Lesson Learned for Making Jam

I was visiting my parents when they informed me that they had a bunch of strawberries for making jam that they had picked up that day. No problem, I can handle jam - right? Well after two batches of plain strawberry I was bored and wanted to try something new. I was already putting together an apple rhubarb crisp, and apple strawberry jam sounded great. I googled a bit and came across a few recipes, but non used commercial pectin - they used the pectin already contained in the apples. Being ambitious I decided to try my hand at making jam the old fashioned way - condense the fruit enough so the pectin already there gels it. I read the directions, I measured and I started. Then I stirred, and I waited, checked the temperature, stirred and waited some more. After an hour or more I was thinking that this had to be done - it was getting really thick, but the temperature wasn’t moving! I waited some more, and the mixture of apples and berries on the stove was slowly moving toward the consistency of apple butter, not what I was going for. Upon looking at the stove, my Dad discovered the burner had been turned down. I had been keeping the mixture hot enough to evaporate the liquid but not enough to increase the heat - ooops. Upon turning the burner back up, I quickly reached the desired temperature of 220F and moved on the fill the jars with my really thick jam. The result of my mishap is a thick and delicious concoction - somewhere between a jam and fruit butter.


I am determined to get this process right, so I will be trying more jams the old fashioned way hopefully later this summer/fall. Next up is Strawberry Cherry jam.

Lazy Daisy Cake

One of my friends used to often make this cake - Lazy Daisy Cake. I don’t know were the name came from but this cake, but who cares, it is a cute name and oh so yummy. I finally got the recipe from her (it was out of an old 4H cookbook!).

Lazy Daisy Oatmeal Cake

Ingredients:
Cake:
1 cup quick oats
1 ½ cups boiling water
½ cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon

Topping
⅔ cup butter
⅔ cup brown sugar
¼ cup cream/milk
2 cups coconut

Method:
1. Combine the oats and boiling water and let soak for 20 minutes (it will turn into a nice mush).
2. In another bowl cream the butter, white sugar, brown sugar and cream together. Once it is mixed and fluffy, beat in the eggs and vanilla.
3. Mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon.
4. Add the flour mixtures and the rolled oats to the butter sugar alternating (1/2 the flour, ½ the rolled oats, ½ the flour, ½ the rolled oats).
5. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.
6. As the cake bakes, cream together the butter, sugar and milk for the topping. Mix in the coconut.
7. Spread the topping on the cake and return to oven for 10 minutes.
8. Cool, serve and enjoy!

Variation:
You can make the topping with 1 cup coconut and 1 cup of chopped nuts as well if you prefer.

Reviews:
This cake is moist and delicious. I love the cinnamon in the cake mixed with the golden coconut crust on the top. Everyone who tried it like it, and for me it is a great comfort food.

A Crazy Quilt

A Crazy Quilt

Remember these brown squares from before Christmas?

Well I finally got the quilt finished for my Mother - in - law! It didn’t take nearly as long to put all the quilted squares together as I thought it would and I must say, that although I was unsure about the squares while they were in piles on the floor I do like the final product.


This is the largest quilt I have made so far, it will be on a double bed! I can’t wait to see it in its new home this summer when I go out to visit my in laws. I used the method from Crazy Shortcut Quilts. It was really easy and it would be easy to make each quilt unique.

On the back of the quilt I decided to do stripes of colors so you can flip it over if you want something a little less busy.

BBQ Pizza

I finally have a yard - after 7 years I no longer have to BBQ on a tiny camping BBQ out my living room window (seriously, this is how I did BBQ for 7 years!). Now I can comfortably stand on my deck and use my real BBQ while enjoying the outdoors. The result is that I have been doing a lot of cooking on the grill lately (which is awesome as my house doesn’t heat up from the oven). I decided to try pizza one day, and was surprised at how easy it was.

Pizza Dough
¾ cup warm water
1 ½ tsp yeast
½ tsp sugar
1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsp oil

Toppings:
Cheese
Veggies ( I used a red pepper, green pepper and onion)
Meat (I used some fried pepperoni sausage)
Pizza sauce

Method:
1. In a bowl combine the water, yeast and sugar. Let sit for 10 minutes, the mixture should appear slightly foamy as the yeast starts to activate.
2. Add in the flour and oil, combine until it forms a ball. Cover and let rise for about an hour - the dough will about double in size.
3. After the dough has sat for about 30 minutes, start preparing the vegetables. Cut them into strips (makes them easier to work with).
4. In a vegetable basket on the BBQ cook the veggies until they are crisp tender. (about 10 minutes depending on the size of vegetable pieces.
5. When the dough is done divide into 4 equal parts (or 8 if you would like a smaller pizza). and roll out until they are about ¼ inch thick.
6. When you are ready to start the pizzas, but the dough directly on the grill and let them cook for about 5 minutes. when they are done they will easily lift off the grill and will be soft on the top, a little puffy, but firm on the bottom.
7. Remove dough from grill and assemble the toppings on the firm cooked side of the dough.
8. Return to the grill until the dough is finished cooking and the cheese has melted (about 5 to 8 more minutes).

Enjoy.
Reviews:
This is a great way to enjoy pizza in the summer - you don’t have to heat up the oven or the house as all the cooking can be done on the grill. Also the grill gives the pizza dough a bit of a different texture that I love - a little crunch on the outside with a soft yummy inside! The flavor added by BBQing is great. I will be doing this more often this summer as the weather heats up!

The bonus with the smaller pizzas is that everyone can have their own - have them put their own toppings on to make them personalized.

Gardening!

We are in the new house and I decided that I didn’t want to deal with trying to plant flowers and grow them in the planters in the back yard all summer. I will do the one in front, but other than that, I don’t want to be dealing with growing plants that don’t really do anything. I instead decided to see if I would be able to get some vegetables growing - they will look great and I should get some yummy produce if everything turns out well, so wish me luck!

I have two beds in the back yard that get various amounts of sun. In the sunniest i have planted beans, carrots, onions and garlic (which is already up a little bit - yay). In the shadier of the beds I have putting in peas and thinking of adding some lettuce as I have been told these do well in partial sun.

I also have a large deck and lots of space for pots, so I am trying out some pot bush beans (we will see how that goes), peppers, tomatoes and herbs! The herbs are doing great (I bought them already started) and some of the peppers already have flowers!

The last bed in the back i have left planted with the plants I found there - strawberries! I will be adding a couple of plants to replace those that seem to have died in the winter, but the remaining plants are already up and doing well. There is already a flower on a couple of the plants.

I am looking forward to see what I get out of the garden and being able to cook (hopefully) with some fresh veggies this summer!

Mom's Quilt

Last year I decided to take up quilting (I am still not sure why I decided to do that, but I am loving it) and last spring I made my Dad a quilt. Well, then I said I would make my Mom a quilt, as Dad had one and apparently wasn’t great at sharing. It took a while to find a quilt or fabric that would suit my Mom but then I came across the Cherish Nature line by Moda. It was perfect, and even better, I got the kit for the quilt on sale for 50% off! Whoo hoo. My Mom loves butterflies and so I thought that the fabric from Paula Prass’s Flights of Fancy would be perfect for the backing.

The quilt turned out great. I started it in mid January, but had to wait for a little while once the top was done while I waited to get some batting I wanted to try. I decided to use Hobbs 80/20 fuseable quilt batting.

I free motion quilted this (I am getting much better at this), but decided to outline some of the birds and butterflies in the fabric to try and make them stand out a little more. I don’t know if it worked all that well, but I do like the way it looks.



I really wanted to get this to my Mom and as my Dad was coming up for a weekend I wanted to get it done and sent back home for her. Unfortunately that didn’t give me enough time to do the binding by hand like I have done on my other quilts. I had been wanting to try machine binding a quilt for a while to see how I liked it so this was the perfect excuse. Well, I love it! I was able to do the binding in one night and I like the look. I probably won’t to this for every quilt, but I am sure I will be doing it again.

April Fools Cupcakes

I didn’t remember it was April Fools this year until the night before (which is one reason this post is coming after the fact and the other is people from work read this so it would have ruined the surprise). I wanted to do something, but didn’t have time to really thing this up, so I was messing around on the interned and stumbled upon Cupfakes by Willow Bird Baking.

These would be a great idea and I had everything I needed at home except for the avocados and I was lucky enough to find ripe ones at the store.

I made a couple of changes to the biscuit recipe as I didn’t check to make sure I had enough milk at home and ran out =(

Cheddar Bacon “Cupcakes”
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 sugar
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
3/4 water
2 tbsp skim milk powder (alternatively use milk instead of water)
1 egg
4 tbsp butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp vanilla
4 strips bacon, cooked and chopped, divided
1/2 small sweet onion, chopped finely
2 tbsp dried chives


Method:
1. Chop the bacon strips into small chunks and cook on in a pan until brown and slightly crispy. In a pan (you can use the same pan and cook them in the bacon fat if you want or use olive oil) cook the chopped onions until they are soft. Set aside the cooked bacon and onion.
2. In a bowl mix together all ingredients for the “cupcakes” ( flour, sugar, cheese, water/milk, milk powder, egg, butter, baking powder, vanilla, bacon, onion and chives). Mix until the dough hold together and is uniform.
3. Spoon in to cupcake liners.
4. Bake at 400F for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
5. Let cool completely before frosting.

Avocado Frosting
3 Avocados
4 ounces cream cheese
1 tsp lemon juice
salt pepper

Method:
In a blender or food processor combine the avocados, cream cheese, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Blend until smooth.
Pipe or spread onto the cupcakes before serving, (don’t do it too early or you run the risk of the avocado turning brown.

Reviews:
Alright, these do look like cupcakes, with an albeit interesting choice in colour for the icing. However, everyone was already pretty suspicious of me before I brought these out (it might have something to do with the fact that I had already been playing with computer mice that morning). It took a little convincing that I hadn’t done something horrible to the “cupcakes”, but once people tried them, they loved them! I liked the scone, but not being a big avocado fan myself, I could take or leave the topping.