September 11, 2009: Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pretty Peppers and Pickles



I have never, in all the years I've gardened, had so many peppers!  And the colors are gorgeous....red, green, gold and purple.  This week I picked enough to put four 1-pound packages of mixed sweet pepper strips in the freezer.



 
 I packaged the peppers in the new Ziploc vacuum bags.  Goodbye freezer burn (I hope).


I had some vinegar/sugar/spices syrup left over from making the sweet bread and butter pickles last week, so I used it on some of my larger cucumbers to make two quarts of refrigerator pickles.  I removed the seeds from a really large cuke, then cut it into chunks.  I heated the syrup to boiling and poured it over the cucumbers, then stored them in the refrigerator.  They did seal, so they should last like forever.  I think they should make some tasty pickles. 


This isn't an entire "Garden Dinner", but it was one really, really good salad.  I had to use a bit of store bought lettuce, but I added fresh baby spinach, sweet red bell pepper strips, green onions and tomatoes from the garden.  The dressing is reduced fat Kraft Mayonnaise with Olive Oil mixed with a bit of balsamic vinegar and a little sugar.  I don't measure, I just go by color and taste....and the taste is delicious!


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17 comments:

  1. Hi there! Im a new reader and thought I should drop by and say hello :0)Im enjoying your blog,I really like seeing what you have harvested and how you preserve it.Take care ,Granny.

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  2. Great looking harvest, well done!

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  3. You really did have a great pepper year in 2009! The packages of them ready to freeze are really pretty to look at with all those colors.

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  4. Those are definitely some very colorful bags of peppers! Almost makes you not want to eat them.

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  5. Granny, welcome to my blog, and thank you for the compliment!

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    Thanks, SP. I'm surprised my garden didn't burn up in the heat this year.

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    KitsapFG, I'm itching for a batch of fajitas! Too bad Mr. H won't eat them (or the peppers), I'll have to consume them all myself. I always put double peppers and onions in mine.

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    EG, it will take a long time to eat them all. Mr. H will just look, not touch ;-)

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  6. Yum, and congrats on the successful pepper harvesting! I love peppers in my salads...

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  7. Hi again! I scoured through your blog a few nights ago trying to find your recipe for strawberry pie. It looked soooo good I HAD to try it.. After a bit of crust-complications I succeeded and hooly dooly I was in taste-bud heaven!! I'm going to post about it now on my blog and link to you for the recipe. Thank you so so so much for sharing!!

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  8. Marrissa, you are welcome. I actually thought the pie was even better on the second day, but by the third day the crust got a bit soggy. Of course, by the third day there was only a tiny slice left, so most of the pie was eaten at its best.

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  9. Momma_S, I used to hate peppers, until I tasted a sweet red bell. Oh, how I love those on salads or in a sandwich! I'm even learning to like the green ones, just not as much.

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  10. I must try freezing peppers this year. I have a whole bunch of Jimmy Nardello peppers that taste awful but I bet would be good in fajita's like you suggested.

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  11. Dan, it's so easy to freeze them. No blanching, just wash, seed and slice. I'm having another bunch of those beautiful hot peppers given to me, and I'll dice and freeze them to be added to chili, cornbread or more salsa.

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  12. Funny, I ripped out my summer stuff except my bell peppers...they are FINALLY starting to look like they should! Jalapenos are another story...the past 2 weeks I have sent some to AZ, MN, dropped some on doorsteps, etc...and still have 200 more on my plants ready to pick and 3 gallon bags in freezer and canned too. All from only 6 plants???!!! They are pretty though, like yours...I am thinking I will appreciate them more this winter after I have forgotten about the "jalapeno attack of 2009", lol!

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  13. Erin, that's how I feel about my tomatoes! I went out yesterday and whacked off a bunch of excess foliage (nothing that is just blossoming will mature before frost), and found about 12 pounds of ripe ones that weren't even visible before. So I kept whacking, and I'd bet there are another 100 pounds of green tomatoes in that jungle! I have canned so many I have to put the jars in boxes under the bed! I've harvested over 300 pounds of them already, what on earth will I do with another hundred pounds? But I can't bear to rip them out, they are just beautiful!

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  14. The image has me chuckling... tomatoes under the bed! Anyone who breaks in to steal stuff won't get "scurvy" at least! :)

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  15. LOL, Erin, I should have said JARS of tomatoes under the bed. Boxes and boxes of salsa, tomato sauce and pickles....I must have a five year supply of pickles, because the cucumbers have been almost as prolific as the tomatoes! Yes, it's definitely been a tomato, cucumber and peppers year in my garden.

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  16. I love the bags of colorful sweet peppers! What an awesome idea. =) I want to grow more sweet peppers than hot ones next year.

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  17. Hello, tn_veggie_gardner! I have always loved to fill my freezer with sweet pepper strips, but not every year has given me such a colorful harvest of them. Aren't they pretty? It will be a joy cooking with them!

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