Refrigerator Dill Pickles

When you get a big cucumber from the garden, you make pickles!

Or, perhaps you have smaller cucumbers.  Either way, give these dill pickles a try, you’ll be glad you did!

Refrigerator Dill Pickles – From Family Stamping and Food

Ingredients

• 5 1/2 C water
• 2 C white distilled vinegar
• 1/4 tsp. tumeric
• 5 T pickling salt
• ~8 medium/large cucumbers*
• Per jar:
  • 1/2 tsp. mustard seeds
  • pinch, red pepper flakes
  • 1 tsp. minced onion
  • 1-2 fresh dill head
  • 1 garlic clove, peeled
  • dash, pepper, if desired

Directions

Begin by slicing up the cucumbers using a mandolin slicer.  Or, slice them very thin, by hand.  Be sure to cut off the blossom end, and don’t use that in pickles.  Alternatively, you can slice the pickles into spears.  We did that this year (2013) and LOVED it. 

Next up, combine the vinegar, water, salt and turmeric in a medium saucepan.  Bring to a boil.

While the brine is coming to a boil, prepare the jars.  Place one garlic clove (peeled), a dill head, 1 tsp. minced onion, a pinch of red pepper flakes, a dash of pepper, if desired and 1/2 tsp. mustard seeds. 

Evenly divide the sliced cucumbers among the jars.  Pack them in well, but leave room for the brine. 

When brine has boiled, remove the saucepan from the heat.  Carefully, using a funnel if possible, pour the hot brine into the jars. 

Seal up by placing a lid on the jars.  Leave them on your counter until they reach room temperature. Then, place them in the fridge – keep them there for 4 weeks before you crack one open to taste.  Then, store in the fridge until they are all gone. 

We made a half batch and got three quart jars full of pickles! 

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Roasted Potato & Green Bean Salad

Fresh garden green beans.
Delicious sweet potatoes.

Roasted to perfection.
Drizzled with a garlicy herb sauce. 

This unique potato salad is the perfect compliment to a summer BBQ!

Roasted Potato & Green Bean Salad – From How Sweet It Is

Ingredients

• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 10 small potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 lb. fresh green beans, washed and trimmed
• 1 head of garlic
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1/8 C olive oil
• 2 T grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 T fresh dill
• 1 tsp. parsley, dried

Directions

Prepare the potatoes and green beans.  Toss them into a large prep bowl. 

Using an olive oil mister, lightly mist the veggies with olive oil.  If you don’t have a mister, use about 2 tsp. olive oil.  Then, spread the veggies on a non-stick cookie sheet that has also been sprayed with olive oil.  Sprinkle with sea salt.

Chop the top off of the garlic and place the garlic onto the baking sheet as well.  Make sure you oil the garlic too {just rub it inside the bowl or spray it lightly}, or you’ll have charcoal garlic!

Place the veggies into an oven heated to 450 degrees.  Roast the veggies for 15 minutes and then flip them over.  Continue baking for 20-25 additional minutes. 

When the veggies are tender and nicely roasted, remove them from the cookie sheet and place them into a large serving bowl. 

 

In a small bowl, mix together the 1/8 C olive oil, 2 T grated Parmesan cheese, roasted garlic {yep, pop out those cloves and place the whole head of garlic into the sauce}, pepper, dill and parsley.  Mix this sauce together.  Then, pour onto the potatoes. 

Stir to coat.  Serve warm and enjoy!

We served this alongside wild rice brats and it was a hit! 

Linked to: What’s On Your Plate? These Chicks Cooked, Your Recipe, My Kitchen, URS

Garden Update… First Fruits!

Well, first veggies, actually. 

When we came back from our trip, our garden was HUGE.  That’s what 11 days of heat, and rain will do, says the plant biologist. 



Our cucumbers and zucchini really took over the place and I can’t wait for their harvest. The beans and peas look really good too, and the peppers and tomato plants are growing.  Our slow-starters this year (basil, green onion and eggplant) are plugging right along as well. 



Have I mentioned this is our first time gardening?  Well, it is.  And, although I mentioned to Frog Prince that we should have put up a small trellis for the beans and peas to climb up, we didn’t do that.  Instead, our plants are quite healthy – and are climbing over one another.  Fun for the picking. 

 

We have a few baby zucchini starting to grow.  I can’t wait to taste the first one!!  We did, however, taste our green beans last night!  After taking a quick peek mid-day yesterday, I knew we’d need to pick those beans.  Beans don’t care if it feels like 117 degrees outside, that the humidity is 82 degrees and the actual temperature way over 90, they still need picking.  Frog Prince and I sweated it out and speed picked these beans.  We were still roasted and drenched in 10 minutes.  Never before has my neighbor’s sparkling blue pool looked so tempting….



The beans were quite awesome, if I do say so myself. 

We’ve also had some garden visitors. We heard that deer don’t like marigolds, so we planted some around our peppers {last year the deer lawn-mowed our peppers}, and that in combination with liquid fence {man… that stuff reeks} seems to have kept the little guys out of our garden.  We don’t have rabbit issues because we have nice patches of clover in our yard that keep our one lone bunny at bay.  Why no more rodents?  You can thank our resident sharp-shinned hawk and owl for that one! 

Unfortunately, the curious little fawn here somehow got herself trapped in our neighbors fence.  I have absolutely no idea how she got into the fence – her front two lens and most of her body was through the fence, only her two legs stuck on the other side.  Our neighbors carefully rescued her and she was just fine, but, we haven’t seen her or her family since.      



How is your garden doing?  Any first fruits or veggies? 

Linked to: Frugal Gardening 101