Successful Pickles

I decided I need to get the dill pickles canned but I didn't want to heat up the house with the hot water bath canner. My cousin suggested that I put it out on the grill. It was, I thought, the perfect solution!. So the water went into the pot and out to the grill. I really didn't think it would take that long to reach a boil, but I had not figured in a nice breeze. The water was on the grill for 2 hours and never really got to a boil, even with the burner set on high. But after an hour I decided I would put the jars in anyway, because otherwise they would cool off too much to be processed. So in they went. And hour later, still no boil, but it was VERY hot water. Finally I decided these would be the most expensive pickles in town, having been processed on a gas grill, so I took them out and set them on the counter to cool. Every single jar pinged and they are good to go :) Some are chips and some are slicers. These were made with actual cucumbers, but the zucchini chips will come about soon. The Cousin sent me this recipe, from the Ball Blue Book:

Zucchini Pickles
2 pounds of Zucchini, sliced (8 small) 2 cups sugar
1 sm-med onion sliced 2 t mustard seed
1/4 cup canning salt 1 t celery salt
1 t turmeric 3 cups vinegar

Combine zucchini and onion; sprinkle with with; add cold water to cover. Let stand 2 hours. Drain; rinse and drain thoroughly. Combine remaining ingredients in a large sauce pot. Bring to a boil. Pour vinegar mixture over zucchini and onion. Let stand 2 hours. Bring all ingredients to a boil; reduce heat and summer 5 minutes. Pack hot vegetables and liquid into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Remove air bubbles. Adjust 2-piece caps. Process 15 minutes in a boiling water canner.


She made a batch of these and thinks they are wonderful. The zucchini is abundant, cheaper than cucumbers, and I am also going to try it as bread and butter pickles -- some day :).


Yesterday I did a baking day. I made a loaf of Irish Soda Bread, a batch of homemade brownies, a batch of chocolate chip cookies, and blueberry muffins. The Soda Bread was very dense. I don't know if it is supposed to be or not. Still its good as long as you have it with something juicy (soup, stew, gravy). Half the brownies and half the cookies go to the freezer for later, and the others are for lunches. It's hard to cut the food bill if we are always buying snack stuff while we are out and about. And to be fair, if there is nothing planned for lunch, the the Hubby has to forage - either at the grocery store or at a fast food place. Both are direct hits on the reduced grocery budget.

Today I made some homemade soup for the Daughter. diced tomatoes, carrots, peas, mushrooms, onion, barley and a bit of broth. She had it with cheddar garlic biscuits that we really good. Also, spent a bit of time browsing at Hillbilly Housewife today. She has a new budget menu up for $75. I think its supposed to feed 4 or 5. It is a little heavy on the fried food side, but similar to what we grew up with (I remember my mother saving the bacon grease to use to pop popcorn in, or fry cornbread).