Monday, July 21, 2008

Summer's Bounty!


You know summer is in full swing when you walk out the door in the morning and there is a sack FULL of produce hanging on the doorknob outside! We are blessed with lots of gardeners in our congregation and they always share their fresh veggies. My friend Kathleen gave me pounds and pounds of cucumbers last week and being the smart woman that she is, also gave me her recipe for easy pickles. She even brought little zip-locs with tumeric and pickling salt, because she knew I probably wouldn't have those ingredients on hand. Some of you know that I have never canned but have always wanted to try it. Here was my first attempt (although, not "true" canning because these weren't sealing jars...)

A collander full of sliced cucumbers.

I still had a bowlful of cuc's left!

I used Kathleen's recipe but blended it with a Martha Stewart recipe that I found on-line. It was cool to see the bright green cucumbers turn a perfect pickle-green as soon as they boiled! I must admit, I got so caught up in the experience that I didn't measure the stuff in the zip-locs that Kathleen gave me. I thought they were pre-measured so I dumped the entire contents into the "soup". Not until I started coughing from the red cloud of tumeric (what IS that anyway?) did I realize that there was about a 2 tablespoons in the baggie, when I should have used 1/3 t. Whoops.

SEE? Don't they look "professional?" They taste great, too! We've already eaten one jar and we've started on the second. Just today while Pete was making his lunch, he said, "Pickles make the sandwich." I'll become a farmgirl yet! Now if I can only figure out what to do with 10 lbs of zuchini.

3 comments:

randi said...

I LOVE homemade pickles. We still have a couple of weeks to go before they are ready in our area.

Great job on your first canning attempt!

Anonymous said...

Yum, please send some my way. I love pickles. Thank you for your sweet comments. I truly appreciate them.

Hugs,
LeAnn:)

Unknown said...

When life gives you zucchinis...

make zucchini bread! Chocolate zucchini bread is my favorite!