Bok Choy Fridge Pickles

We've been making loads of pickles this year.  Mostly cucumber fridge pickles.   Some processed ones.  A couple jars of pickled onions.  Then I saw on the Fresh Preserving Website...

BOK CHOY!

Bok Choy?  Really?  I like bok choy.  Let's try it.

So, I made it up as I went and this is what I got.

3 clean Pint Jars
1 head Bok Choy
1/3 tsp Chinese 5 Spice Powder (per jar)
1/4 tsp Crushed Red Pepper (per jar)

2 cups White Vinegar
1 cup Water
1 Tbsp Sugar
1 Tbsp Pickling or Non-Iodized Salt
1/2 piece Fresh Ginger Grated
2 cloves Garlic

Chop the Bok Choy stalks into roughly bite-sized pieces (save the leafy parts for stir fry!), and pack into pint jars, leaving about 1/2" headspace.  Add 5 Spice Powder and Crushed Red Pepper

Combine remaining ingredients in a small saucepan and heat until boiling.  Pour hot liquid over Bok Choy in jars, leaving about 1/2" headspace.  Make sure to distribute garlic between jars.  Add lids and refrigerate for a few days.

Enjoy!

So it's been a SUPER BUSY month.

In August alone, I've done more than I can even remember.

I made 9 jars of blackberry jam and 2 jars of blackberry lemon sage.  More fridge pickles (including onions) than I can count - we've been refilling the jars with more veggies!

I made 2 Tomato, Bacon, Feta stratas, mountains of fried eggplant, and a quart of arrabiata.

I made 6 pints of garlic dill pickles.

We started a crock of sauerkraut.

I dried to huge bunches of parsley for in soups later.

We went to GenCon.

I made a scrapbook/autograph book for my nephew.

I made 7 jars of carrot cake jam and 4 pints of bread and butter pickles.

We drove to New Hampshire to see two dear friends get married.

I finally delivered the wine jellies to Dave's sister and brother-in-law.

I made another batch of carrot cake jam.

I made 2 pints of salsa with the salsa mix my sister gave me.

****

Next on the list, Carrot Fennel soup.

After that, September promises pears and apples, and a bonus week of vacation that was only supposed to be 3 days.

And I do intend to share the strata recipe, although, if you're a smart cookie and you know how to make French toast, I bet you can figure it out!

Canning!

So, we tackled a couple of small home canning projects the other day.  We made 3 half pints of pickled garlic, 2 of which were promised to friends in exchange for sharing the recipes they create with it and we made 8 half pints of Blueberry Lemon Jam.

Highlights:

• It takes way longer than I ever thought possible to peel an entire pound of garlic.
• We ended up with an extra jar's worth of garlic and brine.  I could have processed an extra jar, I guess, but - jackpot!  I don't have to peel any garlic for the tomato sauce I'm making tomorrow.
• I couldn't find my zester, so the lemon peel bits in the jam are a bit big, but it's delicious anyway.
• Even after the jam cooked over, all over the stove, we still ended up with extra!  More than I could fit in the water bath pot, in fact.

The jam I would totally make again, but I wish I knew why my jellies seem to randomly cook over?  I think I may be hurrying them to a boil, but I'm not sure.  So far, I've made 3 batches of jelly.  2 cooked over, one didn't and I don't know what I did different.

The garlic needs to sit, at least until tonight before I can open it to taste.  I may not have the patience for pickles, it's making me crazy waiting.  And I'm dying to see what Liam and Lisa come up with for it.  They're both excellent cooks and the only people I can trust to remember my food allergies without having to interrogate them for their ingredient list.

As for what we're making next?  The list of what I want to make includes pretty much then entire Ball Blue Book, as well as their whole website and a bunch of stuff on Serious Eats.  So, pretty much everything!

Anybody want to narrow it down for me?