"Dancing in Meadows of Strawberry Jam"

This entry will be a little different, as my husband is doing the cooking! Actually, we are calling it a team effort.

The day before the 4th of July, my son and I went strawberry picking again(http://kristinesoares.blogspot.com/2014/06/strawberry-fields-forever.html)! Because they were so good the first time, we need to get more before the picking season ended. This time we got over 6 pounds! We had a plan, a "jam plan" (Friends fanatics will know what I'm referring to).

I needed some help, as I've never canned anything before. Marc, however is pretty skilled at this. He's spent hours canning tomatoes, relish and sauce. Lucky for us, he had some time off and we spent our rainy 4th of July making bread and strawberry jam. And boy was it good.

Ingredients:

Roughly 6lbs of ripe strawberries hulled and washed
A little less than 3 cups of sugar
2 packets of Sure-Jell low/no sugar pectin
2 tbsp lemon juice

My "job" was to hull all of these babies and some of them were super tiny. Thankfully, Marc decided to buy us a strawberry huller which made it faster. It kind of looks like this one http://www.amazon.com/Fox-Run-5582-Strawberry-Huller/dp/B006CFQ33K/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1404676381&sr=8-5&keywords=strawberry+huller

Wash and dice the strawberries

In a large pot, cook them down until strawberries are very tender. Mash them up a little. If you want a smooth jam, just blend it with a immersion (stick) blender.

Add in your pectin

Then 1/4 cup of the sugar and bring the mixture to a rolling boil.

After the rolling boil, add remaining sugar and boil again for another minute. Take off the heat.  Big hint, taste as you go! You may or may not need all of the sugar listed. This jam is not nearly as sweet as some others (others would call for double the sugar then what we used), but taste before you add it all in. If the fruit is sweet enough on it's own, you can probably omit some sugar.

Prepare your jelly jars. First we wash them well with soap and water. I am a novice at this part, so follow along proper safety instructions (http://www.freshpreserving.com/getting-started).

Fill the jars, put on the lids and then they process in a water bath for ten minutes.

Take out and let cool. As they cool, the jam/jelly starts to set up nicely. This was the hard part, because all I wanted to do was try it on a piece of freshly made bread.

And then...it was time. Hands down, the BEST jam I've ever had.

Strawberry Fields Forever

I will admit, my favorite season is not summer. However, when I start seeing "life" come out the gardens, I get really excited. To me, late spring/early summer is about using the freshest ingredients possible. My husband works tirelessly on our own little homestead so we get the best veggies we could ask for (just wait until you see the lettuces!). We also like heading out to the local farms and grabbing what we don't grow. So today was about picking strawberries!

My son always likes to do a run through of the seasons and what special things we do during them. He lit up the other day when I reminded him that summer is strawberry picking time. Every year we end up so busy that we almost miss out on the opportunity. I was determined to not miss it! We went to one farm who claimed to still have pick your own, only to be turned away. This did not make for a happy boy. I had to look at that little face covered in disappointment.

We went home defeated. Had some lunch and a little rest and then I picked up the phone to check with another local farm. As soon as I heard that picking hours were ending soon, I grabbed the keys and we were out the door. We headed to Cider Hill Farm (http://www.ciderhill.com/) and had just about 25 minutes to run out in the fields and fill our baskets. In the intense heat of the afternoon, I plopped my son in one of their wagons and ran. I felt like Super Mom. And looking back at the smile on his face confirmed that for me. We worked fast and efficiently and ended up with 2 quarts of red, ripe berries.

We both were slightly giddy from excitement and a little delirious from the heat, I thought it would be an excellent night for an ice cream sundae. Not just any old sundae, it was going to be with cider donuts and strawberries. Oh...yeah...

Here's your "recipe":

Go find the best berries a local farm or your backyard can offer

I just love their fancy little hats

Find the tastiest cider donuts. I personally think Cider Hill's are the best (and I've tried many cider donuts before)!

Get your favorite vanilla ice cream. It needs to be a good quality ice cream. I was delighted to find Hodgies at Cider Hill! 

It's summer, allow for an extra scoop since it melts. Because then it doesn't count, right???

Warm the donut slightly (in a toaster oven or microwave) and slice your berries (make sure they're washed). Then just rip the donuts in pieces and mix in with the ice cream. Top with berries. And there you have it. A perfect summer dessert in my opinion.

P.S. I don't even care that the ice cream got all melty so fast. It just made it that much better. 

How do you like them apples?

 

Do you have kids that get hungry just about every 45 minutes? Are you constantly on the go and need healthy snacks for them as well as yourself? Then, this blog post is just for you. Wow...I just sounded like an infomercial.

But honestly, there is a real need for portable healthy snacks. There has been a recent boom in food pouches and they have gone over really well in our house. My son loves the different types of applesauce and I love that some are even blended with veggies. I got to thinking, 'well I use to make his baby food and that's basically the same concept?', I just needed to find the right containers. Enter, Yummi Pouch http://www.yummipouch.com/.

I learned about Yummi Pouch through the wonders of Facebook. I searched Amazon and found these pretty reusable packages on sale! They hold 6 oz (I somehow fit 7oz in there) and they can be put in the freezer and the dishwasher. I was sold. Now, what goodies could I start with? My son requested Apple Mango sauce. Well, okay then!

Ingredients:

2 ripe mangoes chopped

6-7 different varieties of apples peeled, cored and chopped

1/4 cup of brown sugar (optional)

Pinch of salt

1 tbsp of cinnamon

Couple of pinches of nutmeg

Couple of squeezes of lemon juice

1 1/2 cups of water (or you could bump up the flavor with juice, but beware of extra sugars)

I recently found a great apple for snacking and cooking. Introducing, the Mutsu apple. It's a cross between a Golden Delicious and an Indo apple. It's crunchy and sweet, but not too overpowering. It paired really well with the pink lady apples I threw into the mix. 

Begin by peeling, coring and chopping your apples. You can leave the skins on, but to create a really smooth sauce for these pouches, I peeled them.

Now prepare your mango. I am not ashamed to admit I Googled the proper way to slice a mango. I cut down the outer sides, then made horizontal and vertical cuts to the flesh (but don't go through the outer skin!). Then you can pop it up and then scoop out the fruit. 

Add your fruit to a large bowl and throw in your brown sugar, salt and spices.

Spritz in your lemon juice.

Mix everything well and throw it into a stock pot. Add your water. Cook on medium/low heat until everything gets pretty mushy.

Using a potato masher or immersion blender, mash up all the fruit. Either place in a container or pouch and refrigerate. Or, if you are like my son, eat a bowl of it as soon as it cools down!