Cute Veggies

I have been thinking it would be cool to do some canning this season, and I did a half-hearted search for some cucumbers to pickle with no results. So I was thinking that it wouldn't happen this year and that I'd have to get my act in gear sooner next year (i.e. sign up with a CSA and/or find a local farmer who grows them). But then yesterday on the way to the dentist with the girls I saw a little veggie stand in our neighborhood. There is this couple (I think they are Russian--he definitely has an accent and I only understood every few words) who sometimes try and sell their produce in the afternoons. I saw the bright green and orange and thought that we'd check them on the way home from the dentist to see if they had any cucumbers. They did! I got almost 5 lbs of cukes and a huge zucchini and promptly went home to look up my pickle recipe.

My pickle recipe isn't actually my recipe. It actually comes from a friend and the last time I used it is also the first time I used it, which was about 10 years ago and my friend was actually there. So, I had a few questions about some details on the whole process. Luckily, another, mutual friend, had just made pickles not to long ago and actually blogged about it, sharing the recipe with some of the exact details I was missing! Yay! Check out the recipe at my friend Aubrey's newish blog, My Oh My! Aubrey is a great cook and I am excited that she's going to be sharing some of her recipes and cooking ideas through her blog. Check it out, she's got some great ones already!

Anyway, back to the cucumbers. Here they are, don't they look lovely? So I had the cukes and zuke, but needed things like jars, salt and vinegar (kind of essential!). I had Lindsay do her homework and then we quick ran to the store for those things and some onions. I really hate running around that much and I also hated paying full grocery-store price for the jars, but time wasn't something I had to waste. We're headed up to Erik's folks' for the weekend and so last night was like my only chance to turn those cukes into pickles.

After I had all my supplies and clean jars, I got to work. I stuffed the jars pretty full, so I thought, but after putting the pickle juice in I think I could've packed them better. Oh well, something to think of next time!

The great thing about these pickles, (besides the fact that they are oh so wonderful)? You don't have to own all the canning equipment--the boiling pickle juice processes the cukes and seals the jars, so even a non-canner like me can do it!  The bummer about them is that it takes them 3 months to "mature". That's a long time to wait!!

I even pickled some zukes! Yum. Now, until December 2nd, when we can open a jar....

In the meantime, I just got to say I love my friend Yvonne. She and her family have a CSA farm this year and so they get a bunch of veggies every week. The funny thing is that they don't eat all the veggies and there have been a couple times where she's given me the extras that they just won't eat or something that they don't like.(It's kind of funny, if you know her you know exactly what I am saying. hee hee) So, today I came home from her house today with these little hotties:

And these cute little things:

Aren't those green peppers the cutest peppers you've ever seen? I have just the recipe I want to try with the jalapenos, so stay tuned because I will definitely share how that went! :-)