"The Italian"

After a long battle with cancer my beloved husband a/k/a "The Italian" passed away peacefully this past Monday.


                   

Sweet Pickle Relish

This is an easy relish recipe from the Ball Blue Book of preserving. I used to make a relish that took a day to make. However, "The Italian" likes this recipe much better. I think it's because you leave the spices in the jar. The taste gets better over time.

Sweet Pickle Relish-  Ball Blue Book

1 qt. Chopped pickling cucumbers

2 cups chopped onions

1 cup chopped sweet green peppers

1 cup chopped sweet red peppers

¼ cup salt

3 ½ cups sugar

2 cups cider vinegar

1 tbsp. celery seed

1 tbsp. mustard seed

I add about 1 1/2 tsp. tumeric

Combine cucumbers, onions, green and red peppers in a large bowl; sprinkle with salt and cover with cold water. I also top with a little ice to keep the ingredients cold. Let stand 2 hours. Drain thoroughly; press our excess liquid. Combine sugar, vinegar and spices in large saucepan. Bring to boil. Add drained vegetables and simmer 10 minutes. Pack into hot jars, leaving ¼-inch headspace. Adjust caps. Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath. Yields: about 3-4 pints.

Enjoy!

 

Garden Happenings

The garden is really starting to produce.

 

We've been getting a lot of cucumbers

which means.....

pickles.....and

 

making "The Italian's" favorite

Sweet Pickle Relish

 

I've harvested a couple small heads of Red Acre Cabbage and....

 

this little tomato...a Dolly Parton!

Isn't it a beauty???

The tomatoes are starting.

I think the big tomato glut is about a week or two away

 

Our favorite slicing tomatoes, Cherokee Purples & Eva's Purple Ball are a regular.

  

I dug one hill of Yukon Gold Potatoes.

I couldn't believe the size of some of them!

 

We've had a half dozen Zucchini, including these two which were almost too big!

 

and the onions!!! Well, that's a post in itself!

 

So, how's your garden producing???

They're Starting!!!!

The moment that all of us gardeners wait for has finally arrived.....big tomatoes!!!

The first Cherokee Purple tomato was harvested from the home garden on Monday July 15th!

It weighed in at 7 oz. "The Italian" and I shared this delight and had tomato sandwiches and salad for dinner!

 

Last night I picked the second Cherokee Purple, an Eva's Purple Ball and a few Sungolds! The second CP weighed 9 oz. I guess it will be tomato sandwiches for dinner tonight!

 

What's Going on in the Garden July 14, 2013

The harvests are starting to pick up and so is the preserving! This week I harvested almost 2 lbs. of peppers. They consisted of Hot Hungarian, Hot Banana, Jalapeno & Sweet Hungarian. All of them were promptly pickled and stored in the refrigerator, since we are totally out of pickled peppers from last year.

I pickle my peppers using 4 parts of white vinegar to 1 part of water, boil, cool and then add peppers and store in the refrigerator. I also occasionally add some garlic.

The first Zucchini and Cucumbers of the season.

There will probably be two more zucchinis ready today at the plots.

 

I've been pulling more onions and starting the curing process.

These are some storage onions.....

and these are some more Walla Walla onions

My largest onion has been 11 oz!!!

 

Some of the Walla Walla onions have been chopped and frozen. They do not store very long and chopped sweet onions will sure come in handy over the winter!

 

We also harvested some more Sungold tomatoes and the first of the very few Carrots we will have this year, another head of Cauliflower and the last of the Broccoli sprouts. The Broccoli plants have been pulled and a bunch of Cauliflower plants that did not form heads. Hopefully the fall cauliflower will do better. There's one more head over at the plots that may be ready today or tomorrow.

 

The big news is that there's a Cherokee Purple Tomato out there that is half ripe......maybe Monday or Tuesday it will be ready!!!!!!

 

Tomorrow, Daphne at Daphne's Dandelions, will be hosting Harvest Monday. Hop on over there to see what's happening in gardens around the globe!