with 4-H and wants to do it again next year.

My Daughter the Seamstress

First Produce from Our Garden!

I picked 2 heads of broccoli on Saturday, and I was so excited to start getting some produce. I have never grown broccoli before, but it wasn't hard. We should have some more vegetables ready in the next couple of weeks. Summer eating from the garden is so good and so healthy. I am really looking forward to our sweet corn!

First Produce from Our Garden!

Homemade Detergent

I have been using a new detergent recipe I found over on Diaper Sewing Divas. It has been named "Diva Detergent". I use it on all my laundry and have found it to work well. I don't use the Calgon because we have a water softener.

1 55 oz. box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
1/2 cup Mule Team Borax
2 Cups Oxygen Cleaner
1/2 cup Simple Green
1/2 cup Calgon Water Softening Powder

Mix the dry ingredients in a bucket first(I use an ice cream bucket.)and then add the Simple Green. (I use my hands to mix the Simple Green in, but I wear rubber gloves.) Use 1/8 cup for diaper laundry and 1/4 cup for regular laundry.

Washing Soda (Sodium Carbonate)- Strong enough to actually change organic compounds and keeps them suspended in the water so they can easily be washed away. It is a naturally occurring compound free from enzymes, dyes, and perfumes, and is the main ingredient in most powdered laundry detergents.

Calgon - Softens water and prohibits buildup of minerals on fabrics that is common in hard water. If you have especially hard water, you may need to add some Calgon Water Softener to each load (1/3 of what it says on the package)

Borax - Whitens and brightens without phosphates and enzymes. Borax is too harsh, both to fabric and sensitive skin to be used in large amounts, and tends to not rinse out well. Less is more with Borax in laundry.

Oxygen Cleaner - Stain remover and whitener. Oxygen cleaners do not react well with extremely hard water and will add to scum build up. If you have extremely hard water, as noted above, add additional water softener.

Simple Green - Provides the necessary surfactants to lessen the water tension and allow the detergent to become a part of the water and actually get into the clothes.

Cloth Diapers: First strip diapers using hot water and a pouch of RLR (laundry aisle). Run hot wash cycles with nothing added until there are no suds. Do one final cold rinse.

Homemade Detergent