Small Batch Canning: Pickled Pepper Rings

I literally had a half dozen peppers I needed to do something with, so I thought why not pickle them. This is a super easy recipe and process. Total prep and cook time is no more than 25 minutes (not including overnight brine in the fridge).

I sliced my 4 hot hungarian wax peppers and my 2 marconi red peppers into 1/4 inch slices. It came out to a half pound  for each kind of pepper. I discarded the blossom end and shave the tip end. They received a good rinse then went into a half gallon  ziploc baggie with ice cold water and 1/4 cup of canning salt to brine in the fridge overnight. 

After several really good rinses, the peppers were drained and set to the side. What is nice is the pith and seeds fell out of the rings and I didn't  have to do anything to remove them. In a non-reactive pot combine the following:

2  and 2/3 cups apple cider vinegar

2/3 cups filtered water

1 and 1/2 teaspoon canning salt

2/3 tablespoon celery seed

1 and 1/3 teaspoon mustard seed

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
This will be slightly more than you need but better to have too much than too little!

Bring to a boil, add the pepper rings and simmer for 8 minutes.  Ladle into clean hot jars, leave a 1/2 inch headspace, wipe rims, seal and water bath for 10 minutes. I ended up with 4 half pints of pickled pepper rings. 

How to use them?

As a snack

On a pizza

On a sandwich

In a salad

I think I will let them stand on the shelf for a couple of weeks to allow all the flavors to marry and mellow. Well that is if I can keeps the hubbs out the pantry!

Root Cellar Envy

We put so much work into our vegetable garden it makes sense we should try to preserve as much of it as possible. Maybe not all of us have gardens but belong to a garden co-op or find really good deals on fresh produce and and would like to save it. 

not a bad haul!

A generation or two our ancestors didn't have the luxury of  a 24 hour mega mart around the corner. What they grew, they ate, they canned , pickled, smoked, dried, salt packed or stored in a root cellar. I don't have a root cellar but I sure wish I did.

I can picture it with jars of jams, pickles and other mouth watering yummies lined up like little jewelled soldiers. Baskets of apples, pears, squash, and potatoes just waiting to be eaten. I can smell the air fragrant with clusters of onion, garlic, peppers, lavender and sunflower pods drying. And I can feel the cool air as I walk in the cellar and survey rewards reaped from a season of hard work. Oh how I long to have a root cellar!

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I rely on canning ...

HOT salsa in pint and a half jars

Hot squash pickles

onion relish

Zucchini relish

Polish Dill pickles

and freezing for almost all of my food preservation efforts. 

I have a food dehydrator but have yet to use it, I am ashamed to say. Next year, I swear I will use it!

But all my thoughts keep going back to a root cellar. My house has a cellar/ basement/ dungeon  that might work  as a root cellar. Or perhaps I could turn a corner of my detached garage into a root cellar. I have been reading up on it and one way or another I am gonna have a root cellar!

How about y'all--anyone have a root cellar? Memories of a root cellar from when you were younger? Ideals on making a root cellar? I would love to hear all about it!

It is a woman's prerogative to change her mind (aka kitchen update)

at least that is what I told the hubbs AFTER I had changed my mind regarding the counter top and flooring selections, haha oops! 

The good news is nothing was ordered or purchased before I changed my mind. I had previously shared some of my selections and finishes when I first talked about the kitchen makeover. However, when I went to Lowe's to purchase the materials, I just wasn't "feeling it". I pulled out all of my original swatches and decided I didn't like any of them. There was something wrong with each of them...too dark, too grey, too flesh colored, too...whatever!

So I dumped all the previous selections, walked around Lowe's, picked out new swatches of flooring, counter top and paint. I was bound and determined to make a decision. Besides Lowe's doesn't close until 10 pm, so I had plenty of time, haha. There was one particular combination that I paired together that I drawn to time and again. The good news- the "new" linoleum was cheaper--yay! The bad news- the counter top was NOT cheaper--boo! And both the formica counter top and linoleum  would need to be ordered, there went my blitzkrieg makeover!

But I pulled the trigger and I ordered them! WOOT! My rationale is I have already scaled back considerably and I need to be happy in the space. So I made a few concessions. I downgraded my sink and faucet to adjust for the counter top cost.

The original formica counter top and vinyl flooring selection was Wilsonart Madura Gold 4923K-52 ($96/ 6 ft counter top) and Congoleum Fast Track Windstone Mocha 04526 ($2.19/sf)

These are the formica counter top and vinyl flooring which I purchased. Wilsonart Sandy Topaz 4862K-07 ($197/ 6 ft  flat deck/ no drip edge countertop) and Congoleum Pacesetter Multi/ Bisque Slate 60054-6449 ($1.57/sf) .

These colors aren't "true life" and do match much better than what is pictured. I went with the 2nd choice because it was brighter and more clean looking. The patterns are more uniform and not as aesthetically distracting for me like the first choice. Since they were ordered we are looking at a 2-4 week delay. Oh well...

I downgraded the sink to a single bowl acrylic. I can't say that I am a fan of acrylic sinks but it fit my 2 criteria 1) cheap 2) it is 10 inches deep. So plenty big enough to accommodate my canning pots and my extra large baking sheets. Corstone Coventry($169)

I chose a goose neck faucet and a sprayer. Y'all I am gonna have a sprayer! I may not have a dishwasher but I am gonna have a sprayer! haha Delta Windemere High Arc faucet in stainless ($98).

The 3 paint colors I am trying to choose from right now are Gilded Endive (7003-22), Hemingway (7005-8) and Madison Avenue (7006-14) all by Valspar. I know there are very subtle differences. I think I am going to order samples and paint swatches on the wall so I can decide what works. When I compare the paint chips to the formica and vinyl samples any of the 3 seem like they would work.

Well that's where we are with the project. At least it is moving forward!