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!

Recipe Review!

Last night I had a strange thing happen; the hubby was working late, the 17-YO was staying at a friend's house, and the 9-YO ate dinner at the birthday party he went to - leaving me able to cook something JUST FOR ME! Can you believe it?

I'm not a vegetarian, but were it not for the house full of carnivores that I live with I probably would be. I'm just not a big meat fan. We have "Vegetarian Tuesday" at our house, but even then I have to be very careful to choose something that the boys will all eat and fell satisfied eating. Now here I am, for once able to cook something that I'd been wanting to try for a LONG time. The problem? The list is lengthy.

After a little debate, and a lot of cupboard checks for ingredients, I decided on an Artichoke & Red Pepper Frittata. It was DIVINE! I think I was a little heavy-handed on the crushed red pepper, but other than that it was the perfect dinner. I added a little garden salad with some light creamy caesar dressing, and some white merlot (as a fritatta is just too delicate for standard merlot, for me).

I would most definitely recommend this recipe to anyone and everyone!

Laundry Lottery & a Recipe Review!

My guys, I love 'em. I can always count on them. Another Tuesday, another laundry day, and they didn't disappoint!

My itemized list of this weeks "winnings":

1. One old, mangy ballcap , found in the laundry basket rather than a pocket.
2. One smiley face umbrella, found in yet another laundry basket.
3. $.25 USD (WOW! I can buy that house in Hawaii, now!!)
4. A hairnet.
5. A wadded up chewing gum wrapper. (Hmm, I wonder if I'm secretly married to MacGyver?)

Okay, now onto the nummy part of this post. It's no secret that I've been on a diet since mid-February. I fell off the wagon for the past 3 weeks or so, and jerked myself back on track this weekend. I had a craving for dessert on Sunday, but didn't want to throw myself to the wolves calorie wise, so imagine my surprise when I found the perfect recipe right in my inbox, courtesy of Hungry Girl?

This Scoopable Creamsicle Crush Pie tastes remarkably like an orange creamsicle! It's very diet friendly, having only 2 Weight Watcher's points per serving - and the serving is 1/8 of the dessert! One recommendation, though. As much of this dessert is made using sugar-free ingredients having a cup of coffee along with it created a bitter aftertaste for the hubby and I. You may want to consider having another beverage alongside. You can find this recipe here!