Cucumbers, Cucumbers...oh what to do with Cucumbers!

This year when I did our garden plans I thought it would be nice to have fresh cucumbers. I thought to myself, "Oh, four plants should do it and why don't I plant two more just in case."

I did NOT, however, realize how many cucumbers I would be dealing with. 

To say that we have had a lot of cucumbers would be an understatement. 

So, what does one do with literally hundreds of cucumbers??? Well, first, you make sure that all of your friends, coworkers and anyone who knocks on your door have cucumbers. Next, you get creative and search down recipes and ideas from other people who may have also foolishly thought that six cucumber plants should do it. 

1. Make Pickles... duh. 

These are the cucumbers that I harvested last Saturday. Yes, all from one day.  To the right of the cucumbers is fresh dill that can be used to make yummy dill pickles.  I had never pickled before and I learned a lot of this experience. I will openly admit that I did not know what the dill head was and was slightly embarrassed to learn that it is the yellow part of the dill at the very top and that the rest of the plant is actually the dill weed.  Yeah, I had been cutting the tops of the dill of to make it grow better. I do it with so many other herbs that it just made sense to do it with the dill as well. I was wrong. I also learned that it would be worth it to invest in a kitchen scale so when I read a recipe that calls for six pounds of cucumbers I know what that is. 

It is also really nice to have a helper when you pickle.  This little man is my kitchen helper.  I think that his favorite part was watching everything swish around in the jar when the brine was poured in.  

The finished product.  The harvest made a total of 21 quarts of pickles. I did a variety of different cuts and even left some whole (make sure to cut of the blossom end if you do this).  Each jar contains fresh dill head or dill weed, garlic, bay leaves (for crispness), and, of course, the brine.  I had one jar that did not seal all the way so we opened it 24 hours later just to taste some and they are DELICIOUS!  Usually it is best to wait about a week before cracking open your first jar but I was just impatient. 

2. Cold Soups! 

I'm sure for most people when they think about soup they think about many other seasons than summer in which they would prefer to consume soup. I mean, who in their right mind would eat soup with it is 100+ degrees out side?!? 

Put the idea of soup only being for cold weather out of your mind and embrace chilled soup.

Delightful.

Refreshing. 

Delicious. 

Cucumber mint soup garnished with crumbled goat cheese and mint leaves. 

You can make it too.

I also made a cucumber melon soup that was pretty awesome. 

3. Cucumber Chips. Yep, read correctly - cucumber chips. 

I used three containers to help prep the chips.  The empty one was where the whole cucumbers sat before they were skinned and sliced the other one contains apple cider vinegar. I have four trays on my dehydrator. On the bottom two I placed the slices that I dipped in the vinegar and on the top two I placed the rest. All of them were sprinkled with a little bit of salt. 

Don't they look tasty? 

I did not take a picture of the finished product but they disappeared pretty fast so I guess that means they turned out okay.  

I still have more cucumbers than I know what to do with but I know that I will be stock piling my freezer with hot soups for the winter, my pantry with cucumber chips and my basement with pickles. 

Happy Wednesday! 

:) 

Welcome!

Well, here it is. The very first post on The Curious Little Owl and what better way to kick off this blog than by sharing Oliver's Very Hungry Caterpillar Party!  We love Eric Carle books. They are full of such wonderful colors and illustrations and our son loves sticking his fingers through the little holes in The Very Hungry Caterpillar. So, I thought, what a fun party idea!  With the help of pinterest and fellow bloggers we were able to create this fun, colorful afternoon.

The Full Spread- We were able to get all of the foods from the book out AND a Chicago Hot Dog station.
I found this awesome apple print fabric at Hancock Fabrics in their clearance bin and immediately thought about his party. 

His birthday cake turned out wonderful and it was only $4.99! The wind blew my little banner crooked but you can still get the idea.  I found Eric Carle-ish paper at Michael's and used that along with a color print out of the fruits to make this cute little paper bunting.  All I had to do was cut the little triangles and then run it through my sewing machine. 

The Caterpillar ate through ice cream but that melts and makes a huge mess, so instead I filled ice cream cones with cotton candy- still sticky but least it does not melt :)

This was our adult only beverage.  My husband made delicious strawberry sangria and it  was gone before anything else. 

Who doesn't love miniature cherry pies?? 

This is our little man making a mess of the cake.                                   

         

It was bittersweet hosting this party for our little man.  This past year has been such a joy having him in our life.  There have been moments of extreme tiredness, frustration and wondering what that stain on my shirt is from, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.