Tag: autumn (Page 1 of 5)

Bubbie’s Bread & Butter Chips Pickle Recipe

October 5, 2022 / Lindsey / 0 Comments

Hello! It’s been a while since I posted something, and I hope all is well on your end.

My original Bubbie’s pickle knockoff recipe is a popular one, and here is another one you may enjoy. If you like the taste, but not the price tag, of Bubbie’s Bread & Butter pickles, try this out. I think I like mine even better.

I have been enjoying these for a couple years now, and most often these days I will blend these into a sauce thanks to my gastroparesis and global dysmotility. I just dump everything into the blender, juice and spices and all, and what comes out is a tangy, delicious pickle sauce! I always peel my cucumbers for this recipe though, because I think it tastes better to not have the peels.

Bubbie’s Bread & Butter Chips pickle recipe

3 lbs cucumbers
½ cup thinly sliced onion (about half of a medium onion)
3 TBSP canning/pickling salt, or regular table salt
2 cups white vinegar
½ cup water
1 cup granulated white sugar
1 TBSP whole yellow mustard seeds
1 tsp celery seeds
¼ tsp ground turmeric

1. Peel the cucumbers, and slice them ¼-inch thick. Crinkle cut is fun, but you can use a normal knife too.

2. Place the cucumber and onion slices in a large bowl and toss thoroughly with the salt. Transfer them into a colander, and place the colander over a smaller bowl so that they can drain freely and won’t sit in the salty cucumber liquid.

3. Let them sit at room temperature for 1 – 2 hours.

4. Discard the salty liquid that has collected in the smaller bowl, and rinse the cucumbers and onions under running water. Give them a good rinse, but don’t be totally thorough.
Divide the cucumbers and onions between two quart-sized canning jars.

5. In a medium saucepan, combine the vinegar, water, sugar, mustard seeds, celery seeds, and turmeric. Bring to a boil, and then pour this hot mixture into the cucumber jars, filling them nearly to the top. Stick a butter knife into each jar and jostle the cucumbers, freeing any air bubbles. If necessary, top up the jar with any remaining hot vinegar mixture.
Secure the lids onto the jars, but you won’t actually be canning them. Keep the jars on the counter to cool (I leave them overnight).

6. Once cool, transfer to the refrigerator. They will keep for at least 6 months.

Morning Hoar Frost

February 29, 2020 / Lindsey / 4 Comments

It’s almost springtime already — how are you?!

Before winter is over, I must show you the frosty fairyland we woke up to one foggy morning in November, one of my favorite months. February is another one of my favorite months, and I’ll be sorry to see it go.

This morning I began thinking about my upcoming garden year, deciding about the steps I’ll take to wake up the garden this year, jotting down the order I’ll do them in so I don’t forget. I do things differently each year, hopefully evolving toward more efficiency and less input from me, meaning less of a drain on my energy, while maintaining a reasonable level of vegetable productivity.

Among my thoughts for this year… mowing the weeds in between the garden rows instead of pulling them; doubling the distance between tomato plants; interspersing my high-pest crops (cabbage, squash) throughout the garden instead of planting them in blocks as I have in the past; more flowers; planting a slew of dill everywhere since my observation has been that dill is a tip-top favorite of many(!!) types of beneficial insects; and no forking to loosen the soil in the rows as I have in the past — I’d like to eliminate this energy-intensive step, and instead just score a couple-inch-deep line in the soil for the rows of seeds.

It’s always an experiment!

Anyway, look at how beautiful this particular morning was! We don’t often get treated to this kind of thing; it was a special morning.

*****

Autumn Scenes

November 17, 2019 / Lindsey / 2 Comments

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Making a Lemonade Day from a Lemon

September 14, 2019 / Lindsey / 6 Comments

I had an irritating errand to do this week in order to get re-hired for my job (I job-share with someone else — they work part of the year, I work the other part, and because we’re temp employees we have to get re-hired each time and it’s always a hassle-y process). In the past I had to just go to the HR office nearby to get fingerprinted but this time I had to drive to the next town an hour away for this stupid, simple 10-minute task — a waste of my time, energy, and gas.

I decided that in order to have a good attitude about the errand, I needed to make it fun for myself. So after the appointment, I stopped in at an antique shop across the street and took my unhurried time looking at everything. I got three little things including a little kitty picture frame, and this great book The English Country Home and wooden jar. I walked to a nearby cafe and got a fun treat-drink, and then I drove to a little town I’ve always been curious about, and stopped at a public open space area, which I had all to myself, and absolutely basked in the feeling of being in the mountains. I had forgotten how good it felt and how much I had needed it. The smell!!!!!! Spicy, earthy, pine-needle-y, heavenly smell. I’d forgotten how good the mountains smell. I came upon a little creek and spent a lot of time poking around there and soaking in the sound and sight of the moving water.

It all felt so incredibly good. It seemed like terrible timing to be away for a day since I have so much going on especially with all the garden produce flooding in. I miss a day and I get behind. A vacation day was extra-needed, and I didn’t realize it until it was happening. I’d done something Fun that day (!) and I came home feeling uplifted and renewed. I spent the next day flattened and fatigued unfortunately, but I made that stupid errand ‘work for me’ and it was worth it!

*****

Happy Winter! Merry Christmas! Happy Hannukah!

December 23, 2016 / Lindsey / 3 Comments

Greetings of the Season to you all!

I hope this finds you well. Can you believe how quickly it has become almost-Christmas? It’s almost a little scary.

I have been meaning to put pictures here of the rest of the season’s garden including the harvest, but it hasn’t happened. After Christmas I will backtrack and post those pictures.

But in the meantime I wanted to put some wintry pictures up. We’ve had approximately two days of wintry weather so far this year. It’s been too warm and dry. Most of what we’ve had is this:

Sunshine, (c) The Herbangardener

That picture above is pretty too, but I love the raw bleakness and snowfall of a real winter’s day. We had one yesterday, and I went out and gathered evergreen boughs and made a wreath.