Bread ‘n Buttah!

Pickle time!  Time to start using all those cucs!  I refuse to let them rot away in the garden, but I just can’t eat them fast enough.  I’m averaging about one a day, but I’m picking three or four! 

It’s my first pickle making experience and it was actually quite easy (thanks to premade Ball pickle mix)!  We’ll see in a few weeks if they turn out OK and if the seal took hold!

I sliced 14 medium pickling cucumbers into half inch slices.  This is what the package told me to do.  Unfortunately I could not even come close to packing all these into the sanitized jars I had ready to go.  Oh well…more to eat!

Meanwhile my pickling mix was boiling on the stove:

• 1 Ball Bread & Butter Pickle Mix “Makes crunchier pickles!”
• 2 1/2 cups vinegar
• 2 1/2 cups sugar

I had to remove a few pickles to make room then I just dumped the mixture over the packed pickles, pressed the lid tight, and screwed on the ring.  It’s so hard to pack any kind of large number of cucumber slices into those jars!  I am officially in awe of any previous or future home canned jars of pickles I am given with more than 12 pickles in it!  I processed these guys for 15 minutes and now they are hanging out on the counter.  Now I just have to wait and see if they turn out!

Have you made pickles before?  How do you get them packed tightly in the jars?

*Addendum:  Please note I’m not a canning expert.  I’m just learning as I go and sharing my experiences.  I appreciate any tips or tidbits of information you can share to help me out!  🙂

Chef Kim’s Salad

A hearty yet light meal was on the menu!  I just can’t get enough of my garden spinach, so these days I’m mixin’ and matchin’ the toppings to keep it interesting!

Tonight it was Yeehaw sirloin quickly seared with some chicken rub on it.  I know it’s not chicken, but I wanted a flavorful spice rub and that’s what was on hand.  Now I can tell you…it works just as well as anything made for steak.  While the steak rested I went to snip snip from the garden.  I always get distracted while I’m out there.  So of course I was weeding and poking at my plants.  This was very helpful in that it forced me to let the steak rest!  I’m often impatient and even though I know I’m going to lose my juices if I cut, I do it anyway.  When I’m hungry, I’m hungry!  Just ask my family!

Also on the top, green pepper, hard boiled egg, carrots, roasted beets (I’m addicted to these lately!), and pickles!  Do you like pickles on your salad?  At first I thought it was weird, but now I love it.  I’m all about layers of flavors and textures.  Pickles layer a tartness that’s a nice surprise when you hit one in the mix.  And they give enough flavor that I don’t even need dressing!

Do you think I’m crazy yet?  Sometimes my crazy comes out a little more than others.  I think it came out a lot in this post.  Chicken rub with pickles, egg, and steak…didn’t realize how odd it was until I wrote this!  The beets probably make it weird too.  But I digress!  Go try it!  Report back if I’m just crazy or crazy genius!

❤