Peppering Pecks of Pickles

It was a clean out the refrigerator afternoon. I pride myself in very rarely having to throw out food. I love the challenge of using every last thing and not letting any surprises from the produce drawer reach out and grab me.

Having recently become an apron fan, I slapped that baby on and went to work. I made a fat free pear crisp, which is basically sliced pears drizzled with maple syrup, sprinkled with cinnamon, covered with oatmeal and baked. It smells like fall around here. Ernst will be thrilled; he is a cobbler kind of guy, even if now that means the vegan variety.

Pickled peppers (and carrots, zucchini and cucumbers)

Next I made Spicy Zucchini Pickles, plus some regular kind with cucumbers and some pickled carrots and pickled peppers, no joke. If it came from the earth, it was fair game. I found this easy refrigerator method of making them, using zucchini spears. They are super easy, super yummy and you can make them in no time. The recipe starts spicy, so either cut down on the hot pepper flakes, or have a beer handy. I also put in fresh dill instead of the seed, and left out the mustard seed and forgot the garlic another time. Basically you need the vinegar and salt, the rest is mix, match and mess up.

Last, I juiced the remaining veggies in the house. I used carrots, celery, cabbage, ginger, some zucchini that got left from the pickle process and an apple. When I first started juicing, I needed to have a lot of fruit in it to enjoy, but now I can take mostly veggies and just enough fruit to sweeten it. I just don't get it, but I feel so great on the stuff. It's like my body senses all the nutrition coming down the chute and decides to be good so it will get more in the future. It makes a great big colorful mess, and I can't stand cleaning it up. But when I am done and I have that jar of veggie power at the end, it is worth it. Ideally, one should juice often and not store it. Ideally, the person that says that can give me a newer version juicer. For now, I think my way is just fine. So the fridge is clean, my floors have been wiped down, the worms in the compost pile are rejoicing and all is good. As long as I don't look at the laundry pile, that is.

Why I hate juicing.

Why I love it. (Bonus points for naming the compost pile mystery.)