Still had more beans, because now our little backyard patch began producing. I wanted to make some dill pickles, but after buying a few cukes, I thought I should just use what I already have and make dilly beans. I had never pickled green beans before and I found it pretty annoying to try to stuff jars with wavy beans. Photos of dilly beans always show slender, straight beans.
I had planted just a few herbs this year, and was pleased to match up my heads of dill with some cukes to make dill pickles. They make such an attractive jar, I think!
I also made some batches of pizza sauce to use up the overflow of tomatoes from their garden, plus a few seconds that I picked up at market. I use this pizza sauce wherever spaghetti sauce is called for. It has wonderful flavor and is quite easy.
The side of our house functions like a messy garage sometimes. It's more cleaned up (temporarily, until the next project). We were finishing some things in the third-floor apartment before new tenants moved in. I seized the camera and we took a quick family photo, probably the first with Phoebe.
9 comments:
I love dilly beans! We grow wax beans, and I think those are easier to get in the jars because they seem to grow straighter than the green beans. I recently tried out a different bean pickle, and my beans were all varying lengths (and curvy) so I decided to go the easy way and cut them in half and pack them in without worrying about presentation. I envision using them in salads rather than on a pickle tray.
How in the world do you get it all done?! With a newborn in tow? :) I think too, that the fresh dill in the jar of cukes looks attractive. Such a satisfying feeling to fill up those canning shelves.
Alica, we stay home a lot :) And my big kids are fabulous help with the baby if she wakes up mid-canning-project.
You guys are so great! I don't care for dilly beans as much as pickles, but its probably just because they're not what I grew up on! Not much canning going on yet for us, but soon enough!
I pickle cases of green beans every year - my husband loves them - but I've never made dilly beans. The recipe he prefers uses basil and garlic. I chop the ends of my beans so they fit uniformly in the jars. I don't usually use wide mouth jars, but I find I sort of like them better for pickling green beans, as they are easier to pack.
I've never got a batch of pickled dill cucumbers to stay crisp though - do you have a secret for that?
Cute family photo!
Becky, I'd be interested in your pickled bean recipe with the basil. That sounds good!
To keep cucumber dills crisp, I make sure to trim off both ends of the cucumber. When I can get them, I also include a grape leaf in each jar because it has tannic acid that supposedly keeps pickles crisp. Some jars still seem to stay crisper than others.
You've been busy! *understatement* :)
I love Phoebe's inquisitive look!
Beautiful jars, and I bet they are delicious.
Cute family pic.
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