If your garden is like mine, right now there are tomatoes everywhere. You can only do so much to make salsa, spaghetti sauce, and marinara. Smoke Dried Tomatoes are perfect when you have 6-10 (Roma are best) to put up quickly. This is all you need: Roma tomatoes – Peeled or Unpeeled and slices 1/8…
Back Again!
This blog stuff is really hard work! I also forget about doing it sometimes. I want to talk about many things to you and then I totally forget………I guess that comes with age, doesn’t it? I made some wonderful apricot butter this weekend. Doesn’t it look lovely? The most important thing I can tell you…
Jammin’ in the Winter
If you are not lucky enough to live in a part of the country that has perpetual harvests of fresh fruits and vegetables, you need to read this! Where I live, our fruit and vegetable harvest begins in May and ends in October, for the most part. That leaves 6 full months without anything to…
Buying Back My Childhood
Wire Bale Canning Jars Every week I try to score something special for my canning obsession and this week I did very well! When I was a kid, my nana had some of those wonderful wire-bale mason jars that are so popular now but I was too anxious to ‘get off the farm’ to appreciate…
What canning equipment do I need?
When friends decide they want to start canning, they do not want to put much money into it incase they do not enjoy it. They often ask me what equipment they really need. I decided to put together a list of items I always have ready in my Rubbermaid canning containers. I keep most everything in…
Kalamity Pie
As you know, I am domestically impaired. I was reading a wonderful Mennonite blog yesterday. It had a recipe for a jam tart. It sounded wonderful but, as I read the recipe I realized there were more ingredients and step involved than I was willing to participate in. But it got me thinking and it got…
Canning Tips & Tricks
Here are a few tips & tricks for making jam, jelly, marmalade, conserves, pickles, vegetables or anything else you want to “put up”. This is by no means a complete volume but questions that I get asked all the time when a friend is trying to can. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate…
The difference between Jam, Jelly, Marmalade, & Conserves
When I first started canning, I often wondered what the difference between jelly, jam, marmalade was. Then, I was introduced to the term conserve and could not figure out what the heck that was and how it fit into my sweet biscuit topping world! I searched the internet and found most information to be less…
Cherry Jam Chocolate Cupcakes
Cherry Jam Chocolate Cupcakes!! We love cupcakes at our house. My husband loves them more than just about anything. Not the wonderful works of art that you get at cupcake bakeries these days. Nope, my plain-palate husband loves the old-fashioned kind moms used to make for bake sales. I, on the other hand, love new…
How do I get rid of the seeds in jam?
Many people love jam, but hate the seeds associated with blackberry and raspberry jam. I feel the same way and if you are making any in the near future, I have a trick that will help you out. Let’s take blackberries: That jam tastes so good…….but the seeds involved will get stuck in your teeth…