Monday, June 15, 2015

Pickled


One friend, who always keeps two school-age children for the summer, told me, "Well, I started combat duty this week." I understand. While loving every minute of time spent with these precious little folks, it does give us old folks quite the workout. My brain is slightly pickled. There is not much time to sit down. Someone is always getting into something they shouldn't be! But this is memory making at it's finest. It gives us things to think about when we don't see them as much in the fall.

 The littlest of the three granddaughters here now.

Since my blog writing time is limited, I'm sharing (with her permission) a recipe from a fellow knitter I met at the knitting retreat in Georgia this spring. Thanks, Bev, for helping me out here this week! Our garden is providing squash and cucumbers at an alarming rate right now. This recipe sounds easy enough for me to try even while keeping the littles. Maybe. I'll let you know if that happens.


                                                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here is what Bev wrote...

Here’s the pickle recipe. Here’s what I like about it…it tastes good, you can make it in small batches, it’s easy and quick to make, it doesn’t heat up the kitchen, and it makes a great gift to take. Make it today, put in a pretty jar tomorrow and it’s ready to give away.

MICROWAVE BREAD & BUTTER PICKLES

1 cup sugar
1 cup white vinegar
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry minced garlic
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon celery seeds
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced thin
2-3/4 to 3 lbs pickling cucumbers, sliced


Mix everything except onion and cukes in a large microwave safe bowl. Stir in onions and cukes. Microwave 9 minutes on high, stopping to stir at 6 1/2 and at 4 minutes to go (as the microwave timer counts down.) 

Remove and allow to cool. Cover and refrigerate overnight before placing in jars. Store in fridge. NOTE: SPICES WILL STAIN A PLASTIC BOWL OR SPOON OR KITCHEN COUNTER!

Yield: 6 to 7 half pint jars


The onions in this are wonderful and I use them and the juice in potato salad, egg salad, slaw, chicken salad etc. I like big slices of onion instead of sliced thin. If you use squash and red sweet pepper instead of cukes, it is tasty as well as pretty in the jar. You can use any kind of cukes, but I like the pickling ones best. I have a big deep casserole dish that I use and I don’t measure the cukes, I just fill my dish and make sure to stir it good at the times noted in the recipe.

Hope you like it.
--bev



6 comments:

  1. In the microwave? Yea! I am going to try that recipe. Thanks for sharing and thanks to Bev, too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hoping I can find a few minutes to try this recipe while we have plenty of cucumbers.

      Delete
  2. I have already made a batch of the pickles today. They are delicious!!! They are crispy. The flavors are subtle and the perfect proportions. Easy peasy! I will make them again. I agree that the onions would be the perfect addition to potato salad. I am thrilled!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You inspired me to push through and get a batch of these made. You are so right. These are perfect!

      Delete
  3. Your littlest granddaughter is a sweetie! I believe h=she wants to help with the pickles.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just a note:
    If you do not have enough cucumbers - I read on the 'net somewhere that you can use radishes to replace the missing cukes. Thinly sliced of course.
    Showed the recipe (or the notation?) to my husband. And he made a batch of bread and butter pickles using a lot of radishes. (I don't recall the proportions.) The pickles turned out GREAT - it was hard to notice a different taste.
    I remember thinking at the time that this substitution would be a good fund-raiser for breast cancer - because there was a pink tinge to the pickles!
    Janey
    janeyknitting AT yahoo DOT ca
    (Lose the spaces and change caps to symbols.)

    ReplyDelete

Hi, y'all! I love that you've taken time to tell me something here. Makes me feel like we're neighbors.