Pickles

In my infinite wisdom, I gave my hubby the go-ahead last fall to increase the size of our garden (and by increase, i mean quadruple) .  His first order of business? 14 Pickling Cucumber plants.  Now, I don't care for pickles... or anything with vinegar in it for that matter, but let me tell you what, thats a lot of cucumbers.  So here are a few of my escapades:

Refrigerator Sweet & Spicy Dill Pickles

• 12 3 to 4 inch long pickling cucumbers
• 2 cups water
• 1 3/4 cups white vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups chopped fresh dill weed
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 8 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 1/2 tablespoons coarse salt
• 1 tablespoon pickling spice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dill seed
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
• 4 sprigs fresh dill weed
  Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine the cucumbers, water, vinegar, chopped dill, sugar, garlic, salt, pickling spice, dill seed, and red pepper flakes. Stir, and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours, until the sugar and salt dissolve.
2. Remove the cucumbers to three 1 1/2 pint wide mouth jars, placing 4 cucumbers into each jar. Ladle in the liquid from the bowl to cover. Place a sprig of fresh dill into each jar, and seal with lids. Refrigerate for 10 days before eating. Use within 1 month.

I doubled it with just our first week's worth of pickles, but i think they turned out quite well.