Tightwad Wednesday - Stain Recipe & No-Knead Pizza Dough

Each week, I will test out two tips from the The Complete Tightwad Gazette, and on the following Wednesday I’ll review how they went and evaluate if it is worth my time/effort/money to continue with it.

Both challenges were not too bad this week. I had high hopes for both but only one passed the test, and the other didn’t quite make the grade.

The Stain Recipe

I found the following “stain recipe” from p.274 of The Complete Tightwad Gazette. Eric and I have a problem with finding the occasional grease stains on our shirts. It looks clean but when we put it in on we see some dark spots. I’ve tried Shout and those other products but they don’t work very well on the spots. I thought this recipe might be worth a try.

What a mess! We chose one of Eric’s old shirts for the experiment just in case it went awry. Because we were only were trying it on one shirt I divided the recipe in half. I soaked it like the instructions said and the next morning I awoke to a disturbing sight. It appeared some of the color bled from the shirt. Hmmm. The shirt still looked ok but the reddish water was unsettling. Why was it red when the shirt was grey anyway? Ahhh, the mysteries of laundry. I’m very glad we used this an old shirt.

Looks like evidence not laundry! I put the shirt in the laundry (a full load, of course) and waited for the results. As you can see it didn’t completely get rid of the spots but it did get rid of most of them. The results might improve if I tried it again but with the color change in the sink I’m not sure if I want to. The shirt doesn’t look significantly lighter but I think I noticed a slight change in color. It could be nothing and just my imagination but I don’t want to take a chance.

Less of a mess… I don’t think I’ll be trying this again. It’s pretty cheap I suppose but still not worth it to me. If it worked like a charm I might be able to overlook the potential color bleed issue. But since it didn’t completely remove the stains I will keep looking for a better alternative. If you want to try this at home make sure not to mix colors. Better safe than sorry.

Eric says he will wear the shirt again now that the stains are less visible. Classy.

No-Knead Pizza Dough

Amy lists a pizza dough recipe titled “Thick And Chewy Pizza Dough”. She mentions that she got the recipe from The Food Processor Bread Book. She says:

Jim can make two cheese pizzas for under $1 each in less than 20 minutes of hands-on time. How?

By using a food processor she doesn’t have to knead the dough and it makes for a quick pizza. I love making pizza and regularly make my own dough so when I saw a recipe that didn’t require much time proofing or kneading, I was skeptical and hopeful at the same time. All my other recipes require at least 5 minutes of hand kneading and 40 minutes of rising. How would this one turn out without all that work?

Thick And Chewy Pizza Dough from The Complete Tightwad Gazette (p. 310)

1/2 to 3/4 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F.)
1 package (1 tablespoon) dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine 1/4 cup of the water with the yeast and sugar. Stir to dissolve the yeast, and let stand until bubbly, about five minutes. Put the flour, oil, and salt into a food processor, and process about five seconds with a steel blade.

Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture and process about 10 seconds, or until blended. Turn on the processor and drizzle just enough of the remaining water through the feed tube so the dough forms a ball that cleans the sides of the bowl. Process so that the ball turns around about 25 times.

Put the dough ball onto a 14-inch greased pizza pan or large cookie sheet. Cover with plastic wrap or a bowl, and let stand 10 minutes. Pat the dough out so that it covers the pan, leaving a ridge on the edges. (Or, if you’re feeling really adventurous, spin the dough in the air a few times.) Spread with pizza sauce, and add the cheese and toppings.

Bake at 425 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbly.

Pressed out dough This dough was disturbingly easy to make. I followed the instructions and sure enough, a ball of dough formed in the food processor. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I pressed out the dough using my pizza pan as a guide. It felt like normal dough but it wasn’t as “elastic” as I’m used to.

mmmm, eat up! I dressed it up using my BBQ Pork Pizza recipe (I’ll share that one soon) and faced my first issue. It said to cook it in the pizza pan. I have a pizza stone and prefer the way it bakes pizza so I wanted to use that. Eric reminded me that the test would not be as accurate if I varied from the recipe so I relented and baked it in the pan.

At 15 minutes it still looked pale underneath so at 18 minutes I pulled out the pizza and examined it. It browned nicely on the edges but didn’t brown as well on the underside.

After tasting the finished product we both agreed it was “ok”. You could tell that lack of kneading and gluten development affected the final outcome. It wasn’t exactly chewy and it wasn’t what I expect from pizza dough but we both thought it was decent and worth using when time is tight.

Not bad! For the lack of effort/skill/time needed to make this recipe we definitely give it a “thumbs up”. Although the texture wasn’t as good as my traditional version it certainly wasn’t bad, especially when you consider that it took me no time to make it. I think I’ll keep this recipe around. I can see it coming in handy. It still beats the taste of the refrigerated dough and it is cheaper, too! It’s even cheaper than my traditional pizza dough recipe because it uses vegetable oil instead of olive oil.

Try it out and let me know what you think!

Stay tuned for next week’s Tightwad Wednesday challenge where I will be testing out:

Bread-Crumb Cookies p.132
The Cheapskate Postal Scale p.115

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Tightwad Wednesday - Six Cheap Salad Dressings

This week I decided to focus on all 6 of the “Homemade Salad Dressings” listed on p.230-232 of my The Complete Tightwad Gazette. Amy states:

The following collection of salad dressing recipes cost 30% to 50% of bottled. For example, 16oz of bottled name-brand dressing runs between $2.35 and $3.45. These homemade recipes cost between $0.45 (for the Italian) and $1.45 (for the blue cheese) per 16oz.

Our favorite dressings are about $3 for 16oz after we use a coupon. That equals about $0.19 per oz.

I went to the store and equipped myself with enough salad fixings to test all these recipes over the past week. Eric got a new recipe everyday with his salad and he dutifully reported back his impressions. Because it is just Eric and I sampling the recipes I decided to cut the recipes in fourths. The costs I list are for what it would have cost me to make the full amount listed in the recipes.

Well, let’s see which dressings made the cut!

Thousand Island

3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 Tbsp sweet pickle relish or finely chopped sweet pickle
2 Tbsp chili sauce or ketchup
2 Tbsp finely chopped green bell pepper
2 Tbsp finely chopped onion
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp granulated sugar
1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 hard-cooked egg, chopped

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl except egg. Stir in chopped egg last. Refrigerate. Makes 1 1/2 cups

This was my personal favorite but then again I already have a preference for Thousand Island. Eric really enjoyed it, too, but said it smelled a bit “eggy”. I asked him to clarify and he said the aroma when he opened the container was a bit “off-putting” but that he enjoyed the flavor.

I think this recipe turned out very well and it was very simple to make. The only thing that really took time was boiling up the egg and that wasn’t difficult. This would be a good way to use up any leftover hard boiled eggs. I left out the bell pepper since I didn’t have one on hand. This one will definitely be going in my recipe file.

Total Cost: $0.75 for about 11oz or about $0.07 per oz.

Ranch Salad Dressing

1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup buttermilk
2 Tbsp finely chopped green onions, tops only
1/4 tsp onion powder
2 tsp minced parsley
1/4 tsp garlic powder or 1/2 to 1 garlic clove, finely minced
1/4 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Refrigerate. Makes 2 cups.

This one was just “ok” for me. It didn’t really resemble the “Hidden Valley” version I’m accustomed to so calling it “ranch” was a bit of a stretch for me. Eric, on the other hand, voted this one his favorite overall. He thought it was creamy but “not too creamy”. He liked that it had a little heat and felt it had a great flavor.

This one was again simple to make but did require some chopping of herbs. No big deal though. I was surprised by the paprika and cayenne in this recipe. Very interesting!

Total Cost: $1.11 for 16oz or about $0.07 per oz.

Sweet Tomato-y French

2/3 cup ketchup
1/2 cup sugar (or to taste)
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
salt, to taste
1 or 2 cloves garlic (or 1 to 2 tsp)
2 Tbsp finely minced onion

Combine all ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake. You can blend in a blender if you’d like. Makes 2 cups.

This one was good AND very easy. Eric liked the flavor but said that the first bite was strange. He said that once you get beyond that first bite it gets better as you eat it. I thought the flavor was good but not quite as sweet as Catalina. This is a more savory version. If you prefer it sweeter just add more sugar.

My price is a little high but I was using a “better than average” red wine vinegar. I also didn’t get the canola oil or ketchup in bulk so the price suffered a bit there. This could definitely be made cheaper than how I made it.

Total cost: $1.23 for 16oz or about $0.08 per oz.

Cucumber Buttermilk

1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup grated cucumber
2 Tbsp minced green onions, white and green parts
1 Tbsp Dijon-style mustard
2 tsp minced fresh parsely
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp dried dill
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a bowl with a tight lid. Stir or shake well. Makes 1 1/4 cups.

I didn’t like this as much as the other recipes. This dressing reminds me a lot of a really thin tzatziki. I would think this would be good for light salads or even sliced tomatoes. It is very tangy and has strong flavors of cucumber and dill. Eric thought it was good but a little too light for him. He complained there wasn’t enough “stick” for him.

I had to get out my grater to grate the cucumber but really it wasn’t hard to make. I don’t know if I would make this one again unless I had the perfect style salad for it and didn’t have yogurt.

Total cost: $0.80 for 10oz or $0.08 per oz.

Italian Vinaigrette

1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 1/2 cups olive oil or vegetable oil or a combination
2 large cloves of garlic, crushed
3/4 tsp of salt
1/4 to 1/2 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp minced parsley
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp dried basil or oregano

Combine in a large jar with a tight fitting lid. Shake well. (The frugal zealot says it makes one quart, but it sure doesn’t seem that way).

This one got a thumbs down from both of us. We felt it was oily, and a bit bland, and didn’t hit our palate the way we expect. I have to recommend our version of the vinaigrette because I think it blows this one away. Not even the same ballpark. It just seemed a bit 1 dimensional in flavor and when you are spending more on a dressing because of the amount of oil needed you need it to be great.

Of course it is easy to make but still not worth it in my opinion. Maybe it just needs more tweaking but this one was definitely the loser of the bunch for us. The two costs take in account if you use olive oil or canola oil.

Total cost (olive oil): $2.48 for 16oz or about $0.15 per oz.
Total cost (canola oil): $1.52 for 16oz or about $0.09 per oz.

Blue Cheese

1 qt (4 cups) mayonnaise
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup small-curd cottage cheese
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp salt
4 oz. Roquefort or blue cheese, crumbled

Combine all ingredients in a bowl except blue cheese. Blend those ingredients, then add the blue cheese to the blended mixture. Makes 1 1/2 quarts.

This recipe turned out pretty good, too. The cottage cheese gave body to the dressing and helped stretch the pricey blue cheese. Eric thought this recipe was a winner although he said he wished it had more blue cheese. I suspect that wouldn’t be an issue if I got good quality blue cheese but this time I used a coupon and got a cheaper (and less tasty) version.

Although the recipe was easy because there was no chopping it was a pain to use a mixer to blend it all. I think it would be fine to skip the mixer and just blend it by hand as long as you don’t mind your dressings chunky. My one word of caution is to watch how much garlic goes into this dressing. I was a little heavy handed and it started to resemble a Caesar after a few days in the fridge.

Total cost: $4.66 for 48oz or just under $0.10 per oz.

Stay tuned for next week’s Tightwad Wednesday challenge where I will be testing out:

The Stain Recipe p. 274
Thick and Chewy Pizza Dough p. 310

Tightwad Wednesday - Twice-Used Grounds And Homemade Granola

Well, we had two winners this round! It’s about time!

Reusing Coffee Grounds

A reader in The Complete Tightwad Gazette suggested the following tip on p. 183:

Recycle your coffee grounds by making the first pot of coffee the usual way. Then to make the second pot, add only ½ the amount of grounds already in the filter. This allows me to have two pots of coffee at 1 ½ the amount of grounds.

Eric loves his coffee. On weekdays he gets pretty good coffee at the office and he drinks about 2 cups a day. As a result, sometimes on the weekends he finds he needs a good cup to get him going in the morning. I don’t drink coffee very often so we have a 1 cup style coffee maker called a Senseo.

We have already worked on economizing our coffee usage by changing to cheaper ground coffee and using re-useable filters. We thought this idea of “recycling” coffee grounds might be worth a try, especially since it takes about 2 teaspoons worth of grounds to get a good sized cup in our machine.

Note: you may have different results with this experiment in a traditional coffee maker than I did with my one cup coffee maker.

Cup 1 vs Cup 2 Cup 1: I brewed the first cup of coffee using my normal method with 2 heaping teaspoons of fresh grounds used for one decent size cup of coffee.

Cup 2: For the next cup I used the same grounds, only with more fresh grounds added to it. I’d say I was probably only able to add 1/2 teaspoon of fresh grounds to the used grounds in my little filters.

I poured the coffee into clear glasses before tasting so I could see if there was any difference visually. You could tell that the second cup was a bit lighter in color and probably wasn’t as strong as the first.

Tasting confirmed that the second cup was lighter in flavor but it wasn’t what I’d call “watered down”. The second cup was still good, just not as strong as the first. I don’t see this as a problem, especially since Eric drinks his coffee with creamer and sweetener anyways.

If you are a dark roast fan this may be tougher to handle. I bet this would work much better with a traditional coffee maker because you can likely add more fresh coffee to the used grounds than I could. With our one cup system we use refillable pods and I can only fit so much coffee in those pods and still close them. With open filters you have more wiggle room and can probably achieve a similarly full flavor with the re-used grounds.

I think this is a great idea over all. I hate throwing out coffee grounds after just one use. Surely those grounds have a second run in them.

Homemade Granola

Tightwad Granola Recipe This recipe was very simple and surprisingly tasty. We decided to add sliced almonds to our version since they are somewhat inexpensive and what’s granola without almonds, right?

I followed the recipe (except made a half batch) and was shocked at how few steps it took. I’ll admit that at first I was a bit skeptical of the results. It seemed like 10 minutes was too short to cook the mixture so I stirred it up and let it bake for about 4 minutes longer. Even though it still looked “raw” it did crisp up some as it cooled. Don’t toast it too long - it will get darker and crunchier as it cools.

I would highly recommend this recipe as a cheaper alternative to buying granola. Being a big granola fan, my only complaint was that even after cooling overnight it was still a little on the chewy side rather than crunchy like the store-bought kind. It isn’t bad though, just a little different. The flavor was right on and familiar.

Homemade Granola Next time I may split the batch between two pans to allow better toasting throughout. It might also benefit from a little vanilla extract added to the sugar mix right before pouring it on the oats. That might add a little something “extra” without increasing the costs significantly.

Around here granola costs about $4.50 for an 18oz box. I was able to make about 20oz of granola for well under $2.50. I’d venture to say it could be even cheaper if you buy all the ingredients in bulk. This is a very satisfying breakfast or snack and can also be used in all sorts of desserts.

Final Thoughts

Reusing coffee grounds: I think this is a novel and less wasteful idea and is worth a try. Those who like their coffee strong and dark might take issue with this idea since it does tend to lighten the second pot’s flavor a little. I think most people wouldn’t be opposed to trying this though.

Homemade Granola: I love the flavor and the ease of this recipe. Next time I’ll try cooking it in 2 pans rather than 1 so more of the oats get toasted. I think that will make it crunchier like the boxed kind. This is a good basic and cheap granola and definitely a recipe I will try again soon.

Stay tuned for next week’s Tightwad Wednesday challenge where I will be testing out all six of the cheap homemade salad dressings on p. 230-232.

Thousand Island
Ranch Salad Dressing
Sweet Tomato-y French
Cucumber-Buttermilk
Italian Vinaigrette
Blue Cheese

Tightwad Wednesday - Flushing Less Water & Dry Milk

Well, again we have mixed results. I suppose that is to be expected though - it wouldn’t be a challenge if it was easy. Let’s get on into it.

Bottle in the Toilet Trick

This Tightwad tip was to help lower the amount of water used for each flush which can help save money on your water bill. You place a bottle filled with rocks in your toilet tank to displace some of the water. This reduces the amount of water used in each flush.

Eric was less than thrilled that I decided to do this Tightwad tip and was very reluctant to even try it. He doesn’t like the idea of having something in the toilet that could mess up its operation or leave a mess (sand). And quite frankly, he just didn’t like the idea of less water when he flushes.

gross After fiddling with trying to find rocks I thought of sand or kitty litter. He felt that if the bottle somehow failed it could leak dirt or kitty litter into the tank and we would have a big mess. We have low flow toilets already so he felt limiting even more water would be too much. So we looked for other alternatives.

He suggested we try another time tested trick “if it’s yellow let it mellow…” I agreed to try this as an alternative but only when we don’t expect guests. Yellow tinged water just isn’t a good look.

He has gladly subscribed to this method now and prefers not to flush until needed. I find it tougher to deal with but I’m working on getting over my girly objections to it. I have a goal to flush 1-2 times less a day. I’ll ease into it since it is going against my nature not to flush. Even if I have trouble sticking with it, at the very least having Eric do it will help cut back on our water usage.

Through this experiment I have learned that men can be very picky about their toilets. I guess that is why if given a choice they are more likely to go for a “Ferguson” over a low flow. I would have rather stuck with doing the bottle trick but he feels strongly about conserving by not flushing. So we will go with his method to reach the same goal.

Dry Milk for Drinking

The Complete Tightwad Gazette says this concerning non-fat dry milk:

Rarely will you find absolutes in the pages of The Tightwad Gazette. I believe that each individual or family has their own priorities and values. Dry milk use is one exception. … It is not often that you find a food that combines economy, health, versatility, and convenience in such a perfect union. It has a place in every tightwad cupboard.

Wow. That’s pretty strong encouragement for dry milk from none other than the Frugal Zealot herself. I figured we had to give it a try. I suspected it might be a hard sell because Eric is picky about his milk and I tend to like 1% and above. Dry milk just sounds “icky”, especially for a girl in love with dairy. And my memories of it as a child were not flattering.

Amy recommends starting out with a mix of half whole milk and half dry milk then working your way up until you are drinking more dry milk. She says her family even drinks it straight and enjoys it. With milk costs at $4 a gallon I bet that helps a lot with grocery costs.

In preparation for this test I put a bottle of tap water in the freezer. Milk always tastes better when it is ice cold, right? I mixed up a glass using the directions on my box. Not bad! It doesn’t taste like my 2% but it doesn’t taste bad. Just a little different. Maybe it is an acquired taste that will take longer than my 1 week trial to appreciate. The smell reminded me a little of those instant breakfast mixes.

The Great Milk Challenge! Eric felt it was too “milky”. Apparently he wants his milk to taste more like water and he said that the dry milk tasted more like milk than milk. Ha! Odd but I think I understand what he is saying. He gave up on it and wouldn’t try mixing it half and half for his cereal. But he will also stop drinking regular milk if it smells like anything in the jug so I must conclude that he is just too sensitive and that is ok. I’m the main milk drinker anyway so I continued the testing.

I tried the half and half mix and it was decent, almost like a skim milk. Over cereal it wasn’t bad either. However, I didn’t like the 100% dry milk over the cereal. The flavor was “off” to me and I could see a little sediment from the mix in my bowl. Really it’s not a big deal but I could tell a difference. I imagine it’s easier for people who drink skim to make the switch to 100% since they are already used to “thinner” milk.

For you folks thinking of trying dry milk I say go for it. It could really help out families that go through a lot of milk. I will definitely keep this stuff in my pantry. I don’t mind drinking it 50/50 so it will come in handy when I run low on milk. I suspect it is even better for cooking. I bet you could use it straight in many recipes and not notice a difference at all - especially in those dishes where milk is just a component.

Note: A great trick for making it more palatable is to mix it up and store it in the fridge overnight. This gives it time to fully develop and reach the best flavor. I didn’t know this when I first started drinking it and the flavor did improve over time. Just be sure to mix it well before drinking (sometimes I could see sediment).

Final Thoughts

Bottle Trick: We would rather flush less than have less water to flush with when we do flush. We feel that is a better decision for us. No bottle for us - just less flushing.

Dry Milk: I will definitely keep dry milk in my pantry and I want to continue experimenting with it in cooking. Even if you don’t like it straight up, using it for cooking could at least help conserve the regular milk for drinking. This is really worth trying and could potentially save you money.

Stay tuned for next week’s Tightwad Wednesday challenge where I will be:

Reusing coffee grounds for multiple cups of coffee
Making homemade Tightwad granola from the recipe on p.27

Image Source: Kevin Hutchinson

Tightwad Wednesday - Reusing Baggies & Pickled Chops

I have mixed results for my first edition of the Tightwad Wednesday challenge. One of the tips I tried from The Complete Tightwad Gazette resulted in a positive change and the other one was hard to stomach (literally).

Washing and Reusing Baggies

Ironically, when I realized I’d be washing all my baggies for the week I noticed a trend toward using less baggies and more gladware. I guess knowing I’d have to wash and dry the baggies by hand was enough incentive for me to start relying more heavily on my non-disposable containers. That’s good!

Washing the baggies wasn’t difficult but I could never tell if I really got them clean. I’d put the baggies in the sink with the hot soapy water I use to wash plastic water bottles. I washed them twice just in case. Since grease can be a problem, make sure to wash your baggies in the clean dish water before any of the dirty dishes are in the sink.

From The Tightwad Gazette Drying them was an interesting task. I don’t have an air-dry dish rack so arranging them with chop sticks like Amy suggested wasn’t an option for me. I tried several different methods: the dishwasher rack, standing them up on towel on the counter, and hanging them from a hook. The dishwasher rack worked pretty well although I did have water spots.

According to The Complete Tightwad Gazette:

I never save any bag that was used to store meats. Greasy bags are hard to wash as well. … Most important, I never, ever reuse any bag that stored raw poultry.

Lovely! This is an important tip. The bags that held crackers or other dry goods turned out fine after washing. The bags that held something greasy were another matter. Even after washing it twice I couldn’t seem to get rid of the “film” on the inside. Gross. I don’t want to reuse those. I actually use a lot of baggies to store ½ pound portions of hamburger and chicken in my freezer. Bummer that I won’t be able to reuse those due the film factor.

I reused a few of the bags to store non-edibles and to store unused coupons destined for my friends. I also used one to crush up tortilla chips in then tossed it because of all the punctures.

All in all - I’ll probably continue this tip. It felt good avoiding “unnecessary” waste. I have decided to use non-disposable containers when brining and marinading meats so I won’t have to automatically throw out those baggies. Basically, if it has oil in it I will avoid a baggie. That will help maximize the amount of baggies I can reuse.

Sweet Pickled Chops

From The Tightwad Gazette I was intrigued by this idea when I first saw it because I’d love to find a good use for my leftover pickle juice. Eric loves pickle juice so if I could showcase it in a meal that would be great! This recipe calls for cooking pork chops topped with onions and ketchup in leftover sweet pickle juice. Unfortunately, it sounds better than it tastes.

When I saw how long the recipe wanted me to cook the pork chops, I knew I was in trouble. I decided to get the thickest chops I could find to try and make this work.

The recipe calls for baking these for an hour in a moderate oven. By the time 35 minutes passed I took pity on the poor chops and decided to remove them. They were like hockey pucks after braising in the boiling juice for so long. The color was pale and slightly yellow tinged on the edges. Not exactly appetizing. Despite the color it didn’t seem to absorb any of the pickle juice flavor. That was a little surprising to me, especially considering the smell.

Can I get fries with that? The kitchen smelled oddly like a McDonald’s hamburger. Then I realized the recipe was based on a combo of pickle juice, onions, and ketchup. How funny that the smell reminded me of a happy meal.

My brave husband ate the tough, dry chops despite my offers to make him another meal. He is a real trooper. He was not about to let an expensive cut of meat, like these pork chops, go to waste.

Folks, I’d call this recipe, as is, a failure. Maybe this was actually meant for a roast? If you want a good cheap recipe for pork chops that is a sure fire winner try my *awesome* pork chop reducipe. This recipe is standard in my repertoire and after the pickled recipe flopped I figured my personal recipe needed to get posted on the fly.

When I finish the next jar of pickles I may try to give this idea another shot. Next time, I’d pan fry the chops for nice color and texture and use the reduced pickle juice in a pan sauce. Or maybe I’ll use it as a marinade. I’ll have to think about it more. I’ll make sure to let you know when I revisit it. I haven’t given up.

Since the purpose of this recipe was to find a good way to use up pickle juice, I thought I’d offer some alternatives. Try these neat pickle juice ideas from ilovepickles.org:

Pickle and pickled pepper liquids make excellent marinades. They offer lots of gutsy flavor when simply combined with a little olive oil and chopped fresh herbs, or added to bottled Italian salad dressing.

Add cut-up raw carrots, celery sticks, broccoli and cauliflower florets, and red and green pepper strips directly to the jar of any type of leftover pickle juice. Make sure to keep these tangy tidbits refrigerated. The marinated veggies are great for snacking on straight from the jar or become an innovative addition to a crudité platter.

Slip sliced onions into a jar of sweet-hot bread and butter pickle juice. The “pickled” onions liven up turkey, chicken or ham sandwiches, as well as hamburgers.

Pickle liquid mixed in with the mayo can give a new twist to your time-honored potato salad.

Final thoughts

Washing baggies made me much more conscious of how often I use “disposable” means of storage. I have decided to use non-disposable plastic containers whenever possible. Although I will likely throw out bags used for meat and greasy items, I will definitely reuse the other bags.

This Sweet Pickled Chops recipe was doomed. The timing and cooking method was off. I think the concept of using pickle juice with pork is a very good one, it just needs some serious tweaking in order to make it a keeper. I will not be adding this recipe to my file and I will use other methods for reusing my leftover pickle juice (like in salad dressings and marinades).