Cucumber Madness!

My garden is exceptionally prolific this year. We're sharing with neighbors, eating fresh veg daily, and I still find myself having to find creative ways to use up the supply we've been gifted with.

This post is revolving around cucumbers. We've already harvested well over a dozen of these beauties, and they aren't tiny either. The average cucumber harvested has been at least 10 inches in length. Now I love cucumbers, but just slicing them and eating them can get old. I turned to the ever-dependable Google and found this great recipe for Refrigerator Pickles!

Tuesday afternoon found me in the kitchen, slicing cucumbers and onions. Now I tend to be a little persnickety about my pickles. I like them to be uniform in thickness. Because of this I highly recommend using the Hold N Slice from Pampered Chef. Your slices will be the same thickness and you have a little help holding the veg steady while you slice! Plus it's under $5, and you just can't beat that.

After slicing and layering in a large glass bowl I mixed the rest of the ingredients in a sauce pan and brought it to a boil. I was out of celery seeds, and didn't relish the thought of an over 20 mile round trip to the store, so I just substituted with a double amount of celery salt, while reducing the salt amount by half. Then I poured the brine over the bowl ingredients, covered it tightly in plastic wrap, and nestled it safely in the back of the fridge.


The pickling process takes four days, so on Saturday afternoon I pulled out my pint canning jars and filled them with homemade pickle goodness! According to the recipe these will last for a month, refrigerated, making them a perfect choice for all of our upcoming cookouts. 

The finished product: 3 pints of scrumptious, sweet & spicy goodness!