Christmas Pickles

I feel like I’m running low on pickles. I’d blame the mice for getting into the canned goods, but I know it’s really because it’s close to Christmas and at Christmastime all of my canned goods begin to disappear, finding new homes as they are given out as gifts. I’m actually pretty sure that Fr.…

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Dill Pickles

With over 6 gallons of Bread and Butter Pickles in my root cellar, I decided to try a new pickle recipe – Dill.  My handy cook book even had a couple variations of Dill pickles – regular and kosher.  I haven’t the slightest idea how one is more kosher than the other, but it doesn’t…

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Pickled Peppers

Right now, my garden is full of peppers, mostly banana peppers. You know the ones I’m talking about.  They come in the box when you order pizza from town (at least when you order it from Papa John’s). With just two of us, I think the 4 banana pepper plants he planted might have been…

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Using Pectin

It’s spring, which means it’s time to start thinking about your garden and what you want to put in it.  For me, that means thinking about what I want to make with my plants from the garden – and lately I’ve been a big fan of jams and jellies.  Really, this means I need to…

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Peach Pecan Amaretto Preserves

This recipe for Peach Pecan Amaretto Preserves with Golden Raisins is amazing.  This recipe takes quite a while, especially if you wait the 2 weeks for the preserves to mellow before you eat it, but the final product is well worth the work.  As a head’s up – this recipe took me about 2-1/2 hours…

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Bread-and-Butter Pickles

The following is the recipe for the bread-and-butter type crisp pickle slices in the 1972 Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book.  They win blue ribbons each year at the county fair.  I make these with fresh garden cucumbers every summer and give them away as gifts at Christmas. Ingredients: 4 quarts sliced, unpared, medium…

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Homemade Jellies

I hope everyone out there had a great Christmas!  I certainly did.  I got tons of awesome things, but it’s not fair to get gifts and not give some in return.  My favorite gifts to give is home canned goods. There are a couple of reasons I like to do this.  First, I feel like…

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Canning Squash

I canned squash again this year.  Well… I canned a squash.  A 12 pound squash. It was too heavy to weigh on my kitchen scale, and too light to weigh on the bathroom scale.  That meant that I had to weigh myself and then weigh myself again with the squash.  It works, but you don’t…

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