Zucchini or Cucumber Quick Pickles

Quick pickles for easy brining and dining

How’s your garden doing? Overrun with cucumbers and zucchini squash yet?

Whether the veggies are from your garden or a local farmers’ market, now is a great time to get pickling! If you’ve never made pickles before, don’t worry. These refrigerator pickles are a breeze to make.

The best part of making your own pickles is getting creative with flavors. Not that I did, but you could. For a zucchini batch, I added lemon zest and lemongrass. Fun, yes?  I basically want to pickle everything now.

1 cup water

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup thinly sliced onion

1/4 cup sugar

A few sprigs of fresh dill

2 or 3 medium zucchini squash or cucumbers, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon salt

Place cucumber/zucchini slices in a colander over a bowl to catch excess liquid. Sprinkle with salt; stir to combine. Let stand for 30 minutes. Rinse, drain and blot slices until mostly dry.

In a large microwave safe cup or bowl, combine water, apple cider vinegar, onion, sugar, and dill. Heat for about 1 minute 30 seconds to 2 minutes, until sugar dissolves, stirring occasionally. Let vinegar mixture cool slightly before pouring over cucumber/zucchini slices. Refrigerate for several hours before serving. Pickles stay good for a week or so stored in the fridge.

Zucchini slices drain before getting pickled

Still here?  Today’s Let’s Lunch on twitter features Farmers’ Market Dishes. Check out the freshly grown posts rounded up by Cheryl Tan from A Tiger in the Kitchen. Or use the hashtag #LetsLunch on twitter to see what’s cropped up.

Annabelle‘s Mixed Berry Shortcakes at Glass of Fancy

Charissa‘s Curried Roasted Cheddar Cheese Cauliflower Soup, Gluten-Free at Zest Bakery

Grace‘s Yellow Watermelon with Red Chile at HapaMama

Joe‘s Peach Jam with Lemon Basil at Joe Yonan

Juliana‘s View from Les Halles Farmers Market at Chicken Scrawlings

Linda‘s Farmers’ Market Fruit Galette at Spicebox Travels

Lisa‘s Eveleigh Farmers’ Market (in Australia!) Winter Salad at Monday Morning Cooking Club

Lucy‘s Sweet Auburn Curb Market (in Atlanta!) Tomato Gravy at A Cook and Her Books

Nancie‘s Carrboro, N.C., Farmers’ Market Vegetable Plate “Nicoise” with Spoonbread at Nancie McDermott

Patricia‘s Kim-Chi-Style Corn at The Asian Grandmother’s Cookbook

Renee‘s Sweet and Sour Salad at My Kitchen and I

– Linda 

Homemade Cadbury Eggs

DIY Cadbury Creme Eggs

An ode to my least favorite Easter candy, this recipe is adapted from an excellent tutorial at instructables.  After making vanilla creme eggs, I made chocolate eggs by modifying the recipe a bit.  It’s important to note that if you use corn syrup like in the original recipe, you’ll definitely want to let your filling chill in the fridge before shaping.  If you use  maple syrup, chilling might make your eggs more difficult to work with.  And nobody wants that!

Hide these eggs well on Easter.  They’re so good, you’ll want to be the one who finds them, too.

Maple chocolate eggs

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup earth balance butter, softened

2½ cups powdered sugar

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon espresso powder

1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt

Beat the softened butter, syrup, and extract together.  Add dry  ingredients and blend thoroughly.  Let filling chill in fridge briefly if it’s very warm.  If you haven’t looked at the instructables’ post, what are you waiting for?  When you’re done shaping eggs, hide them in the fridge before dipping into chocolate.

Shape yolks into small balls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Wrap a flattened disk of white (or chocolate) around yolk to complete egg.

The easiest way to fake-temper chocolate for dipping

Melt good quality chocolate in a microwave safe bowl or over a double boiler. Remove from heat. Keep stirring until chocolate has cooled to the touch but is still warm enough to melt two large handfuls of additional chocolate chunks. Stir until new chunks are melted and combined. This is the easiest way to fake-temper chocolate.  If you were going to add peppermint oil for a thin mint style chocolate, now would be a good time.

Working quickly, dunk eggs into chocolate, using a spoon to turn and completely coat each gem. If you must heat chocolate again, do it gently. Knock off excess chocolate by gently tapping the edge of bowl before placing eggs on a parchment lined baking sheet. Cooling completely at room temperature will give you the best finish.

Still here?  Today’s Let’s Lunch on twitter features egg dishes from a group of talented writers and cooks.  Hop to and take a look at the delicious posts rounded up by host Cheryl Tan from A  Tiger in the Kitchen.

Charissa‘s Gluten-Free Leek, Ham & Pecorino Souffles at Zest Bakery

Denise‘s Beet Dye & Pink Deviled Eggs at Chez Us

Eleanor‘s Medley of Eggs at Wok Star

Emma‘s Eggs In A Hole at Dreaming of Pots & Pans

Felicia‘s Perfect Sandwich at Burnt-Out Baker

Grace‘s Scrambled Eggs & Tomatoes at HapaMama

Joe‘s Kim-Chi Deviled Eggs at Joe Yonan

Karen‘s Molecular Gastronomy “Eggs” at GeoFooding

Leigh‘s Baked Vegetable Egg Rolls at Leigh Nannini

Linda‘s Taiwanese Tomato Eggs at Spicebox Travels

Lisa‘s Legendary Egg & Onion at Monday Morning Cooking Club

Lucy‘s Old-Fashioned Boiled Dressing (& Chicken Salad) at A Cook And Her Books

Nancie‘s Son-In-Law Eggs at Nancie McDermott

Rashda‘s Bombay Toasts (Spicy French Toasts) at Hot Curries And Cold Beer

Rebecca‘s Mini Meringue Buttons at Grongar Blog

Vivian‘s Oeuf Chaud Froid at Vivian Pei

– Linda