Jalapenos, peppers and basil, oh my!

So what to do with more jalapenos and cubanelle peppers than one person needs?

You pickle and can them!

But canning is SO labor intensive. Last summer I had my first canning experience when KG, Miss Lynn and I canned 20 pounds of fresh picked peaches. Whew - it was hard work! So when we're only talking about 2 1/2 cups of each kind of pepper it wasn't really worth sterilizing, cooking, filling and processing to yield just 1-2 jars of each. So what to do? What to do?

Easy refrigerator pickles peppers!

I edited the recipe a bit and used:

1 cup vinegar (white or cider)
1 cup water
1 tsp salt
a shake of olive oil

So I cut.

And I cut.


Then I sterilized my jars and lids.

And filled my jars.

Presto! Fresh pickled jalapenos and cubanelle peppers.

I also made Katie's raw pesto sauce with the massive amounts of basil we received in our CSA this week. It only took 1 cup to make this pesto sauce, so I still have about 2 more cups (plus more in the freezer) to use.

I am in love with this sauce! I haven't actually used it in a meal, but I couldn't help myself from licking the spoon after I made it. Pesto is traditionally very very fattening (it's basically all oil and cheese) and I was happy to learn of this amazing healthy recipe to allow me to use some of my basil.

Yep, that's just one cup of basil.

And the rest of the basil.

Final product - yumminess!

This time in the kitchen, a 50 minute walk on the greenway in 70 degree weather and washing my car is how I spent my Saturday. I feel so accomplished and refreshed.

How's your Labor Day weekend going?