Grow some balls, and make some pickles.
I got very excited a few years ago when together, the MF (at the time) and I planted our very large garden of tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant, and several different kinds of peppers. All these veggies along with our fruit trees including Quince had me overwhelmed with the endless possibilities of cooking and preserving! Except for one thing...I've never preserved or canned anything. And it made me scared.
But I figured it couldn't be that bad...buy some jars, boil them, add your veggies and/or fruit and there you go. So I bought jars, all the accessories I would potentially need to complete the process, and a book..."You Can, Can!" Ok, I really just liked the title of the book, but the more I read it, the more it scared me. I had plenty of amazing foods that we had grown ourselves and I really just wanted to open a jar of something I had made back in September and really appreciate it in January. Yeah Right.
Needless to say, the jars, the accessories, and even frozen bags of veggies have made the move with us to our new home...where we lack space for a garden we would really like to have. Although we have made a great effort and have quite a few eggplant and jalapenos growing in buckets right now. The Hubs (current title) has questioned me about when am I ever going to use this stuff I store up in the top of our coat closet?? So I started to use the jars for gifts and decorations around the house.
Now that the Hubs' mother is here and taking care of the garden at the other house, we have been inundated with cucumbers. I mean really, we have too many! But this year I refuse to throw out fresh, homegrown food. I've even prepped all the scallions my parentals gave us so that we can use them quickly and easily. No losses there! So last night in my boredom, while the Hubs was out biking and I really didn't want to be surfing the net, or reading one more book about how my body is currently changing......I thought of what to do and all I had staring back at me was a pile of cucumbers.
Once it's boiling, pour it into the jar so it covers all the sliced cukes...
And well that's it! I was afraid of that? Kind of boring, right? I didn't do the whole, boil the jar to create a seal process because I honestly don't know if these will even come out good. That took all of about 5 minutes...and then things got crazy!
I did the same thing as far as the mixture again, but decided to use spears for the next jar! Whoa - lookout. I actually like the way they came out better...cute, little pickles you know?
But wait! There's more...of course, this was too boring for me. So I decided to try something totally out of the box. Luckily, we have some unique ingredients here, but nothing to write to FoodNetwork about.
That's right...for my next batch, I made Spicy Asian Pickles! Rice Vinegar, Soy Sauce, Crushed Red Pepper Flakes, Sugar, and I think I put a few dashes of Worcestershire Sauce in there too.
I will have to let you know how they came out because I'm not willing to try them just yet. When the Hubs got home and opened the door I was afraid he was going to think I was dying Easter Eggs and had really lost my mind. All that vinegar cleared up my sinuses I can tell you that much. But to my surprise, he said the kitchen smelled great and he was proud of me for finally trying to can/pickle things. I'm hoping that the great smell came from a good balance of vinegar, water, and spices, but we shall see.
The only thing I wish I had done was use a ridged cutter like my Memere used to use on carrots...then my little pickles would be so much cuter. But for now this will do. If this is a success I will surely make them cuter next time.
Here they are...my little pickles....I'm so proud!
Chow!
KK +1 :-)
I got very excited a few years ago when together, the MF (at the time) and I planted our very large garden of tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant, and several different kinds of peppers. All these veggies along with our fruit trees including Quince had me overwhelmed with the endless possibilities of cooking and preserving! Except for one thing...I've never preserved or canned anything. And it made me scared.
But I figured it couldn't be that bad...buy some jars, boil them, add your veggies and/or fruit and there you go. So I bought jars, all the accessories I would potentially need to complete the process, and a book..."You Can, Can!" Ok, I really just liked the title of the book, but the more I read it, the more it scared me. I had plenty of amazing foods that we had grown ourselves and I really just wanted to open a jar of something I had made back in September and really appreciate it in January. Yeah Right.
Needless to say, the jars, the accessories, and even frozen bags of veggies have made the move with us to our new home...where we lack space for a garden we would really like to have. Although we have made a great effort and have quite a few eggplant and jalapenos growing in buckets right now. The Hubs (current title) has questioned me about when am I ever going to use this stuff I store up in the top of our coat closet?? So I started to use the jars for gifts and decorations around the house.
Now that the Hubs' mother is here and taking care of the garden at the other house, we have been inundated with cucumbers. I mean really, we have too many! But this year I refuse to throw out fresh, homegrown food. I've even prepped all the scallions my parentals gave us so that we can use them quickly and easily. No losses there! So last night in my boredom, while the Hubs was out biking and I really didn't want to be surfing the net, or reading one more book about how my body is currently changing......I thought of what to do and all I had staring back at me was a pile of cucumbers.
Ok, so there you see all the cucumbers...but I realized I was in a pickle of my own. I guess I've been very good a using up the jars because as you can see....12 cucumbers, and only 3 jars. Oh well...this is an experiment. If this goes well we can always go buy some more.
As my niece says (and we repeat all too often), Heeeeeere goes nuthin'!
Scrub the cukes clean and slice into 1/4" pieces
Oh, and then put them in the jar.
This is where I kind of winged it...but I do that with most recipes because I really only like to use recipes for ideas...and then add my own twist to it. But I guess I can't blame the recipe (only myself) if it comes out bad. Oh well. So here is the vinegar, water, pickling spice, salt, and a drop of honey all boiling together.
And well that's it! I was afraid of that? Kind of boring, right? I didn't do the whole, boil the jar to create a seal process because I honestly don't know if these will even come out good. That took all of about 5 minutes...and then things got crazy!
I did the same thing as far as the mixture again, but decided to use spears for the next jar! Whoa - lookout. I actually like the way they came out better...cute, little pickles you know?
But wait! There's more...of course, this was too boring for me. So I decided to try something totally out of the box. Luckily, we have some unique ingredients here, but nothing to write to FoodNetwork about.
I will have to let you know how they came out because I'm not willing to try them just yet. When the Hubs got home and opened the door I was afraid he was going to think I was dying Easter Eggs and had really lost my mind. All that vinegar cleared up my sinuses I can tell you that much. But to my surprise, he said the kitchen smelled great and he was proud of me for finally trying to can/pickle things. I'm hoping that the great smell came from a good balance of vinegar, water, and spices, but we shall see.
The only thing I wish I had done was use a ridged cutter like my Memere used to use on carrots...then my little pickles would be so much cuter. But for now this will do. If this is a success I will surely make them cuter next time.
Here they are...my little pickles....I'm so proud!
Chow!
KK +1 :-)
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