Kirkland Sweet Cucumber Relish

This stuff is so good...no really I'm not kidding. This stuff is so yummy! You might be asking yourself, how much relish can one person eat? The answer is alot! You can use is on hot dogs, hamburgers, any kind of sandwich that you would put pickles, tuna fish, chicken salad, potato salad, egg salad, or if you just want alittle get yourself a spoon and have just alittle. Which sounds gross, but with the lap band pickles are a no go, and sometimes I just want a pickle...LOL

I called my mother-in-law and asked her where did this recipe come from? In a nut shell she told me she was tired of making pickles because they took 14 days, and she was chopping them up anyway to put in her stuff. So, she thought she would just do what was easier...LOL I do love easier.

Since the cucumbers have been coming in so well this year we have been getting together to do relish. Josh and Amanda were so smart to grow them on this fence. Next year Chris and I are going to help with the planting process.

We get together once a week to do the relish. How much relish have we done? 276 quarts! Yeah US! We are going to stop now. Not because we think we have enough, not because the cucumbers quit growing, not because we are totally sick of each other....LOL

No seriously we are going to stop now because we are not producing enough of the other ingredients to be cost efficient.....LOL
I am going to miss our little relish making nights. I have really loved, and looked forward to spending time with Amanda, and Courtney. I mean I love the rest of yall too...LOL! But the three of us together working on a project was really nice. I don't think nice is the right word....more awesome then nice...but awesome is such a cheap word...anyway you get the picture.

A couple of little things I learned about making relish is this. You can't use the cucumbers from the store. They have been waxed. Unless you get the organic ones for pickling. I really saw some at Winn Dixie, they were $1.59 a pound. You can never seem to have enough jars on hand...LOL A food chopper is your very best friend...LOL Last but not least the food chopping measurements are not an exact science. What I mean is close is good enough...LOL

Now for the recipe:

Kirkland Sweet Cucumber Relish
4 quarts of chopped cucumbers
4 quarts of chopped onions
2 quarts of peppers (mix of red, green, yellow, and orange)
3oz. Pickling spice
Cheese cloth
4 cups Apple cider vinegar (store brand)
7 cups Sugar


Chop veggies with a food processor. Use the cheese cloth to make a spice bag with the pickling spices. After you chop everything mix it together, and squeeze the juice out with your hands before you put in the pan to cook. (We call this making cucumber meatball) You bring the vinegar, and sugar to a boil, then add the cucumber meatballs, and spice ball. You bring that to a boil, and cook for 30 minutes. Stir a lot, so it doesn’t stick, or burn.
Get your jars ready, and the lids on. Fill hot jars; wipe the rims, and put hot lids and rings on. Cover. They will seal themselves.

***Some like their relish with a lot of broth, some like it with more relish and just a smidgen of broth. It doesn’t matter. When we do it whoever does the filling of the jars does it however they want. We use a strainer scoop, a ladle, and a funnel to fill the jars.

Note to self: take pictures of the process, and of ourselves making it...DUH!! I swear I'll never learn.

Noah James

This is Noah's last dance pictures. His ballet dance was called 'Rainbow Connection'. It was choreographed by Ms. Jessica. It was the song by Kermit the frog called 'Rainbow Connection' mixed with his other song called 'It's Not Easy Being Green'...

Cousins who dance

I love that Madi, Emma Mae, and MacKenzie all take dance at JDSD. I love all these pictures....

Cuban Pete

Madi, and Noah were in two dance classes together. The were so cute. Noah couldn't wait to dance with Madi. Madi knew all the words to the songs and sang right along with them. My husband hates this shirt with a passion, that's why we had some photos done with Madi wearing the tuxedo.

P.S. The program I use to make this wonderful pages is called http://www.artscow.com/
You should really check them out. When I have the pages printed they will be 12x12 and they will be shiny, and they will fit right into their scrapbooks....they also have alot of free designs. I have only ever used the free stuff..AWESOME!

My New Philosophy

Bethany's solo was 'My New Philosophy' from 'You're A Good Man Charlie Brown'. It was Choreographed by Ms. Jessica. She won alot of awards with this dance. When I'm done with all the dance pictures I will do a layout of her awards. She was totally cute with this. She really was the 'best' Sally Brown.

Roomies

This is the duet that Lynsey and Erica did this year. It was called 'Roomies'. The song was 'What Is This Feeling?' from the musical 'Wicked'. It was choreographed by Ms. Jessica. This dance won 6th overall at Showstoppers. It was the cutest little dance. Lynsey, and Erica really had their parts down. I loved the wig on Lynsey. We kept thinking we were going to have problems with it staying on, but we didn't. Linda (Erica's Mom) made the props, and altered the costumes. I'm so glad they did this. You will have to wait until I post the video...LOL

Hit The Road Jack

Ms. Jessica choreographed this tap number. It was 'Hit The Road Jack'. She really liked this number. She liked that they got to act like they were really throwing Jack out....LOL It was very sassy. All the suit cases said something different like 'get lost', 'Jack's stuff'.....Bethany wasn't crazy about the costume, neither was I, but it did look good on stage, and it did photograph well. She really loves her fake hair...She calls it 'Shelia'....Ms. Jessica said it looks like Kim Kardashian...LOL

Boy From New York City

This was one of Noah's tap numbers this year. He loves the hat, and he loves the cane. It is really cute when he sings into the cane like a microphone. This number was choreographed by Ms. Jessica. I'm surprised that Ms. Jessica lets Noah swing the hat at the end of the cane, and I'm surprised that his hat didn't fly off and hit someone....LOL

Blue Jeans

Lynsey started off this year in the adult tap class. Then she decided she wasn't going to take that class. Then at the end of the year they asked her to come back. She is sure glad she did. The tap dance was choreographed by Ms. Kim. It was to a country song called 'Blue Jeans'. It doesn't sound country, more of a R&B cross over, but it was so cool. She did a really great job. She really loves the women in her class. Most of all is Ms. Alicia. I can totally understand why....

Swingin' Sixties

This was the competition jazz class that Noah was in. It was called 'Swingin Sixties'. He was Austin Powers. It was a mix of music, the Austin Powers theme/These Boots are Made For Walkin/Do You Love Me? Very cute dance. This was Noah's first year. He can't wait until next year.

Let Go

This was Lynsey's lyrical dance. It was called 'Let Go'. It was choreographed by Ms. Krissi. Lynsey really loved this dance, and the scarf, and the costume, and the pictures....LOL okay Lynsey just loves dance!

Dolls

Bethany did this dance for JDSD. Ms. Krissi choreographed this dance. It won 1st over all at Dance Theatre USA. The dance was called Dolls, the song was 'When She Loved Me' from Toy Story 2. They were suppose to be sad little dolls that were not loved anymore. It was very sad. Bethany was really torn up about this song when Ms. Krissi started to teach it. She didn't think she would be able to do it. It was just to emotional for her. You see right before they started learning this dance Daddy had accidentally sent two big bags of stuffed animals, and dolls to goodwill. He didn't realize that I wanted the stuff in the attic. Anyway, she felt like she was that girl in the song, and that her dolls were really sad. She is so sensitive. I told her to stick with it, and use this emotion. As you can see she really came through like a pro. This ended up being her favorite group dance for the year.

Big Mama Hog

This is the Big Mama Hog at the farm. She smells, and she slings nasty when she jumps up, but I really wanted to get a picture to show how big she is. So, Noah thought by waving a tomato piece in the air she would jump up. She didn't jump up until she heard Chris digging in the hog feed bucket. Smart Hog....LOL I thought I needed a better picture. I don't think you can really see how big she is, but this might show how gross it can be.
See all the mud and junk on her hooves, and when she jumps she shares it. YUCK!!

Potatoes Vs. The Village....canning potatoes round 2

You have already seen pictures of the potatoes, now for pictures of the village...LOL

We have Papa Farrell...he is a cutter, washer, and 'the funny man'....well some don't find him funny, but I do. Only because his 'funniness' isn't directed at me.... My 'King' Chris...He is a hauler, washer, cutter, chicken baker, jack of all trades so to speak....He was also very cranky. He didn't find Papa's 'funniness' funny....LOL
This is Amanda she is a filler in of all trades. She refers to this as moving laterally....I call her the food Nazi, or the inspector....She checks everyones work, lets us know what we need to do to improve, and then follows it up with your doin' a great job don't quit. All while smiling her bless your heart smile.....I just love her...

This is Courtney....She is best at washing jars, filling jars, changing pots,...I think she just likes all the jobs that require clean hands....(she's lucky, but we all can't be jar people...LOL)
This is Josh....He thinks of himself as our fearless leader...we think of him as the guy who gives orders alot....LOL Just kidding while he is giving orders and checking on progress he fills in where needed. He is really great at moving us along at the fastest pace possible...At any given random time you can hear him say 'shake n bake people'....every time he says it I think 'boy I do love shake n bake'....LOL Yes, sometimes it's distracting...LOL

NOBODY took any pictures of me. I guess they were all to busy or something....LOL I did want to share one thing...my hands have never looked grosser a day in my life then they do right now. They are so potato stained, it's disgusting.....I also didn't get any pictures of Pat with her wrapped arm...

All in all it was a great couple of days...the potatoes put up a really great fight, but in the end the village won. I have some fun potato facts I learned on the Internet: Every quart jar holds 2.5-3 lbs of potatoes. With that being said I will give some facts on how we beat the potatoes.....
We had 428 quart jars filled with potatoes.
That is 1070-1284 lbs of potatoes which is half a ton of potatoes.
It took almost 36 cases of jars, 3 lbs. of salt, alot of water, and a whole small village.
P.S. If I have forgot anything I'm sorry! I am so tired, and up really early. Just leave me a comment. I'll edit...LOL

Potatoes out the ears.....canning potatoes round 1

Have you ever read the story "The Little Red Hen"? Well in that story I was always the fat cat. I never would help plant, sow, harvest, prepare, or cook the wheat. I mean that was the little red hen's job. Right? I did however always want to eat the bread.....

Well this year I've turned over a new leaf. I didn't help plant or sow...I came in alittle late in the game, but I think I'm slowing catching on and catching up...

Last Saturday we went out to the farm and dug potatoes. I don't have any pictures to share, because I didn't use my own camera...that will never happen again....Anyway, I 'm not a digger of potatoes. I'm more of a gatherer, hauler, mover of drinks, everything else but digging kind of gal. I'm what you call the big helper...LOL So, what does 3 giant rows of potatoes look like?

It looks like this.

Yes, I know that's alot of dirty, dirty potatoes. How does one clean that many at one time?

This is how...

Look how shiny clean they are now.

We set up a cutting station. And we got busy. During this part I've realized I'm more of a cutter/chopper of the potatoes. I mean I like filling the jars to, but there is something in me that wants to hand put them in, and bang them down to fit more, and redo it and redo it. Then I check the lid to see if it's tight, then I check it again, and again. So that part is harder for me.

We were so busy that I didn't take another picture until the end when we realized we were in trouble with time. Yes sometimes time is not a friend, but an enemy.

We cleaned and cut enough potatoes for 200 quart jars. We were really flying by the seat of our pants last night. We had cut all the potatoes, and had more outside that were wet. What were we going to do. We couldn't stay up all night and process them, we couldn't clean any more. It was getting really late.

The ones in the jars already we filled with water, and put saran wrap over all the jars. The ones still wet in the trailer we brought inside the porch, and laid them all out on towels to dry. How much more you ask?

This is how much more....

That's alot more potatoes. I think we will get 200 more jars, and Josh thinks we will we have 300-400 more. It will be nice to see who is closer. We should make a game....LOL I got home took a shower, and climbed in bed. It was 12:30 a.m. Right before I went to sleep I said a quick prayer that the potatoes would be alright over night...

I didn't think I would like this at all, but I really love it. I could never thank my wonderful Sister In Law/BFF Amanda for really showing me the ropes. She just about knows everything, and can do everything, and she is great fun to hang out with. It takes a small village to store so many potatoes. In are village we have Amanda, Josh, Me, Chris, Pat, Farrel, and Courtney. I think I'm so tired I am confusing storing potatoes with raising kids....LOL Tonight will be round 2. I will take actual pictures of real people instead of all pictures of potatoes...LOL