Obsessed With Pickled Veggies (Because I'm Fat)

UPDATE: After a convo with a neighbor, I wanted to add something to this post about sodium content in vinegar. I made a rookie mistake and used the wrong type of vinegar the first time around. It was "seasoned" and did have sodium. I have since realized I should also use non-seasoned vinegar. I purchased some more vinegar (rice, red wine, white wine), and none of them contain sodium. The same goes for ACV. Read the labels before buying any. 

Another tip I am following is to skip adding salt to my home-made pickling recipes. I thought that it was a must to add salt. I do still add a bit of sugar.

A preamble:

I'm so mad at myself. I have gained some more weight. I realize it might be because I have been laid up sick but, still. I am not happy. So I am really going hard on changing up my eating routine. Well, mostly, I am just finding ways to cut out carbs. I've said goodbye (for now) to my homemade pizza dough and I will not be re-stocking the delicious little potatoes I love to air fry. So, for a while, I will be blogging mostly about how I am preparing food and my meals. Now, on to the first food post...

Pickling veggies is one of those things I wish I'd been doing forever. Seriously. It's so dang easy.

So far, I have pickled onions (red and yellow) and red cabbage. All it takes is your choice of vinegar, some water and seasonings (salt and sugar at a minimum), and some clean jars. I went with rice vinegar and of course, I included some garlic for my seasonings. I love me some garlic and the next thing I will pickle is a big bag of garlic cloves!

Since this was my first time pickling anything, I followed the directions from this dude.

He was funny but got right to the point. I like that he gave some pointers about choosing between different vinegars. You know I have now subscribed to his channel!

Here are my first results. Like I said, I will either be pickling a whole jar of garlic or adding several cloves to the other veggies I pickle. 

I can't quite catch the vivid color of the cabbage.

What I like about having the pickled veggies is that they can be used as condiments or as snacks on their own. While I have been under the weather, I haven't been much for fixing meals. It's nice to be able to snack on some of these tart veggies.

One mistake I made was to try using the same vinegar for both veggies. This rice vinegar is not strong enough to affect the cabbage (or else it takes a while longer???) so I had to add some Apple Cider vinegar to my bigger jar of cabbage. The rice wine though is my favorite flavor overall.

(this is "seasoned" & has sodium)

Another thing I like about pickling veggies is that I can save some things before they have a chance to go bad. I always end up with a little more cabbage or some onions left before I can use them up. Now I can just pickle them and get at least another week or more from them. Of course, I am going to be vac-sealing some of these jars and I have to pay attention to possible spoilage.

I don't think that my onions are going to last long enough to spoil. I cannot stop nibbling on them. Because I am not eating my usual carb-loaded snacks during the day (and because I am sooo sick of boiled eggs), I love chomping on the onions.

By the way, I am so slow that it took a couple of days for me to realize that the vinegar is sort of doing the same thing to the veggies that lemon or lime does to the ceviche shrimp I loved when I lived in Alaska. I mean, I know that pickling is not exactly like doing a ceviche prep but you know what I mean. 

Anyway, I will have to talk next time about what I haven't been doing with my Foodi all this time...

Peace

--Free