pickle crazed....

Sorry I haven't been online in a while--things have been so hectic!  Last week Dano and I celebrated our six year anniversary and the week before that his cousins came to visit.  But I have a lot to update on so stay tuned!

Last week I came home to find that we got our first cucumber of the season from the CSA so I got right to pickling!  Since it was only one I decided to also pickle our salad turnips even though I had never tried that or heard of it before.... but I figured anything crispy would make a good pickle ;) 

The general recipe I follow is this... although sometimes I halve it/just eyeball it/etc
You want to start out with two 1-quart sterilized jars which you can do either running them through the dishwasher or boiling in water.

1 small onion, sliced
2 lbs cucumbers, sliced
1 T mustard seeds
2 t whole peppercorns
1 T dill seed
2 peeled cloves of garlic, halved
1 1/2 c vinegar
1 c water
3 T kosher salt
1 t sugar

Boil the vinegar and water with salt and sugar until dissolved, about 5 minutes.  Add in spices.  Divide slices of onion, cucumber, and garlic into jars.  Pour spice-vinegar mixture into jars over vegetables.  Let sit open until room temperature.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.  Enjoy!

You should really try to eat the pickles within a couple weeks and do NOT use old cucumbers--pickling cucumbers need to be totally firm and crisp.  And feel free to experiment with the recipe.... I have added and removed sugar, added red pepper flakes, added green pepper, etc.  Make it your own!

Also here is a quick photo update on our patio garden...

 I ended up buying starts for a lot of the plants... I think I attempted growing from seeds too early and there just wasn't enough sun.  I replanted some lettuce seeds again later in the spring and look how gorgeous they are now!  Now we have: lettuce, parsley, lavender, container tomatoes, oregano, and rosemary.  It's great!