Canned Peach Jam - Two Ways

Isn't homemade peach jam beautiful!! I canned two types of peach jam this year - one using liquid pectin and one using powdered pectin. I have always wondered what the difference was and I figured it out! So in my experience, canned jams using liquid pectin set up more and are more like commercial peach jams (pictured above). Canned jams using powdered pectin do not set up quite as well, but they taste more like fresh peaches (pictured below). Both are absolutely wonderful because homemade jam is just wonderful, but you can decide what you want your finished product to be like. Are you hoping for a lovely set up jam that is easy to spread on PB&J's? Then pick liquid pectin. Are you hoping for that fresh peach taste all year long, but are willing to have a runnier jam? Then use powdered pectin.

Peach Jam (Using Liquid Pectin)

2 quarts finely chopped peaches
15 cups sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice (I used bottled)
1/2 tablespoon butter
2 pouches Certo Liquid Pectin

1. Peel and finely chop peaches - to finely chop the peaches I used my Pampered Chef food chopper - and measure out exactly 2 quarts of the chopped peaches.

2. Measure exact amount of sugar into a large bowl.

3. Combine in a large stock pot peaches, sugar, and lemon juice. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil on heat heat. Add butter to reduce foaming and boil for exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in 2 pouches of liquid pectin quickly, return to a full rolling boil, and boil for exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

4. Skim off any foam with a metal spoon.

5. Ladle cooked jam into hot, sterilized, 8 oz jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. To sterilize jars I wash them and then put them in a high heat cycle of my dishwasher without detergent and let them sit in the hot dishwasher until I'm ready to fill them.

6. Wipe jar rims and threads and cover with sterilized lids and bands. Screw bands on tightly.

7. Place jars on canner rack and lower into canner. Water must cover the jars by at least 2 inches. Cover and bring to a boil. Once it has come to a boil, process the jars for 10 minutes plus the amount of time needed for your elevation (for me it is 10 minutes more, for a total of 20 minutes of boiling/processing).

8. Turn off heat and allow jars to sit in the water for 5 minutes. Remove rack of jars and place jars, upright, on a towel lined surface. Cool completely for 24 hours without moving. After 24 hours check each jar to make sure the jar has sealed by pressing the middle of the lids - if the lid springs back it has not sealed and you will need to refrigerate that jar and use it first. Properly sealed jars can be stored at room temp for about 2 years.

Peach Jam (Using Powdered Pectin)

2 quarts finely chopped peaches
11 cups sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice (I used bottled)
1/2 tablespoon butter
2 boxes Sure Jell powdered fruit pectin

1. Peel and finely chop peaches - to finely chop the peaches I used my Pampered Chef food chopper - and measure out exactly 2 quarts of the chopped peaches.

2. Measure exact amount of sugar into a large bowl.

3.In a large stock pot combine chopped peaches, pectin, lemon juice, and butter. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil on high heat, stirring constantly. Add in sugar and return to a full rolling boil; boil for exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

4. Skim off any foam with a metal spoon.

5. Ladle cooked jam into hot, sterilized, 8 oz jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. To sterilize jars I wash them and then put them in a high heat cycle of my dishwasher without detergent and let them sit in the hot dishwasher until I'm ready to fill them.

6. Wipe jar rims and threads and cover with sterilized lids and bands. Screw bands on tightly.

7. Place jars on canner rack and lower into canner. Water must cover the jars by at least 2 inches. Cover and bring to a boil. Once it has come to a boil, process the jars for 10 minutes plus the amount of time needed for your elevation (for me it is 10 minutes more, for a total of 20 minutes of boiling/processing).

8. Turn off heat and allow jars to sit in the water for 5 minutes. Remove rack of jars and place jars, upright, on a towel lined surface. Cool completely for 24 hours without moving. After 24 hours check each jar to make sure the jar has sealed by pressing the middle of the lids - if the lid springs back it has not sealed and you will need to refrigerate that jar and use it first. Properly sealed jars can be stored at room temp for about 2 years.

Kool Aid Play Dough

I love this recipe because the playdough smells good and it's so easy to make. I usually only make one color/flavor and my youngest has a ball playing with it for a long time. It's definitely my go to for those days I when I have something I want to get done (i.e. cleaning the house, laundry...) and I need to occupy my 3 year old for a while. Five minutes of minimal effort and this playdough is ready to go!

Kool Aid Play Dough

1 cup flour
1/4 cup salt
1 envelope Kool Aid
1/2 - 2/3 cup water
1 tablespoon oil

In a bowl mix together the flour, salt, and Kool Aid.

In a saucepan boil 2/3 cup water, add oil. Pour ever the dry mixture leaving a little in the saucepan. Stir and mix then knead with your hands until the dough is the consistency of playdough, adding more of the hot water/oil as needed. Its ready to play with immediately or you can store it in a ziplock bag.

Homemade Strawberry Jam

I recently got a free flat of strawberries (yay!) and I decided the best way to use them was to make strawberry jam. I really do love canning. It's incredibly satisfying to me. You start with some simple ingredients and jars and in the end you have homemade preserves to last your family for months. The best thing about this jam recipe is that it tastes SO good. It really tastes like fresh, sweet strawberries - so much better than any strawberry jam you can buy. I got this recipe from Pioneer Woman - her Food From My Frontier cookbook - but I also think this recipe is on her website. I use a propane camp-stove set up in my garage (with the door open of course) to can because it keeps the mess off of my cook-top inside and I find it boils the water in my canner so much quicker. With strawberry season coming I hope you'll try this recipe. Canning is fun!

Homemade Strawberry Jam

-makes 12 half pint (8 oz) jars

7 1/2 cups mashed strawberries (about 6 lbs strawberries)

6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, strained

1 1/2 packages (49 grams each) powdered fruit pectin

10 1/2 cups sugar

12 half pint canning jars

12 new jar lids

12 jar rings

1. Run 12 half pint jars through a dishwasher cycle, without detergent. Leave jars in dishwasher until ready to use so they stay hot. Fill your canner pot, rack removed, with water and bring to a boil. While it is coming to a boil, follow the instructions below.

2. Bring a small saucepan of water to a simmer. Add the jar lids and allow them to stay in pan while you prepare jam.

3. Place hulled strawberries on a large rimmed baking sheet and mash them with a potato masher until they are mostly mashed, but you have some small bits/chunks left. Measure out 7 1/2 cups of mashed strawberries and pour into a large stock pot.

4. Add lemon juice, stir and bring to a boil over high heat.

5. Pour in powdered pectin and stir to combine.

6. Pour in sugar and stir and bring to a hard boil.

7. Boil stirring constantly for 2 minutes. Turn off heat and skim off excess foam from the top with a large spoon.

8. Using a canning funnel, fill hot jars with jam mixture leaving 1/4 inch head space.

9. Run a clean knife around the inside of the jars to remove any air pockets.

10. Use a damp cloth to wipe any stickiness from the rim and outside of the jars.

11. Remove lids from the saucepan and place on top of the jars, center lid, and screw on jar rings. Don't overly tighten the rings, just make them finger tight.

12. Place jars into the removable rack of your canner. Lower the rack in the canner so that the jars are covered with water. Make sure the waster comes back up to a boil, then cover and allow to boil/process for 15 minutes (at my high elevation - over 6000 feet - I process for 22 minutes). 

13. Turn off heat and leave the jars in the canner with the lid on for another 15 minutes. 

14. Lift rack out of water and remove jars to a towel lined counter. Allow them to sit undisturbed for 24 hours. You should hear the lids pop as they seal.

15. After 24 hours, check the seals of all the jars: remove the rings from jars and press each jar's lid in the center. The lids should be tightly indented and not give at all when you press your finger on them. Jars can be stored on your shelf, but once opened store in the fridge. If any jars have failed to seal, store them in the fridge and use right away (you can reprocess them, but in the off chance you do have one not seal, why not just use it first).

Homemade Brown Gravy

Homemade gravy rocks! And this particular recipe is so darn good and not to mention easy! Almost as easy as making a packet of brown gravy. I made it from pot roast drippings, but you could also substitute butter for the drippings if needed. You can also substitute chicken broth and chicken bouillon for the beef broth and beef bouillon if you are making a gravy to go with poultry. A fat separator is a great gadget for making gravy, but if you don't have one, you can pour all the pan drippings into a large measuring cup, wait for the fat to separate from the juices, and then spoon off the fat with a spoon.

Homemade Brown Gravy

1/4 cup fat from pan drippings or butter
1/4 cup flour
1 cup pan juices
1 cup beef broth
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons beef bouillon
salt and pepper to taste

Heat 1/4 cup of fat from pan drippings or butter in a saucepan. Add flour and cook over medium heat, whisking, until the roux is golden brown, about the color of peanut butter. Add in juices, broth, milk, and bouillon, whisking constantly. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Laurel's Cinnamon Roll Granola

Oh wow, this is the best granola recipe!! It's from my friend Laurel over at Ducks in a Row and it is fantastic. It's sweet, crunchy, cinnamony, and delicious. It is fantastic with milk or almond milk (unsweetened vanilla almond milk is my favorite) for breakfast or a snack. My 7 year old has been having this with milk for breakfast and a little in a bowl for an afternoon snack every day since I made it. It's just so good. The most wonderful bonus is that it makes your house smell heavenly as it bakes and for hours after. Laurel adds dried cranberries to her cinnamon roll granola, but I add white chocolate chips and raisins because it reminds me the most of cinnamon rolls like that and my family loves it that way. I think butterscotch chips would also be so yummy. You can play around with any add-ins you'd like and I bet it would taste great. Thanks for a great recipe Laurel!

Laurel's Cinnamon Roll Granola

4 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup flaked coconut (I used sweetened)
1 cup sliced almonds
3 tablespoons ground flax seeds
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon coconut oil
3 tablespoons agave syrup
3 tablespoons vanilla
3/4 cup raisins*
3/4 cup white chocolate chips*

*In place of raisins and white chocolate chips you can use 1 1/2 cups dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 300.

In a large bowl mix together: rolled oats, brown sugar, coconut, sliced almonds, ground flax seeds, cinnamon, and kosher salt.

In a bowl combine coconut oil and agave syrup. Microwave for 1 minute. Add vanilla. Pour this mixture over the dry ingredients in the large bowl. Mix thoroughly. Spread in an even layer on a greased or silpat lined rimmed cookie sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 1 hour. Break up any clumps and pour cooled granola into a large bowl. Mix in raisins and white chocolate chips (or add-ins of choice). Store in an air-tight container (I use a Snap Ware container).

Homemade Pancake Syrup for Pancake Day

It's Pancake Day, otherwise known as Fat Tuesday! If you are having pancakes tonight, give this recipe a try. Homemade pancake syrup is awesome! We like it much better than store bought syrup and it is so much cheaper! It is perfect served over my favorite buttermilk pancakes. Yummy!!

Homemade Pancake Syrup

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon maple flavoring (I use McCormick)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons butter

In a saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add the sugars and bring to a boil again, stirring until sugar is completely dissolved. Add maple flavoring, vanilla, and butter. Stir, boiling, until butter has melted and combined with the syrup. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 1 hour, this will help it thicken up a little. Serve over hot pancakes.

Cinnamon Syrup

It is fun to switch up pancake night with flavored syrups. Recently I made cinnamon syrup and it was super good. It made the whole house smell like Autumn. Funny how cinnamon can do that. I served it over these great buttermilk pancakes. I think it would be wonderful over pumpkin pancakes. I think this syrup will be requested frequently.

Cinnamon Syrup

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
5 oz can evaporated milk (the tiny can)

In a saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup, water and cinnamon. Bring to boil over medium heat and stir constantly for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Stir in the evaporated milk until combined and smooth.

PW Aunt Trish's Salad Dressing

This is Pioneer Woman's Aunt Trish's Salad Dressing. It is good. Really, I have yet to try a bad Pioneer Woman recipe. Ree is amazing. The dressing is kinda like Olive Garden's salad dressing, but a bit more tangy/lemony. It was a great dressing for a simple salad of mixed baby greens, sliced red onion, and grape tomatoes. I served it with spaghetti and meatballs tonight and though my kids would definitely prefer ranch dressing, they all ate it and I think my oldest even liked it. We're still working on my other 2 to like something other than ranch. Oh, and keep in mind, you have to start this dressing the day before you want to serve it.

PW Aunt Trish's Salad Dressing

3/4 cup olive oil or canola oil
juice of 2 lemons
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon paprika
1 clove garlic, peeled and left whole

Place all ingredients in a jar. Shake it up and store in the fridge at least 24 hours before serving. Serve on your favorite green salad.

Easy Butterscotch Sauce

I was so pleased to find out that I could switch out the chocolate chips for butterscotch chips in my favorite hot fudge sauce and end up with an incredibly tasty butterscotch sauce. Yay! We had the butterscotch sauce over ice cream (Costco's Premium Vanilla - oh that stuff is so good!) for a quick and easy FHE treat last night. I bet you could also use peanut butter chips for a yummy peanut butter sauce. Ooh that sounds good. I'll have to try that next time.

Easy Butterscotch Sauce

1/4 cup butter, cut into pieces
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup butterscotch chips

In a saucepan combine butter and sweetened condensed milk. Heat, stirring constantly, until butter melts. Remove from heat and add butterscotch chips, stirring until chips are completely melted and combined into sauce. Serve over ice cream.

Our Breakfast Smoothie

My kids have really been into smoothies for breakfast lately. It's amazing the things you can hide in a smoothie and your kids will still think it's such a treat! This recipe of course is very adaptable. I really like the added richness that avocado gives it. Yum. BTW, my kids, very excitedly, call it the Kung Fu Panda Smoothie because the tofu package that I buy right now has Po from Kung Fu Panda on it. Yay for tofu marketing to kids. I usually double this to feed my whole family for breakfast and serve it with whole wheat toast with peanut butter on it. This breakfast makes everyone happy.

Our Breakfast Smoothie

1 cup orange juice (or other liquid such as: vanilla soy milk, vanilla almond milk, pineapple juice, etc.)
1 banana
1 cup frozen berries or other frozen fruit (optional, I use frozen mixed berries)
3 oz silken tofu (or a scoop of protein powder)
1/2 cup ice cubes
large handful spinach or kale
1 tablespoon psyllium husk powder (or powdered apple fiber, ground flax, etc.)
1/2 an avocado (optional)

Combine all in the blender and let it rip. Makes about 3, 1 cup servings.

*For a less sweet "green smoothie" use soy milk or almond milk and leave out the berries.

Royal Wedding Celebration Dinner

I loved watching the Royal Wedding yesterday!! Didn't Kate look beautiful?! Last night we had a fun English dinner to celebrate the Royal Wedding. I don't really have a recipe for you, but I thought I'd share our dinner for kicks. We had bangers (beef brats), mash, peas, and jelly. I couldn't bring my self to mush up the peas for mushy peas so we just had buttered peas. Oh and then we had Royal Wedding Groom's Cake Bites for dessert based on Prince William's Groom's Cake which was a secret recipe Chocolate McVities Biscuit cake. I'll list that recipe separately because those little bites were SO darn good!!

Cinnamon Butter

My family and I went to Texas Roadhouse and we had wonderful rolls with their fabulous cinnamon butter. I could not believe how good that cinnamon butter tasted. Yum. So I thought I'd try and make it at home.  This is what I came up with after looking at some copy-cat recipes. We had it last night with Buttery Cornmeal Crescent Rolls and wow it was good!

Cinnamon Butter

1 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon cinnamon, or to taste

Combine all in a bowl with a hand mixer until well mixed and smooth. Serve on rolls, bread, toast, pancakes, or waffles.

Best Bites Sweet and Sour Sauce (with meatballs)

I recently bought the Best Bites cookbook and I love it! It has some fantastic looking recipes and this is the first one I have tried. This sauce rocks. I did cheat and use a bag of frozen meatballs. The Best Bites meatballs recipe looks really good so I fully intend to make the meatballs from scratch someday... I must say though that frozen meatballs do have their advantages. This meal takes about 20 minutes to make when you use premade meatballs. Just saying.

Best Bites Sweet and Sour Sauce (with meatballs)

1 - 2 lbs frozen meatballs (baked according to pkg directions)
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup pineapple juice
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup vinegar
3 tablespoons soy sauce

In a large saucepan, whisk together brown sugar and flour. Add pineapple juice, water, vinegar, and soy sauce. Bring to a boil, whisking. Let cook for a few minutes on medium heat. Add cooked meatballs and simmer until heated through. Serve over rice.

Easy Hot Fudge Sauce

I may never buy bottled hot fudge sauce again. This hot fudge is so easy to make! And most importantly it is ridiculously yummy! I got the recipe from Our Best Bites. You can store this sauce for a week in the fridge... if you have any leftovers.:)

Easy Hot Fudge Sauce

1/4 cup butter, cut into pieces
1, 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a saucepan combine butter (that has been cut into pieces) and sweetened condensed milk. Heat over medium heat stirring until butter melts and milk is warm. Add the chocolate chips and stir until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Remove from heat and serve over ice cream.

Ooey Gooey Caramel Popcorn

I got this recipe from my friend Jann who got it from my friend Cami and now I'm throwing it out there into the ether for you because it is just so darn yummy. The original recipe had just brown sugar, but I added some corn syrup because I like the smoothness it gives the caramel. Also I added a little cream because well why not? If you are going to mix butter and sugar and corn syrup well then you must add cream... This caramel popcorn was just so darn good and my whole family couldn't get enough of it.

Ooey Gooey Caramel Popcorn

2 regular size bags microwave popcorn, popped
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Put popped popcorn into a large bowl or paper bag. Melt butter in a saucepan, add brown sugar and corn syrup and bring to a boil. Add heavy cream to taste and heat through. Drizzle over popcorn and toss to coat evenly or shake well in a paper bag. Serve.*

*If you'd like a less gooey caramel popcorn then bake the caramel coated popcorn on a greased cookie sheet at 325 stirring every 5 or so minutes for about 15 - 20 minutes.

I Feel Complete Now

I met the PIONEER WOMAN!!! How awesome is that! I went to a book signing for her new cookbook which is amazing, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl. It was so weird and to meet and talk to her and tell her how much I love her BBQ meatballs!! I am such a fan! And she signed my cookbook. Yay!

It's My Recipe Blogaversary!

I have now been recipe blogging for 1 year! It has been a fun year and all my children expect the picture taking at the dinner table now. I love being a part of the food blogging community and thanks to everyone who tries my recipes! It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside when I find out that someone has enjoyed a recipe from my blog. For the record I made Lentil Stew, Quick Bread Sticks, and Sugar Cookies to celebrate my little anniversary - all 3 are favorite recipes from this last year.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

I'm reposting this from last year because I actually got a picture this year, but funny enough these comments I made last year still works for this year: We made these last night with the pumpkin seeds we saved from carving our jack-o-lanterns on Monday. I just loved the smell that radiated through out the house as they roasted away. Such a yummy snack! Nina would eat them all if we left them in her reach!!

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

2 cups raw pumpkins seeds
2 tablespoons butter, melted (or you could use olive oil for a healthier version)
seasoned salt, probably 2 teaspoons (I have McCormick's Season All)
salt
pepper

To prepare seeds you can either rinse them a lot and pick off all the pumpkin goo or boil them in salted water for 20 minutes (cleans them right up). After you prepare the seeds spread them out on a cookie sheet to dry overnight. When seeds are dry combine with butter and seasoned salt to taste. Toss to coat well. Spread the coated seeds on a cookie sheet , sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake at 300 for 30 minutes, stirring seeds around at least once while roasting. When they come out of the oven sprinkle them with some Kosher salt and there you go. I love munching on them when they are still hot. Mmmmm!!!!

Strawberry Butter

This stuff is so good on crescent rolls!! It's also really yummy on pancakes or waffles.

Strawberry Butter

1/2 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons strawberry jam

In a bowl beat all the ingredients together till creamy. Place in a air-tight container and store in fridge (let it sit out at room temp for a while to soften before serving so it's spreadable).

Strawberry Freezer Jam

Strawberries were on sale at Target today for super cheap, so I bought some and decided to make freezer jam. Now I have 11 jars of strawberry jam and the cost was about 50 cents each - yay!!


Strawberry Freezer Jam
(This is just the recipe from the Sure Jell Pectin box. I doubled this recipe and ended up using 3, 1 lb, containers of strawberries. My yield was 11, 8oz, jars.)

2 cups crushed strawberries
4 cups sugar
1, 1.75 oz, box fruit pectin


1. Wash and rinse jars or plastic containers with tight fitting lids.

2. Remove stems and leaves from strawberries and cut into chunks. In a bowl mash strawberries with a potato masher. Do not completely mash strawberries, there should be bits of fruit in the jam.

3. Measure out 2 cups of mashed berries and put into a large bowl.

4. Measure out exactly 4 cups of sugar and pour into another bowl.

5. Stir sugar into the mashed berries and mix well. Let sit for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

6. Stir 1 box of pectin and 3/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil on high heat, stirring constantly. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

7. Stir pectin into the mashed fruit and sugar mixture. Stir constantly until sugar is completely dissolved and no longer grainy. Should take about 3 minutes.

8. Pour into prepared containers, leaving 1/2 inch space at top for expansion during freezing; cover with lids. Let stand at room temperature for 24 hours until set. Refrigerate up to 3 weeks. Otherwise, store in the freezer for up to 1 year. Thaw in refrigerator.