Our annual visit to Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in Syracuse has become a must. In between trips we talk about the good food and tell anyone who will listen about the restaurant and dream of slow cooked meats, chili, cornbread, and pickles. Yes, their pickles are very good. They make their own refrigerator garlic dills and they go perfectly with any of the sandwiches.

We found the recipe in our copy of Dinosaur Bar-B-Que: An American Roadhouse, the official cookbook by John Stage (one of the restaurant founders) and Nancy Radke. If you are a fan of Dinosaur Bar-B-Que but don’t live close enough to easily get your fix, this book is well worth adding to your collection. The introduction tells the story of how the restaurant got its start and even includes the daily music playlist and a fun feature, From the Walls of the Stalls (bathroom wall wisdom as contributed by patrons). Stage also shares plenty of tips for outdoor cooking, smoking with wood, and how to cook low and slow.

The recipes include regular menu favorites as well as popular daily specials, such as their pulled pork, pork ribs, beef brisket, barbecued chicken, and the Mutha Sauce, a flavorful tomato sauce that is the basis for their barbecue sauces. And if you are a fan of all their appetizers and sides, you won’t be disappointed. The fried green tomatoes, deviled eggs, potato salad, macaroni salad, coleslaw, beans, honey hush corn bread, grits, and fries are all here. The soups chapter has the Texas red chili, jambalaya, and gumbo, and you’ll find the Dr. Pepper Texas Chocolate Cake and coconut bread pudding with rum cream sauce in the desserts.

The pickle recipe is easy, no fuss, no processing in a hot canner, just cook up the brine and pour it over the sliced vegetables, then stick it in the frig. We do recommend you adjust the heat to your liking. Our jalapeños are wicked this year and just one is enough for the recipe, but taste yours and decide.

(Print this recipe)

DINOSAUR BAR-B-QUE’S GARLIC DILL PICKLES

Adapted from Dinosaur Bar-B-Que: An American Roadhouse, by John Stage, Nancy Radke.

Makes about 4 quarts/liters.

Equipment

4 (1-quart) jars with lids, cleaned well in hot water
3-quart saucepan
wide mouth funnel

Ingredients

4 pounds (~1.8 kilos) pickling cucumbers
1/4 cup chopped garlic
2 jalapeño peppers, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped fresh dill

BRINE
4 cups (960 ml) white vinegar
2 cups (480 ml) water
6 tablespoons kosher salt
1/2 cup (88 g) sugar
5 tablespoons pickling spice
2 tablespoons mustard seeds
2 tablespoons black peppercorns

Preparation

1. Combine the vinegar, water, kosher salt, sugar, pickling spice, mustard seeds, and peppercorns in the saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from the heat and allow to cool until just slightly warmer than room temperature.

2. Slice the cucumbers into 1/2-inch thick rounds. Divide them evenly between the jars. Add the garlic, jalapeños, and dill, dividing evenly between the jars.

3. Pour the brine into the jars making sure to cover the ingredients. Cool to room temperature and cover with lids. Store in the refrigerator, allowing the pickles to marinate for a week, then serve.

More Recipes That Go Well With Barbecue

More Pickle Recipes From Around the Blogs

White on Rice Couple – Vietnamese Pickled Carrots

A Veggie Venture – Homemade Bread and Butter Pickles, Freezer Recipe

Homesick Texan – Hot Jalapeño Pickles

Pinch My Salt – Aunt Kathy’s Pickled Beets

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So yes, I feel highly qualified to give my opinion on cleaning products.

The FloorMate Hard Floor Cleaner is designed to vacuum, wash, and dry hard sealed floors such as linoleum, vinyl, laminate, tile, marble, bamboo, and wood. It is not designed for carpets or unsealed wooden floors, so if your wood slats have cracks between them, don’t use this product because water will seep under the wood and cause damage. I wanted to test it on our tile floors, especially the kitchen because that’s where the majority of our messes occur. Our kitchen and laundry room tile is deeply textured, which creates challenges for cleaning in the crevices and the grout.

The FloorMate comes unassembled, but it only took a few minutes to put it together.

First, you snap on the handle.

Attach the brushes.

Then attach the nozzle. Make sure you look over the nozzle carefully because after first use I found some shipping cardboard shoved in there pretty tight and out of the way, and of course it affected the FloorMate’s initial performance.

Then slide on the clean water tank.

The dirty water collection tank is already in place, and you just press the button down and pull it forward to see the filter. The cleaner is bagless, so some dirt and debris collects in the accordion filter as well as a small round filter below. The accordion filter comes out easily and can just be rinsed under warm water. The other filter remains mostly dry and you can just pull away the debris. The debris should be cleaned after each use and you’ll also want to rinse out the collection tank as well.

The handle has easy access to the power button and the trigger which releases cleaning fluid onto the floor.

The big button on the side lets you change cleaning mode on the fly.

There is a lever on the back for lowering the handle.

The back hooks hold the cord for easy storage.

And a white lever on the handle lets you fold the top half of the handle for more compact storage.

The FloorMate package I received came with the Hoover cleaner solution as well as some floor wipes, though I chose to use our vinegar/water solution. The measuring cap that seals the clean water tank is also a measuring device and the instructions say to fill it with cleaning solution then add to the water in the tank. That’s okay for the Hoover solution but not enough for vinegar solution, so I doubled the vinegar and it seemed to work fine.

I found the key working with the machine was to go slowly. In Wash mode, squeeze the trigger and go slowly over the area you want to clean, giving the brushes time to scrub. Then go slowly over the same area in Dry mode to suck up the dirty water.

I deliberately let the floor get dirty before cleaning, but ick. Not a good day for the 5 Second Rule.

After several trials, I feel I can definitively state that it works pretty well, though better on a completely flat surface versus deeply textured tile such as ours. The vacuum couldn’t always pick up some of the things on our floor, i.e. Cheerios. There were a number of spots that the brushes simply couldn’t reach and I hand scrubbed those, and for the same reason not all of the water was sucked back into the machine, though only about 25% remained on the tile and in the grout. If your floor has any food stuck to it, you may need to hand scrub to finish removing it.

If you are in the market for a vacuum or floor cleaner, the FloorMate is definitely worth considering because it combines functions, just remember to check your floor type first.

Giveaway

You can enter for a chance to win a Hoover FloorMate Hard Floor Cleaner at the Facebook fan page, just send them a photo of your messiest mess and complete the other registration details.

[Disclosure: I received this product from the manufacturer. The opinions expressed here are my own, as well as the photographs.]

Pros: Combines three cleaning functions in one machine, scrubs pretty well on flat surfaces, works with vinegar and water cleaning solution, handle folds down for compact storage, beltless, bagless, easy cleanup.

Cons: Not as effective on deeply textured tile and deep grout, not for use on unsealed wood floors.

Price: $149

Color: blue

Materials: Plastic housing, rubber wheels.

Warranty: 1 year

Where to buy: https://www.hooverfloormate.com, Amazon.com, WalMart, Target, other retail outlets

Company website: www.hoover.com

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The classic question for any home cook is what to substitute for ingredients you don’t have on hand, can’t find, don’t like, or are outside the budget. That tin of baking powder in the pantry is well past the expiration date and probably won’t rise your cake, so what can you use instead if you can’t make a mad dash to the store? What if a recipe calls for a spice, cheese, or sauce you’ve never heard of and can’t find?

Originally published in 1986, Substituting Ingredients: The A to Z Kitchen Reference, by Becky Sue Epstein is now in its fourth edition and includes over 1,000 substitutions as well as instructions on how to make common condiments. For the novice cook I recommend the first chapter “How to Use This Book,” a short read which covers the ins and outs of substitutions and explains how the substitution lists are organized in the book. Other chapters include herbs and spices, measurement equivalents, remedies for common kitchen disasters, and even green homemade substitutes for household cleaning formulas. You’ll learn useful things such as how to make harissa sauce, crème fraîche, cocktail sauce, a nontoxic homemade oven cleaner, and even the volume of various baking pan sizes in case you don’t have the size a recipe requires.

It’s the kind of book a novice or intermediate cook would want on hand for quick reference and it would make a nice gift for anyone learning to cook.

[Received book from the publisher.]

Publisher: Sourcebooks

Company website: www.sourcebooks.com

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Silver Diner has not only changed their menu by adding healthy dishes, but they’ve switched to grass fed angus beef and hormone free all natural meats. They’ve added gluten-free dishes and 600 calorie entrees. They’re also buying local and getting farm fresh produce, milk, chicken, and eggs to the table within 48 hours. Their eggs now come from Martin Farms in Pennsylvania; milk comes from Kreider Farms in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania; natural multigrain breads all come from local regional providers, and even the beer and wine come from local regional wineries and beer companies. Their coffee is Greenberry Coffee, which is roasted in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Bloggers from the DC Metro area had a chance to sample some of the new healthy dishes at a blogger event on May 13 at the Clarendon restaurant in Arlington. [Disclosure: The blogger event was hosted and paid for by Silver Diner and organized by Zcomm. The bloggers received a free buffet meal and gift baskets with coffee mugs, fresh local asparagus and strawberries, and Greenberry coffee. They also gave away a few prizes, though I didn’t win anything. The opinions expressed here are my own.] We had a chance to listen to Giaimo and Executive Chef Hengst talk about the changes coming to all the Silver Diner locations and the reasons why, all while tasting a menu that included:

• Healthier Shake Shots,
• Silver Diner Mimosas,
• black bean quesadillas,
• crab dip,
• sliders (Salmon, Pesto Turkey, and All American),
• Tomato Mozzarella Finger Sandwiches,
• Summer Citrus Salad,
• Chopped Asian Salad,
• 600 Calorie Smothered BBQ Meatloaf,
• 600 Calorie Vegetarian Stir-Fry,
• Shrimp Scampi with Gluten-Free Penne,
• Guacamole Pepper Jack Burger,
• Gluten Free Brownie Sundae,
• Apple Pie,
• Double Chocolate Triple-Layer Cake, and
• Coffee, wine, beer.

I tasted quite a few things, keeping my samples to just a bite or two because there was a lot of food and the wait staff kept bringing out more. Of everything I sampled, my favorites were the Salmon Sliders (though I would have liked a little more teriyaki glaze and wasabi), the Summer Citrus Salad (photo below), and Chopped Asian Salad (photo below). I even liked the 600 Calorie Smothered BBQ Meatloaf (photo above), and I really don’t care for meatloaf. The only thing I didn’t sample were the burgers because I was trying to save some room for a few bites of dessert, but they looked very good. The apple pie is beautiful—it looks more like a galette than a pie—and it was my favorite dessert, though the chocoholics would probably vote for the cake.

I made a point, well actually a couple points, to ask Giaimo and Hengst about the children’s menu and any changes they had planned for it, and they assured me that the children’s menu is also undergoing the same changes. The new ingredients are already in place in the menu and there are new healthy entrees, sides, and dessert for children to choose from. The new children’s menu will be revealed in June and I look forward to seeing and tasting what Silver Diner has come up with.

Our family is very concerned about the food we eat, which is why we try to grow our own herbs, vegetables, and fruits as much as possible. It’s heartening to see local restaurants change their business practices by adopting a healthy philosophy and supporting local farms and businesses, and I hope that other restaurants will follow suit. Safe, healthy food should be served everywhere, not just in expensive establishments.

To promote the new healthy menu, Silver Diner is sponsoring a Social Kitchen contest where fans can win a $50 gift card to Silver Diner and one lucky grand prize winner will get their choice of $500 to spend in their local community or a trip for two to a local vineyard, including lodging and wine tasting. The contest ends on May 28 at 5pm ET. Visit the Silver Diner Facebook page for more information on the contest (link below).

Company Information

Silver Diner, Inc.

www.silverdiner.com

www.twitter.com/Silver_Diner

www.facebook.com/pages/The-Silver-Diner/168532409200

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This year’s unusually cold winter and several feet of snow kept the ground frozen and prevented us from doing our typical winter prep, though we can see grass now on most of the yard and in some of the garden, a hopeful sign of a warm spring to come. And of course that turns our thoughts to what we want to plant this year.

If you are like me, you’ve been pouring over seed catalogs since they hit mailboxes in January. We have several places we like to order form, and The Cook’s Garden is one of our favorites. They carry a wonderful variety of vegetable and herb seeds and plants as well as cottage flowers and some garden supplies. We’ve especially enjoyed their year-round lettuce collection, which contains a variety of lettuce seeds to plant throughout the year.

To celebrate the coming of spring and to help you prepare your garden, I’m giving away one $50 gift certificate to The Cook’s Garden, which should help you purchase all the seeds you need and maybe some tools as well. And if you are growing your own food (or farming, hunting, foraging), we hope you will join us for Grow Your Own this year!

Rules

1. The Cook’s Garden only ships to the 48 contiguous United States and Canada. Apologies to my readers in Hawaii, Alaska, as well as other countries.
2. To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment below telling us about what you want to plant in your garden this year. Any kind of garden is fine, whether indoor, outdoor, containers, hydroponic, etc.
3. You must leave a correct email address in the email field so I can contact you if you win. Please don’t put your email address in the comment field unless you want a bunch of spammers to find you.
4. You can earn extra entries by mentioning this contest on your blog or Twitter. Please come back and add additional comments with links to your blog post and/or Twitter status. So that’s three possible entries per person. Three entries = three comments. I will check out the links to verify.
5. The giveaway ends at 8 p.m. EST on Friday March 26, 2010. Random.org will select the winner and I will post an announcement soon after.

Thanks for reading and have fun planning your gardens!

[DISCLOSURE: This giveaway is not sponsored by The Cook’s Garden or affiliated with The Cook’s Garden in any way. I just happen to like them.]

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You can win my review copy of The Art of Eating In, just leave a comment in this post about how you have changed or plan to change your/your family’s eating out habits. Please make sure your email address is correct in the email field so I can contact you if you are the lucky winner. (Please don’t put your email address in the comment field unless you want a bunch of spammers to find you.) You can get an extra entry if you mention the contest on Twitter, just leave an additional comment with a link to your Twitter status.

Apologies to my international readers, but the prize can only be shipped within the continental U.S. The contest closes at 9 P.M. EST on Thursday February 18, and Random.org will select the winner. Look for the announcement of the winner in this post soon after.

Update February 19, 2010: Congratulations to Carol, comment #10, for winning the book!

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I experimented with whole grains using Zoe and Jeff’s original formula because we prefer whole grains in our breads, and fortunately for their readers they put in a lot of work and came up with some fantastic ideas for whole grain breads using the same minimal mixing/no kneading method, and the result is the newly released Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. The book has 10 chapters, and the first four are devoted to fully explaining the method, with information on ingredients, equipment, and tips. If you want to make good bread, don’t skip these chapters. It won’t take long to read them and the reading will prepare you for making your first beautiful loaf. You’ll learn that you don’t need expensive equipment to make good artisan-style bread; this is one cooking area in which less is more, no bread machines or mixers required. The book is perfect for beginning bread bakers because you learn to focus on the dough without a lot of fuss.

In addition to the master recipe, there are recipes for other whole grain breads, bread with fruits and vegetables, flatbreads and pizza, gluten-free breads, and enriched breads such as brioche and stollen. The book makes use of a variety of whole grain and gluten-free flours: whole wheat flour, rye, graham, oats, bulgur, barley, wheat germ, spelt, emmer, buckwheat, cornmeal and masa, mesquite, millet, quinoa, rice, sorghum, soy, tapioca, and teff. Vital wheat gluten is an important ingredient used in the whole grain loaves to help maintain structure and texture, though it is omitted in the section of gluten-free breads for people with gluten allergy.

We’ve made several of the breads since receiving a copy of this book for review and have found more than a few favorites.

My family thought the flavor and texture of the Whole Wheat and Flaxseed Bread was terrific. The addition of flaxseed adds important nutrients to the bread, including fiber, protein, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, and Omega-3 fatty acids.

Rye breads are probably our favorite kind of loaf, and the thought of braiding rye and pumpernickel together was just too tempting. The pumpernickel color isn’t as dark as our favorite pumpernickel from Harrison Bakery in Syracuse, so I’m going to experiment with more ways to deepen the color. I recommend letting these doughs sit in the refrigerator for at least two days for better flavor, and if you can possibly wait a little longer, the flavor gets better the longer it sits.

We took Zoe and Jeff’s idea for pumpkin brioche donuts and cut mini donuts, sprinkled them with spiced sugar, and then baked. These little things are addictive.

Whether you are new to baking bread or are a seasoned baker, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day will help you to get more whole grains into your diet and even save you money on expensive store-bought loaves. Both Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day and Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day are very worthwhile to add to any collection of baking books.

[Received book from the publisher.]

Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books

Company website: www.artisanbreadinfive.com/

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One of my favorites is The Essential EatingWell Cookbook from EatingWell magazine. The book was published in 2004 and received a James Beard Foundation nomination in the Focus on Health category in 2005. The author, Patsy Jamieson, is a contributing editor to Eating Well and a graduate of La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. I turn to the book when I feel fresh out of ideas for meals and have always been pleased with recipe results, many of which inspire further meal ideas. Each recipe includes prep time, start to finish time, make ahead tips, ease of preparation rank, and nutrition information. I’m also looking forward to the release of their next book, EatingWell 500-Calorie Dinners, which comes out in January.

One tasty and easy dish that we like is the Green Beans with Caramelized Red Onions. You can use fresh or frozen green beans, and the flavor is very good. It makes a tasty and healthy side dish that goes well with many meals.

Some of my other favorites include the Moroccan Chicken Soup, Margarita Shrimp Salad, and the Moroccan Chicken Kebabs.

Price: US$19.95/CAN$26.00

Publisher: The Countryman Press

Website: www.eatingwell.com

One of my favorites is the Broccoli and Cheese Soup with the garlicky croutons floating on top. It is easy to make and takes only 35 minutes to prepare from start to finish. There are some delicious fish dishes such as the Salmon with Orange Butter sauce that will get many repeats in our house.

Price: US$24.99

Publisher: Harper Studio

Website: www.emerils.com

You won’t find recipes with exotic ingredients you can only get through mail order, just standard ingredients available in farmers markets and grocery stores across the country, which is definitely family friendly.

Price: US$35.00/CAN$40.00

Publisher: Clarkson Potter

Website: www.americanheart.org

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My chopstick collection began innocently enough, just a bag of cheap restaurant-style wooden chopsticks to use and reuse at home, but I had long admired the heights of functional artistry that some chopsticks achieve: the sleek design of metal chopsticks, the colorful surface of lacquered chopsticks, the Zen feeling of carefully smoothed wooden chopsticks. They are the perfect blend of form and function.

I remember spotting these children’s chopsticks in a small toy store. They were in a simple display near the check out counter, and a bright purple camel begged to go home with me. That was eight years ago and I still have that purple camel. As our children started to grow up and feed themselves I began to collect more of these Hog Wild Chopsticks because I wanted to encourage my children to practice using chopsticks. The technique is different from standard chopsticks, just a simple squeeze, which might put off chopstick purists, but I think it’s a good start particularly for children who may have fine motor challenges.

Hog Wild Toys is an independent toy maker, and they have 32 chopstick designs to choose from.

Zoo Sticks

Farm Sticks

Fish Sticks

Dino Sticks

Besides the simplicity of use, one thing I appreciate about the design is how the ends are squared off and taper to an ribbed angle. The ribbed surface is larger than standard chopsticks, which makes it easier to grab bits of food, but I don’t think this makes them any safer than pointed chopsticks. Kids are kids and my boys have poked each other with the chopsticks on a number of occasions, and fortunately we haven’t lost an eye yet. We find the chopsticks easy to clean and they are dishwasher safe according to the company representative I spoke with, but we don’t put them in the dishwasher.

My boys enjoy using them and get excited about choosing their chopsticks for meals. The company website specifies the chopsticks are for ages 8 and up, but I’ve used them with my children as early as 5 years old, so it really depends on your child’s level of manual dexterity and whether you trust him or her with a slightly pointy object at mealtime.

[I purchased this item.]

Pros: Easy for young children to grip, wide ribbed tips make it easier to pick up food.

Cons: Can break easily if pulled in the wrong direction.

Price: starting at US$2.25 each from How Wild, have seen US$1.75 to $3.50. Shop around.

Dimensions: 10 inches/25.5 cm long

Colors: vary, 32 different animal shapes

Materials: plastic

Where to buy: Hog Wild Toys, Amazon’ target=_blank>Amazon’ target=_blank>Amazon’ target=_blank>Amazon, local small toy stores. Can also buy in bulk from Wildline.com.

Company website: www.hogwildtoys.com

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The book explains the basics of high-acid canning (the boiling water method) then presents over 250 pages of recipes from all the standard categories plus a few extra: jams, jellies, butters, marmalades, conserves, curds, low-sugar spreads, pickles, relishes, salsas, chutneys, savory sauces, oils, vinegars, and mustards. The chapter “Fresh From the Freezer” covers freezer jams and other ways to preserve foods in the freezer. Then the authors have a chapter at the end called “Let’s Open the Lid and Use What’s Inside” which has over 30 pages of recipes that use canned items from the book. The Marmalade Fruit Muffins, Light Chocolate Brownies (made with Prune Butter), and the Spiced Fig Jam Bars all sound terrific to me.

Many of the recipes make only a cup or two, thus making it unnecessary to go to the trouble of processing in a boiling water bath. We’ve tried several of the recipes with great success, and I highlighted a few here.

The Ginger Plum Jam is my favorite plum jam ever. It only has four ingredients, but the candied ginger gives such wonderful flavor. It is fantastic. I also like that it is relatively low in sugar compared to others I’ve tried. I’ve even reduced the sugar on occasion just to see how low I can go.

The Caramelized Red Onion Relish is my husband’s new favorite condiment, topping steak, burgers, hot dogs, you name it. I even saw in the last chapter how they use it on pizza, something we’ve not yet tried will. Again, this is a recipe with only a few ingredients that’s easy to make. The recipe only makes two cups, so it’s not worth processing, and it doesn’t last long around our house anyway. I just put it into a pint size jar and keep it in the refrigerator.

Spiced with cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, this Spiced Plum Butter is beautiful and smooth, a delicious accompaniment for toast, scones, biscuits, and muffins. And just like the others, it’s easy to make.

The books covers the seasons, so you can make Strawberry Kiwifruit Spread in the spring, Blueberry Jam with Cointreau in the summer, and Pear Amaretto Jam in the autumn. I found the book has plenty of variety for home cooks, and offers interesting combinations of flavors. The instructions are easy to follow and typically only require a few steps. If you have never canned food, I highly recommend reading the Introduction which serves as a primer on boiling water canning. The book does not approach the subject of low-acid pressure cooker canning.

For beginning home canners or those wanting more variety in canning recipes, I think this book is a good one to add to your collection.

[From my personal collection.]

Publisher: Firefly Books

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