Pickles and More Pickles or What is with all the Cukes?

So for some reason our rather small (6' X 12') garden that we planted for the first time this year produced a lot of cucumbers.  I guess that compost that we got dropped off at the house was worth it. The bunnies in our yard only like the green beans, go figure.  So I managed to make some Asian style pickles (need to sit for 24 hours) and some refrigerator pickles (need to sit for 4 days).  They are much lower sodium than store bought and a nice treat.  So here are the recipes:

Easy Japanese Pickled Cucumber
2 or 3 Japanese cucumbers - I just used a combination of pickling cucumber and regular cucumbers
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
Thinly slice cucumbers.  Place in a bowl and sprinkle the 2 teaspoons of salt on them, and set aside for five minutes. Rinse off the salt and drain the cucumbers.

Combine rice vinegar, sugar and sesame seeds with cucumbers. Let sit in the refrigerator for 24 hours. 

Hint:  I made some salmon fish tacos and added some sliced up pickles and they were great.   They are quite mild.

Refrigerator Pickles

Makes 7 cups

6 c. thinly sliced cucumbers

2 c. thinly sliced vinegar

1 1/2 c. white vinegar

3/4 c. sugar (I used 1/2 c. but might go to 3/4 next time)

3/4 t. salt

1/2 t. mustard seeds

1/2 t. celery seeds

1/2 t. ground turmeric (supposed to be good for you but it does stain, don't use wooden stuff)

1/2 t. crushed red pepper (just got some from Penzey's, adds the kick)

1/4 t. ground black pepper 

4 garlic cloves sliced

Split cucumber and onion into separate bowls (unless you have some mongo bowls around)

Combine vinegar and the rest of the ingredients into a sauce pan, stir and bring to a boil.  Cook for about  1 minute.  Then pour the mixture over each of bowls, let cook and wait for your 4 days, if you can.

They will last about a month in the fridge.

how to make a better corn tortilla

Ok, well, I am not sure I really have that answer but with two cutting boards some saran wrap and a really bad day at work, you too can make your own corn tortillas. First get yourself a 5 lb bag of corn tortilla mix. It's only a couple of bucks; you just add water and it seems to last forever. Just roll them into balls and smash them into thin pancakes and cook them on a cast iron pan for about a minute each side. Well, to be honest, I really need a tortilla press. My SO seems to really like them though. On to the filling -----

Cuban Black Beans

1 onion chopped
1 bell pepper chopped (red or green)
1 clove of garlic minced
1 can of black beans (not drained)
1 teaspoon of white vinegar
1 bay leaf (don't use 10 year old ones OK, use penzeys)

Saute onion, pepper, garlic until soft. Add beans and vinegar and bay leaf. Simmer for 30 minutes.

I also made some roasted sweet potatoes (orange and white). I throw them in a zip lock with some extra virgin olive oil, some steak seasoning and cumin.

Hey, it's a meal right.