Finally!!

I was reading our neighborhood newspaper today and found out that Whole Foods is doing a recycling program with a community group and it's for #5 PP plastics. It's about time!! I have been saving up #5 plastics in my basement and in my "containers" drawer, in the hopes that someday, I'd find a way to recycle them. I can't stand throwing away those big yogurt and sour cream containers and while I find other uses for them (freezing chicken stock, using them in the garden with the bottoms cut off to protect new little plants, etc), they're getting to be too plentiful for me.
I wondered when someone in our recycle-happy city would come out with a program like this. In fact, just a few weeks ago, I was bemoaning this very fact to my family and friends while we were at the cabin. My thought is, if they can create these plastics, why can't they come up with a way to "uncreate" them or turn them into something else? The science, I argued, must be out there- it's just a matter of who is going to pay for it. I personally think the companies who create/use the plastic should be held responsible for the recycling or disposal of these items. But, that aside, at least someone is creating a program for this!! That should quiet me for awhile.

Near the Bitter End

The pickles are almost gone!! Only two left. My mom gave me this fantastic recipe a few years ago for pickles (not the canning kind- I'm not that talented!). She and my dad grow an excess of pickling cukes to feed her canning habit (and she's an award-winner!) and they pass the extras on to me. I make pickles and put them in a 5 qt ice cream bucket and they last throughout the next 10 months or so. Or at least they used to. Being the preggo lady has caused me to binge on pickles some days and now I'm at the bottom of the pail. Needless to say, I am ready for July and the cukes, so that I can make more!
The magic recipe (it hardly takes any time to make these).

Refrigerator Dills

Cut a large number of pickling cucumbers into spears, round, or leave small ones whole
1 tsp alum- place on bottom of bucket
1 lg onion, diced
4-6 garlic cloves
1 tsp mustard seed
4-6 dill heads

Place all of the above in the 5 qt ice cream bucket.
Heat:
1 1/2 qts water
1 pt white vinegar
1/4 c (large 1/4 c) canning salt
Pour over pickles while hot.
Let stand for 3 hrs.
Cover and refrigerate for at least one week.

This recipe will last all winter long and the flavor gets better as they sit longer. I know that my friend Mimi added some other flavors to this recipe- I want to say jalapenos or extra garlic- to add some extra zing.