It's much easier being green

It seems like by the time the tomatoes get ripe, they are already starting to rot in places or they are infested with worms.  I've had it with wasting my time any longer and have decided to ransack the bushes for the green fruit.  I have a few projects up my sleeve, but the first one was for green tomato dill pickles.  Pickles are one of my very favorite foods.  I could eat just about anything in pickled form, and I was planning on putting up many quarts, but since the pickling cucumbers got devoured by "Audrey" the squash vine, I thought I would just have to wait until next year to start over again.  Here's where a blessing called "bad ripe tomato luck" and a Google search came in!  Here's a link to the original recipe, and my modifications are listed below:

Kosher Dill Green Tomato Pickles
The brine:
3 3/4 c. water
3 3/4 c. vinegar (5%)
6 tbsp pickling salt 
Put this in a saucepan and let it come to a boil

Slice up:
Green tomatoes
Sweet Peppers
Onion
Carrots
Celery
Hot peppers (Optional)

Add several cloves of sliced garlic to the bottom of your jars and start to pack in the veggies.  Stuff a few sprigs of dill in, and fill the jars with the boiling vinegar solution.  Leave about 1/2 inch of head space.  Put lids on and process in a hot water bath 10 minutes for pints and 15 minutes for quarts.  Pickles will be ready to eat in 4-6 weeks.

I had a little brine left over, as well as some diced veggies, so I just tossed them all together and let it sit on the counter for a quick little pickling session.  The first taste left some fire on my lips and a pucker in my cheeks, so I think this is going to be a pretty good batch!

I plan on using this mixture in sandwiches.

Everything floated to the top, which won't earn me a blue ribbon, but I'll put the picture in anyway!