Strawberry rhubarb jam

The last of my jamming posts. I made this for the first time last year in a very small batch (ie one jar) and it was so good. This year I am making a lot more. Somehow we are ending up with lots of jam and we really only average one jar every two months. Apparently we need to eat more jam.

strawberries, rhubarb, sugar, lemon

cut your strawberries and rhubarb

mix with sugar and lemon

simmer for an hour or so

blend well to avoid rhubarb strings

simmer down more

pour into clean jars and process

and enjoy

Jams also make great gifts.

Strawberry vanilla jam

I know I have another recipe posted for strawberry jam and I was really just making that recipe until I decided to add some vanilla bean for extra flavor, then I forgot I added the vanilla bean and blended it into the jam, hence strawberry vanilla jam. It was a happy accident. The jam is delicious. But now I still need to make plain strawberry jam.

strawberries, sugar, vanilla, lemon

slice your strawberries in quarters

if you have green tips you won't need pectin, I try and use a pint of underripes

cut the vanilla bean

add lemon and sugar to the strawberries

stir well and drop in vanilla beans

simmer for an hour or so

blend well, with vanilla beans still in pot, and simmer down an inch

pour into sterile jars

and water process for your altitude

then enjoy all year

So yummy!

Fruit popsicles

These are a super easy and healthy treat to have around the house in the summer. My kids love popsicles and I love to give them treats. It is so much better when I can make those treats healthy for them. A lot of time we use all frozen fruit since the kids tend to eat half a banana here, half a pint of strawberries there and instead of tossing the other half we throw it in the freezer for the next batch of popsicles. This batch was made with fresh fruit that was just about to be done. If you end up with more juice than popsicle holders you can refrigerate it for a day or two and refill the holders as the kids eat up the fruitsicles.

fresh fruit and orange juice

altogether into the blender

then into the popsicle holders

freeze well

Enjoy on hot summer days.

Chocolate strawberries

Every Easter the Easter Bunny gives my three children chocolate bunnies in their baskets. Early on I taught them that we can eat a little of that bunny, but then we save the rest for strawberry season to make chocolate covered strawberries. It is the gift that keeps on giving. This isn't actually hard as said bunny is nice enough to leave other yummy chocolate things to tide them through the day, especially during the egg hunt.

This year my eldest didn't even touch his bunny, so now we are going to make two batches, one with his and the one here with the headless bunnies from my younger two. This recipe is so simple it is hard not to keep making it all through strawberry season if you have chocolate on hand. These must be eaten the day they are made. Once you have dipped that strawberry it isn't going to last even if you refrigerate it.

headless bunnies and strawberries, nothing more

wash and dry your strawberries prepare your drying pan

you will need to butcher the bunnies

then add to a bowl over hot water (medium heat is good)

stir until chocolate is melted

then proceed to dip strawberries, try to keep it light, too much chocolate is a bad thing here

let dry completely, I hide them in the oven from little hands

then eat, preferably outside if you have ravenous chocolate monsters like I do

Most yummy!

Fresas

The real deal. I took my whole family and my dog 3000 miles round trip for these babies. Sure we saw the grand canyon, hoover dam, zion national park, my grandma, nephew, and aunts, sure we spent two days at our favorite beach campground in santa barbara eating awesome mexican food, sure we did lots of stuff, but what we were really doing was driving halfway across the country so I could buy the tastiest strawberries ever to make jam to last all year. We have strawberries here, and in season they taste good, but nothing, I mean nothing compares to an oxnard strawberry picked fresh that day. These strawberries don't make it to the market. If you see strawberries that say oxnard on them, they aren't the same, they were picked green. I have always bought mine at a farm stand that has been in the same place since I was a little girl. We would stop there on the way to my grandpa's boat to stock up on veggies and fruit for our weekend sails. The stand is smaller now and there are a lot of newer stands that are easier to get to, but this one will always be my go to. In fact we get excited when we have to wait for the truck to come with the strawberries just picked from the field because they are sold out. When we lived in cali we would probably go through 5-6 flats in the two short months of strawberry season. This time I had to settle on one and half flats since we were traveling with a camper and had no way to freeze them. The kids probably ate half a flat, and the rest is in my cupboard to be rationed in one a month increments. 

a sink full of heaven

I remove the top and cut in half to store them fresh in the fridge

if it ain't red thru and thru send it back

the various containers of berries 'pre-cooked' with sugar and lemon,
the only way they would keep on the long journey home

blend em' up

simmer down for a bit and add pectin

fill your hot jars

I love my claw, this is how I get them out of the boiling water

jars of heaven, I put two straight in the fridge,
no need to can what will be eaten right away