Quick & Easy DIY Pickling

If you don’t know, now you know. I had my 4th annual craft night with some of my best lady friends last Friday. Each year it has grown as I find more crazy & sassy ladies to rope in. It has been so much fun to “craft” and drink wine with these ladies and just have an excuse to get together.

I’m an extrovert through and through, there’s no denying it. I gain energy and excitement from being around others. When I first moved here I wasn’t sure if I’d ever find my crew, but sure enough, I think I finally hit friend jackpot. I have found a ton of ladies who love food, fitness, fun, and everything in between. 

Craft Night

Every year I tell the ladies that we are going to craft something. The first year, I think I actually crafted Chai Tea Concentrate  while others made ornaments. The next year I left it in the hands of others, we made nothing but a TON of food. Finally, last year I told people to bring whatever they wanted to craft, and only one person brought something to craft. Or better yet, only one person went through with their craft.

Here’s the thing, I’m so not a crafty person. I craft food, that’s my craft. At any party, I will gladly help with the food but decor? Crafts? I’m at a total loss. Sure, I can fake it but man, I’d rather be in charge of food. So this year I suggested we make it a pickling party. My friend NV & I  had been talking about doing a pickling night for years, but we figured why not make it craft night?!

So our craft this year? Pickles & Pickling. 

Breakfast Food Theme

I’ve found over the years that parties are really fun when the food has a theme. It helps to change up the dishes that are brought and makes you experiment beyond the usual. It wasn’t required that everyone abide by theme but I decided I wanted the theme for the food to be Breakfast.

So, if you’re still reading, the overarching themes wer Breakfast & Pickles. I mean, I don’t know about you but I love both those things so it seemed like an amazing idea.

Here’s what we had on the menu:

• Shakshuka (recipe coming soon)
• Chilaquiles Brunch Casserole from Smitten Kitchen
• Avocado (errr Guacamole) Toast Bar with bread (regular & gf), guacamole, smoked salmon, veggies, etc.
• Yogurt Parfait Bar with yogurt, granola, fruit, peanut butter, etc.
• Gluten-Free Stuffed French Toast Casserole with Pears (recipe coming soon)
• Sausage Patties & Bacon
• Baked Brie with apples & crackers
• Various dips & desserts from attendees 
• Mimosas & Wine (drank out of mugs, because it was breakfast themed, duh!) 

The food was delicious and frankly, we made too much (as always) but I’m not complaining because I am still enjoying the leftovers. The perk of being hostess is that you get some amazing food leftovers. The food was a success but I think the biggest success of the night was that we ACTUALLY crafted something. 

DIY Pickling

I know for many it will seem ridiculous that we need a pat on the back for a job well done with crafting. It may not even be considered crafting by some, but hey I feel like it’s the craftiest thing I’ve done all year, so there!

I would say over half of us (there were about 15 of us) crafted. It was fun to pickle while also having a conversation with friends. It’s a relatively easy craft activity, slightly messy, but there’s no glitter involved so it’s not too bad.  Having a shared task can bring everyone together, so check out what we did below, and may try it out yourself!

Ingredients

• Various vegetables including cucumbers (all varieties), red onions, carrots, beets, radishes, etc.
• Pickling salt or Kosher Salt
• White Vinegar
• Water
• Whole garlic cloves, peeled
• Spices/herbs of choice: peppercorns, mustard seeds, coriander, allspice berries, red pepper flakes, dill
• Glass jars with lids

Directions

• Slice vegetables to your liking (and so they’ll fit in the preferred jar)
• Place 2-3 tsp of pickling/kosher salt in the jar, add spices of choice
• Add a few cloves of garlic & then vegetable of choice so tightly packed but not damaged
• Fill jar 2/3 with vinegar & the rest with water, leaving just 1/2″ of room but enough to cover vegetables
• Seal and wait 3-5 days to enjoy! (May need longer for some thicker veggies) 
• Note: If you are going to leave pickles in for longer than a week I would suggest actually canning (aka sealing) the jars! 

Fun variation: Gin & Tonic Pickles

What we did was that we asked everyone to bring jars & vegetables that they wanted to pickle. We provided the pickling salt & vinegar as well as some spare jars & pickling items. When people arrived I collected all the veggies in a large basket and then stacked the jars on a table. 

We made sure everyone ate first so that no one was hangry pickling. Then we laid the ingredients, cutting boards, knives, paper towels, etc. and put everyone to work. My friend brought her fancy tool to slice hamurger sliced pickles and I highly recommend it. 

I then created some labels for the tops and added some ribbon and boom these pickles are now doubling as presents, win-win-win.  Feel free to add your own flavor or veggies to the mix. 

What is your craft?!

xoxo,
Sassy

Make Your Own! 

Pin Now, Pickle Later

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