The Fruits of my labor
How Pretty are these Dilly Beans?
Owl Fabric Kindle Koozie! Soooo Snug and warm
Gorgeous! I LOVE the color of the Watermelon Jam! Delish
Here was the beautiful little watermelon I used this morning. It too was a bargain at 3 lbs/$1
Wow! I didn't realize how long it's been since I've last posted. I have an excuse. A very cliche' excuse. Um. I was busy. How's that? Well, in addition to being busy, I haven't really done anything too note worthy as of lately. Today, however, is a different story. I have ALL sorts of things to tell ya'all about. Like my fun day of canning I had today. I should also mention that the ONLY reason I am able to neglect my children and spend the day in the kitchen on occassion is because of my Mother In Law.....She pretty much rocks. While my mother in law wrangled the children this morning, I was able to make a batch of watermelon jam, strawberry-rhubarb jam and some dilly beans! I am OUT of strawberry rhubarb jam so I HAD to make that. I also have been reading on some foodie blogs about watermelon jam/jelly....I LOVE watermelon and have been DYING to make it! I finally bought a watermelon on my shopping excursion yesterday and hunkered down and got my recipe and prepped for the making of the jam this morning. It is a beautiful pinkish/red hue and looks and tastes amazing. I don't know how PRACTICAL it is, but I figure it's a pretty cool, quirky foodie gift that I can give away! According to the recipe on http://www.blondiescakes.blogspot.com/, the jam has a tendancy to be a bit cantankerous and NOT always set up right. I followed the directions to a T and even added a couple of minutes to the hard boil stage and I am still NOT sure how well it set up. It has thickened up since this morning but is still pretty runny. If all else fails, I may have to pop all those beautiful seals and re-process it tomorrow and HOPE for a better consistancy. My third recipe I made is something I have NEVER made before and really wanted to try. It sealed the deal when I found some gorgeous green beans at the Sunflower Farmer's Market in OKC. It's NOT really a farmers market but a fancy, schmancy grocery store with amazing produce and lots of organics and hard to find items. I should also mention that they have Ridiculous deals and you can score some great food for really cheap. Case in point, I got my green beans for 77 Cents/Pound yesterday. Seriously cheap. Of course I didn't have a recipe for said Dilly beans and had to go to one of my tried and true foodie blogs to find a good recipe. I trolled around http://www.foodinjars.blogspot.com/ and found a recipe that would be PERFECT. I wanted the beans to be a bit spicy and the red pepper flakes will hopefully ensure that they are! Now my only problem is waiting the suggested TWO WEEKS for the flavors to really develop in the beans and brine. I don't know if I can do it, but I am certainly gonna try. The beans just look so beautiful in their little jars, all standing up perfectly with the herbs and garlic swirling around the bottom. I WISH I would have bought MORE green beans but there is always next time, right?
The first project I made today was actually a little Kindle Koozie. I wanted a place to protect my kindle and I found some cute fabric and a pretty easy pattern online. I decided to give it a whirl. I must confess that I really like to sew, but I really am NOT very good at it. I try. Perhaps if I used my sewing machine more often than every couple of months, I would be better at it. I have a lot of projects I would like to make so hopefully I can sharpen up my sewing skills in the coming months and possibly make some cute, thoughtful Christmas gifts! The blog where I got the kindle koozie pattern is: http://www.jessicapeek.blogspot.com/.
I hope you all enjoy looking at my tasties! I was able to put up 13 jars of jam and 4 jars of Dilly beans!
