Strawberry Fields Don’t Last Forever
I guess even the Beatles can be wrong. Strawberries have a very short season only lasting about 2 weeks as far as good pickin' goes. This year with the cooler weather it was drawn out quite a bit longer! I have never picked strawberries the way that I did a couple days back, they were all ripe and I would stay in one spot and just pick and pick...so we ended up with 20 pounds of berries.
To deal with the bounty I snapped up 8 envelops of instant pectin (or sent The Husband to the store for them actually) and started instantly to wash, de-stem, and mash. The recipe is on the back of the pectin, and I don't use anything other than Instant Fruit Pectin (like in this picture) anymore.
Why do I love freezer jam so much better ? because of the lower sugar and MUCH fresher taste. This recipe calls for 4 cups of fruit and 1+1/2 cups of sugar per package, not the 5 cups of fruit to 4 cups of sugar or whatever the atrocity is of canned jam. No comparison on taste either since these berries aren't cooked and boiled- and it is quicker too- so if you have the freezer space you really don't have any reason not to try it, it is as easy as mixing three ingredients together and then putting them in containers.
I love that color, that bright red is beautiful. There is just something about good strawberries.I just bought an amazing food dehydrator at a second hand store and next year I will certainly pick double the berries next year and dry half of them. Stay posted for some dehydrating adventures.
But for now talk to me! Do you have any memories of jam making? What kind of berries do you like best for jam?
When I Fall Off the Wagon, I Fall Hard.
We really haven't eaten very much meat over the last 3 years. We do if we go out to a restaurant, or visit some one's home, but I don't cook it at home for several different reasons. I have fallen off the wagon several times before, here is one example.
Now that I have started running all the time, my body longs for the protein every once in a while, and as a very loose vegetarian what do I do? I obviously indulge. The thing that is funny is that I know that beef is one of the worst things I could fall for, it is the beast that consumes the most, uses the most and therefore the one I should steer clear of. The hard part about that?? Well, we have friends with meat cows, my husbands family are ranchers, and really beef is where it is at when I want meat. When I crave that juicy piece of tenderness it is never pork or turkey, some vegetarians crave bacon, not me I crave steak (organic, grass fed and hormone free of course, but it is still beef).
I don't mind it, I think any diet that is too restrictive brings problems, just do what you gotta do and hold it all loosely. God will give you wisdom. I love the freedom that we have in Christ, and it would be horrid to sacrifice that freedom and put ourselves in bondage when there is no need. Or not eat meat as a trend or to follow (or make) a statement. Still, I do agree that we don't need meat all the time, but if our body needs it- it does and there is no guilt in eating it (or there shouldn't be). We should never have self imposed, non-biblical regulations that we place on ourselves that we wouldn't give up if God told us to, or even if our body was asking it of us.
Then a voice told him, "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat." -Acts 10:13
My other grand weaknesses are dark chocolate and green tea ice cream. What are yours??
Make Homemade Butter
Homemade Butter Recipe:
What you need:
1 Ball Jar (any size- I like the quart size but you can use a smaller one if you want to make less)
1 Large pinch of Salt
About 15 minutes of your time
Fill one ball jar half way with Heavy Whipping Cream. Put a lid on it and tighten it. Let sit out at room temperature overnight- or for approximately 12 hours. This is to aid in souring process.
After your patient wait. Grab on to the jar and add a large pinch of salt to the cream. Then with one hand on the top and bottom of the jar shake with decisive churns. Not too quick, think of it as sudden pulses timed at about once every second. (This does not have to be exact- I didn't do exactly that, but I write this to let you know you aren't jiggling it constantly)
When you start to wonder if you should open the lid or you will miss it, don't. Just keep going. It happens really quick- it goes from regular liquid to whipped cream and then to butter surrounded in buttermilk with the jerk of the jar. When you see a conglomerate of light yellow butter in the middle (slightly bumpy and odd looking) you have it! You made butter!!
Butter is forming and swimming in a soft pool of buttermilk
Butter in jar after I emptied out the buttermilk
Empty the liquid (which is buttermilk) into a separate jar using a funnel. Rinse your butter with water making sure all the buttermilk is out, as this will cause spoilage. You can kneed it under the water, I would use cold though so it doesn't make your butter any softer than it already is-this will be slimy, but you could just lick your fingers off!! 
After the water that comes off of the butter runs clear your butter is good to go. Transfer to a butter mold or smaller jar if you choose. Store both butter and buttermilk in the fridge. If you want a soft butter- you can leave part of it out for easy-creamy spreading. Grab your toast and slab on your homemade butter! Or better yet- just grab a spoon! YUM!
Have you made butter before?? Do you have any tips or something I left out?? Be sure and let me know. If you have even considered it you really should- it is SO easy that you'll just want to keep it up!
Thanksgiving Book Feast Giveaway!
We all love yummy food, especially when it is cooked with time and care and excellent ingredients. And what is even better is when those recipes come from cookbooks that make you want to just cook food for your family all day long!
I have two of those type of cookbooks to offer to you my reader. Hachette has offered me three sets of these two cookbooks for a giveaway. Yes that's right! Each of three winners will get BOTH cookbooks, both. That is a good thing because after looking though mine I have no idea which I would have told you to choose over the other, although chocolate does always win out over actual meals for me- so that would probably be my choice.
These are the books:
How to Roast a Lamb: Greek Classic Cooking By Michael Psilakis, Barbara Kafka
Chocolate: A Love Story: 65 Chocolate Dessert Recipes from Max Brenner's Private Collection By Max Brenner, Yonatan Factor
Throughout the next couple of weeks I will highlight each of these books by cooking a scrumptious recipe of my choice to share with you! I know you are drooling already, so here is how to enter to the giveaway for one set of your own books.
Two ways to enter the giveaway:
- Comment on this post telling me what your all time favourite cookbook is, and why. (for one entry)
- Tweet about the giveaway with a link back to this post. (for one entry)
(leave a separate comment here telling me you tweeted)
Sorry, open only to US and Canadian residents, and no P.O boxes please. All entries must be in by the 29th of November the winner will be chosen 30th of November. Check back then to see if you got lucky!!
EDIT: WINNERS 
Thank you to all the entrants!!!! Stay posted, I know there will be more goodies for me to offer you.
I am a Powell’s affiliate and I do receive a percentage of the sales of any book you buy using my links. Thank you!
A Celebration of Harvest
This is a time of excitement for those who grow their own food because in September and October it is time to reap in the produce that was seeded in the Spring, and cared for through the hot Summer. A pumpkin has come to signify the end of the harvesting, and right now the fields are ripe with bright orange sunsets all day long. It is a huge sense of relief now because all that could be done has been done and it is time to celebrate!
I love that we can see the food being grown all around us, it reminds us to be getting ready for the next holiday, the holiday in which we give thanks for that years blessings, for God's provision and for the health of our families. God has most certainly been good this year, but really he is good every year.
Because we have been in harvest mode for the last several months, this verse from the Bible has been worn into the blisters in my hands. The rush to store, and can all that the vines and bushes produce before the nights get too cold and ruin the fruit. It all just speaks to me in a real way now. And yes, more hands always lighten the load and make the work much less tedious.
The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Matthew 9:37
Is there a verse or quote that life helped you understand better? Do tell.
Drinking Coffee, Dreaming of Brooklyn.
I haven't even been to this store, but my sister and brother in-law live in Brooklyn New York and so family goes to visit them sometimes (not as often as we need to) so for different gift giving events we have gotten some of the benefits of their travels. We love these dishes, made by Fishs Eddy, designed by Jordan Awan, the set is called Brooklyn. Sketched after the ever-growing-in-popularity city, this design is so plain and pretty that when I drink from the stuff it makes me smile. Possibly too because it makes me think of my family over there when I use it, but still, I just had to share how cool these items are.
I love the lip, I love liped mugs, it makes my mouth happy when I am drinking some precous hot beverage, or just milk too. And the salt shakers are fab, at first the boys just could not keep their fingers off of them, they were sure that there was a castle in the drawing somewhere!
Other dish sets from Fishs Eddy that are excellent:
Nursery Set
Alice in Wonderland Dinnerware
Alphabet Mugs
Polka Dot Dinnerware
Do you have a favourite set of dishes or mugs? Do you find their value is more sentimental sometimes?
I was not paid, bought or asked to do this post, and I will receive no benefit in return other than sharing a good place and product with some friends. I hope you love it!
Breakfast Recipe: Pears with Cottage Cheese
Why have oatmeal or cereal everyday? Well, I can’t find any reason for that myself, so we switch things up. Fruit and cottage cheese is nothing new, but I know that for me I sometimes need to see things in order to remember to eat them. That may be just me thoguh. This is one of our favourites, and it is actually quicker than oatmeal. I canned peaches last year in a very light syrup (which I hope to do again this year) on top of that is cottage cheese and then a sprinkling of brown sugar and cinnamon.
Do you have a breakfast dish you’d like to share? We always are on the lookout for new treats!
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