Ain't no jive cucumbers here!

Since all I am doing is packing and prepping for the move, I thought I would bring you some best of moments. Ok, honestly they are just some things that people have been looking for. I figured if I get more than one person looking, than more than one person is interested. 

Today we will do some cucumber recipes. And since they are already posted from way back in the day, you get a link and synopsis. 

Enjoy

Crunchy Pickles

Why I think my pickle's gone soft!

It happens every time. You're in the mood, and bam! The pickle is soft. What's a girl to do? Stop cooking them! Stop getting your cucumbers hot.

Got some Sweet Pickled Cucumbers here,

Juice works great for relish as well.

What's the Dilly Yo?

Don't care for sweet, I got your dill pickles right here.

Cucumber Ketchup

Simple and awesome rolled into one.

Got a question or request? Leave it in comments or email me.

Cucumber Ketchup

I will be linking my canning recipes to the amounts on my sidebar. I know that I usually do this, but am late on it, and there are a few people that read on feed readers that have no clue what's on my sidebar, now they know.



1 quart cucumbers, peeled and seeded
1 cup chopped onion
2 green peppers, cored and chopped
1/2 cup water
2 cups vinegar
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. cayenne
2 Tbl. mustard seeds in a muslin bag
1 Tbl. salt

Combine cucumbers, onions and peppers with water. Cook until tender.

Put through a food mill.

Add remaining ingredients and boil until thick and clear.

Remove the mustard seeds.

process in hot water bath, 1/2 pints 5 minutes. Pints 10 minutes

Sigh

Any one else have this problem?

I can't get my cat, Pepper, to stop eating my raw cucumbers. I am not talking sliced ones, she will steal an entire cucumber out of the basket as soon as I walk into the house. I don't think she has discovered them in the garden yet.

Why, I think my Pickle's gone soft!

It happens every time. You're in the mood, and bam! The pickle is soft. What's a girl to do?

Stop cooking them! Stop getting your cucumbers hot.

All the recipes out there, have you pouring hot liquid on your raw packed cucumbers. But there really isn't a need to do so, unless you plan on canning and storing them in your pantry. But if you have the room in your refrigerator, stop cooking them.

I love crunchy pickles, like the ones you buy in your refrigerated section. You know, the one where Groucho Marx dresses up like a stork? But what is their secret?

As soon as you pick your cucumbers, put them in the fridge, get them nice and cold. Make sure you process them that same day however. While they are chillin', heat up your pickle mix and sterilize your jars. Then allow them all to cool back down. Stick the liquid into the fridge, allow it to get cold. Next you will need to cut up your cucumbers.


Cut the blossom end off, then cut into halves or spears. Then plunge them into cold ice water as soon as they are cut. Repeat the process with all your cucumbers. When your liquid is cold, raw pack your future pickles into your jar and pour the liquid over them and seal, place back into the fridge. Don't allow them to sit out or get warm at all! Cold pack one jar at a time, and get it back into the cold before you pack the next.

Allow to sit in fridge for 6 weeks. and Crunch. Now when your in the mood your pickle will not be soft.

What's the Dilly, Yo?

I heard you. You hate sweet pickles, same here. Yesterday I put up some Kosher Dill Pickles.

4 quarts water
6 tablespoons coarse white Kosher salt
18-20 cucumbers, scrubbed
8 cloves garlic, unpeeled and lightly-crushed
2 tablespoons pickling spice (recipe below)
6 bay leaves
1 large bunch of dill, going to seed, washed

In a large pot, heat 1 qt of the water with salt until dissolved. Add the remaining water.

Sterilize 3 quart canning jars

divide the garlic, spices, bay leaves, and dill amongst them.

Pack the cucumbers vertically into the jars, making sure are very tightly-packed.

Fill the jars with brine so that the cucumbers are completely covered. Hot water bath for 20-30 minutes. Ready to eat in 3 days.

Pickling spice:

2 tablespoons black peppercorns
2 tablespoons mustard seeds
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
2 tablespoons hot red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons allspice berries
1 tablespoon ground mace
2 small cinnamon sticks, crushed or broken into pieces
24 bay leaves, crumbled
2 tablespoons whole cloves
1 tablespoon ground ginger.

In a small dry pan, combine peppercorns, mustard seeds and coriander seeds. Place over medium heat and stir until fragrant, careful not to burn them. Keep the lid handy in case seeds pop. Crack peppercorns and seeds in mortar and pestle (or use the side of a knife on cutting board).

Mix together all ingredients. Store in a tightly sealed plastic or glass container.

Sweet Pickeled Cucumbers

Am I boring you yet with all this food preserving talk?

2-1/2 pounds 3-inch pickling cucumbers, well-scrubbed and quartered into spears (about 12 cups spears)
4 cups cider vinegar
4 cups sugar
1/4 cup kosher salt
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
3/4 teaspoon celery seeds
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 heads dill
2 medium sweet white onions, halved lengthwise, cut crosswise into 12 1/2inch-thick slices
7 whole cloves

Place cucumbers in a large bowl.

In a large saucepan, stir together vinegar, sugar, salt, mustard seeds, celery seeds, cloves and pepper. Bring to a boil over a high heat, stir to dissolve sugar. Pour hot vinegar mix over sliced cucumbers. Allow to sit until cool enough to touch.

Put dill and 1 slice of onion at the bottom of each of your sterile jars.

Pack into sterile quart jars. ladle vinegar mix over cucumbers in the jar, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Process in hot water bath for 5, 10, 15 minutes depending on how high you are from sea level.

Got leftover juice? Pickle sweet peppers the same way, or make sweet cucumber relish.

Onto other things. I was finally able to milk Eddie, our most recent cow mom. I pulled a quart, and allowed the calf, Urth, to have the remainder.

Pressure canning: No Frills Winter Cucumber Soup

What to do with all those cucumbers, and you don't need any more pickles? But how can you ever have enough pickles!?! I had to do something so I went the way of cucumber soup. It was difficult to find a winter recipe, most are chilled or mint, things for the summer. Yet I did manage to stumble upon one recipe that was suited for winter.

Peel 2 medium sized cucumbers and sliced. {Those are the things that look like banana slices in the picture} 1 Medium onion, halved and then sliced. {I have plenty of onion}

4 tablespoons of freshly chopped parsley {mine was frozen} or you can use 2 tablespoons of the dried stuff. This recipe calls for 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, but I am canning, so I use canning salt. 1/2 teaspoon fresh dill {mine was frozen} or 1/4 of the dried stuff. 2 tablespoons corn oil, 2
tablespoons cornstarch, 2 cups milk and pepper to taste. Saute the first six ingredients until the vegetables are translucent. {I think my cucumber slices might have been too thick, as they started to brown before becoming see through} In a small bowl, whisk together the water and cornstarch, then stir over a medium heat until thickened. {here is where your soup will not look too appetizing. Ignore it} Slowly add the milk and stir until creamy. The soup is bland so feel free to salt and pepper until it suits your taste. Ladle into canning jars, and process at 10lbs for 20 minutes {for pints, it make 3 pints} or serve hot.














Here's what it looks like before processing.





























I had gone to the Farmers Market last weekend and bought a pound of ground short horn beef from the Meng Family Farm. {They do not have a website, but the link will take you to the vendor page for the farm market} I have never had their beef before. I paired it up with some of my garden veggies {cherry tomatoes and peppers} and made some tacos.
















I also made some carrot muffins, but I will tell you about that later.

It was in the 70'sf {21c}yesterday, and rainy. Felt much better than the 105f {40c} we had the day before. I picked some ready veggies and weeded a bit. Other than that, we hung out a enjoyed the weather. {I might regret that later}

harvesting onions, pickling cucumbers and Farm Aid

I had three very large cucumbers to deal with yesterday, and discovered that I was out of vinegar. I have mentioned before that I am nowhere close to a store, and there was no point in wasting gas just to get vinegar. I thought about making cucumber soup, but then my husband is the only one that would eat that.

I rifled through my fridge and found that I had saved the pickle juice for store bought and homemade pickles. BINGO! I cut up the cucumbers in slices and stuffed them into the jars, bread and butter pickles, sweet pickles and dill. I also went and shredded some cucumber up into relish. {Though personally I think it looks more like shredded zucchini. We will see in a few months how well these quicky refrigerator pickles come out.


After the heat exposure yesterday, I had no plans on going outside. But my animals needed fresh water, the sprinkler in the garden needed to be moved, green beans needed picked and onions needed to be set out to dry.

I was too thrilled about being outside, even in the early morning the temperature was in the 90's f. {The high was 108f}

I laid out the onions on a torn bed sheet in the middle of my driveway. We have several types of onions, large, small, sweet and "normal", red, white and yellow. I only lost 6 from rot.
I planted more than 400 bulbs, some are still in the ground. From past experience, I only expected half to survive. But we planted them as soon as the ground was workable, still winter. Almost all of them thrived. Wonderful! {Don't know yet if that is sarcasm}


Here they are laid out on the sheet, think we have enough to make it to next harvest?















I want to thank those of you that have already sponsored me in the Blogathon. Those of you that haven't, it isn't too late. On July 29th bloggers from around the world will stay up and blog for 24 hours, raising money for the charity of their choice {I had a dream last night that I missed the blogathon} I have chosen Farm Aid as my charity.

From the Farm aid website;

About Farm Aid
Working to keep family farmers on their land, Farm Aid brings together family farmers and citizens to guarantee fresh local food is available to you. Together we can restore family farm-centered agriculture that ensures safe, healthful food, protects natural resources, and strenthens local economies. Farm Aid exceeds the 65 percent standard for program expenditures set by the Better Business Bureau and other charity watchdog groups that monitor non-profit performance. Eighty cents of every Farm Aid dollar goes to programs supporting family farmers, including grants to organizations that help keep farmers on their land.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every donation helps. To help tempt you into donating, I thought about having a drawing. For every $5USD you donate your name will go into the hat {$10USD will get your name in twice and so forth}
The prize is a book called

"Extraordinary Chickens"

This is a bookcrossed book, but as the winner you are under no obligation to BookCross it.

Sponsor Me!