Pickles Revisited

Most of my family LOVES pickles...and I must admit that I'm willing to take that to extremes sometimes. As my husband commented to the FB universe this summer..."My wife will pickle anything".
He's pretty close to the truth.

When it came harvest time this year - as characterized by having so much produce in the house that it causes fear and induces dreams of never eating anything but again - it is time to pickle.
To save some time for myself this year I used only the 2 brines that I used last year and posted here. What I changed was the veggies I used.

Into the Sweet'nSalty Brine I tossed:
Cauliflower florets
Zucchini
Kohlrabi
Daikon Radish
Beans
Pepper Slices

The Garlic Dill Brine got:
Cauliflower
Cucumber
and Beans

The beans were blanched after last year's beans shrivled after a few months. They were still tasty but didn't look very pretty. And, since I'd never pickled cauliflower before I did 50/50 blanched vs raw.

I have also made a late addition to the Garlic Dills....after picking the green tomatoes off of the vines at the end of the season, I put all of the green cherry tomatoes into the brine. I cut x's on the bottom of the tomatoes so that there would be a means for the brine to penetrate the tough tomato skin easier, and early taste-tests have proven to be pretty yummy!

First Pesto of the Season!

Yesterday when my husband emailed me to ask about what we'd have for dinner, my first thought was PESTO!

I'd bought a couple of basil plants early in the season and they needed to be seriously trimmed.
And last week I bought some chicken sausage and 4 cheese ravioli at Trader Joe's, and they were in the fridge waiting for the right night.

My painfully simple pesto recipie is here. Last night's version included pistacio nuts and roasted garlic in addition to one clove of fresh... It was yummy. Just spicy enough from the fresh clove of garlic to be a little zippy, while having a consistency almost like butter! The kids didn't even need to be coaxed to eat up their portion.

I love pesto nights! It's a fairly easy meal that tastes gourmet!