Last week after spending the morning on the grounds of Rideau Hall, I stopped at a farmers market with the boys to pick up some corn and 50 cucumber pickles. When we got home we got ourselves organised to cut. J & M each had their own knife and cutting board and very clear instructions to avoid cutting themselves. T. was assigned to put the cut cucumbers in the bowls.
I am pretty impressed. We had the cucumbers all cut and in 3 large bowls in 20 minutes! The boys were great helpers. I had already bought and cut red peppers a few days before so I just had to cut the onions the next morning. The next morning I got all the veggies together, sprinkled pickling salt over them, covered them and left them for 3 hours. In the meantime I got the brine ingredients measured, the jars sterilized and the hot water canner filled with water and ready to heat. I then made 2 loaves of zucchini bread. The zucchini plant growing behind our shed has already yielded at least 7 big ones and there are more to come. I have two recipes for zucchini bread, a breakfast/ anytime one and a double chocolate one!
My husband was home because of his 8 hours (getting tests and seeing a doctor) spent at the hospital emergency the day before and his boss giving him orders to stay home for two days (He's going to the doctor again today for another check- up). So with him home the boys were more interested in hanging out with him than making pickles.
Here are some photos of the boys, 12 smaller jars + 1 large one (still cooling) of Bread & Butter pickles!
When the MacIntosh apples are ready it will be time to make 12-15 jars of applesauce! I hope it goes as smoothly!
Cindy taught me tro make some before I meved to QC.... the taste brings me good memories!.
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