Jam, Jam, Jam!

When I went to our green market last week, I bought blueberries, raspberries and strawberries to turn into jam. Well, I ATE them all. No jam last week. This week I was smart. I bought almost a flat of fruit. Not all of it is for jam. I wanted to make sure I bought plenty to eat. I bought raspberries, blueberries, black raspberries, bing cherries and 2 kinds of apricots. (Good thing I bought two boxes of apricots, B has already eaten 3!)

Before, I made a no-cook jam. And it was OK, but pretty sweet. When I was at my sister's, I spied an Eating Well Magazine with low sugar jam recipes. So I bored it. Eating Well's jam recipe used "no sugar needed" pectin. You still have to use sugar, but a lot less of it. So I tried it today. And, it went well. I have only had a finger swipe of a taste, but what I tried was good. I am so excited to try it tomorrow.

Here is the recipe for Eating Well Magazine.

**I used raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, and black raspberries. **

FRESH FRUIT JAM

Makes 6-8 cups

ACTIVE TIME: 20-40 minutes

TOTAL TIME: 20-40 minutes (depending on type of fruit)

EASE OF PREPARATION: Easy

12 cups prepared fresh fruit, peeled if desired (see Tip)
1-2 cups granulated sugar or brown sugar (see Note)
1/2 cup water
1 1.75-ounce packet “no sugar needed” pectin (see Note)

1. Combine fruit, sugar to taste and water in a Dutch oven. Bring to a vigorous boil and crush fruit with a potato masher until desired consistency. Add pectin in a steady stream, stirring constantly. Stir until the pectin is dissolved. Bring to a full rolling boil (a boil that cannot be “stirred down”), stirring constantly. Boil, stirring, for 1 minute. Remove from the heat.
2. If freezing or refrigerating, ladle the jam into clean canning jars to within 1/2 inch of the rim. Wipe rims clean. Cover with lids. Let the jars stand at room temperature until set, about 24 hours, before refrigerating or freezing. Or process in a water bath to store at room temperature (see Tip).

NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per tablespoon (strawberry): 12 calories; 0 g fat (0 g sat, 0 g mono); 0 mg cholesterol; 3 g carbohydrate; 0 g protein; 0 g fiber; 1 mg sodium; 32 mg potassium.
0 Carbohydrate Servings
Exchanges: free food

TIP: Tip: How to Prep & Measure Fruit—Berries: Remove stems; hull strawberries. Measure whole. Cherries: Remove stems and pits; halve. Measure halves. Peaches, Nectarines & Plums: Peel if desired. Cut into 1/2-inch pieces; discard pits. Measure pieces. Apples, Pears & other fruit: Peel if desired. Quarter, remove seeds and cut into 1/2-inch pieces. Measure pieces.

To peel stone fruit, dip them in boiling water for about 1 minute to loosen their skins. Let cool slightly, then remove the skins with a paring knife.

Notes: 3/4 cup maple syrup (or honey) or 1/2-1 cup Splenda Granular can be used in place of 1 cup sugar.

We tested Fresh Fruit Jam with “No sugar needed” pectin from Ball and Sure-Jell. We prefer this to regular pectin because you can adjust the amount of added sugar. Regular pectin cannot be used in its place because it requires more sugar to ensure a proper set. Although Sure-Jell’s instructions indicate that you cannot use less sugar than called for in their recipes, we had successful results using less (as indicated in our recipes).

Tip: Processing in a boiling water bath ensures safe storage at room temperature for up to a year. For step-by-step pictures and instructions, go to eatingwell.com/kitchentips.

MAKE AHEAD TIP: Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks, in the freezer for up to 1 year or at room temperature for up to 1 year if processed in a water bath. | Equipment: Six to eight 8-ounce canning jars.

Here is a photo of my jam. I am going to freeze it.

Maybe the next time I will trying processing it

in a water bath.

Recipe: Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Treats

A fellow canning club member turned me onto a new food site. Joy the Baker. Yes, just what I need. Thanks Kim! I swear, I thank her without any sarcasm, because I found this recipe. Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Treats. That is rice crispy treats topped with a layer of peanut butter fudge, topped with a layer of chocolate fudge. Please check out Joy's post. Her pictures are much better, and more comprehensive than mine.

Here are the Rice Cripsy Directions:

• 3 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1 package (10 oz., about 40) regular marshmallows
• - OR -
• 4 cups miniature marshmallows
• 6 cups Rice Krispy Cereal (or any puffed rice cereal)

1. In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.2. Add Rice Krispies cereal. Stir until well coated.

3. Using buttered spatula or wax paper evenly press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. ( You may want to line your pan with parchment paper or waxed paper large enough to have flaps hanging over the sides. This will make it easy to pull the giant block of goodness out of the pan when it’s done. I just forgot this step. But as recorded in the comments below, some people had trouble with the wax paper sticking to the Krispie treats. A well sprayed pan might just be your best bet!) Cool. Make Peanut Butter Fudge.

This is my favorite photo. So gooey and good.

I wanted to eat the crispies, without any fudge.

Peanut Butter Fudge:

recipe from Alton Brown

• 1 cup butter, plus more for greasing pan
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 pound powdered sugar
• 
  

Microwave butter and peanut butter for 2 minutes on high. Stir and microwave on high for 2 more minutes. Add vanilla and powdered sugar to peanut butter mixture and stir to combine with a wooden spoon. Pour over the Rice Krispy treats in the pan and spread evenly. Let cool in the fridge while you make the Chocolate Fudge.

My fudge wasn't pourable. I don't know if it

was wrong, but it tasted right.

Chocolate Fudge:

• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2/3 cup evaporated milk
• 1 2/3 cups sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups miniature marshmallows
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 
  

Combine butter, milk, sugar, and salt in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil; cook 4 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in marshmallows, chocolate, and vanilla,. Beat for about 1 minute, or until marshmallows melt and mixture is thoroughly combined. Pour over peanut butter fudge, spread evenly and place in the fridge to harden and cool.

My chocolate fudge wasn't pourable either. I had

the same problem last Christmas. I think my sugar - milk

mixture gets too hot. Still, I was able to pat the

fudge into place.

I forgot to take a picture of the finished product! I cut them, packed them up, and sent them on their way to work with Mike. Seriously did not want to keep these treats around. Even though I had fudge issues, (the kind of issues to have if you're lucky!) these tasted like heaven. And unlike Joy the Baker, I did not find them too rich. I could totally eat more than 10, I mean one.

B's Favorite Snack

Lately, B has been avoiding the camera. That is one reason I haven't been posting a lot of pictures. Yesterday, I snapped a quick photo while B was enjoying her favorite snack on the sofa. Popcorn! About once a week, B asked me to pop some corn. I make in the old fashioned way, on the stove. I have a cute pan with a stirring mechanism in the bottom, just turn the handle.

While she is eating her popcorn, B likes to watch Martha Speaks on PBS. This is one of our favorite shows.

B's New Bike

We have been talking about getting B a bike for awhile. So even though we (not B, of course) were tired, we walked up town, first to get coffee, then eggs at the farmers market, then up to bike shop to look at bikes.

We didn't want to get a tricycle - we already have one in the garage that a neighbor lent us. It has a handle on the back, which is nice, but it seemed to encourage B not to peddle. So, this is what we found:

B likes to watch her feet instead of where she is headed.

She really didn't want me to take her photo.

"Did the wind miss up my hair?"

She is doing OK with the bike. She rode it home (most of the way) and around the block in the afternoon and then to the park. There are a lot of inclines she needs help with and B need help with steering.

July 3rd and 4th

As usual, when we have one thing to do, we have many. So weekends are dead slow, with nothing to do. Others are cram packed. Last week we had a lot to do.

Wednesday evening, I went to the first meeting of a cooking club. We didn't actually cook, but we discussed when to meet and what we wanted to do - primarily canning. And, we all brought appetizers. There were fantastic cheeses, gazpacho with cherries, gourgeres, fabulous sangria, fruit with a great sauce that was flavored with amaretto, smoked salmon sandwiches (my contribution), arugala and edamame spread with crostini, another cheese with fresh cherries, fruit skewers and out of this world rice pudding with rhubarb compote. We should have all brought the recipes to share, because everything was incredible!!! And, I should have noted the cheeses, because they also rocked.

Thursday we went to Furry Murray's birthday party. There were many young celebrators, B was in heaven, and I was in heaven getting to sit on a great porch talking with friends. There were hot dogs of course and great lemon cupcakes for Murray to share.

Friday, B got her hair cut. I made cupcakes, 2 kinds of ice cream, and wanted to make coffee cake for the 4th of July parade, but didn't get around to it. We headed over to Mike's sister Kate's house after B woke up. We went over to wish Eileen and Ryan "Happy Birthday."

We went swimming at their neighborhood pool, and had pizza and salad. It was cold, so only the kids went in the pool. Then we walked back to the cousin's house and had s'mores made on their cool backyard fire pit. We planned to be home by 8:30, but it didn't work out that way.

Trying to convince Mike to get in the cold water.

Cute hair right? She got it cut that morning.

Cousin Eileen.

I love to see her smiling in the pool.

B's swimming like a sea lion - her words.

On the morning of the 4th, we got up early. We wanted to be at my sister's at 8:30. That means we had to leave at 7:30, earlier if we wanted to stop and get a treat. And, the promise of a donut is the only thing that got B out of bed - and that was at 7:10! We didn't leave the house by 7:30, but by 7:45. We stopped and got donuts. Mike and I got cake donuts with chocolate frosting and B got donut holes. She is just like her cousin Jeana, she loves donuts!!! When I got back in the car, B's face was contorted with excitement.

So we were late to Lee's house, but she waited for us and we rode our bikes to her friend's house for the parade. I would have taken more pictures, but the battery was dying on my camera. See, if we had a rotten time and got home earlier on Friday night, I would have gotten stuff ready and packed batteries! Oh, well.

Anyway, the parade was good and my sister's friend had great food. The best breakfast burritos I have ever had! Then we rode back to Lee's - in the rain - and ate more! Guacamole, BBQ chicken, potatoes, salads, chips, hamburgers. Plus, the ice cream and the cupcakes. I swore Saturday night, I would never eat again. It was a full house, my nephew had a bunch of friends over - they were playing some made up game of tree golf, and my niece had a friend over too. It was a lot of fun!

At the Parade - poor thing looks tired here too!

B fell asleep at Lee's house. She was tired.

We were all tired. I am still tired today!

Recipe: S'more Cupcakes

I often checkout the blog Cupcakes Take the Cake. They had a post about Sew Darn Cute's s'more cupcakes. So, I clicked over, checked out the recipe, and decided to make them for the 4th of July.

Sew Darn Cute's recipe uses Martha Stewart's one bowl chocolate cake recipe. And then you from the cupcakes with a great marshmallow butter cream, then sprinkle crushed graham crackers over the top. Sew Darn Cute also added a square of chocolate to the top. I skipped this as, come on, wasn't I eating enough calories just by eating the cupcake?

INGREDIENTS

Makes 2 eight-inch square or 3 eight-inch round layers. Or, about 36 cupcakes.

• Unsalted butter, for pans
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for pans
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter round or square cake pans, and line bottoms with parchment; butter parchment, and dust with cocoa.
2. Into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, sift cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low, stir in eggs, 1 1/2 cups** warm water, buttermilk, vegetable oil, and vanilla until smooth, about 3 minutes.
3. Divide batter among prepared pans. Bake, rotating once, until tester inserted in center comes out clean, 35 to 45 minutes for 8-inch layers, depending on amount of batter.
4. Let cakes cool in pans on a wire rack for 20 minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely, right side up on rack.

** After reading the comments on the Martha Stewart website, I decided to reduce the water water to a cup. It seems that a lot of users had cakes that sunk in the middle. I might even reduce it to 3/4 cup or 7/8. My cupcakes sunk a bit in the middle. Still, I got rave reviews. Even my husband liked them - the best cupcakes ever, he said.

Marshmallow Frosting

1/2-3/4 lb. (2 or 3 sticks) butter, room temperature (I used 2)
1 lb. (2 cups) confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
16 oz. tub of marshmallow cream (I recommend Fluff) ( I used 2 7 oz containers)

Cream the butter (I love my Kitchenaid!) on high until it's light and fluffy. Add the confectioner's sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, and beat until fluffy each time. Beat in the vanilla until incorporated. Then dump in the Fluff and mix it up 'til it's all creamy. Transfer to pastry bag (if desired) and pipe onto cupcakes! (You can also cut the corner off a Ziploc bag and use that instead.)

The frosting iced about 15 or 16 cupcakes.

There is another s'more cupcake recipe I want to try. I found it again at Cupcakes Take the Cake.

I'll try this next!

Recipe: Chocolate-Peanut Butter Ice Cream

I really like to make ice cream. Actually way more than I like to eat it. Ice Cream always tastes so good at first, but then it leaves me very full, very thirsty and with a very trouble tummy. Still, I persevere. For the 4th, I am making chocolate peanut butter ice cream (my nephew will love this and the s'more cupcakes I am going to try) with the addition of fudge and peanut butter patties. So far, I made the ice cream base and the fudge, now I just need more peanut butter for the patties. All recipes from The Perfect Scoop (with my little tweeks). Sorry, no photos. I ran out of camera batteries today.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream

1 cup (250ml) heavy cream

1 cup (250ml) whole milk

(or 500ml of half and half - which I didn't have)

1/4 cup (25g) unsweetened dutch process cocoa powder

1/2 cup (100g) sugar

pinch of salt

1/3 cup (130g) smooth peanut butter

Whisk half and half, cocoa powder, sugar and salt in a large saucepan. Heat mix, whisking, until it comes to a full boil (mix with foam up - a lot). Remove fro heat, whisk in peanut butter, stirring until blended ( I used a whisk and a spoon.)

Chill in refrigerator, then freeze in your ice cream maker.

Mix in peanut butter patties during the last couple turns of the ice cream maker, then layer in the fudge ripple as you transfer the ice cream to a container.

Fudge

1/2 cup (100g) sugar

1/3 cup (80ml) light corn syrup

1/2 cup (125ml) water

6 TBSP (50g) unsweetened dutch process cocoa powder

1/2 tea vanilla extract

Whisk together sugar, corn syrup, water and cocoa in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk constantly, until mix begins to bubble. Continue to whisk until it comes to a low boil. Cook for one minute, whisking constantly. Remove form heat and stir in vanilla. Chill before using. IT must be throughly chilled when you add it to ice cream.

Peanut Butter Patties ( I only did half the recipe)

6 TBSP (90g) peanut butter

2 TBSP confectioners sugar (sifted)

Mix peanut butter and sugar together. Line a plate or platter with plastic. Pinch off small pieces of the peanut butte mixture about a 1/4 teaspoon (the book says 1/2 teaspoon, but that is a big frozen chunk - I like smaller chunks) each and drop into the plate. Freeze until ready to use.

Well, this ice cream was AWESOME! So good. It didn't make a bunch of ice cream, but what it made was so good. And the fudge recipe made so much that I added it to my vanilla ice cream also (and still have some left). It was a big hit today at my sister's for the 4th. Check the next post for the s'more cupcakes.