REFRIGERATOR PICKLES

 

This is an amazing pickle recipe that I got from my friend Editha (fondly known by many as "Eddy").
I was invited to join Eddy and her friends in her annual candy making and she had asked me to dip her centers.  Each day she treated us with a delicious lunch.  She had served these pickles.  I've never been a real fan of pickles but, after I had these, I was hooked.  They are slightly sweet and the kicker is that they are so crisp and crunchy like a fresh cucumber.  Now for the best part........wait for it.............
You don't have to can them!!!!!  YAHOO!!!  I hate canning, no, I more than hate, I detest canning.  These are so quick and easy to make and there is  very little mess.  Love it!!

Here's what you need

5-6 Cucumbers

3-Onions

1-1/2 teaspoons Celery Seed

1-1/2 teaspoons Mustard Seed

1-1/2 teaspoons Turmeric

3-Cups Apple Cider Vinegar

4-Cups Sugar

1/3-Cup Pickling Salt

Slice cucumbers and onions and put in 1 gallon jar. 

Slice them any way you would like.  I like to slice them quite thick because it gives me more to bite into and mostly because I can cut them up faster

Pack them in.  You will only fit about 2 onions and 4 cucumbers in at first.  After you add the liquid brine, they will settle and you can add more.

Measure the vinegar, mustard seed, turmeric, celery seed, sugar and salt into a pan and cook high heat.  I stir this as it is heating, scraping the bottom, to make sure the sugar and salt dissolve and don't get stuck on the bottom of the pan where they can burn.  Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute.

Pour the brine into the jar.  Notice how the liquid doesn't fill the jar and the cucumbers start to settle.  Now you can add more cucumbers and onion until the liquid and cucumbers reach the top.

Put on the lid and STORE IN THE FRIDGE.  Take out and shake once a day for 30 days (or just whenever you think about it).

We were dipping in to these within a week.  The longer they sit, the more flavor they get.



Just a few notes:

I got this jar at Walmart.  I thought it would look a lot cooler in pictures for my Blog.  I usually use an empty, gallon size, Marchino cherry jar ( I make a lot of Cherry Cordials).  After twisting on the lid for a minute or two, then pulling on it out of frustration, I realized it wasn't a twist on lid.  It's o.k. but you can see that after shaking it, the liquid is in the top of the ring and will probably start to leak down the side of the jar and get sticky.  Yuck!  The other thing is, I had to adjust the shelves in my fridge to make it fit because it was so high.  Long story short, it is cool looking, but I wouldn't get it.  I would just use any empty gallon jar you might have with a twist on lid.

I also added more cucumbers and onions as they started to settle.  You could also make this in smaller jars.

Play Dough

Soft as Cloud Play Dough

(my experience)

I have always wanted to make a play dough recipe that I had seen on the internet.  The name alone ( soft as cloud ) sounded  like a heavenly soft play dough that would squish so perfectly in my hand.  I was waiting for a good excuse to make this enticing stuff.  My daughter and her 3 young boys ages 2,4, and 6, were visiting for a few days during spring break.  It is spring here in Idaho and we were planning on doing some activities outside.  Well, we have had some typical Idaho spring weather lately, wind, some sun, some snow, some rain, more snow...

We woke up to wind and snow one morning.  I thought this would be the perfect time to try out the perfect play dough recipe that I had seen posted on Face Book.  It only called for 2 ingredients, corn starch and hair conditioner and what was even better, you didn't have to cook it.  Little boys are very busy and they love clay.  To keep them busy longer, I decided to let them make their own, since it didn't need cooking.

I gave them each their own mixing bowl and we measured the cornstarch and conditioner in the bowl.  They had a great time mixing it.  I was very curious to see how the clay would turn out because I've done the cornstarch and water experiments and it has never been a play dough type texture.  I thought maybe the conditioner ingredient would make a magical difference.

It didn't take long to make and wasn't too surprised to find the texture wasn't like a play dough.  It looked like the pictures you see on the website but the consistency wasn't very pliable.  The kids could play with it, but just like cornstarch and water, when you made something, it wouldn't hold its shape.  It was crumbly and a little stiff.  I double checked the recipe to make sure that they didn't cook it.  The  whole time I was thinking to myself "Nailed It" just like the many ideas you see on Pinterest etc. that you try and fail.

I have a another play dough recipe that you cook and it is made with flour.  I use cornstarch when making gravy and pie filling and when it is cooked it has more of a jelly type texture.  We didn't have anything to lose and so I decided to conduct and experiment with them and try cooking the clay.  Here is what we did:

This is the original recipe without cooking.  Make it first so that you can see for yourself if you like it or not.  Then follow the steps I show to cook it.

Ingredients:

2-Parts Corn Starch ( I used 2 Cups)
1-Part Conditioner ( I used the cheapest hair conditioner I could find )
Food Coloring

Mix together in bowl.

I put the finished play dough in a sauce pan and added water to it.  You can add quite a bit of water because you need enough to break down the cornstarch.  I turned the stove burner on to high heat.  I'm always in a hurry and I figured we aren't going to eat it any way (supposedly).

  I stirred constantly over the high heat until it started to gather into a ball.  This only took a few minutes.  Remove from heat let cool.

 

After it has cooled enough to handle, begin kneading the dough as you would bread.  Notice how lumpy the play dough looks at first.  Don't worry, because the kneading will combine the ingredients well and you will have a nice, smooth, soft as cloud,  play dough. 

I was pleased to see that our experiment was a success.  The play dough was very smooth and not crumbly.  It had more elasticity and held its shape like play dough should.

If the play dough gets too dry, knead in some conditioner.  If it gets too sticky, knead in more corn starch.

Have Fun!

THIS IS MY REALITY!

As usual, things are never like in the pictures (nice clean kids and work area).

 But....

Corn Starch---$1.00

Hair Conditioner---$1.59

Time with grand kids, successful learning experiment, and hours of QUIET play time,

PRICELESS!