Texas Spring/Summer Thread

[Western]

Not to change from a depressing subject (watering. . .yuk!), but let's brag about gardens. Last night we had squash, tomatoes, onions, new potatoes with snap Bush beans, freezer pickles, and raw banana peppers all from our garden. To round out the meal, my wife warmed up some ribs I smoked awhile back and baked a pan of cornbread. I sure was happy faced :licking: by the time I finished eatin'. We've been giving away yellow squash and cucumbers for over a week now. The freezer pickles came from my FIL/MIL. My FIL especially likes to make the freezer pickles and they are delicious.

Jim, what is a "freezer pickle" never heard the term before, is it literal like pickling in a freezer?

 

[jinman]

Jim, what is a "freezer pickle" never heard the term before, is it literal like pickling in a freezer?

Dennis, the cucumbers are partially peeled, sliced and mixed with onion and sometimes peppers in the sweet pickling brine. Then they are put into the refrigerator for a couple of days followed by into the freezer. As they get cold, they draw in the pickling solution before freezing. When they thaw, you immediately have great pickles. They are normally crisp, fresh, and very tasty. I don't care for cucumbers, but I love freezer pickles. There are several recipes online if you do a search.

BTW: My inlaws partially peel the pickles to get rid of the skins, but I like the skins on just fine. The pickles are a bread & butter style sweet pickle with low salt. My neighbor who must limit his salt due to excessively high blood pressure can eat these pickles just fine and he loves them. We always take a couple of frozen tubs to him each year.

 

[Western]

OK, thanks for the explanation. Sounds good, like Vlasik pickles I cant ever recall having a "pickle" with the skin cut off, I kinda like the "crispness" the skin has, or seems to have. I remember as a kid at the county fairs, all the ladies would bring pickles for the food contest, man there where some wild tasting pickles.

Hard to beat a large "barrel" pickle and a turkey leg from the county fair:thumbsup: OH yeah, cant forget "funnel cake

 

[jinman]

Hard to beat a large "barrel" pickle and a turkey leg from the county fair:thumbsup: OH yeah, cant forget "funnel cake

Knock it off! You're makin' me hungry! I LUV those big ol' pickles. . . but I'll pass on the funnel cake. For dessert, I'll have a Fletcher's corndog with a big ol' dollop of mustard.:licking:

Got 2/10" this morning around 4:30 AM. Woohoo!:thumbsup:

 

[Western]

Knock it off! You're makin' me hungry! I LUV those big ol' pickles. . . but I'll pass on the funnel cake. For dessert, I'll have a Fletcher's corndog with a big ol' dollop of mustard.:licking:

Got 2/10" this morning around 4:30 AM. Woohoo!:thumbsup:

Oh yeah, I forgot about the corn dogs!!!!

Still stuck in Houston. Spoke to the wife this morning and it was raining, she said the gauge was over 1/2" by 7am. My night ended up a mess, I almost started a thread, but didn't want to "highlight" my obvious stupidity. One of those days at work you wish you stayed home:laughing::laughing:

 

[Bird]

Knock it off! You're makin' me hungry! I LUV those big ol' pickles. . . but I'll pass on the funnel cake. For dessert, I'll have a Fletcher's corndog with a big ol' dollop of mustard.:licking:

Got 2/10" this morning around 4:30 AM. Woohoo!:thumbsup:

And my favorite pickle is still the pickled okra; just had a half dozen pods this afternoon. Incidentally, Jim, I came across a tough pod today; first time I've ever found a tough one in any of these big Members Mark jars.

And I awoke to thunder and lightning about 5:30 this morning and might have gotten as much as 0.02" of rain. But I reckon it's better'n nothin'.

 

[jinman]

And my favorite pickle is still the pickled okra; just had a half dozen pods this afternoon. Incidentally, Jim, I came across a tough pod today; first time I've ever found a tough one in any of these big Members Mark jars.

We have lots of jars of pickles of all kinds and I think a big jar of the MM pickled okra in our cubbard. I'll have to check, but hate to open another jar when we have so many others. I now have competition in the house for pickled banana peppers. My grandson loves them.

Gosh! It was hot/humid yesterday down in my pond. I'm digging it about 2" deeper along with sealing the sand leak. I have a wide trench about 2' deep and 8' wide around 2/3 of the pond. I've been digging/chipping through solid caliche and it is slow going. If we get rain today, maybe I'll have an excuse to rest up. If not, I'll be wearing the teeth down on my backhoe bucket. The sound the teeth make in caliche is like chalk squealing on a chalkboard.:thumbdown:

 

[Western]

Getting light rain right now, radar shows storms building. Jinman looks to "score" some of this too1!

Had to add Bird should get what just left me, got 3/10ths out of it.

 

[jinman]

Haven't checked gage, but it's been pouring outside for about 20 minutes. Woohoo!

 

[Bird]

I still have sunshine, but the looks of the radar make me glad I mowed yesterday.