BlueBerry Jam!!

Well you must be thinking, blueberry jam at the end of August, when the season of blueberries was over a month ago? Well yes it was and since I was able to pick 10 lb. this year during a busy time of summer. I washed them and stuck them in the freezer. For a time like today, when the weather is a bit cooler (way to cool for the last day of August) and had a day off. What a perfect day to make jam. Here is a look at the proses!! 

The Tools!



The Berries, thawed and ready to be blended!

 

Blending Berries



Next is the boiling down, with pectin, lemon juice, and water



After it boils, you add sugar (I used less than half it calls for)



Waiting for it to boil.... So have fun with the camera!! :)

  

Then you place them in clean jars. Put there lids on, and place them in the boiling water bath.

After 7 min. in the water, take them out and let them sit for 24hr.





Here there are all finished!!



The Perfect Ball Jar picture!! :)





The Mess After the Making



After a bit of clean UP!!

So out of 18 cups of frozen blueberries, I made 12 jars of jam! For more information on the recipe and all that HERE is a link and a nice way to calculate the pectin and other things go HERE. It is so nice to get that done and ready to use during the winter months!! I hope that your last day of August is going well!!

Thanks for reading!! ~RebeccA.

Strawberry Fruit Leather!!

Well I did it!! I made fruit leather for the first time!! Though I made it through the process successfully... I learned more of how it works:

1. Don't blend hot stuff in the blender... leads to a mess :)

2. The pan that you use to dry the leather matters... I need a better pan!!

3. If you don't want it to take more than 12 hours to dry, don't fill the pan so full!

4. And last, make more than one serving at a time... Only enough for a couple of days.

This is  the recipe I used... I won't make you read it, but I thought it was a good one. I also had some idea of the process from this book... I love that book, very resourceful on allot of things!!

Well here are some pictures along the way!!



Boiling the Strawberries down.



Blending the Strawberries, to make a puree

 

Like I said... wrong kind of pan :) Here it is going in...



Here it is after about 30 hours of drying... Do you see my finger marks from when I was checking to see if it was done :)




Yummmy!! I love the color!

 


Here I am eating some... after ALL my hard work ;)

  

Hard to tear.... not really!!



Okay here it is... the picture you have been looking for... You can get me now... LOL

Well there you have it!! My first try at drying fruit... I have learned quite allot and can't wait to try other fruits or mixes of different kinds of fruits together!!  Hope your first day of July is going well, I know from where I am at, I am enjoying the warm weather... and I can't wait until the 4th!!
~RebeccA

Chili Lime Shrimp

Shrimp is one of those yummy (at least some think) things that you don't get to have very often. Well we cooked some up on fathers day, in some butter and garlic. But we had an extra bag of them, so when I saw this recipe I thought I would give it a try.... Just to let you know, it was good, abit spicy but you could always change it to how ever you like. Okay for the recipe.

You will need:

1tsp. Shredded Lime Peel

1/4tsp. Lime Juice

1 Jalapeno, Seeded & minced (I used canned ones)

1TBL. Minced Garlic

2TBL. Olive Oil

1tsp. Chili Powder

1/4 Cayenne Powder

2TBL. Cilantro

1TBL. Honey

1 1/2 LB. Shrimp

Mix all ingredients, Except the shrimp. Place shrimp and marinade in a zip lock bag, or use the bad they came in. Marinade for 20min, flip bag over half way through. DO NOT marinade longer than 20 min other wise the lime will start cooking the shrimp. (something I didn't know :) Now in the recipe they say to grill the shrimp, by placing them on squires, but because I don't have a grill, I cooked them on the stove in the marinade and a bit of butter. I think either way would be good! Now if you don't like it spicy or if you like it MORE spicy put less or more of the spices in. Dad likes it spicy so he added more cayenne pepper. Well here are a few pictures through out the process.



Here is my shrimp marinading!!



Just as the shrimp was finishing I started a pan with 2TBL. of butter

 

Here is the lovely shrimp cooking, on med/hi for about 20 min. or until warm and bubbly



And now I was just about to enjoy the yummy shrimp!!



And there you have it!! It was really easy and good, some times those recipes are hard to come by! :)

I hope your Wednesday is going well, as well as your week!! :)

~RebeccA 

Strawberries...Strawberries... and More Strawberries!!

On Saturday I was able to go Strawberry picking!! A friend and her sister took me to a local berry picking farm! We spent about about out in the field, and altogether we got about 25 pounds. I picked for my self 8Lbs. They were only $1.25 per lbs. Which, I thought was a good deal! Spent 10 bucks on fresh strawberries!! After getting home I started to proses them, de-steming them, washing and cutting up about half of them to use. Oh and of course through the proses I was eating them... They were so good!! The sliced strawberries I placed in a zip lock bag to freeze. Then on that day I placed the rest in the fridge so that I could make freezer jam today.  Well here are some pictures of the fun I had along the way!!



Don't hey look so perfect?!! This was my favorite pic!



The processing, cutting, washing, and eating!



Here they are before the fun began!



The perfect Strawberry!!



The cut up ones to freeze!! Maybe they may become a pie, or smoothies, or maybe even syrup!!







Today's part, mashing the strawberries!



More Mashing!!

The berries after the proses of adding pectin, sugar and lemon juice. Ready to pour into containers!!



The lids, marked for storage.



Here are half of the amount I made. This is one batch.



And last the yummy Jam, setting in the fridge!!

Stay tuned for making fruit leather!! That is what I have planned to do with the left over strawberries!Well that is all that is new around here, I have been working still and still tryng to keep up with the house work and my etsy store!! I will try to keep you updated on the things going on around here as summer is here and more things going on to enjoy the warm weather!! Thanks for reading!
~Rebecca