STRAWBERRIES AND RHUBARB

Friends are angels on earth! Have you ever noticed how they show up just when you need them and sometimes even when you didn't know you needed them? They are there in times of trouble and also in times of just because!

Just a hand full of juiciness! They are small, but mighty tasty!

Nancy DeBerg is one of those generous souls who showed up in my life. She shares her time, talents, and her plants! She shared a shovel full of her over-crowded strawberry plants with me one spring. We discovered 18 plants in that shovel full of dirt! My sweetheart JoPapa created a strawberry patch for us to plant them in and they have taken off and produced lots of deliciousness! Sometimes when I'm picking them, it difficult for me to get the berries past my mouth and into the house!

After sharing a photo of my joyful harvest, one of my cousins mentioned rather humorously, that he'd fight for some of my strawberry preserves! 
Why can't we all just get along?! 

:-D

I promise, I'll save up some strawberries and make enough preserves to share.

I also remember some of my family members love rhubarb jam.

Yes, I followed this recipe exactly!

Fortunately, one of my hobbies involves the kitchen and canning! So to keep the peace, I decided to get busy! Again, with the help of Nancy! But get this, she said my request for rhubarb was an answer to her problem of what to do with hers! We had a lovely stroll around her yard as we visited before we harvested rhubarb. And a few hours later...rhubarb jam to share!

How about some rhubarb jam on toast, biscuits, or ice cream?

Thank God for gardens, abundant harvests and friendships!

I love how God provides for us. 

Food for our bellies and food for our souls. 

Thank God for angels on earth!

HOT PEPPER RELISH

We have been so fortunate to have such a relatively cool several days in a row. So, I took advantage of the cool weather to make some hot pepper jam.

Does this photo make you want to taste some pepper jam too? All you need is a jar of my hot pepper jam, some crackers, and maybe cream cheese if you prefer. Maybe you should come visit me? I have all that here! Or, you can make some for yourself!

TASTING!

The peppers were purchased from The Farm Wife's Table; the conditions haven't been right for my garden to produce peppers.  But Angie has the best produce! 

Bells and jalapenos

After removing all the seeds, I used my food processor for the chopping. Of course, I carefully measured, mixed and followed the cooking directions on the insert in the Sure Jell box. The results were tasty! And of course, as always, I followed the recipe exactly...except I did add some green food coloring.

Chopping

I wore rubber gloves when handling the peppers and making this jam. I always wear rubber gloves when I am canning. It helps prevent burns. But I tossed those gloves in the trash when I was finished because I couldn't wash off the hot pepper!

RASPBERRY JAM

RASPBERRY JAM

I don't spend ALL my time playing at the lake, sometimes I play in the kitchen! Making raspberry jam is such a long process, but I love to eat my PB&J every day and this is my favorite jam!  First I have to grow those raspberries. We put nets over these to protect them from the birds and also water them thoroughly once a week.

I pick berries every morning, but we only get a small bowl each day so I freeze them until there are enough for a batch of jam.  One thing about using frozen raspberries is that they crumble easily so I don't have to crush them.  The jam turns out just about the perfect consistency that way.  I measure all my ingredients following the directions in the box of Sure Jell to make cooked jam.

During the whole process, I wear rubber gloves. That way I can wash my hands in HOT water, stir without worrying about getting hot jam splashed on me, put the jars in boiling water without getting burned, etc.

I always process my canned jam in a boiling water bath

. 

I was only kidding about it being long and hard to make jam. Especially since we grow our own berries, the end product is worth the effort! I know I'm eating as close to nature as possible too! I can be convinced to share some of this deliciousness with you.  It can be shipped, delivered or you can come and get it! I'm sure it tastes great on things besides PB&J sandwiches...how about on biscuits, toast or ice cream?

Jammin!

Here’s the short version: I made a batch of raspberry jam and two batches of strawberry jam. The long version: I was cleaning out the freezer and digging for something that I wanted to have for supper when I came across the raspberries we put away last fall when I ran out of jelly jars. Since I have just used up the last of the jam and had empty jars, it was time to make more! There’s nothing quite like a peanut butter and raspberry jam sandwich for lunch. Then I decided that if I was going to the trouble of sterilizing jars and cooking up jam, I should just keep cooking. When it’s a cloudy rainy day, I love to stay busy in the kitchen. Plus the strawberries are so tasty this time of year it’s great that I can put that flavor away to enjoy all year! And at 99 cents a pound it was very affordable to purchase enough to make five cups of crushed berries that the recipe calls for to make jam. I always use Sure Jell and follow the recipes that come in the package. Thankfully JoPapa is willing to run to the store and lend a helping hand when I need it in the kitchen. The raspberry jam looks perfect and the sample I tasted was delicious if not just a little too thick. Guess I’ll have to suffer through that! The strawberries are just as delicious and since the first batch came out so nice, JoPapa went to the store again this morning for more even though the sun is shining. I’ll head into the sun when the dishes are done. One of the best parts of making my own jam is the clean up. Really! While the jam is processing in the water-bath canner, I get to lick the spoon, the scraper, the pan, the drips on the counter… You get the idea! Jars can be shipped – for a fee of course!