• Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Collaborate
  • Blog
  • Parties
    • Children’s Parties Ideas
    • Holiday Parties
    • Adult Party Ideas
  • Holiday Ideas
    • Christmas
    • Easter
    • Fourth of July
    • Spring
    • Thanksgiving
    • Valentine’s Day
  • Seasons
    • Winter
    • Spring
    • Summer
    • Autumn
  • Recipes
    • Appetizers
    • Beverages
    • Desserts
    • Main Dishes
    • Side Dishes
    • Soups
  • Project Gallery
    • Crafts
    • Decorating
    • DIY
    • Good Ideas
    • Tutorials
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Bloglovin
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

At The Picket Fence with Vanessa Hunt

Where Ideas for your Home Meet Inspiration for your Heart

  • Book
  • Speaking
  • Meet Vanessa
    • Featured

August 6, 2015

When You Marry Southern

I’ve learned a few things since being married to a southern (born and raised) boy for the last 20 years. If you can shoot it, you can eat it. If you can grow it, you can eat it. If it’s good, it’s even better fried. If you can cook it, cook it even longer..for example turnip greens!

 

How to make homemade pepper vinegar from At The Picket Fence

Marrying a Southerner has been a culinary adventure. Since marrying into my husband’s family I have experienced more unique foods than I ever had in all the years before we met. Okra, Rutabaga, Turnip Greens, Black Eyed Peas, Chow-Chow, Squash Pickles…and many more! I also learned that southerners are rarely happy to let a side dish stand as it is, they love to cover it, smother it and add goodies like bacon drippings (I know yum!) and the ever popular hot pepper vinegar. They love to douse their greens, their peas and their fried okra in this simple yet delicious seasoned vinegar that adds just the right kick to their favorite dishes.

I will never forget the first time I had turnip greens with pepper vinegar. One would think you could not improve on turnip greens cooked low and slow in rendered bacon but adding pepper vinegar takes even the best cooked veggies up a notch. I was hooked!

I knew I had to learn to make my own pepper vinegar…paying homage to the memory of every good “southern” cook, and I found the perfect way to store it. Darling bottles from the Dollar Tree and Home Goods.

I couldn’t wait to start making pepper vinegar, and now I’m going to share this great little sauce with you…so you can too can learn how to be a true Southerner too!

Homemade Southern Pepper Vinegar-Heather from At The Picket Fence
servings vary depending on amount of peppers and size of jars

Ingredients:

Variety of hot peppers, cayenne, chili, etc
White Vinegar
Tsp. of course salt per 3 cups of vinegar
Glass jars with plastic stoppers (they can have metal spouts but the parts that have constant contact with the vinegar need to be non-metallic)Chopstick or other type of long thin stick that will fit into neck of jar

Directions:

Wash containers thoroughly removing all soap residue. Boil water and pour into each jar, allow to cool slightly and than discard water. This will sterilize containers. Allow containers to air dry. Gently wash peppers and air dry. Depending on the desired heat you can poke small holes in some of the peppers, this allows the juice of the peppers to more thoroughly incorporate with the vinegar. (We suggest wearing gloves while handling the peppers, especially if you are going to cut into them at all) If you are desiring less heat in your vinegar sauce, than leave peppers intact.

Using a chopstick, gently push each pepper into the container, making sure each pepper will fit through the neck of the container and layering them in a pretty pattern.

Be sure to fill your container with plenty of peppers but not where any stems are coming up into the neck of the container. Place vinegar and salt into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Allow to boil for 2-3 minutes to sterilize the vinegar. Allow to cool slightly. Pour vinegar into a measuring cup with a lip. Placing a funnel into the container, gently pour the vinegar over the peppers.

Fill containers to the bottom of the neck, being careful not to overfill. Allow vinegar to cool. If vinegar level seems to have decreased you may need to add more vinegar, as the peppers will absorb some. After containers have cooled completely, place tops on containers and store in a cool dry place for at least a week for best flavor. Vinegar will continue to age and the flavor will intensify over time. When vinegar is used up, you can replace with more sterilized vinegar reusing the peppers. Now all you have to do is enjoy your homemade pepper vinegar on anything and everything!

Feeling a little bit more Southern now? Well, I guarantee you’ll fit right in after you start putting this homemade pepper vinegar on anything and everything you eat! Enjoy!

7 Comments Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: recipes

Subscribe

Get the latest goodness straight to your inbox!

Previous Post: « Natural Accents Book Giveaway!
Next Post: The Peace-Filled Home »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Marisa Franca @ All Our Way says

    August 6, 2015 at 5:05 AM

    I’ve done quite a bit of canning during my married days — hot sauce and V10 and V12. Added a few more ingredients to the original V8. My question is how do you get those peppers out once you’ve finished the pepper vinegar and the peppers are all peppered out? I assume they absorb some of the vinegar and get bigger. I would want to reuse the containers.

    Reply
  2. Mia says

    August 6, 2015 at 9:00 AM

    So cool, I am definitely going to try this. They’re pretty, too!

    Reply
  3. Leslie says

    August 6, 2015 at 9:18 AM

    Truly southern!! Thanks for the recipe and loved meeting you at Becoming! The plate rack is in my future!❤️

    Reply
  4. Cheryl Ann says

    August 6, 2015 at 5:31 PM

    I live in Nashville TN now after many years in Seattle and know of what you speak! I’m gonna surprise some of my neighbors with this…especially the ones who give me wonderful black eyed peas. Thanks!

    Reply
  5. Julia says

    August 7, 2015 at 7:36 AM

    I am going to try this! Thanks 🙂

    Reply
  6. Lisa @ This Pilgrim Life says

    August 7, 2015 at 1:10 PM

    My husband would love this! I am from the south, but didn’t start eating greens until I became an adult and lost my phobia of all vegetables. Collard greens are one of our favorite side dishes, along with Swiss chard sautéed in copious amounts of garlic! I will definitely have to give this recipe a try! I bet with pretty jars and fancy ribbons this would make a great Christmas gift for a foodie as well.

    Reply
  7. Dorothy Bruner says

    August 20, 2015 at 9:47 PM

    LOL, I thought it said chapstick not chopstick and I went huh?

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Search This Blog

Take the Quiz

Stay updated!

Get all the latest goodness straight to your inbox!

Get the book!

Invite Vanessa to speak at your event!

Must Reads

Recent Posts

  • Open Now December 17, 2020
  • Tradition and a Christmas Home Tour December 9, 2020
  • Tabletop Hot Cocoa Station November 29, 2020
  • A New Front Door November 10, 2020
  • Gaining Perspective October 26, 2020

Get all the latest straight to your inbox

Footer

Instagram

I've been watching our cherry trees bloom for 12 y I've been watching our cherry trees bloom for 12 years now and every year I ohhhh and ahhhh over the blossoms like it's the first time I've ever seen them. I gush and I take photos (that look exactly like the ones I took the year before and the year before that) and I make my family come outside and look at them with me which you know they just LOVE to do. 😉 I think that is one of the main reasons why I love spring so much. On the one hand, it's predictable and yet, on the other hand, it still feels like such a surprise after the long months of barren branches.

And yesterday, as I was staring at the gorgeous blossoms for the umpteenth time, I couldn't help but think that I hope this is how I feel when our lives return to some semblance of normalcy.

I hope that the predictable feels special and that the typical feels anything but. I hope that I ohhh and ahhh over the simple things I've realized I've taken for granted. And, most of all, I hope that feeling doesn't go away for a very, very long time! 💗
Are you living with great expectation friends? Bec Are you living with great expectation friends? Because He is risen!

Happy Easter from my home to yours!
Lemon bars all ready for tomorrow! It’s going to Lemon bars all ready for tomorrow! It’s going to be a different kind of Easter for sure but some things don’t change. Have you been baking and getting ready for tomorrow? What’s one thing on your menu that you have to have every year?
If this is Good Friday, why doesn’t it feel so “good”? It all seems backward doesn’t it?

What could be good about the unspeakable pain he suffered? What could be good about the shame and betrayal?

Easter Sunday is so joyful, bright and cheery. Shouldn’t that be the day we call “good”? It just feels so much better!

But, I don’t know how to rejoice over His resurrection, unless I have felt the pain of His death. I have realized that in life the sweetest victories are the ones which were realized after a pain-filled journey.

And, so it is with Good Friday. I know there will be victory over death, but I can’t skip ahead in the story.

Jesus knew what was coming. He knew what he would experience. And he knew why he would go through it. He did it for me. He did it for you.

Do you know that? Have you felt it down in the very core of your soul? 
Sometimes it makes me squirm a bit. Why would anyone do that for me?

Well, because, I can’t do it for myself!

There is nothing I can do to earn that kind of love and mercy.

That is why it is called GRACE.

His grace is freely given. We don’t have to pay for it. He paid the price for us already.

Do you remember that movie from years ago called “Ransom”? A couple’s young son was kidnapped and the parents went to hell and back trying to find him and pay the “ransom” demanded by the kidnappers.

Well, Jesus is our “ransom”. (1 Timothy 2:6) His life was the payment.

Why is it called “Good Friday”? Because that wasn’t the end of the story….
.
…It was just the beginning!
Raise your hand if there’s a table in your house Raise your hand if there’s a table in your house that’s become the landing zone for ALL THE THINGS! 🙋🏻‍♀️🤪 I’ve never been more thankful for our rarely used dining room table as it’s become command central for school books and laptops and games.

Where are things collecting in your house right now?
“Sighing, tears, frustration, anger.” Every si “Sighing, tears, frustration, anger.” Every single one of these emotions has made their way through our home in recent days and, my guess is, they have in your home too.

I SO needed this reminder today from the new book ‘Adore’ by @sarahagertywrites.

Adoration isn’t just sitting at His feet gazing longingly with stars in my eyes. It’s bringing my fears and my sorrows and gray roots in my hair that desperately needs to be colored and my messy house and all of the things that threaten to send me over the edge right now and laying them down before Him, soaking up His word and His presence so that when I stand back up, I am changed for having spent the time adoring the ONE who is... Healer, comforter, peace-giver, deliverer, redeemer.

What do you need to bring to Him today? I’ll share mine in the comments and I’d love to hear from you too!
I’ve always loved evenings, but since this whole I’ve always loved evenings, but since this whole lockdown thing began, I’ve come to appreciate this time of day even more.

It feels the most...normal. Daytime is strange and foreign right now. My husband has taken over our home office, I’m suddenly taking over the responsibility of managing my kids’ distance learning and let me just say that teaching 7th grade algebra to my daughter is hugely ironic since I struggled with math all the way through school. I’m trying to do my own work but it feels utterly futile with the constant interruptions which take precedence right now. In the daytime, I’m constantly reminded of how upside down life feels.

But, in the evening, I cook dinner like I’ve always done and we gather around the table like we’ve always done and we laugh and tell stories and then clean up and play games or go on a walk or watch a show. And that feels SO gloriously normal.

So now I love evenings even more than I ever did before and I’m so grateful for this little chunk of time where the rhythms we established years ago are helping to sustain us now when so much of life feels outside of our control.

What feels ‘normal’ to you right now? Whatever it is, keep doing it. 🌿
When I was in college I would frequently call home When I was in college I would frequently call home and pour my heart out to my mom, sharing with her all that was happening in my life in that completely unfiltered way that you can talk with the person who potty trained you. These phone calls usually took place at night and my mom would patiently listen as I vented frustrations about professors, roommates, boyfriends and the food in the cafeteria. And, inevitably, they would end with my mom saying, “Everything seems worse when you’re tired. Try not to overthink things or make any major decisions tonight, especially when you are feeling emotional.” Dear friends, may I pass along this advice to you today?

If you don’t absolutely HAVE to make a decision right now, I want to encourage you to wait until life gets back to normal. If you are finding yourself over-analyzing relationships and family dynamics, I want to encourage you to remember that everything seems more dramatic when looked at under a microscope. And, let’s face it, being homebound with our loved ones non-stop makes us all feel like lab rats in an experiment.

If you are tempted to quit a job, start a business, start homeschooling permanently, stop homeschooling permanently, move to a new city, buy a farm, quit pursuing your dream, join a commune or make any other major life decision just…wait. Because, if it is in fact the right decision, it will be made even clearer once our lives return to their ‘regularly scheduled programming’. Instead, in this strange season, let’s all just take a deep, collective breath and let it out slowly, releasing the anxiety that threatens to overtake us. Let’s help each other maintain some perspective and not slip into a posture of over-thinking every little thing in our lives. Let’s remember that the enemy of our souls would love nothing more than to use this time when things feel dark to manipulate us into thinking that aspects of our lives are worse than they actually are.

My prayer for you in these days is that you will have the clarity to know what is true and that you will be filled with peace even while we live in this season of so many unknowns.
Raise your hand if you’re doing more baking thes Raise your hand if you’re doing more baking these days! 🙋🏻‍♀️ I’m trying to avoid gaining the #corona15 but my daughter and I LOVE baking together and it does help to pass the time plus it counts as a science lesson right?

If you’re able to find flour in the stores (for the love people please stop overbuying!) and you’re doing more baking at your house too you need to add this apricot bread to your list of new recipes to try!

Normally I’d point you to my blog for the directions but I’m going to do you a solid and leave the full recipe in the comments.

What have you baked so far during this time of social distancing? I’d love some new ideas!
There are a LOT of people out walking in our neigh There are a LOT of people out walking in our neighborhood right now (but still social distancing!) and she decided that she wanted to bring them some joy and put a smile on their face when they pass by our house. Also, the square with ‘say no to coronavirus’ is priceless. 😂 I just love her so much!
Follow
This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Error: API requests are being delayed for this account. New posts will not be retrieved.

Log in as an administrator and view the Instagram Feed settings page for more details.

Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021 · Divine theme by Restored 316

Copyright © 2021 At The Picket Fence