Strawberry Freezer Jam

STRAWBERRY FREEZER JAM

This move is taking a lot longer than I thought it would. Well, we've never really moved, so I wasn't aware how long things take to process. So I'll be here for a while longer, at least a couple more weeks, then we'll fly out to look at houses. Then we'll have to wait forever to close on a house. Then we'll drive cross country.

So I'll be here! :) I know you're all tickled pink!

Speaking of pink. . .red. . .strawberries are starting to come here! yay! so I made myself up some freezer jam.

You'll be needing:

• Strawberries (I use 1 lb)
• sugar
• fruit pectin
  

Slice up your strawberries into chunks. You'll want about 2 cups worth. Or more. More would NOT hurt this recipe. In fact, it could give it even more of that strawberry flavor we all love.

Then pour 2 cups of sugar over it. and you could totally cut this sugar down. I cut it in half (the original recipe called for FOUR!!!! way too much sugar for me).

Mash those strawberries up good with your mother-in-law's pastry cutter. Don't tell her I used it ok? it just mashes things so well!

Don't pulverize the strawberries, you want some chunks left in there.

Boil your pectin and water, however the box tells you to do it. :) We do what the box says in situations like this.

Add it to the strawberries and stir it in good. It'll start setting up a looking more jam like. I let Captain Jax try some and he said it wasn't sweet enough. This is the man who could live off of brown sugar if I let him. He actually called me once, when he was watching our daughter K-girl, and first thing he said was "It's an emergency!" I, of course, started freaking out about our girl, and he said "um, actually, we're out of brown sugar.. . .will you pick some up while you're out?" He was in big trouble for that one! (and we had like 5 bags in the panty, he just didn't bother to look. . .silly husbands)

Divide your jam into some bags, and throw them in the freezer! Then, you can pull them out when you want strawberry jam in the middle of winter, and keep it in a jar in your fridge.

STRAWBERRY FREEZER JAM
Recipe courtesy of: http://recipesofacheapskate.blogspot.com

• 2 c. crushed strawberries
• 2 c. sugar
• 3/4 c. water
• 1 box Sure Jell fruit pectin

Thoroughly mix fruit and sugar in large bowl, let stand 10 minutes. Mix water and fruit pectin in small saucepan, boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in fruit. Let it sit for a little bit, then divide into bags and store in the freezer.

MOVING!!

Hey all! I'm taking a hiatus for a few weeks, because Captain Jax and I are moving across the country!!

He's transferring to another store, and we're moving to GEORGIA!! I've always wanted to be a southern belle. :) so I'll be a little busy trying to pack up this house, buy another house out there (without seeing it, freaks me out a little bit) and drive across the country! Yikes!!

Utah to Georgia, with a 15 month old girl, and a 4 year old dog. . .this will definitely be an adventure!! That's one L-O-N-G drive. . . .

I have a few posts I'll try to get finished up and have posted automatically while I'm gone. . .but we'll see if I get around to it. . .I've got lots to do!! :)

Miss you all, and "see" you as soon as I can!

Brownie Mix-Monday Mix up

BROWNIE MIX

I know you all are going to make these today. I just know it. Hey, I'm going to make another batch, the first one didn't last long enough! The convenience of having a brownie mix in the house, without having to go to the grocery store and buy one. And then you have to remember to cut the box top out of the box to give to the school, and then recycle the box and hope your toddler doesn't go and empty the recycling box.

Instead you just open the tupperware and scoop out the right amount. OR you could divide the brownie mix into individual baggies ad you could just grab a bag! then there's hardly any measuring involved.

Here's what you'll need:

• cocoa
• sugar
• flour
• baking powder
• salt

Mix it all together with a whisk. If you have a good tupperware, with a TIGHT lid, I'd just shake it like crazy to help get everything off the bottom.

I didn't, and made a small mess when I did that. You want to make sure you have everything off the bottom, otherwise you'll end up with the last cup or 2 having extra flour or something. Not good.

It kind of looks like hot cocoa mix doesn't it? Make sure you label the container with what it is (Brownie Mix) and when it needs to be used by (about 3 months)

BROWNIE MIX

• 8 cups sugar
• 6 cups flour
• 1 (8-oz can) cocoa powder
• 4 tsp salt
• 4 tsp baking powder

Mix everything together good with a whisk, make sure to get everything off the bottom. Store in a larger container and label with the date and type of mix. Use within 3 months. (makes about 14 cups mix)

Let' make the brownies now!!

• Brownie Mix
• eggs
• butter (I use a spread type that's dairy free)
• vanilla

Melt the butter, and mix together with the eggs, vanilla, and brownie mix.

It's pretty thick, but it works out fine!

Grease an 8x8 pan. I use a special 'cake release' that works like MAGIC! I've never had ANYTHING stick with this stuff. It's just equal parts shortening, flour, and oil. Easy as that. then just keep it in the fridge until you need it.

Spread your mix into the pan and bake at 350F for about 30-35 minutes.

You could let it cool all the way, or you could just let it cool slightly and eat the whole pan. :) Eitherway, it's yummy!

Brownies with Mix

• 2 1/4 cup brownie mix
• 1/4 cup butter/margarine, melted
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla
• nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease an 8x8 pan. Mix together the melted butter, eggs, vanilla, and brownie mix. Beat until smooth. Add nuts, then pour into greased pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the edges separate from pan. Eat, then make another batch.

Monday Mix Up--Poppy Seed Bread

Poppy Seed Bread

Remember that sweet bread mix we made AGES ago? Well, go hunt it down and let's make us some poppy seed bread!

• milk
• eggs
• lemon juice
• poppy seeds
• oil
• sweet bread mix

Mix everything together. I always put extra lemon and poppy seeds in, because I love them!

Mmmmm. . . . .

And because it happened to be St. Patrick's Day when I made this bread, it got turned green. These things just can't be helped! Pour it into your pan.

Mmmmmm. . . . .it does look rather disturbing doesn't it? But it tastes great!

You can also make a lemon glaze from powdered sugar and lemon juice. Drizzle that over the top, let it soak in (or harden. . . .as mine did) and it gives it some more yummy lemon flavor.

Poppy Seed Bread
Recipe Courtesy: http://recipesofacheapskate.blogspot.com

• 3 3/4 C Sweet Bread Mix
• 1/3 C oil
• 3/4 C lemon juice
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 C milk (us soy or rice to make this dairy free)
• 2 tsp lemon zest
• 1 Tbsp poppy seeds (I use 3-4)

Preheat oven to 325degs and grease a 9x5 bread loaf pan. Mix together all the ingredients and pour into the prepared pan. Bake for60-75 minutes (yes, that long!) or until a toothpick cmes out clean. Cool in the pan for about 5 minutes on a rack, then remove from pan. Drizzle with lemon glaze (1 cup powdered sugar, 1 Tbsp lemon juice)

Puff Pancake--Monday Mix Up

PUFF PANCAKE


We'll be using our Pancake Mix here, so make sure you bust that out of your pantry. I'll wait for you. Let me tell you what happened yesterday. I usually blog after my baby goes to bed because, well, that's the only free time I have during the day. Unless Captain Jax is home, then I might be able to squeeze in a few minutes. Maybe.

After her bath time, I took her into her room to get dressed. Now, her room has two closets. They're both rather small, but the second one I store our cereal in. I stock-pile food. And I got most of the cereal free with coupons, so I have over 30 boxes of cereal.

They're rather pretty aren't they? It makes me happy to see them. :) Anyway, I walk in the bedroom, and pass the closet. I double take.

There are ANTS ALL OVER two of the shelves!!! ARG!!!!! They had chewed through the boxes AND the bags and were in the cereal just having the time of their lives. I cursed. I know, I'm a good Christian woman, but boy-howdy I was furious. Because you see, just a few days prior to this, we found them in our storage room in a 25lb bag of oatmeal we had bought. They had chewed through that bag and were all over inside.

So last night I opened all the boxes of cereal to check for ants. We only lost about 5 boxes, so that was quite a blessing. The ants had chewed through the majority of the boxes, but hadn't made it through the bags yet. Thank the Heavens! We need a permanent solution to these ants. I'm thinking 'Buy our own house" would be perfect.


Anyway, did you get you mix out? Let's get started!

• Pancake Mix
• Eggs
• Milk
• Butter

Melt your butter in your preheating oven, using two pie pans. Or you can use a large 9x13 glass pan. That's what my mom always used, since there were 8 of us eating (actually, i think she used 2 pans)

see that melted butter?

Then mix together you mix, eggs, and milk.

Pour those into the pans and bake in the oven!

I love how puffy it gets. That's my favorite.

Top with some fruit and some brown sugar and you're good to go! The brown sugar mixes with the fruit juices, making a nice syrup so you don't need to use syrup. It's lovely. I actually just stole some of the juice and poured it on top with the brown sugar. Tasty goodness.

Puff Pancake
Recipe Courtsey of: http://recipesofacheapskate.blogspot.com/

• 4 Tbsp butter
• 4 eggs
• 2/3 cups milk (I use soy)
• 2/3 cups Pancake Mix
• fresh or frozen fruit for topping
• brown sugar

Divide butter between two pie pans, or use 1 9x13 pan. Melt in the preheating oven. (preheat it at 450degs) Mix together eggs, milk, and pancake mix. When butter is melted, divide mixture between the two pie pans. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, until they're puffy and brown. DO NO OPEN YOUR OVEN. Otherwise they won't get puffy. Turn the light on in there and peek through the window. Top with fruit and brown sugar.

Corn Bread Muffins

CORNBREAD MUFFINS

You all asked for it! Let's use the cornbread mix from monday's mix-up. I love to make these muffins for my baby girl, they're so easy and I can freeze them.

Here's what you'll need:

• CornMuffin Mix
• meat of some kind (shredded chicken, hot dogs, etc)
• veggie of some kind
• egg
• butter
• water
  

Mix together your melted butter, the egg, and water.

Add your corn muffin mix

and mix it up good! At this point you can make it into regular corn muffins, or corn bread. It will make about 6 muffins, and a small bread pan of corn bread. (and I mean small, like 5x3 loaf size, so double this if you want an 8x8 pan)

Or you can move on to the next step and add all the 'extras'.

Then add your meat and veggies. Or whatever else you want. I like shredded chicken and veggies of some sort. Baby Girl likes the hot dogs. Of course. But she'll eat the veggies too. Sometimes.

As long as they're not carrots. She won't touch those.

Pour them into a greased pan and cook for about 20-25 minutes, until they're nice and brown.

Yum!

CORN BREAD/MUFFINS

• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 Tbsp melted butter
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 1/4 cup corn bread mix

Preheat the oven to 425degs, and grease either a muffin pan, or small bread loaf pan (5x3). Mix together the egg, butter and water. Add the corn bread mix. Mix together then pour into your pan. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until brown.

OPTIONAL: add chopped veggies (uncooked) and meat for some variety, or to make a snack for a kid.