January 13, 2015

Dill pickles

I didn't receive any submissions for Motivational Monday yesterday, which is why there was no post. I leave for Phoenix on Friday, and won't be home until Monday evening, so I likely won't have a MM post next week, either. But if you have a submission, feel free to send it! I'll just save it for later.

Yesterday, Jerry was off work and the roads weren't all that great, so we stayed home and had a really lazy day. We had about six episodes of The Blacklist on our DVR, so we finally watched those (well, five of them). I drank a ton of hot tea yesterday, trying to stay warm.

My parents are dog-sitting for Bailey, my little brother's black lab. My mom was going to be gone all afternoon, so she asked if we would want to take Bailey for a walk. Even though I'm not much of a dog person, I really like Bailey, so I was excited to walk her.

Jerry and I drove over there, and she was thrilled to see us, especially when she saw me pick up her leash. As soon as I got her outside, I knew it was going to be a challenge to walk her in the snow/ice. The roads were completely covered in packed snow, which was REALLY slippery. Bailey isn't the greatest on a leash (she pulls), and I almost immediately biffed it into the snow.

I was worried about messing up my ankle (which was feeling really good!) so Jerry took the leash and I walked next to him. I hoped Bailey would calm down a bit as we walked, but she almost pulled Jerry over several times, so we decided just to walk the perimeter of the neighborhood (one mile) and call it quits.

When we got home, I was walking from the garage to the house when I slipped and fell. I landed on my hands and knees, and not my back--otherwise I'm sure it would have been worse! But all evening, my bad ankle was nagging me again. I don't know if it was the fall or the fact that I walked on it for a mile, but I'm so bummed. I didn't have any issues with it for a few days, and I hoped that meant it was healing. This morning when I woke up, it was still causing me problems while walking.

I can't get into the doctor for at least a month, so meanwhile, I'm just going to have to continue to rest it. My AquaJogger belt is supposed to be delivered on Thursday (slowest shipping ever!), so as soon as I get that, I'll go renew my membership at the rec center and get started with the deep water running. (Well, probably Tuesday, when I'll be home from Phoenix.)

For Taste Test Tuesday, Eli asked me to make something that I'd pinned on Pinterest a LONG time ago. It's not a super healthy recipe, but Eli really wanted to try it, so I agreed. The recipe is for Dill Pickle Soup. Eli LOVES dill pickles (and dill pickle flavored foods). While I was looking at the recipe, I noticed another recipe on that site for a dill pickle sandwich. I bought the stuff to make that as well, because it sounded SO good.

First--the sandwich. I made it for lunch, and it just has four ingredients: an English muffin, two long pickle slices, some tiny sweet tomatoes, and real mayonnaise. The recipe was very specific about the brand of English muffins, pickles, and tomatoes. So I made sure to make it as specified. And I was not disappointed. It truly was The Best Dill Pickle Sandwich ever! I can see myself making it for lunch every day. And the recipe is right on with the ingredients' brands--I wouldn't change them.


I'm not normally a fan of raw tomatoes, either, but I think they really worked with this sandwich.

As for the soup, I had no idea what to expect. I'd never heard of dill pickle soup! But it looked good in the photo, and like I said, Eli was dying to try it. When I read through the recipe, I couldn't understand why it didn't use a roux. I was tempted to change it up by making a roux, but I wanted to stick to the recipe as written.

When I mixed the sour cream, flour, and water together, it was SUPER thick--a dough. I really didn't want to add that to the soup, because I didn't want to risk having clumps of flour all through the soup. So I just added a cup of the cold pickle juice to it and shook it up (in a container with a lid) until it was super smooth, then poured that into the soup before adding the other cup of pickle juice. It worked out perfectly--no clumps.


Holy yum! This soup was fantastic. Eli loved it, of course, and even Noah (who is super picky) really liked it. It was 11 PointsPlus for 1/6 of the recipe, and I have to say, it's super filling. I would definitely make this again! Maybe the dill pickle sandwiches and a cup of the dill pickle soup for a meal one day ;)

(P.S. I'm not pregnant, I promise. I've just had a bad craving for dill pickles recently!)

16 comments:

  1. Dill pickle soup is a polish recipe and one of my faves. Now i need to try the pickle sandwic,

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  2. I would freebase pickles if I could. In the South we eat them fried. Not healthy of course, but so good. I will definitely have to try these!

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    1. I LOVE fried pickles! Eli and I usually share an order when they have them at restaurants.

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  3. And I just noticed the sandwich recipe was from the Noble Pig, who is up here in Oregon! When I worked in a tasting room, they were just up the street. Super nice people. You should have Thomas bring you out to Carlton to do some wine tasting, it's an awesome town with really stellar wineries!

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  4. I love dill pickles too! I pinned that soup awhile ago but I haven't made it. Next week! I love the cheeseburger casserole from Skinnytaste. I usually only use half of the tomatoes otherwise there is way too much sauce. It is so good with dill pickles sliced on top. Yum!
    http://www.skinnytaste.com/2013/03/cheeseburger-casserole.html?m=1

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  5. Can't wait to see you this weekend! And I'm sure you can't wait for our 73-75 degree forecast all weekend long! Should be beautiful beer drinking weather :)

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  6. I need to try that soup....I have pickle sandwiches all the time but not with tomatoes because I absolutely hate raw tomatoes but maybe I will give it a go.

    Something that helps when my ankle is acting up is solanpas patches. Specifically the ones in the green box. It has a NSAID in it and is more expensive but so worth it. I also use it when I get tendonitis on my foot.

    http://www.salonpas.us/product/salonpas-pain-relief-patch/

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  7. I'm going to try both these recipes. I LOVE dill pickles. They're salty, but otherwise very healthy and low-cal, so I figure good enough! Do you watch the Duggers (19 Kids and Counting)? Those kids love dill pickles, they eat them as their snacks and none of them are overweight! When we go to Sam's, we get a HUGE gallon jug of dill pickle spears for about $4. My son loves them as well, but now he's moving out, so I suppose I don't need to buy such a huge quantity of them at once. Sorry about the nagging ankle injury, hope the AquaJogger belt arrives soon, so you can try running in the pool. I know you miss running. I took a spill on the ice earlier this Winter, I fell back and actually hit my head on the ground, that left a sore spot for quite a while, but I was relieved I didn't break my hip. That has been my fear since I was heavy, and at my age, is probably a pretty justifiable fear. But I didn't break anything, so that was good. I did order some rubber detachable spikes for both my shoes and hubs. With the cancer in his hip bones, we can't risk him falling either. Your brother's dog sounds like my Bulldog Juno, she is so rambunctious and strong I can't even take her for a walk, especially if the roads are slick. She would definitely pull me right down. Thanks for sharing the recipes, I think pickles might be for lunch today!

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  8. Yum to both! I am a HUGE pickle fan. All the delis around my work know it for the rare occasion I buy a sandwich it comes loaded with extra pickles on the side :)

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  9. There is a polish place in my in laws area that has the best dill pickle soup. I could live off of that. I will have to try your recipe!

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  10. Now I really want to try that sandwich!

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  11. I always think that the best part of a hamburger is the tomato and pickle, so I bet I'd love that sandwich. I'll have to try it. And the soup!

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  12. Thanks for sharing these! One question – does the soup have a strong sour cream taste? I'm not a fan of the flavor of sour cream. Since it was so thick to begin with, could milk be used instead, do you think?

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    1. It has a sour taste, but it tastes like the pickles, rather than the sour cream. I love sour cream, so I'm probably not the best person to answer that! ;) The soup ended up being really thick, so I think it'd be fine to substitute milk instead of the sour cream.

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  13. Haven't posted a comment in a while but I'm still reading! Pickle soup? Sounds just strange enough to be good! Also sorry to hear about your ankle. I had a problem with my ankle 2 years ago after running a marathon. My friend is a physical therapist and he helped me out. Just wondered if you thought of trying out a pt since you can get into that dr for a while? Hope you heal quickly!

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  14. My son's best friend loved this soup! His mom is from Poland and used to make it.

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