All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel
This Homemade Strawberry Syrup makes these Strawberry Margaritas extra special. Don’t forget the cinnamon in the syrup as enhances the flavors and gives the margaritas a nice balanced flavor- not too sweet, not to sour, just perfect!
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Big, huge news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We have the permit for our house!!!!!!!!!
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A few weeks ago I wrote about the Canning Adventure that Emily and I had. Fruit was smashed, pounds of sugar was used, some lots of wine was consumed, and jam was made. Oh, how can I forget about that small kitchen fire? That alone is why Price tends to run away when the 2 of us are together.
This was a major refresher in math skills. The original recipe called for 1 single fruit in quarts. Well we had to make it difficult by using 2 fruits in various containers. This involved looking for conversion tables online as well as harassing Price and his friend Chris for confirmation that we did it correction. Conclusion… “math is hard”
Prior to canning, I got 2 books that I found really helpful. We used Better Home and Garden’s You Can Can for this first canning adventure. It is a step-by-step book that really breaks down the canning and preserving process using photographs, tables, and clear instrcutions. I REALLY suggest this book for first time canners because it explains the process and the reasoning behind various things. For example, when to use boiling-water canning vs pressure canning. Hint: it has to do with the pH level of the food. This book, and the wine we consumed, made canning really fun.
Not to toot our horns too loudly, but this jam was pretty damn amazing. The texture was even with crushed fruit, while still having some rather large pieces of blackberries. Getting a spoonful with a large blackberry in there to spread over some toast was amazing. The combination of fruit works really well together- raspberries add a bit of a tangy bit that holds itself against the rich blackberry, which the blueberries mellow that flavor out a bit. It is a rather sweet jam so you could cut that with a bit of lemon juice (2 tablespoons added to the fruit prior to processing).
Prep Time: 35 Minutes Process: 5 Minutes Makes: 8/9 Half Pint Jars
1 pint of blueberries 3 6oz packages of raspberries 3 6oz packages of blackberries 7 cups of sugar 1 1.75 packet of pectinWash and clean all fruit.
Combine the blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. In a LARGE pot, add 1 cup at a time, smash* the fruit together. Continue until all fruit is smashed. Stir in the pectin.
Heat over a High heat, stir constantly, until the mixture is at a rolling boil. Add the sugar all at once. Return to a rolling boil; boil for 1 minute, stir constantly. Remove from heat and skim off foam with a metal spoon.
Immediately ladle jam into hot, sterlized janning cars. Leave 1/4″ inch headspace. Wipe jar rims, place lid on jar and screw on bands (so they are secure but not too tight).
Process jars using the boiling-water method for 5 minutes (start timing when the water returns to a boil). Remove jars and cool on a wire rack, just not directly on your counter.
*A potato masher works well. Or improvise, like we did.
I think I have my mojo back. At least I did this weekend. Price and I got up early and went to Haymarket to get tomatoes for sauce and veggies for the buns. I knew I wanted to make a lot of sauce and I wanted it fresh so we went to Haymarket to get a lot of tomatoes. Well a lot is an understatement. I did not feel like getting bags of tomatoes by picking out each tomato, so we went to area where they have a boxes of tomatoes. Well did you know that they are 25 pounds each? I did not, but that did not stop my from swallowing my fear and buying 2 tomato varieties. 25 +25 = 50 pounds!
So we dropped it off and I ended back out to the store to the quart size Ball jars, meat for meatballs, and some other stuff. Once I was back home I started cutting, and cutting, and cutting. It seemed like it was never ending but was relaxing and worth it. My feet were sore by the end of the day from standing at the stove for hours on end but I love that kinda of pain. Like working out at the gym and being sore later on.
Well all of these tomatoes yielded about 22/23 quarts of marinara sauce. Even though I just bought a pot for this I had to use another because we had soo much! I had bought a 20 quart stainless steel pot last weekend and it was put though a very food first test. It passed with flying colors since nothing burned, it held heat evenly, it held heat well, and it was easy to clean. Loved it.
Besides the marinara sauce Price and I made meatballs using 4 pounds of meat (beef and pork), onion, parsley, breadcrumbs, cheese, 5 eggs, crushed red pepper, salt, and pepper. I also used a package of hot and sweet Italian Sausage. Since you can’t put meat into sauce and can it (well maybe you can, I just head you can’t so I am not about to question it) we divided the sauce up for canning and freezing. I froze the meatballs that we will eat with the jarred sauce.
Every time we heard a lid pop we counted down with the # remaining that needed to pop and we would then cheer. I think canning is going to turn into a new addiction. I love how the process, the popping, and how I have all that sauce and I still have room in my freezer. I now have 14 happy quarts sitting in my cabinets.
I’m hoping this productivity carries over into the week since I have scrapbooking to do and clean up and an office to rearrange.
