Pickling Class with My Farming Grace Friend

I have a friend named Ann Marie.  

She is an Army wife  and a homeschooling mom of three who loves all things yarn, kitchen skills, soap making, gardening, RV traveling and historical re-enactment among many other things.  She started opening her home once a month about a year ago to give classes on all the things she loves.  She is a social butterfly who loves hospitality.  

She is quickly becoming one of my favorite people here in El Paso.  You can find out more about her and things that she sells on her website/blog called Farming Grace,  She is also on Facebook.

She hosted a class on pickling vegetables today and I thought I would share some highlights.

We started our time learning about the different supplies needed for the canning process.

Ann Marie believes in the hands on method so we all got involved with chopping, mixing brines, cooking veg and the whole canning process from loading the sanitized jars to boiling, cooling and labeling them.

We used the Kosher pickling mix and the bread and butter mix and tested them on carrots, cucumbers, and jalapenos.

Here is the Bread and Butter Brine.

There were also lots of snacks to enjoy as we worked... all baked goodies were homemade by Ann Marie

Another lady brought fresh fruit and made a yummy fruit dip.

We also got to sample some pickled peppers and watermelon rind.

Some carrots and cucumbers cooking in the pickling liquid.

Lovely Ann Marie talking us through several things.

Then it was our turn to step in and do the work.

Lovely carrots!

This was the boiling that happened after the jars were filled and sealed.  

This process took about 20 minutes and then they were removed and cooled.

Just a few more shots of the process...

When we were all done we each got to take four jars each home with us.  

They will be ready to enjoy in about a week.  

I plan to do more of this very soon!

Thanks so much to Ann Marie for opening her home and having a giving hospitable spirit!

Next week we make soap!

For Jennie... Peanut Butter Pie Friday

I don't typically share a recipe more than once here but this is for a special reason.  A fellow blogger... Jennie at In Jennie's Kitchen suddenly lost her husband, Mikey, recently.  She shared a post in memory this week.  His favorite pie was peanut butter pie.  So, to honor his life and her memory I am sharing my peanut butter pie recipe again.  We just made it on August 6th for our middle boy's birthday so I have new pics, too.  We did a twist on it with some mini Reese's Pieces on top.  Please visit Jennie's and leave your well wishes and prayers for her and enjoy a peanut butter pie in memory of her precious husband this weekend.  

You need 24 graham cracker squares
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup melted butter

I put the graham crackers into a food processer or blender and process until fine crumbs. Then I add the sugar and butter and combine. It will still be very crumbly. You put it into the pie pan and press the bottom and up along the sides until it is evenly distributed. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 12 minutes and then remove and cool.

While it is cooling you can make the pie filling.

Ingredients include...

To food processor add:

* 8 ounces cream cheese
* 1 cup powdered sugar
* 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
* 6 Tablespoons milk (I used almond milk)
* 8 ounces whipped topping
* chocolate chips (optional)
* chopped peanuts for topping (also optional)

Combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, peanut butter, and milk in processor and blend until smooth. Fold in topping (I use a separate mixing bowl and not the food processor to do this). Spoon into baked crust. I also put some chips into the pie and some on top. Garnish as you like with chocolate chips and/or peanuts. Refrigerate until firm.