Super Easy and Delicious Dressing for All Kinds of Veggies

by Jan Drexler

That title is a mouthful, isn't it? But it's true.

This dressing has been around forever. Generations. Hundreds of years, if not thousands.

Basically, it's a refrigerator pickling dressing, but I have found so many great uses for it.

I'll give you the recipe. I'm almost ashamed to call it a recipe because it's so simple and easy, but here it is:

1 part water
1 part vinegar
1 part sugar


The first way I used this was to make coleslaw.

The way I use it the most is with cucumbers.

I use those English cucumbers because of their milder flavor. If you love cukes, use your favorite kind! Slice the whole thing, along with some onion. The sweet white onions are best!

Then mix your dressing. Easy ratio - 1:1:1, water, vinegar, and sugar. Stir until the sugar is mostly dissolved.

I use 2/3 cup of each for these long cucumbers.

Stuff the veggies in a jar or bowl (make sure you can cover it!), then pour the dressing over.

You can eat them right away, or stick them in the refrigerator until you're craving that sweet/sour deliciousness. :-)

I'm looking forward to trying this with cauliflower, green beans, zucchini...basically anything you can pickle, you can use with this dressing!

And it's so easy, it's almost - not quite - but almost...sinful.


While you munch on your cucumber slices, I'm going to take you along on a great hike!

I met my word count goal early on Saturday, so my dear husband and I packed a picnic lunch, laced on our hiking shoes, and went to the Hills. We chose a trail I had read about, but we had never tried. Believe me, we'll be hiking this one again!

It's called the Lost Cabin trail, and is one of two National Recreation trails in the Black Hills. It's described as "remote" and "scenic," and I definitely agree!

Before we start, I need to tell you that you're going to see a lot of downed and broken trees in my pictures.

Quite often, this is what the forest looks like ten to fifteen years after a forest fire. But this wasn't caused by fire. Many (too many!) of the trees in this area were victims of the pine beetle and were dead-trees-standing until the big storm in October 2013. In this part of the Hills, the wind was particularly strong (70 mph? I'm just guessing - it might have been more. We had 70 mph winds at our house.), and all those dead trees snapped like twigs.

But the forest is designed to renew itself. Now that the dead trees are out of the way, new growth is appearing.

It will take years for these trees to reach the size of the ones they're replacing, but that's what the forest does. The old passes away, providing space and nutrients for the regeneration of the forest.

So, lace up your hiking boots! We're on our way!

We parked at a trail head and needed to hike along the spur trail to reach the main trail. Let me interpret this sign for you.

The brown sign says that we will access the Lost Cabin Trail, trail number 2, in 1/4 mile straight ahead.

The smaller signs, from top to bottom, tell us that this is a National Forest trail, you can hike, you can ride horses, you can bicycle, but you can't have open fires. (If you want to camp, you can use a backpacker's camp stove.)

The trail was as beautiful as they said. Even from the parking lot, we had a gorgeous view of Harney Peak sorry - Black Elk Peak. They changed the name a few years ago and I tend not to listen (don't get me started on that subject...). But anyway, it's a beautiful mountain, and is the highest point between the Rockies and the Pyrenees. We've climbed it a few times, but with fall coming I'm not sure if we'll make it this year!

Soon after reaching the main trail, we entered the Black Elk Wilderness area, climbing up the entire way.

Yes, we did register!

The trail went up, up, and up.

We wondered if this vulture was waiting for us to
collapse on the trail! :-)

We finally reached the end of our allotted time (thunderstorms were on their way and we wanted to be safely off the mountain before they arrived), and after a well-deserved rest, we started back to our truck.

Signs of early fall were everywhere. The chipmunks were busy harvesting rose hips, but wouldn't stay still for the camera.

And the aspens are just beginning to don their golden frocks.

We were happy to see our truck waiting for us at the end of the trail!

But the afternoon wasn't over yet. We had one more stop to make.

There is something so iconic about Mt. Rushmore.

Iconic and majestic.

Back to the recipe - have you ever made that dressing before? Am I the last to hear about it?

And what would you use it for?

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Jan Drexler lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her husband and growing family. When she isn't writing, she loves hiking in the Hills or satisfying her cross stitch addiction.

You can find Jan on Facebook, Jan Drexler, author, or her website, Jan Drexler.com.

Road Trip with Missy!

Missy Tippens

It's funny that Ruthy shared travel yesterday when I was planning to also share our road trip from last weekend.

We headed from our town (near Atlanta) up to Tennessee to spend a long weekend with our middle son.

On the way up, we stopped a spent several hours in Chattanooga at the Tennessee Aquarium. It was a wonderful visit!! They have the River building and also the Ocean building. We saw every inch of the place! Some of my favorite parts...

First, the river otters! They were so cute. I want one!

Then we went in the butterfly house. Of course, my phone died while in there. I confiscated my husband's phone and took a gazillion photos and videos but haven't migrated them to my phone yet. But here are a couple I took of butterflies before the phone died.

We had a great day at the aquarium! Then headed to Knoxville to see our son. For lunch the next day, we went downtown to Market Square and ate at a recommended restaurant, known for its chicken and waffles. Myrtles Chicken & Beer. Best chicken I've ever had!

The next day, the three of us went to Asheville to spend a couple of days. We love Asheville! We started the morning with coffee from Trade & Lore.

We lucked out that they were holding an arts and crafts festival downtown. I saw some amazing artwork! Bought a beautiful photo for my daughter's upcoming birthday (hopefully she's not reading this!). :) My son really liked a photographer's work--Fine Art Photography by Walter Arnold. The artist takes photos of abandoned sites, showing the beauty in them. My son's favorite was a photo of an arrangement of books at the Cossitt Library in Memphis, TN. You can check it out here. He may start saving for one of the large wall-sized photos that's printed on metal. They're gorgeous.

On the way back to Knoxville, we stopped at Soco Falls. Hubby and son took a hike to the bottom that was steep and slippery (so there were ropes installed to hold on to as you climbed). I stayed safely at the top and took photos. :)

Here they are working their way back up...

We got back to Knoxville Sunday night and left for home on Monday afternoon after having lunch at my favorite Knoxville restaurant, The Tomato Head. They make the best Caesar salad--which I have them add Benton's bacon to. I crave it when we're not there! At our last visit, we ate at the restaurant both days we were there. And yes, I got the salad both times. LOL

This past holiday weekend was a great trip with four whole days to spend with our son (we have usually only been able to spend one night with him). We're so thankful to have the time with him!

I hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend!

www.missytippens.com

Learning From Mistakes of the Past in NYC

The farmer and I went to NYC last week to spend one last time with our youngest son. Luke is being transferred to Dallas in four weeks and his tenure in the Big Apple will be over. Clearly the weather was getting him ready for Texas heat!!! It was 100 degrees the first day and a local thermometer showed up at 103 the following day... but there's so much to see and do in New York that we didn't have too much time outside... and when we did, well... we were a little sweaty!

I'm in Western New York. It's about 5 1/2 to 6 hours to get to Manhattan, but it's a trip I've made several times a year to see my kids. First my oldest was there working in Manhattan after undergrad... and then she went off for a masters and doctorate in Princeton....

And then son #3 moved to Manhattan as a young attorney. Then his brother joined him seven years later... and spent the last four years there.

Now our time in the city is winding down. We'll still go down to watch a Yankee game or two... but the days of watching the World Trade Center be blown apart...

Trashed...

Cleaned...

And rebuilt....

Are winding down.

Freedom Tower at World Trade Center site.

Cool art show surrounding World Trade Center... This looks like a 3-D rendition of apartments and rowhouses as you walk up to it, but when you get close, it's just a woven material, shadowed and shaded to give the 3D look... crazy clever!

 We've gone through the crash of 2008 ....

That sent tens of thousands of people scrambling for jobs, closed stores and created a depression in finances.

Superstorm Sandy (that left #3 son without power for weeks, and people sleeping on couches in friends' apartments for weeks/months as Lower Manhattan worked to fix blown electrical circuits and train lines... it took years to get things done... (can't find those pics..... huge generators outside monster-sized buildings, giving power to thousands... kind of!)

I'm one of the people clogging phone lines every time there was a terror attack in Manhattan because the boys lived on Wall Street and Maiden Lane... and worked in Midtown.... which meant they were blocks from every attack, all these years.

But it's also had wonderful things for us to experience! I got to meet lots of homeless people and heard some of their stories.

I love the diverse population of NYC (although the population has risen the past two years and it's crazy crowded now... Which means subways, shops, restaurants, streets... crazy crowded. That's not really fun.)

The opportunities. I met Zelda the Wild Turkey (now deceased) named after F. Scott Fitzgerald's wife... For whatever reason. Anyway Zelda lived in Battery Park and she was cool. A chill bird.

I've been to Ellis Island and twice to the Statue of Liberty.

 Lots of Yankee games. Food in Little Italy, Chinatown, Upper Manhattan, Lower Manhattan... I've been to the top of the Freedom Tower and cried in the museum buried in the soil beneath the destroyed World Trade Centers.

 I've watched people be mean to homeless people... Or ignore them...

And that makes me pray for the lack of kindness of the human condition.

I've been to several churches there, all lovely. Heard a choir that probably had members of the Metropolitan Opera last Thanksgiving... Stunning!

And I've seen a couple of plays over the years.

But mostly I've been there to see my boys. To walk with them. Talk with them. Check the Seaport, wave at Jersey and Brooklyn, grab bagels and coffee... but not ice cream or pie because good ice cream and pie don't really exist in Manhattan.

Dave and Luke... yes, Luke is tall! He looks like a giant version of me... a really big leprechaun!

How weird is that? The pie thing, not Dave and Luke...

We've ridden lots of subways.... a few Ubers.... a ferry or two... tons of elevators because buildings don't grow "out" in Manhattan. They go up, up, up!

When you look at pictures, you think of what's gone before you. This trip we walked to the Holocaust exhibit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage on Battery Place. There are 5 Jewish museums in NYC. There are nearly two million Jews living in New York.

When I saw this exhibit, I thought of a Ben Franklin quote I love.... "Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

And at the hauntingly poignant exhibit, done in chronological order, it was heart-wrenching to see how the rights of an ethnic people were frittered away and removed in such systematic fashion... until there were no more rights and no power to demand them back.

Dave, Luke and I spent the morning there. We learned. We thought. We prayed. I came away with some story ideas.... some that I'd been pondering that were reaffirmed by the sights and sounds of the people's laments.

"God cherishes the lament of the night even more than the choir of the morning."

How many laments must God have heard? How many times were countries asked and begged to help? And turned their backs. Countless. Again and again, folks were turned away until Hitler's regime decided their fate for them.

:(

I think every person who leaves that place walks out a little more thoughtful. And maybe nicer.

We'll go back to the city, I'm sure. My editors are there and I like to annoy them... wait, I mean VISIT them, of course.

I'll walk around. Visit the Trinity Church cemetery and little St. Paul's Chapel, a place of healing and help post-9/11.

I'll visit the reflecting pools and pray.

And the 9/11 museum and pray.... The stairs, coming down. So many people, trying to get down those stairs. Some did. Some didn't.

And in a city of now nearly 9 million people, I will pray that more and more will join in the prayers of peace, faith, hope and love.

It was a beautiful, poignant trip. Laughter... and tears. And the promise of a new tomorrow for our youngest, a number cruncher who guided me through the hero's Wall Street role in "Back in the Saddle"...

And gave me an idea for a new story from one of his recent assignments.

Now we're back to the reality of pumpkins and mums here! And while I love visiting the big city... East, West, Home's Best. :)

I love being a country girl!

Wishing you the best of back-to-school September stuff and the joyous colors of fall.

 Multi-published, bestselling author Ruth Logan Herne is having way too much fun to call writing work... and when she's not helping on the family pumpkin farm, she's doing something fun with grandkids and kids and possibly a dog or two. Find her here at ruthloganherne.com or friend her on facebook or follow her on Twitter @RuthLoganHerne. She loves to meet readers and chat with them... and other writers, too.  And she doesn't hate winter... until March. And then she does kind of hate winter. But it's March, so everyone understands that, right?

September Smoothies

While the rest of the world has gone MAD over pumpkin spice EVERYTHING, I'm sitting in my little corner of the city feasting on smoothies that include kale, blueberries and beets. It was 95+ here today and nothing about a hot latte appeals to me, but these drinks? Oh they are good!

When I mentioned these last week, some people were interested (although I'm sure a lot of you were not!) so I thought I'd share.

There's really not much to it - but I do have three variations:

The first was the very basic -
coconut water
kale (blanched and frozen)
frozen blueberries
a beet (that had been pre-roasted and chilled)

I put them all in my Vitamix and pushed it up to high. The result was a sweet, super healthy, refreshing drink.

I really thought I took photos of the process, but I couldn't find them. This is the final product.

2nd variation was all of the above with a good-sized handful of lightly salted almonds tossed in.
3rd variation had a scoop of hemp seeds instead of the almonds.


On Monday, when the temps were soaring, I tried a different one -
coconut water
salted almonds
an orange
kale

I was reusing a cup from my iced cappucino.

That was really good too!

I have to admit, this ice cream loving gal is totally hooked on these instead.

So confess - which appeals to you more - a September smoothie or a pumpkin spice latte (or anything else pumpkin spice - which appears to be limitless at the moment.)?

Roasted Green Beans

I've mentioned them on more than one occasion. I make them at least once a week. And yet I have never actually blogged about them. So today, roasted green beans are finally getting their place in the sun--er, on the blog.

Okay, so there's really no right or wrong here. No specific amounts. But you do want to begin with the stars of the show--green beans.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Snap or cut off the ends of the beans. If they're really long, you can snap or cut them in half. Then rinse well, drain well and spread them on paper towel to remove as much of the excess water as possible. 

While they're drying, cut some bacon into bite-size pieces.

How much bacon you add depends on the amount of beans you have. If I'm fixing just enough for the family, I usually only add one slice of thick-cut bacon which, I suppose, would equate to two slices of regular bacon. Of course, if don't want meat with your veggies, you can skip this step.

Transfer beans to a large sheet pan that's been lined with foil. This will make cleanup SO much easier.

Dot beans with the bacon.

Drizzle with coconut or olive oil. Since this bakes at such a high heat, I prefer coconut oil. If it's solid, I simply put in the microwave on defrost for a minute so I'm able to drizzle it. As for how much oil, not too much, but not too little. You want to coat the beans, but you don't want them swimming.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss to coat.

Bake in preheated oven for 18-22 minutes, or until you begin to see some color on the beans.

These could have actually gone a couple more minutes, but I was in a hurry.

My boys never liked green beans before I started making them this way. And while I wouldn't go so far as to say they love them, they do actually put them on their plate and eat them now. 

So it's September. School is back in session and fall decorations are cropping up all over. Things at the ranch are pretty mellow right now.

That is, until cattle or deer wander into the dogs' line of vision. Then all bets are off.

We still like to do our evening rides around the ranch and I captured these two reveling in the sunset the other night.

Sigh. Such a serene image. Horses are so beautiful.

So what does September bring to your neck of the woods? And have you ever had roasted green beans? Would you?

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Three-time Carol Award finalist, Mindy Obenhaus lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, the youngest of her five children and two dogs. She's passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. When she’s not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren. Learn more at www.MindyObenhaus.com 

Happy Labor Day!

by Jan Drexler

I first shared this post back in 2015 when all four of our children still lived at home. Now that three of them have flown the nest, our refrigerator space is under control...but we still love our hot dogs!

Enjoy your Labor Day!

Hot Dog Extravaganza!

Does your refrigerator have enough space for your family's needs?

Ours doesn't, and it is a constant source of frustration.

Go ahead. Blame my disorganization, or the size of our family, or that I go grocery shopping too often (or not often enough). Or like my husband, you can blame the refrigerator itself.

Me? I blame my family's love affair with condiments.

I thought about taking a picture of the condiments on the table during our recent Labor Day Weekend Hot Dog Extravaganza, but it was pretty embarrassing. You'll just have to imagine what it looked like to give us the end results pictured below.

We started out well enough.

My daughter is a no-frills kind of hot dog eater. Meat. Bun. 'Nuff said.

And then one of her brothers chose the ketchup (catsup?) route for one of his dogs.

Here is his other one. Chili, cheese and horseradish. Mmm...

My husband was traditional. He chose mustard, relish and onions for one dog, and chili for the other. Again, Mmmm....

But now we get to the real condiment hounds. My oldest and youngest sons LOVE things like this -

And this (notice the quart size jars!) -

And here is what they ended up with -

Using multiple condiments on hot dogs really isn't a problem, until you try to put the four different kinds of mustards, two kinds of ketchup, hot sauce, relish, chow chow, sauerkraut, two kinds of cheese, etc. back in the fridge.

I'd say we're probably out of control.

I think we've come up with a new reality show idea, though: Refrigerator Horders!



Wait, what? I didn't share a picture of my hot dog?

I eat mine with coleslaw and onions. The best hot dog ever!

What is your favorite way to dress your dogs?

Jan Drexler lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her husband and growing family. When she isn't writing, she loves hiking in the Hills or satisfying her cross stitch addiction.

You can find Jan on Facebook, Jan Drexler, author, or her website, Jan Drexler.com.