Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Strawberry Frenzy!

Carrie just might turn into a strawberry soon. It's her new favorite food. She usually gobbles them up faster than I can cut them up onto her high chair tray.
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Strawberries are now fully in season and at their cheapest price (yipee), so it's time to make Strawberry freezer jam!
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I blogged last year about my first time helping my mom make jam. This year, since we moved 45 minutes away from my parents, I decided to make it all by myself. My mom said, "It's easy, the recipe is right on the box of pectin (the stuff that makes jam jel-up)"
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So I bought 8 pounds of strawberries and sugar and pectin to go with it. By the way, I discovered 8 pounds is WAY too much for our little family so I will likely be giving away jars of jam as presents for a little while.
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I read the recipe and cut up, chopped up and measured the right amount of strawberries and sugar into the bowl. I apparently missed the real "directions" though because I dumped the pectin powder right in and mixed it up too. You're supposed to mix it with water and boil it so it gets syrupy before you add it to the fruit. Oops...
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I thought I'd ruined a whole batch of jam (which luckily was only 1/2 of my strawberries). I called my mom who helped me find the "troubleshooting" section on the recipe and hopefully I fixed it. My 6 jars of "maybe" jam are sitting on the counter jelling-up as we speak. I'll report next time if it worked. Meanwhile, I still have tons of strawberries left and more jam to make.
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And per request, a picture of our under-cabinet lights. Tah-dah! (Thanks again dad, they look great!)
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Earlier this morning, I heard Carrie rustling around in the kitchen. Turns out, she had figured out how to slide open the pantry door and was going grocery shopping with her stroller!
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Rice, beans, mustard, ranch, peanuts and vanilla snackpacks huh? Interesting combo... I wonder what she's making for dinner tonight?...

2 comments:

Brittney said...

oh I like the under cabinet lights!!! MMmmm strawberries. You're so domestic.

Stephanie said...

I have nerver made jam! Good job! and the kitchen looks wonderful!!!!