In a Pickle

"In a pickle" - seriously, they just come to me! It's a gift!

After my sun-worshipping session yesterday at the water park, I was searching high and low for something to do inside. The last thing I wanted to feel on my scorched skin was more solar power. And it just so happens that we've become overrun with certain vegetables - pickling cukes, to be exact.

Big John had a fairly early night and was up before the brunch hour today. We decided that, as a team, we could conquer the unfamiliar territory of pickle making. Alone, I'd been too afraid; but together, we can do anything (sounds naive, even to me!)

With 15 pounds of cucmbers fresh off the vine, Big John took over slicing duty.

I was in charge of cooking the pickling juice.

It just so happens that we'd seen a jar of bread and butter pickles with jalapenos at the store. The only thing we have more of than cucumbers is jalapenos. Big John wanted to go for it, so we did! Most of our bread and butter jars have several slices of jalapeno in the bottom. And once we ran out of cucmbers, we just pickled peppers - in bread and butter juice. Hmmm.... we'll see how that tastes.

I'm fixing to google how to pack the jars tighter, so the contents don't float. We thought we'd filled them as full as we could, but obviously not! Such an amateur move! (If you know this canning secret, please share.)