Onion recycling...

Several weeks ago, I had a yellow onion I didn't want to waste and we finished a jar of Claussen pickles. I hate pouring pickle juice out. When I was a kid, my sister and I used to argue over who got the last pickle and who got to drink the pickle juice at the end of the jar. I've matured and now realize that drinking the pickle juice, particularly from the EXTRA HUGE jars of pickles we get from the warehouse  club, is probably a tad too much sodium for one serving... so, despite a sip or two now and then, I just weep a little as I pour it down the drain. 

But not the last jar we finished! The coordination of the onion ripening plus the polishing off of the last pickles gave me a brilliant idea! So, when A wasn't looking, I sliced up the onion and tossed it in the pickle juice jar and pushed it waaaaay back in the refrigerator. I point out that he wasn't looking when I did this because a few days later, he reached waaaaay back in the fridge and grabbed the pickle jar. He then hollered to me in my office (just off the kitchen), "Uh, Love? Did you put ONIONS in the pickle jar?!?!" To which I responded with my long-winded explanation of waste etc. He's a good sport so he just pushed it waaaaaay waaaaay back in the fridge and opened a new jar of pickles. (I should mention that my dear husband quite despises onions in any form.)

Fast forward to today. I am back on my healthy eating plan (we will just gloss right over the last two months of a myriad of poor choices...) which means that I eat three meals and one snack a day plus unlimited veggie snacks. Having already had a "dirt smoothie" earlier in the day, I wasn't really into making another one. (Afterall, how much kale, cabbage, spinach, and fresh ginger can one be expected to consume in one day?) Not wanting to undo the last few days of healthy eating by pulling out the almond butter and a spoon but trying to satisfy the major after dinner snacking urge, I buried myself shoulders-deep in the refrigerator hoping the answer would be hiding in there. "Ah Ha. Onions!" I pulled them out and dished some into a bowl. They are amazing! The onions retained their crunch but lost their oniony bite and absorbed the garlicky goodness of the pickle juice. Crunchy, tasty, delicious!

I must point out that there are many other pickles out there but in my book, none rival Claussen pickles with their big chunks of garlic, peppercorns and other magical tasty spices in their divine pickle juice! Other pickles just won't do at our house anymore!