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I have been busy today planning my Disneyland vacation, and canning pickles. I sure hope they taste good so I didn't waste my time! They are so easy! I made about 1/2 with canning spice, and 1/2 without. I don't know if it will make them sweet bread and butters or not, cause I don't like those types of pickles! I put no sugar in mine! Plain dill all the way for me! Cucumbers, garlic, dill, mustard seed, vinegar, salt, water. Those are the only ingredients. except for the pre-made pickling spice in some!

These are the Armenian cucumbers and squash I got from the garden today. All of this (cucumbers only) plus part of another from the fridge went into all the jars. I ran out of jars.

Ever try a homemade buttered English muffin?

These are the sourdough ones. They don't look as pretty as the other recipe, but they sure do taste good!

Here are the ones from the other recipe that tastes like a honey sweet roll. Such a disappointment! they look so pretty!

Comparison side by side: Sourdough on the left, plain on the right.

Closer: regular on left, sourdough on right. Check out them nooks and crannies on that sourdough! the other just looks like bread.

Both work as English muffins, but for the real taste, the sourdough ones win. I'll never make the other recipe again.

And yes, the gecko has not surfaced. Sure hope I didn't end up canning him! Still nervous I'll step on him in the middle of the night though if I have to get up!

(I cooked anyways. Even though my husband hasn't removed the gecko yet.) We had chicken stew for supper with steamed squash from the garden. It's so delicious!

 I'm going to have to get a pressure canner somehow so I can can meat, veggies, and fruit. The meat only cause I've heard it's so tender and delicious when home canned, and I'm always wondering if my freezer stops working when I'm not around... I'd not have to worry at all except about how we'll eat all the homemade bread before it goes bad! cause most of the meat would be shelf stable! And can you imagine how fast it would be to make supper? You can even can stew or soup! and pie fillings!

I'm getting excited to start lining every available shelf in my entire house with all kinds of jars!

I'll just have to buy a lot of wide mouth jars cause I don't like the small mouth ones. they're hard to clean. easier to get jelly out of even! probably pickles too! and it's easier to scrape your pie filling out of and ..... 

I just want wide mouth jars. They look cuter.

So have a good night!

Trisha.