Kainga, where Roses bloom, life is lived at a gentler pace.Living Simply, doing all those good things like stitching, gardening, cooking and reading.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Zucchini Pickles Recipe,Mail and Male Stitching Challenge.

Hello,

Yesterday I decided to make some zucchini pickles with that giant one we had grown. Like all good cooking shows you can see jar of pickles I made previously!!!! I picked some small capsicum from our bushes growing in the garden and used them in the recipe. I use the recipe from a book I purchased in New Zealand years ago. This is a great book because it tells you how and when to grow things then gives recipes for the produce.

Zucchini Pickle.

1kg zucchini
4 large onions
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
1/2 cup salt
2 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups white vinegar
1 cup water
2 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoon celery seed

Chop unpeeled zucchini finely. Peel and chop the onions. Remove the seeds from the peppers and chop the flesh. Combine the vegetables in a large bowl. Sprinkle the salt over the surface and cover with water. Leave for 2 hours. Drain. Rinse thoroughly with cold water and drain again.
In a preserving pan boil the sugar,vinegar,water turmeric and celery seed for 3 minutes. Add the vegetables and cook for 15 minutes. Spoon into hot dry jars and seal.

Now when I have made this I couldn't find celery seeds so I just used a combination herbs and spice mix that I have. It has black peppercorns and other green stuff in it!!! This adds some more flavour. You could chop up whatever herbs you have on hand.

I was lucky enough to be a winner at Jacquelynne's Blog in the Easter Giveaway.
All this lovely material arrived along with the most precious pin. Thank you Jacquelynne. To enter this competition we had to write about someone who has inspired us. I wrote about my year five teacher Mrs Gibson. We used to do embroidery while the boys were outside doing sport. Mrs Gibson had the kindest heart.

Now this months stitching challenge with Anita was to make something for a male. Have you noticed there are very few things in the craft magazines for males. Even with quilts we are a bit restricted. I knew I had to make David something for this project. So when Heidi showed this tutorial for a curling wand/straightener I knew that this would be the perfect project. David has a habit of leaving his hair straightener on the bathroom cupboard and leaving a heat mark. I made it up with some of the material from the Beach Quilt . It has some insul-bright inside it. I changed the dimensions of the material to suit the hair straightener and added some quilting to it. David was really pleased with it and is using it so that is a bonus.
I have nearly finished the cross stitch I have been working on and I am challenging myself to have it finished by this Friday. I hope you are all doing something you love, if not get straight onto it!!!!
Happy days.
Bev C

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

The recipe looks fab Bev - thanks for posting it - I'm definitely going to try and grow some this year.

How gorgeous are your new fabrics from your win - congratulations - I'm sure you will put them to excellent use.

I love your hair straighteners project - brilliant choice of fabric for a male and wow, well done with the cross stitch, you are whizzing along with that.

Lots of Hugs and have a great day
hugs
Shell xx

Queen Of The Armchair aka Dzintra Stitcheries said...

Those sort of books are the best!!! congrats on the win...and what fabulous fabric for the male project!!!

chris said...

Bev, you're busy as always!
Is this the same Mrs. Gibson who taught me in Grade 4 & 5? She was a lovely patient lady. I remember doing embriodery in her classes; but maybe I didn't take as much notice as you did!
What a lovely range of fabric you won, congratulations.
xx

Pauline said...

Hi Bev, great to see the beach fabric again! Had to laugh at Chris' comments but she is still talking about making a raggy quilt. Congratulations on your well deserved win!

Sue said...

Yep! Gonna try that recipe, Thanks.

Simone de Klerk said...

I wish I could come over to try your zuchinni pickles! And what a great win for you!
Love what you made. Never heard of it before.

Terriaw said...

Those zucchini pickles look delicious! I don't know if I've ever tried them. Congrats on winning some fabrics - how fun is that.

Mylene said...

The Zucchini Pickles sounds delicious!
And what lovely fabrics from your win.

Paula said...

You just keep on being busy doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that, don't you?!? What a great idea for a "male" project. Congratulations on your win! What great fabrics. Take care, Paula

Bobbie Lynn said...

I have never tried to pickle my veggies but maybe one day I will try it. Love pickled items. What a beautiful give away and you should have fun with the material and pattern. It is a wonderful combination of colors there. Clever idea on the heating pad. Happy gardening to you and can't wait to see another one of your beautiful cross stitch.

Blessings,
Bobbie Lynn

Anita said...

Hi Bev, Been real busy in the kitchen, winning prizes and sewing!! Congratulations on the win, lucky girl. I love what you made for David and I will show what I made next posting I do. With all that lovely material you've won, you will just have to keep sewing!! Kind regards, Anita.

Maria said...

What a great win, just gorgeous fabric.

No there are not many male things to sew but I love your material and I am sure David will like his bag for the straightener. BUT will he use it????

CathyC said...

I love the material you have used for your straighteners project and congrats on winning - what a lovely selection of fabric.
thanks for visiting my workdesk
Regards, Cathy

aussiequilter said...

what a great prize!Your relish looks yummy and I love the idea of a heat pad you made.Just been reading through your blog catching up and it's always a pleasure cheers Teri