In a Jam

This week's new recipe was homemade jam! Mom always makes freezer strawberry jam and says it's super easy. It takes only 4 ingredients and not a lot of time to put together so yesterday I thought I'd try it. Maybe Kyle's PB & J sandwiches will taste a little better with fresh berries! :)

I used one of the freezer jam recipes that came inside the box of fruit pectin. The recipe is here on the Kraft website: www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/30-minutes-homemade-surejell-50137.aspx They have recipes for all kinds of fruit, but I went with plain strawberry. I bought a big container of berries last weekend thinking I'd cut them up to have with dinner a couple nights, or make strawberry shortcake or something... We didn't end up eating very many, so I thought I'd use them up before they went bad! Turns out I had just enough good ones left to get the one quart I needed!

After cutting out the stems and rinsing them, they were mashed. My potato masher isn't good for mashing smaller stuff and it was still way too chunky. So I ended up chopping the berries, too, to get smaller pieces (although I think I WOULD leave it a little more chunky next time).

The next step is to stir in the sugar.

Yes, you're seeing that correctly--there is twice as much sugar as there is mashed berries. Yikes! Makes me glad I don't eat jam too often! I knew jam/jelly was sweet, but.....wow.
So, the sugar was mixed in and then it had to sit for a few minutes. While the sugar and fruit was doing its thing, I cooked the pectin and water. it had to boil, and then be mixed into the fruit.

Last step was pouring it into containers! I had just enough to fill five little containers--aren't they cute?! :)

The hard part is letting it sit for 24 hours! I wanted to try it and make sure it turned out okay. Today for lunch I opened one and spread some on a piece of bread and asked Kyle if he would try it, as he is the main jam connoisseur in our family. He said it was good! It turned out a little more soft and runny that what I wanted so I'm hoping that being in the fridge for a while will help it set more.

I'm going to try making plum/pear jam this week, too, once I get some canning jars! Will post that later, if it turns out. :)

A Homemade Dinner

I've been trying to do better at grocery shopping by writing out a weekly menu. That way I can look at the menu, figure out exactly what ingredients I'll need for the week and just make one trip to the store. And it's helpful to know what I'm making so I'm not scroungimg through the cupboard trying to put together random ingredients to come up with something edible for Kyle (which I'm sure he also appreciates!). Not that I couldn't come up with a tasty dish based on canned chilis and baked beans.... :)

So tonight's dinner was spaghetti! I normally buy spaghetti sauce and then add meat and a few veggies to it but I'm getting a little tired of the store-bought kinds. I don't know why I buy it, because it doesn't take any more work to open a couple cans of tomatoes and spices than it does a jar of sauce...? So I decided to make it from scratch today instead. I used a recipe my Mom had which is super easy--mostly ground beef and tomatoes mixed with garlic and a few spices. Once everything was mixed together it had to simmer for a few hours, so I figured I would have time to make some bread, too. I was getting low on flour, so I made half a batch of dough (just one loaf instead of the two it normally makes) and I used some whole wheat flour instead of all white, which I've never tried before. I put that in the oven to rise for an hour and, having plenty of time left, decided to make some cookies for dessert!

One of Kyle's favorites is chocolate peanut butter no-bake cookies so I made those. Perfect for today--not a lot of ingredients and I wouldn't need the oven! There wasn't much peanut butter left, so I only made half a batch but it still made enough to last a few days. This is the recipe I use:

No Bake Cookies
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
4 Tbsp. cocoa
1/2 cup milk
pinch of salt
1 cup peanut butter
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Combine the first five ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil. Let mixture boil for two minutes. Remove from heat and add peanut butter, oats and vanilla; mix well. Spoon mounds onto waxed paper and let cool. That's it!

I considered making the noodles, too, but I was out of flour. I'll have to try that another time. :) I think the spaghetti sauce, bread and cookies were enough for today!

The sauce and bread turned out pretty good! Making meals from scratch is so much better than buying stuff pre-made!

But I didn't do it all myself. As always, I had my little helper with me while I was cooking!

Cinnamon Rolls

Today I made a batch of cinnamon rolls! Okay, so it's not a new recipe, but I've been meaning to make Kyle some for a while. My sister-in-law gave me the recipe, which is supposed to be a copycat of Cinnabon. I've tried making other kinds, but these are still Kyle's favorite, so they're the only ones I make now. :) Sometimes they turn out big and soft, other times not so much...hmmm...will have to figure out what I do differently each time. But today's looked okay, so I took a few pictures. :)

Getting the dough ready to roll. Notice the big bowl of cinnamon sugar, right next to the melted butter! I'm a big believer that desserts are not supposed to be healthy. :)

Spreading a nice thick layer of butter and brown sugar/cinnamon!

Then rolling up the dough and cutting it into 12 pieces

Waiting for them to bake! I don't actually like cinnamon rolls, but I LOVE the smell of them baking!

They're done--after adding a thick topping of cream cheese icing! Ready for dessert, Kyle? :)

Baby Gifts

I decided to set a goal of making one project per week, at least for the summer. I think I'll make a list later of some things I want to try making and then go through them one at a time. It'll include sewing projects, scrapbooking pages from vacations and Parker's baby book, and trying new recipes!
The first thing made was my reversible bag. I was using it this week and really like it--it's the perfect size!
This week my project was a baby gift. A friend Kyle went to school with is having a baby boy this Fall, so Kyle asked if I could make a few baby items as a gift for him. I love making baby stuff! (And I love that Kyle likes my sewing enough to want it for a gift!) :) Have I mentioned that I'm married to the most wonderful guy ever??
Anyway, I got out my little stash of flannel and we looked through the prints I had. I asked Kyle if he wanted to pick something out, since it was for his friend. He chose a light blue construction print and a green turtle print--both super cute. We decided that I'd make two burp cloths, a bib and a few peepee teepees out of each fabric.
Here is the finished set:

Now we just have to find a baby card and put it in the mail! I hope they like it!

Reversible bag

Ever find patterns that you want to make, only to set them aside and not actually use them? Me too! :) I've found a few sewing patterns online that I've been wanting to try, but I never have the right kind of fabric or a big block of time to work on them, so into my pattern file they go, where they may or may not be seen again.

Then a few weeks ago I saw that a friend had made herself a purse and it was super cute! I was inspired! I got home and looked for a pattern I had printed out for a small reversible purse. I still wasn't sure what kind of fabric I wanted, but I decided that I WAS going to sew a bag, even if I had to spend an hour at Joann's choosing a color for it (fortunately for Parker it didn't take that long). I looked through my own fabric first, but the only thing I had that would work was a huge chunk of black fabric. I have absolutely no idea where it came from...or even what type of fabric it is. I didn't buy it and I don't remember anyone giving it to me...But there are close to three yards of it so I figured I could mess up the pattern about eight times and still have enough for another purse. :) So off to Joann's I went, with Parker, of course, to find something for the lining. I saw a couple that would work and was trying to decide between them when I came across a blue/gray colored cotton with a black floral print. Perfect! I got a yard of that and came home.

The pics are a little dark, but here are the fabrics I used.


I used a pattern from a blog that I found a while ago while looking up purse/tote patterns. Here's the link: http://verypurpleperson.com/2010/04/reversible-bag-pattern.html

I forgot to take pictures while I was sewing, but here are some of the finished bag. It was really easy but it took a little time to sew as it had to be pressed, pinned and have darts sewn in. It was a fun little project and only took a few hours from start to finish.





For my first attempt, it turned out not bad! :)