Blueberry jam

 

 

 

One of the easiest things to preserve in the summer is fruit.  All you really need is your fruit of choice and sugar. I never put pectin in my jam to make it thicker. I really feel it is a waste of money for jam. We like a runny jam, very spreadable, that's good on biscuits, pancakes or just about anything!

 

 

First, take your berries and wash them well. After a good rinse, place the berries in a large pot. You want to make sure your pot is large because you will be boiling the mixture and you don't want it to splatter out on you or your stove.

Pour all the berries in the pot, place over high heat and start the cooking process.  At the same time, I get the water bath canner going. You want the water really hot in the canner. Place it on high heat and put the lid on. Hopefully, it will get to boiling about the same time you will place your jars in it.

You can add a little water to the berries, to keep them from sticking if needed.  As soon as they start getting soupy, I start adding sugar. I add 2 cups to start.

 

Then, I start tasting. I keep adding sugar, one cup at a time, until it is as sweet as I like. With this batch, I added about 5 cups of sugar. I used about one gallon of berries. 

 

Your mixture should be boiling and you should be stirring. :)

 

 

You will start noticing foam forming along the top. Try to skim most of that off. A ladle works well for this. I don't worry too much if I don't get every bit off.

Let it cook until it starts getting thicker. This may take anywhere from 15 minutes to 30 minutes. Just remember that the finished product will be thicker, so you will have to judge for yourselves when it looks good to you.

 

When it finally gets exactly like you want it, it's time to fill the jars!

 

 

Fill each jar, leaving about 1 inch headspace.

 

 

Make sure you wipe the top of each jar with a clean, damp cloth. If you don't, it could prevent the lid from sealing.

 

 

Place a hot lid on top and secure with band. I keep my lids hot in a small pan of water on the back of the stove. If you haven't got a lid grabber like the one shown, GET YOU ONE! SOON! No more burning fingers. :) I do believe it is one of the most greatest of inventions.

 

 

 

Using your jar grabber, place in your canner very carefully. In the picture you may notice a towel. I placed it on the bottom to keep my jars from sitting right on the bottom. It works great. I do have an insert, but I thought I might have more jars than what would fit in it.

 

 

After all the jars are in the canner, bring back to boiling and boil 10 minutes. Use your jar grabber to remove the jars after the required time. They are hot so don't burn yourself. Place on a towel out of the way so they won't be disturbed for 24 hours.

 

 



 

The end product. Something wonderful made with a little time and effort! Canning and preserving is hard work, but is one of the most satisfying things a wife can do for her family. Especially when winter is upon us. There's nothing quite like opening a jar of "summer" in the freezing cold!

 

 

Happy canning!

\Melissa













Chocolate Pie and Coconut Pie

Chocolate Pie

 

1 cup sugar

2 1/2 TBSP cocoa powder

3 TBSP cornstarch or arrowroot powder

pinch of salt

3 egg yolks

1 small can evaporated milk or 1 cup of whole milk

1 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 TBSP butter

 

 

I'm going to tell you a super easy way to make this pie. Don't worry about the evaporated milk. I usually just use 1 cup of whole milk in place of it and it works just fine. Whisk first 7 ingredients in a skillet over medium high heat. I usually whisk the entire time, because I want all the ingredients to be mixed well. You don't want clumps and lumps. You also want those eggs mixed super well~~ nothings worse than having "egg" in your pie! You want to bring it to a low boil and boil for about 1-2 minutes- whisking the entire time remember!  Remove from heat and add vanilla and butter. Whisk until incorporated. Pour immediately into pre-baked pie shell. Chill and serve.

 

Variation:

 

For a coconut pie you do it the same way EXCEPT decrease sugar to 3/4 cup, omit cocoa and add 1/2 cup coconut to mixture. Do everything else the same. Toasted coconut sprinkled on top tastes great too. You can also skip the pie shell and pour into small cups for a "pudding" treat!

 

 

 

This recipe of chocolate and coconut pie originally came from Brad's grandmother, RV.



Thanksgiving 2012

 

What a wonderful Thanksgiving Day it is! 70 degrees and sunny! Just beautiful!

I awoke this morning about 5am, decided to get up at 5:30 and start on the cooking. I am well pleased with how it turned out!

Big, fat 16 pound turkey! It's not organic like I wanted, but I guess it will be okay....:) It cooked up nicely in about 4 hours and 15 minutes.

The Turkey

Turkey dressing..... yum. This was probably the BEST I have made! I don't go by a recipe. I just taste as I go to get it tasting like I want. It did need more salt, but was very good.

Sweet Potato Casserole. I love sweet potatoes.... I wanted to just bake them, but my mom wouldn't hear of it. So, we did the usual. Boiled, smashed and mashed with butter and brown sugar. I did do the topping a little different this year. I added oatmeal like I do in the Apple Goody topping. It was tasty, not too sweet, and a little different. I needed a good topping, because we only had a few pecans to put on top!

Just look at those rolls.............homemade!!!!

Well, the green bean casserole won out this year! It's the usual one.... the one on the back of the French- fried -onion- thingys package. Brad loves it!!! I don't care for it, but I do love green beans.

 

Lets talk about dessert..... yum.......

Chocolate pie, coconut pie and pecan pie~ Let me count the ways I love you all!
The chocolate and coconut pie I make are Brad's grandmother RV's recipe. They are easy and delicious. I made the crust too and they turned out great ~ thanks to The West Ladies recipe! If you know who I'm talking about,  you know they have some great recipes. Downhome, southern cooking with a smile. I will definately be posting more of their recipes!
The rolls..... I am so thankful for rolls that rise on time and are light and fluffy and delicious and--- well, you get the point. I really enjoyed making rolls this morning! And to think I ran right fast over to the Dollar General last night to buy a package of rolls, because I was NOT going to make them from scratch... but I did :)....(they were out anyway!) and I'm so glad! I will absoluty be posting this recipe! BTW~~~ it is a West Ladies again...:)

Today we used glasses I've been collecting at the thrift stores. They are old and vintage. Love, love vintage things :) I remember growing up, my mamaw had some green ones. You may still have some around. They are nice and thick, so they last. I hope I can find more in different colors. We usually drink out of mason jars which I like~simply southern~ but I like the change! You can see them in the picture above.

It was nice having my mom here to help us cook and clean, and wash all those dishes we messed up!
Thanks MOM! My uncle Roddy got to come and enjoy Thanksgiving lunch with us too. I am so thankful for you two! I didn't get a single picture of me, Brad, Hailey or Brody!~ But, it's hard to get a picture of all of us together for some reason!

We are a very blessed family. We have plenty of food, a comfortable, warm house and each other!
I hope you had a wonderful, blessed Thanksgiving with your family this beautiful day.


Happy day to you!

 

Melissa

Brads favorite! chocolate pie!

 

 

Green Beans~

I need to tell you a secret about green beans.
They can be boring.

Every year, we plant lots of green beans! They are usually one of the first things to produce in the garden, since most only take about 45 days from planting. From that point, you will have to pick every few days just to keep up with them. Since Alabama has a long growing season, we could plant them 2-3 times, but I usually only plant once.

They are juicy, fresh and *green*, after a long bleak winter. After a few times of cooking them up in the big pot with a little butter, this can get  b.o.r.i.n.g.

What's a hungry family to do?

Well, after not~ so~ much ~thinking on my part, I decided to add garlic. Lovely, stinky garlic!
We love, love, love garlic.

If your green beans are fresh, just cook them till tender like usual with a little salt. Don't forget the salt! Fresh veggies are like potatoes. You have to add salt to the cooking step, not after, because they will indeed stay boring, no matter what you do to it and you will never get them to taste salty enough. Drain off all the water, add a big dallop of butter and a few cloves of garlic minced up a little. Cook until it's all heated up again and serve.

That's it!

Another variation of this is cooking those beans the good old-fashioned southern way. Cook those beans all day on low heat until they loose all form and look like a mass of limp noodles. They will look very sad indeed. Go ahead and add a big chunk of some kind of pork to it too. (Smoked hog jowl is the usual here in the south or bacon grease.)  They will be very dark green and you will have cooked most of the nutrients out of them, but they are good! Drain and add garlic and butter. A true southern feast!

I can my green beans every year besides eating them fresh and you can do the same thing with them. Green beans are easy-peasy and they don't have to be boring! But......

what about green bean casserole you say? That is not boring.

I am not anti-casseroles. My family ~loves~ casseroles!-- They beg for green bean casserole. You know, the one with the condensed soup and the fake, french-fried onion thingys on top. The one that graces the Thanksgiving meal table every year.
THAT ONE.
Well, it does have green beans in it, which are great for you, but that other stuff......... I can just do without. I haven't a clue how to make it more "healthly" and it taste like......
THAT ONE.
So, with Thanksgiving next week, we'll see what wins out. The garlic or the casserole. I guess I could be sweet and let them have the casserole.
Just once a year won't hurt them will it?


Blessings,
Melissa