First Up -Tabasco Pickles!

This morning I went out and mowed as soon as it was light enough to see. I mowed fast. We have a big yard and it only took me an hour and 15 minutes this morning. I knew much of the rest of my Sunday was going to find me in the kitchen and I wanted to get that done. Since I'll be cooking for a couple of weeks y'all will probably be getting recipes. This isn't really an official recipe since you already start with pickles, but it's a favorite around here. I've been making these for about 20 years and there's no telling how many batches I've made. These are great with barbecue so I probably should have posted them at the beginning of the summer instead of at the end, but we eat them all year long. Since our pickle-loving son will soon be home (everybody cheer!), and I'm feeding lots of boys, I thought I would mix up a batch.

A new bloggy friend (Hi Pauline - waving!) sent me a yummy sounding recipe for something else this morning and she wrote: Rice vinegar and a little cider vinegar is a good mix,unless you were weaned on a pickle and like it sour. 

I laughed because that just might be the case with our boy who loves all things sour. As a baby, he once grabbed a lemon slice and loved it! And pickles? Whooeee - that boy loves pickles. When he was 1 and we were spending Christmas with my in-laws we had what is now referred to as 'the pickle incident'. My MIL kept out a relish tray and as people walked by they would nibble and refill the various empty spaces. Finally my SIL said, "Who keeps eating all the pickles?" No one fessed up and really that entire family loves pickles, but the culprit was  discovered as soon as it came time to change diapers. LOL.

Probably not a good idea to mention 'diapers' and 'recipe' in the same post, huh? Oh, let's live dangerously - be brave. These are really good if you like a bit of spice.

The original recipe calls for a gallon jar of pickles, but I'm making a smaller batch because this is all they had. This is a little over 1/2 gallon:

Dump out the pickles into a colander. Mine is 29 years old from the dollar bin on the Air Force Base - it works.

  You'll need about 7 garlic cloves, 2 1/2 oz of Tabasco, and 2 C of sugar.

Cube the pickles:

And toss a couple handfuls into the jar:

Then add about 1/3 of the sugar:

A few cloves of the garlic:

And shake 1/3 of the Tabasco in:

Repeat in layers

Pop the top on and then roll:

Now did y'all NEED 9 pictures of this not-really-a-recipe? I think not, but there they are. Then just keep the pickles in the fridge. Take the jar out once a day and give it a good roll or two. In about 7-10 days, they'll be good to go. They've got a little sweetness and a little spiciness - the perfect combination. DH just walked in and glanced at the screen. He said, "That sounds like you."

What can I say, although I'm not even remotely this cute. :)