DIY Life

OK, there's no denying it any longer. Fall is officially around the corner as the leaves begin to transform and September turns into October...

So what to do with those massive cukes you've grown over the summer? No worries; it's time to pickle! We'll show you how (it's much easier than you think, and you don't even need a canner!), and you'll be eating fresh all winter long...

Because cucumbers don't last long in the refrigerator (one week tops!), it's important to pickle and/or freeze your cucumbers while they're still fresh. In other words, if you've been sitting on your cucumber for five days, it's time to pickle. If you plan to pickle cucumbers from your garden, feel free to pick smaller, one-inch cucumbers to pickle. As long as they're green and ripe, you can work with any size (as long as you can fit it into a jar!). Ready to get started?:

1. Choose your cucumber. If you're new at this, you can use any cucumber. However, next year, try to plant a few pickling cucumbers to freeze. They're much easier to work with and are often tastier! When choosing your cucumber, remember the best are dark green in color with lots of warts and no bloating. If your cucumber isn't ripe enough (or over-ripe!), the pickles will be tart and less crisp.
Note: The fresher the cucumber is, the crispier your pickle will be!

2. Wash. Wash your cucumbers in cold water and cut if desired.

3. Prepare your jars for canning. If your dishwasher has a sterilize cycle, run it through a few times. If not, simply wash with warm, soapy water (and be sure to remove all soap prior to canning!).

4. Choose your pickle mix. Whether you want dill, kosher, bread and butter or sweet, many grocers have a mix for everything. Depending on which seasoning you'd like, preparation will be different, but most involve bringing the seasoning to a boil and mixing in a few key ingredients.

5. Add your cucumbers and pickle mix in a mason or canning jar. Shake and let sit for eight hours, or freeze to enjoy them in two weeks or so.

That's it! Try making a few pickles with your children; it's a fun, easy recipe that will teach them plenty of patience when it's time to wait a full eight hours... ;)

Enjoy!

I love strawberries, both as a food and as a motif.

Recently, two separate summery strawberry stitching projects were posted over at WhipUp within a couple of days of each other: a pattern and tutorial for felt strawberries from Mr. Monkeysuit, and a felt jam-jar topper with a strawberry applique by Amy at Lucykate Crafts.

Even though they aren't by the same person, they seem like a perfect pair to me! You'll find further suggestions for this adorable project, including links to supplies, after the break.

Sometimes I avoid using the blender for smaller tasks because I dread cleaning it. Next time you whip up your favorite peanut butter hummus recipe (ok, my favorite recipe, but try it and I'm sure you'll love it too!), you can blend it straight into the jar.

Our friends at slashfood pointed us to this tip by Elise, suggesting that most blenders can be used with a standard canning jar. Apparently this used to be a common way to blend spices and other small quantity mixtures. 40 years ago new blenders even came with a canning jar and a collection of recipes. I didn't know that this was ever the case, so the tip is inventive genius to me.

Regular size mason jars will fit perfectly onto most blender bases. Simply blend your mixes, unscrew the jar, and store it as is. If you accidently break the carafe, you don't have to run out and get a whole new blender either, just use canning jars for all your blending needs. Brilliant, pure brilliance.

If you walked into my parents basement right now, you would see every size Ball and Mason jar available. There are, at last count, about 275 jars. Since my parents are both deceased, it will fall to my siblings and me to wash them and get rid of them. Translation: Since I am the only one who goes in the house, I have a big job ahead of me.
I know that I won't recycle them all, but I also won't reuse them all. What to do?

Checking around the internet for ideas on what to do with all the jars, I stumbled upon Myscha's article on sanity saving ideas for canning jars. I must confess, many of the ideas I already knew about, but some of them made the light bulb go off in my head. Here are a few of my favorites from Myscha's list:

• Dry goods organizer
• Drinking glasses
• Desk organizer
• Flower vase
• Soap dispenser

We used the jars as luminaries, leftover food containers, and of course, canning. The green and blue jars are my favorite and I will certainly keep them. Check out the comments readers left; there are more ideas there. Lifehacker had picked up on Myscha's article too, and the readers have lots of things to say about all kinds of glass jars, and the numerous things you can do with them besides throwing them in the recycling bin.

This week I learned how to do something I have been wanting to do for nearly 12 years, I learned how to make jam. It was a spur of the moment thing, I was at a friend's house who mentioned she needed to get rid of the thousands of apricots from her front. She asked me to take them, saying I could make jam with them. I told her I didn't know how but wished I did. At this point she said, "Come on, get in the kitchen. It's high time you learned!" We spent the next two hours cleaning the fruits, cooking them and putting the sweet goo into jars. Full details after the jump.