Summer is my least favorite season. It’s my own fault but there’s so much to do with the garden and with canning and putting up as much produce as I can so we’ll have homemade goodies through the winter.
I got a big bag of pickling cucumbers so I’ve been making pickles. I surely don’t want any of those to get bad and have to get thrown out.
I love these Red Hot Cinnamon Pickles. Some people call them Christmas Pickles. I put most of the pickles in quart jars because a case of 12 quarts costs about $3 more than a case of 12 pints and I can get twice as much in the quarts and we’ll eat them quickly enough that they won’t go bad. I probably will make some of these and put them in pints to give away.
They take 4 days to make so I may talk myself out of making more. I made 8 or 9 quarts and one pint.
Then I made a batch of dill pickles and a batch of bread and butter pickles – 7 quarts each. I used Mrs. Wage’s mix for all of those.
Vince found a recipe for Refrigerator Dill Pickles and he sent me the link. I’ve never been really happy with refrigerator pickles but I figured since he found the link for me, I’d make them. They are delicious! A friend was telling me that she makes them all year as needed and regular cucumbers work fine since they aren’t canned. Nice to know. I was glad I had fresh dill in the garden. I made 8 pints of these. We ate some of these today and ended up eating half a pint of them. I told Vince I guess I don’t have to worry about using all 8 pints within a month, which is how long the recipe said they were safe to keep in the fridge.
All of the winter peas are out of the garden now. The heat got them. Oscar is going to miss this. I don’t know if he figured it out from watching me pick peas but he would grab the pod in his mouth, the push the vine away with his paw and that would break the pea off. It cracked me up the first time I saw that.
I had not made bread since before I cut my finger and Vince had mentioned at least twice that it’s been a while since we had bread so today I got out the mill, ground the wheat and made bread.
This is the recipe I use and it has become my favorite sandwich/toast bread. It’s light, where some breads made with fresh milled flour can be heavy and dense.
We always have to try it out as soon as it’s cool.
My test piece had blueberry jam on it! Yum.
There isn’t nearly as much cross stitching going on a I would like but the fruits and veggies of the season don’t wait; cross stitching can wait.
ptquilts says
I love making pickles. I have a very old seven day sweet pickle recipe that I make. I just finished up 42 pints from a box of pickling cucumbers I got from our local Amish community. Sometimes we like them with a little kick so I will add a quarter teaspoon of dehydrated cayenne pepper flakes when I open a pint jar and they taste similar to Wickles brand pickles you can get from the grocery store. I also make a freezer pickle from my mother-in-law’s recipe that has thinly sliced cucumbers and onions and is great served on sandwiches. I’ve been on a bread making adventure for the past two years wanting to cut out store bought sandwich bread. I’ve been making potato flake sourdough bread off and on for over forty years. Takes 36 hours to make. Since my husband retired it is hard to find two days to dedicate to making this bread. I bought a bread machine and have tweaked the recipe and can make it in 2.5 hours, plus cooling time. It makes great sandwich bread. Your blog is one of my favorites that I go to every morning!
justquiltin says
Wow – you have been very busy. Everything looks so good and love the color of the red hot pickles – very festive! Your shelves of canned goods must be so pretty to look at with all the different colors.
Joyce says
I miss my Grandma’s sweet pickles. Some years they wouldn’t be really good, but other years I think I could have eaten a whole jar by myself in one sitting! Yum. I do know they were quite a bit of work though.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
It makes me sad that there were so many things my grandma made that were so good that I wish I had learned to make. Those things that were quite a bit work get made less and less often around here.
Cindi says
I made a batch of the dill pickles and will make another tomorrow. They are very good, especially for being so easy.