Cucumbers!!!!! I have 3 boxes of them-need quick ideas!

Our local food pantry was donated a LOT of cukes, zuchinni and potatoes this week. I happened to be at town hall yesterday when the pantry was open, and they were accosting everyone who came by -- needed to move the cukes.. How I ended up with 3 banana boxes full of them.. I dont' know-- All I know is they were trying to give me more still.

Oh-- they're the slicing variety, and all are about 8 or 9 inches long. Seeds are pretty small, but they aren't tiny pickling cukes.

I'm going to make pickles this weekend-- that's a given, BUT, I'm the only one in the household ( that is, me and hubby) who eats them. Hubby doesn't like cucumber in any form. I don't need 100 quarts of pickles, no matter how many varieties I make.

What else am I going to do with them? Hubby took some to work, I took some to work. We can only give away so many at this time of year when cukes are growing ( not to mention, I haven't even gotten any cukes out of my own garden yet! When they start, I'll be in trouble!)

Any good recipes ? Pickles, salads, or otherwise. I need quick recipes for most of them. I do have a 3 gallon pickling crock that I can do some brined stuff in, but would like something quick for most of them.

I've been giving them to whomever I can find who'll take them, but still have 2 boxes. I'd hate to waste them. What I can't find a use for is going to the chickens, but, I'd love to "use" instead.

Tzatziki! That freezes well and it's not too difficult to make a home version.

Or, I suppose, any cucumber based salad dressing/cream/dip of some sort would be ok and easy to freeze.

That sounds like enough to make some cosmetics, maybe a blend of cucumber and witch hazel for your face?

Cucumber ice cream? I mean, we have wasabi and butter rum and green tea flavors and so on . . . so cucumber isn't really too far out.

Just tossing out some ideas!


Whitewater

Cucumber salsa, refrigerator pickles, cucumber juice....

Great ideas-- keep 'em coming...
Though.. not sure I can drink cucumber juice--- I'm willing to give it a go though..... Do I just blend it and strain it? I don't have a juicer.

Relish, cucumber water, and a whole spa day with cucumber masks!

(I have a recipe somewhere for a cucumber face mask... its WONDERFUL!)

Wifezilla, do you have a cucumber salsa recipe?

g

Canned pickles keep more than just a year if put in a cool, dark place. But I understand--you can only eat so many pickles!

It might not be the worst thing in the world to give some to the chickens. With these hot August days going on, it's good to chill them in the fridge, cut them in half longways and give them to the chickens to help them cool down.

I like thinly sliced cukes on my sandwiches too, in place of lettuce. OK, now I'm hungry for a ww pita with hummus and stuffed with sliced cukes!

You can make cucumber salsa 2 ways. The first way is to just take your favorite salsa recipe and replace half the tomatoes with cucumbers. The other way is with all cucumbers and no maters.

This is a good one...
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/kathleen-daelemans/cucumber-salsa-recipe/index.html

Dill pickles are often made with large cukes. If you want a knock-em-on-the -butt pickle make some with LOTS of garlic cloves and a couple of hot peppers in each jar. I used to put the big ones up in gallon wide mouth jars.
If you have crocks you can make 7 and 10 day pickles, a semi sweet pickle which are made with chunks of large cukes.

Do you know how to make soap at all, or do you have a friend that does?

I am a big big fan of cucumber and/or cucumber melon soaps! It would be so cool to be able to make my own

Just another idea to toss out there . . .


Whitewater