Pepper Paints

Thursday’s Recipe …. Countertop Sour Pickles

My kitchen has been smelling like a deli this week! It brings back fond memories of the years I spent hanging out at Bernie’s!

I shared on my twitter and face book about how great my countertop pickles tasted and was then asked by so many people for the recipe–So here it is!

I belong to an organic produce co-op. One of the other members spoke of her counter top pickles and was also asked by many of us for the recipe. She referred us to Wild Fermentation.  I linked to this website back when I made fermented carrots and sauerkraut.

Basically this is what I did–Because these were not just picked out of my garden -I soaked my cucumbers in cold water in the fridge for a few hours to crisp them up. I had regular old large cucumbers not pickling ones so I cut them in half and then quartered them. I dissolved 1 Tablespoon of salt for each cup of water. I think I did 8 cups of water for the 3 large cucumbers I had. I did not have a large enough jar so I used the inner crock from one of my crock pots. Perfect!!

After stirring and stirring to dissolve the salt I gently crushed several heads of garlic-say 4 or 5 with the back of a spoon-just to crack them open and threw those in the water with a small handful of peppercorns , 4 heads of flowering dill and a small handful of fresh dill and 2 freshly washed oak leaves from the big tree. The oak , grape, sour cherry or horseradish leaves are to help keep the crunch.

I mixed all of that around and placed a plate on the top to keep the cucumbers submersed in the brine.

I then put the lid on very loosely–leaving it slightly cracked open on one side.

The next morning I noticed a few bubbles–IT”S  ALIVE!!! Then there was a film that I scraped off over the next couple of days-then we tasted on day 2–delicious!!  Actually we ate several!

It has been really hot here so the fermenting went quickly! I left them 1 more day and then moved them into jars (that I have been saving from our Bubbies pickles) and put them in the fridge to slow down the process.M more were eaten this morning as I moved them into the jars–lucky I ordered several more pounds of cucumbers this week!

We might need to add some Rubens to the menu!!

Sharing Some Blog Love, Patriotic Cookies & 4th of July Jewelry…….

Here is what I am loving these days……….

Do you have Inspiration Overload?   Um–yeah, I totally do! So I thought like a song that is stuck in your head–I would unload some of what is in my head and in my Google Reader these days!!

Child’s Play has a whole new place!

I will be using some of my mint to make THIS

If ever you can’t find me–look Here

I am all about dirty, hippie children!!

More inspiration at this pretty blog

And if you are looking for the perfect little cookie to make over this 4th of July Here are my favorite patriotic cookies

Or some patriotic jewelry and accessories!!

Happy, Happy 4th of July!!

Blueberry Pickin’

On our way to the blueberry farm today we stopped at my friends mother in laws house. It was the most peaceful, beautiful home. It sits on 20 acres of woods and creek.

I told her that when I die…I hope you go to her house. It is that wonderful. But hopefully I won’t have to wait that long to visit again!!

After a delicious lunch we headed out to  near by blueberry farm.

Here are my ham bones–posing for the camera!

I see lots of blueberry muffins, pancakes and  syrup in our near future! Happy, happy Summer!!

What’s On Our Table

Last Thursday I promised to share a new Friday feature and here it is Monday already!  More about that in a minute. Last Friday we went to Slate Run Farm. If you are not far from Columbus, I highly recommend a visit to this 1800′s historical, working farm. They often hold programs here too so be sure to check their schedule.

As often happens in the Spring, babies are born on the farm-a few sets of twins even!!

So back to my new Friday feature— What’s On Our Table. As I said last week - I love to strew and leave interesting stuff around for my kids to play with. When I taught pre-school this was one of my favorite things to do; set up the environment for the kids.  I have a small table in my dinning room that I like to leave stuff out on for the kids to find. I usually change this every Thursday (when I clean).  I try to change it up as much as I can. So one week it may be a game  or magnets  or a card making station. I never put anything messy here. It’s usually something they haven’t played with in a while, an interesting book, things that wouldn’t normally go together or something that has a connection to something else in our world. Here is a wooden marble game the kids played with at the farm.

And here is What’s On Our Table this week.

Strewing is a great way to expose your kids to different ideas and activities. Things they may or may not find interesting. By no means are my kids expected to read these things I leave out or they must solve the puzzles etc… My only hope is that they find it fun or interesting. Who knows what will catch their eye and then they will be off looking for more information or a different way to do something. Sometimes these things spark an interest and sometimes not.  I am always leaving interesting stuff all over the house but I make a conscious effort to change this table up once a week.

My hope is to post What’s On Our Table on Friday’s—feel free to share what you have strewn at your house too!