Summer-time Happenings

Hello there!

It's been pretty quiet here lately. It's summer-time & most of our time has been spent outside. Swimming, camping, sleepovers & wading in the creek with cousins & the neighborhood children...

This will also go down as the summer that I took little to no photos :(

3 weeks till school starts & there are no digital memories of summer 2016...

I need to change that very soon!

Today, the children & I spent most of our morning in the garden, & all afternoon in the kitchen.

We picked the 1st of the tomatoes...adding these tiny tomatoes to your sauces, creates a thick, rich sauce base...I washed these, put them in a freezer bag & threw them in the freezer till I have more ripe tomatoes to add to them.

Then we washed & peeled the cucumbers, put them in jars & pickled them. This is the children's favorite recipe for pickles. They eat them like they're candy.

Banana Pickles

Peel & slice in quarters, length-wise.

Pack tightly into quart or pint jars.

In a large saucepan, combine:

6 cup organic cane sugar

2 cup water

2 cup vinegar

2 T. turmeric

2 T. salt

2 T. mustard seed...

Bring to a boil then pour pickling juice over cucumbers & cold pack in a water bath for 10 minutes after it comes to a boiling point....

Then there were sweet banana peppers to clean, slice & preserve...

Sweet Banana Peppers

Slice peppers into thin rings & put into jars...

In a medium sauce pan, bring remaining ingredients to a boil & pour pickling juice over the pepper rings in the jar.

3 cup white vinegar

2 cup water

2 T. sea salt

2 T. organic cane sugar

1 garlic clove (per jar)

Cold pack in a water bath for 10 minutes after it comes to a boil.

These sweet banana peppers stay crisp, unlike some other recipes I've tried.

We love using them on tacos, sloppy nachos, chili, pizza & so much more!

Thats all for today :) ...Happy Monday!