Mom's Society Chip Pickles

This tattered and yellowed old recipe was in amongst 

my mom's recipes.

She called these Society Chip Pickles.
I believe she got this recipe from my sister Evelyn many years ago!

Mom's handwriting

I well remember these neon green, super sweet pickles and was

inspired to try them after seeing some at a recent bbq.

In fact, we were invited to dinner where this very jar of "9 day" pickles had

originated from and a new batch was in process there.

So, off to the market I went ... I just had to do it!
I purchased a heaping 6 qt. basket of medium sized pickles,
prepared the spices and was off to the races.

Today was the final day - day 9 and as I type this post, 
the jar lids are popping ...

4 days of boiling water soaks and
then sliced on the 5th day.

a few drops of green food colouring added on day 6, 7, and 8

Canning day #9.

They taste super sweet/sour and very crunchy. Success I hope!

Notes: 

I washed and trimmed the stem ends off each cucumber

I made a batch and one half of the vinegar/sugar juice (enough to cover the sliced pickles).

   (i.e. 12 Cups sugar - divided, 3 Tbsp. pickling salt, 6 Cups vinegar, 2 1/2 Tbsp. pickling spice)

Next time I would add a bit more food colouring to achieve that neon green look or leave it out all together. The colouring is totally optional.

This made 10 pints plus a quart of pickles (I had to run for a few more jars).

Each day during the boiling water baths I scimmed off any foam that floated to the top during the night and rinsed the cucumbers before pouring the fresh boiling hot water on.

Till next time ...... have you been inspired to do some canning this summer? 

Inspired Peach Custard Tart and Travelling

The other week my sweet sister-in-law made us a yummy peach pie.

It had a shortbread crust and was still warm when she brought it.

We could hardly wait for dinner over the next few days as we looked forward 

to this delicious dessert!

Thanks so much Marilyn - what a treat.

You inspired me ....

Peaches are so in season right now and I purchased a little basket

of those rosy cheeked Red Haven wonders at the market.

When there were only a few peaches left and needed to be used up I hunted down a recipe

for a shortbread crusted peach pie and found this wonderful

Land 'O Lakes Peach Custard Tart recipe on line

To keep the rosy tone on the peaches, I scalded them with boiling water

for a few minutes.

Is this how you peel your peaches?

Love the colour of these beauties

I think I'll be making this recipe again and again - it was delicious!

We enjoyed it with some dear friends, Dianne and John

while chatting about their adventures and world travels.

Dianne writes a fabulous blog called

20 Years From Now - No Regrets

(click on the above link to view her blog)

They explore the world, house sitting and pet sitting in the most amazing places!

What a great way to travel and make new friends ...

They have inspired us to consider more travelling as well.

Till next time - enjoying this hot, hot summer we are having and thankful for a nice green lawn again after some much needed rains.

Be inspired ...........

Noa's Smash Cake

It made quite a mess in the kitchen but it was so much fun

creating a "smash cake" for Noa's party.

I used the Vanilla Sponge Cake recipe from this link:

http://www.gretchensbakery.com/vanilla-sponge-cake-recipe/

We wanted a smallish cake to "smash" so I cut two smaller circles from the baked layer cakes.

The remaining cake was cut into chunks, frozen,   and will be perfect for my next Trifle!

Okay, now came the icing - oh my.

Here is where my inexperience comes in ......

I totally had the kitchen upside down as I mixed not one but two batches of

butter cream icing - colouring the icing in three stages

to create an ombre look to the cake.

Do you make a mess when mixing up icing or cake for that matter?

This picture does not do justice to the mess!

It wasn't perfect but I hope Noa likes it.

We'll find out tomorrow at her beach party.

Well, tomorrow happened and we had a lovely party.
Our darling Noa had quite an exciting day and the birthday cake was far too sweet for her taste.
Much credit to her mommy who has kept sugar out of her diet.
It was so funny to see the look on her face and the shutter and cough after a wee taste.
She is sweet enough without all that sugar - that's for sure.

"No cake or baby were harmed in this experiment"

Sometimes we can hardly believe the love that we feel for this little person!!

A gal and her best friend ... on her first birthday.

Till next time ......... welcoming August 2016 - how the time is flying by!!!!