Hot Berry Mang-ilow!

New to my line of jalapeno jams...specially named for one of my friends....
HOT BERRY MANG-ILOW!  Strawberry-mango-jalapeno jam.  It has a heat to it but it calms down with the cream cheese.  More on this later...gotta run!

Jack-o-lantern smiling bright
Witches flying in the night
Ghosts and goblins, cats and bats
Witches with their funny hats
A full moon can't be beat
As we go out to Trick or Treat

 

Remember how fun it was to go trick or treating? Picking out the best costume.  Walking thru fallen leaves on the streets of the little town close to where I grew up. (It could have actually been a "Disney movie" town, as it was founded in the early 1800's.) Passing children from school. Meeting at the firehouse after the siren went off for the night of treating to end. Those were the days when you would receive apples, homemade popcorn balls and "regular size" candy bars!  Flash forward a few decades and I was helping MY daughter pick out her costume.  We drove into a bigger town where she went to school.  She would take her time and not run down the street, like the others, just to get candy.  She even would go up the hill and down the street to those "out of the way" houses, where elderly men and women would anxiously wait to see if a little trick or treat-er would stop by.  Ahhh...memories.

 

I love creating and this time of year is fun to make SODA POP JELLIES.  Yes, they are made from soda pop.  Yes, soda pop is already sweet enough, that is why I reduce the sugar in every recipe! It is so fun to create names and labels for them.  I took the pictures in my back yard on a knob of ground. I loved using the witches hand to "grab" the goodies!

 

Sometimes, you just have to be a little "childish" and have some fun in the kitchen!  If you haven't tried soda pop jelly, you might want to.  I have found some flavors such as root beer and crème soda to keep their taste the best! 

 

Happy Haunting!!!!

The End of One Season and On to Another....

With the first of September tomorrow, this month brings an end to the farmer's markets I attend.  Easton Farmer's Market will be held just two more Thursdays, the fifth and the twelfth. I had an amazing time each Thursday I was there.  I LOVE the atmosphere.  The water park in the middle of the square with the families playing and relaxing in the lawn. the music that is played to "drown out" the traffic noise.  It makes each evening a fun and different experience.

The New Concord Farmer's Market will hold it's last session on the 28th which is the last Saturday of the month. Lots of time to still get fresh made apple butter, fresh baked goods and fall produce.  Even though we have had some rainy days, the sunny days made up for it and we had lots of people attend and purchase amazing tomatoes, potatoes, rhurbarb, freshly baked pies and some Joyful Jars!

So with the end of Farmer's Market season, so begins Bazaar/Craft Show season.  I have lots of ideas for cute baskets, many themed for the holidays. What is easier than picking up a package ready to give? Fall favorites and Winter themed goodies will be back on the stove for processing.

Speaking of processing, look at those beautiful organic pears I purchased the other week.  Oh they were wonderful and sweet!  They became wonderful Vanilla Pear Butter, Cran-Pear-ry Jam, Pear Jam and a few jars of a special Vanilla Caramel Pear Sauce.  YUMM.
I love using good, local produce that I know hasn't been altered with sprays and etc.  I have had bushels of organic apples, peaches that have turned into delicious flavors of jams and butters.

Back to work.  Spiked Apple Jelly is needing my attention.

August??

A picture of my coneflowers from my garden.  I love flowers and my flower gardens,  even though they get somewhat neglected with my canning business now.

My kitchen looks like a produce department at the local grocery store! I've had tomatoes, zucchini, onions, plums, peaches, apples, peppers, hot peppers, cucumbers tucked in boxes, bags and whatever else so I can to keep them handy and ready for use. Canning jars strung about the dining room and kitchen.  Who's kitchen doesn't look like this in mid August if you enjoy canning and gardening?  Sometimes I get a bit jealous when I read of others going to Farmers Markets in January and etc.  They are bringing home good tasting vegetables and it will be months before I can even buy a tomato plant let alone eat a fresh one from the garden! But I don't think I would ever want to live anywhere else. 

Over the last few weeks I have processed Bread and Butter Pickles, Yellow Squash Relish, Spaghetti Sauce, Seedless Bread and Butter Pickles and of course, many jars of jams and jellies!  It was fun doing the veggies...something different!  I even think I will do some Zucchini Salsa over the weekend!  :)

Wednesdays lately have been "Mom Work Days".  I can up jams and jellies throughout the week and on Wednesday, my mom comes up and will "clean" the jars for me so I could label them for the markets that begin on Thursdays.  It has been enjoyable and a nice way for her to "feel part of the business".   Today's lunch was fresh green beans, potatoes, onions, ham and kielbasa, simmered all morning.  I even baked fresh bread!  I topped a slice with fresh warm blackberry jam.  It was delicious! 

Enjoy life everyone.  I know this is rambling and not much sense to be made, but I guess that is how I am feeling right now...as I look at the produce sitting here!

I Can Get Distracted....

Beautiful jars shining in the sun at the farmers market!

Today began at 6 a.m.  It was a chilly but beautiful morning! Dishes done, spaghetti sauce, to be canned for winter time use, was in the slow cooker simmering down to a nice medium sauce. 
Next was the bushel of peaches.  Oh they smelled wonderful! Nothing like a fresh, juicy peach waiting to be peeled.  I sat at the kitchen sink, watching the birds fly around from feeder to water bowl and back, and found it very relaxing. Time spent doing repetitive work lets you have time to think, about the past, the future, the next few hours, etc.  I had tackled the bushel and placed the peels and pits in freezer bags to put away for a later date.  I save them to cook down and make a beautiful jelly that is delicious on chicken! 
So, on to getting the jars washed up and the canner simmering and then..........
Then, somehow, I got distracted.  Everyday for about one month I walk past the "pile" of things I have purchased lately. I have enjoyed buying a few new things for the walls and shelves but have not found a "home" for them yet.  Well, today was as good as any other day...(as my peaches sat in the huge Tupperware bowls on the counter waiting to become fabulous tasting jam!)
My mind wondered and I spent time on hanging some prints, thinking up a cool way to use the ladder I purchased and so on.  Now it is time for canning.
...THEN I looked at the canning shelves.  THEY called me....needed me to rearrange them!  SO I did...and now it is past 10 p.m. and I have not canned one thing today.
Tomorrow will start early again BUT it will end with beautiful jars full of Sunny Peach and Fuzzie Navel Jam to show for all my hours of being awake!
Leads me to wonder...where does time go?

Am I famous?? :)

From the local paper.  Our first rainy day of set up at this particular market!

Rain, rain, rain!  We have had lots of it around here in SE Ohio.  I must say, I dislike having my picture taken, but this is great advertisement and LOOK AT HOW BEAUTIFUL THE JARS LOOK!  I think they look like little jewels shining in the somewhat clouded, spotty sunshine sky.

The other day I made more of the Blueberry Lime and Blackberry Jelly.  My hands are stained from the berries but I think that is part of the fun of cooking...getting your hands in there and feeling the fruit and working with it to be mashed but also chunky so you can see the and taste the chunks of fruit.

I have a busy weekend ahead and I can feel the tension of hoping I have enough of everything coming on.  My mom, Becky, is coming over today to help clean the jars and label them.  I have over a bushel of peaches in the car but I bet that will be too much to ask for her to peel them all for me!  LOL  Maybe if I make the pout face like I am six years old again? 

Everyone enjoy the day.  It is beautiful here today. 

OH...Lordy...It's HOT!!!

Good Afternoon Everyone! 

Oh my golly...we  have gone from rain every afternoon to icky, sticky humidity..BIG TIME!

Unfortunately I don't have a nice cool cellar or breezeway to do my canning but we have come up with the next best thing.  My husband put up the pop-up tent and the campstove out on the deck and I am processing the jars out there! LOL  It actually is working out pretty good.  The house is still 78* with the a/c on.  I can't imagine what it would be with the canner going at full speed ahead too!

I cook up a batch and jar it in the house and take out to the cookstove to keep warm until I get a whole canner full.  

As I was making Wrangler & Red Raspberry last night, I looked for a recipe on SBCanning's blog, Canning Homemade, and found a delicious Red Raspberry Vanilla Jam!  Of course my good friend Cindy uses her words more eloquently than I do, (LOL) so I will just say it is dang good!   I love the taste of vanilla.  It has just enough to give it a little sweeter taste than the plain red raspberry.

Today, I did six batches of Friki Tiki Colada.  It is a summertime favorite!  And as I was getting my fresh blueberries from the freezer, I thought about something different to do with them.  It didn't take me long!  I have fallen in love with a drink at a restaurant called FlipSide.  They have the most amazing Blueberry Lemonade!   So, that is my attempt later on this afternoon.  I have a feeling with my ingredients, it will be a hit also. 

I have some new shelving units to put my canning equipment on, so I will take a break from canning and do some housework.  Enjoy your day my friends!  Be blessed and full of praise.