Canning Pickles with Grandma 2015

My sis and I wanted to can pickles with my grandma again. We missed it last year and missed not having that time with our grandma and the jars of pickles to eat throughout the year.

My grandma agreed to help out (take over) and we made a day of it.

The basic ingredients. We actually found out that we didn't need celery seed like my grandmother insisted on.

Grandma scrubbed and prepped the cucumbers.

Bri and I prepped the jars.

And the cucumbers were ready for pickling. We made around 16 jars of pickles that will be ready in a few weeks. It was nice to chat with my grandma and hear her stories of growing up. We know that time is precious and we don't want to miss one memory or story that she shares.

You can see our canning memories from 2013 and 2012.

Meal Prep Party

One of my CRHP sisters invited me to a Pampered Chef Freezer Meal Workshop this past Saturday. I had never been to one and was excited to attend. I invited my mom and sister to go with me. We bought the required spices beforehand through Pampered Chef and were given a grocery list of items to bring with us. In a little over 2 hours we made 10 full-size meals to be placed in the freezer for future use. And these were fabulous meals. Just some of the meals we prepped included: Chimichurri Steak, Chicken Caesar, Beef Enchilada Casserole, and Three Onion Brisket.

I'll admit that buying that much food in bulk made for a long shopping trip and a big bill, but when I realized that it was for ten gourmet meals, it was worth it and not that much more money than I would usually spend.

Our meal prep station set up for us. We left our food bags in another room and only brought the current meal ingredients to the meal prep station. 

Artichoke chicken ready to be sealed and put in the freezer

Our Pampered Chef spices ready for us

My TEN meals prepped and ready to go home

I still can't believe we did that in TWO HOURS!

I've got to say that after two hours we were exhausted. It was a lot of work and a lot on our feet. It was well worth the time and I'm glad I wore sneakers and brought my apron. 

I'm trying one of the meals this week as we have a crazy week. I'm also thinking of co-hosting a party with my mom during Spring Break to try more recipes from Pampered Chef!

Canning Pickles With Grandma 2013

Last year was my first year canning pickles with my grandma. I had such a good time learning about canning and more about my grandma. My sister was a little upset because she couldn't be there so I promised her that we would make them again next year so she could learn, too. 

I said in my previous post that I bought the cucumbers at a local farmer's market. I didn't think I bought enough so I asked my dad to stop by there a few hours later to pick up more on his way home from work. I now had two bags of cucumbers to pickle.

When we got to my grandma's house we started to scrub the cucumbers and cut them.

Grandma didn't want her hair to fall into the pickles, but I think it was really because she didn't want to mess up her hair so she wore a shower cap.lol

We had to heat the cucumbers up and wait for them to change color before we could can them.

Grandma didn't let us do a whole lot of work mainly because she had her own system and didn't want us to mess it up. Eventually she let us prep the jars by putting in dill, canning salt, sugar, garlic, turmeric, and mustard seeds.

Once we got our own system down it became a bit easier and we were able to make our own jars of pickles.

Our first jars that will be ready in about 3 weeks. We made a total of 9 jars and gave a few to my grandma. I took home 5 jars, but I don't think they will last until next year.

It was fun to have this experience with my grandma and my sister. We got to kick back, listen to grandma's stories, and learn a new trade. I plan on canning pickles every year and eventually teaching my kids how to pick up on this family tradition.

Remembering Meme

My Meme, my mother's mother, died in 2007 and left a legacy of recipes that will never taste the same. About a year ago, my Grandad decided to go through the kitchen items and give away some things that he doesn't use anymore. In the piles of kitchen utensils and gadgets I found two handwritten recipes and a typed recipe from Meme. I kept them and just assumed that I would stuff them in one of my cookbooks. But after looking at them, I really wanted them to be seen and become a part of my kitchen.

As a summer project, I decided that I would frame them and put them up on one of the kitchen walls. I spray painted some frames red and put the recipes in them with brown construction paper behind them. It wasn't until after spray painting the frames that I realized that there were no hooks on the back to hang them! (I should have looked before, but like always I was impatient and just wanted to paint them.) Chris thought about putting them on a shelf instead. He grabbed some old wood out of the garage and started to put it together. (He is definitely the creative half.) To give it a more "beat up" look, he scorched the sides with a torch. I remembered that not only did I get Meme's recipes, but also her old cheese grater. I had also gone to a garage sale the day before and bought an old nut grinder for $1. I added them to the shelf and voila!

Here are the pics honoring Meme in the kitchen

  I love that there are grease stains and mark outs of ingredients that didn't work

 Meme's cheese grater with her recipes for Peach Cobbler and her famous I-45 cookies/bars

The nut grinder with her Peach Cobbler and Lemon Meringue Pie recipes

Such a great addition to our kitchen. Now all we need is that farmhouse table....Chris is in the process of making one, but that will be a whole other post.

Canning Pickles with Grandma

     I am so far behind in my blogging so I'm going to try and catch up with a few blogs today. First, one of favorite memories of the summer so far has been canning pickles with my grandma Mikula. This woman is such a hard worker and always has been. Listening to her reminisce about growing up on a farm, having a full-time job, working in the garden, and mothering her 3 sons, just gave me so much admiration and aspiration. When you're the grandchild, it can easily be forgotten that grandparents were young, like you, and worked hard to keep their family afloat. I just hope that she will continue to tell me her stories that will someday lose their author.
     We had so much fun learning from her, but it was very soon figured out that she is in control of her kitchen. If you did not do things the way she told you, WATCH OUT!! I got my hands jerked away from the pickle pot several times so she could do it the right way. She was getting so controlling that at one point it made me think that she may have worked for a few years in Germany. After awhile, she loosened up and let us make our own mistakes and fix them too. Around 11:30 a.m., she looked around and said, "Y'all want some wine?" I knew my good-loving, Bohemian grandmother would know how to lighten up the mood. Once the wine came out, we really got talking and laughing. I only took this one picture of pickling, but you can see my hardworkin' grandma in the background. I love this woman and just pray that I will learn as much from her as I can.