Making Jam

I have been wanting to make jam for a while now...My oldest daughter and sis-in-law make jam...wonderful tasty jam...well who knew the "family recipe"...is the Sure-Jell recipe, lol.

Lucky for me Fry's has strawberries on sale this week for .88 cents a thingy...I'll be honest, I am not savvy in the kitchen...and may not even belong in the kitchen. I dont know if strawberries are sold in pints or quarts, so I just bought four "thingys" of them. Washed them up and measured my sugar...yeah thats a lot of sugar!!!

I dont like chunks in my jam so I pulled out my "food processor"...umm I found out I dont have a food processor, I have a shredder thingy (I am not kidding when I say I dont know my way around a kitchen)...look at my stringy strawberries...this will not work...

So into my vitamix it all went!!

Oh yeah, this is more to my liking. I mixed it with the sugar and boiled the Sure-Jell and poured into jelly jars.

Look at my gorgeous jam!! I made 5 jars of strawberry and 6 jars of strawberry blueberry.

By the way I made freezer jam, thought I would start easy instead of diving into the cooked kind...I will wait and see how this turns out...hopefully it gels right and is a success...I will know in a couple days.

What is your favorite flavor of jam?

Farmers Market Bounty

I love summer because it means farmers market season and freshly grown fruits and veggies. Our local market started last week, and tonight was our first trip of the season. Not gonna lie...I was a little disappointed. There were a lot of jewelry booths, and the few veggie booths were tucked over in the corner...so The Hubs and I beelined it over to them, but it was slim pickens. :(

I found a couple squashes that werent gigantic. (I learned long ago huge squash are just full of seeds.) Also found some garlic and the local bakery was there with their fabulous bread. The yummiest find was a local cafe I wasnt aware of that had some wonderful hummus and crackers...cant wait to make a visit to that cafe some afternoon!!

So what fabulous bounties are you finding...and what are you making with your yummy finds?

Great Balls of Soap!!

I got a new toy...um... I mean soap mold. :)

A fun sphere mold that Brambleberry just released....

So of course I had to start playing right away. I made a rainbow assortment...Here is a size comparison to one of our bar soaps...

Of course I had to play further and I made an eye ball soap for my grandson...what do you think about eyeball soaps for halloween time??

SmartTarts and Tea

Today is my birthday!! I had a no gift rule...but apparently my family cannot listen...but I have to say I love what they gave me!! :)

I have a couple of loves/obsessions, one being SmartTarts (as the guy at the gas station calls them...Smarties/Sweet Tarts...SmartTarts!!) I LOVE jumbo SmartTarts, horrible habit I know...but I guess I could have worse habits. :)

Baby Girl gave me a big bag of them...all individually wrapped of course because that is just her style. lol

My next love is tea. I love tea iced or hot, herbal or plain. My favorite right now is Pu-Erh tea, and my favorite brand is Rishi...mostly because I am a packaging snob and I love their tins.

So The Hubs gave me a tea maker and some tea....

Having a little trouble with the directions of how to use it....

Obviously there are 3 steps to it...just not sure what those steps are. LOL

But I winged it and now have some yummy Chamomile tea brewing to enjoy later.



New Wainscot

The dining room is coming along with the addition of the beautiful wainscot.

The wainscot was personally made for us by Cousin Al. Al had had some hickory trees on his property in Georgia that he had milled, and when he heard we put in hickory cabinets, he generously made us wainscot himself out of it, and then shipped them off to us. 

It is absolutely gorgeous!!!

Up next is the counters and flooring...any ideas on counter top materials and colors?

Strawberry Poke Cake

I needed to make a cake for a co-workers birthday, and she wanted something light....so we decided on a poke cake. I had never made one before, but I am always game for something new to try...and I have now discovered THE perfect summer cake. Poke cake is so light and moist and yummy!!

So what is needed....actually not a lot. Cake mix, eggs, oil, water, cool whip and jello...Thats it!!

First make your cake to the box directions...I made a yellow cake...white would probably make a nicer pop for the jello color...but I find them too fussy with the egg whites, and lets be real...I can be a disaster in the kitchen! (Like I really made 2 cakes, but you dont get the pictures of the one that came out of the oven lopsided lol)

After it has cooled (I cooled it over night) then just poke poke poke...there is no wrong or right way, use a fork, spoon handle or a skewer like I did. Poke as many or as little holes as you want.

Next prepare the jello to the box directions, 1 cup boiling water, 1 cup ice water...and slowly pour over the cake and watch it absorb in.

I "frosted" it with cool whip...so nice and light.

Voila....a beautiful colorful cake!!!

What is your favorite summer dessert?

Calendula Soap

Our newest soap bar to our lineup is Calendula.

Calendula (kə-len-jə-lə) comes from the daisy family, is considered a pot marigold and is native to the Mediterranean region.

Calendula is beneficial in skin care to soothe inflammation and is known for its antiseptic properties. This soap bar is very gentle, making it wonderful for sensitive skin and it can be used as a face or body soap.

Not only does our Calendula soap have beautiful petals throughout the bar, but it also has the Calendula infused right into the Olive Oil that is used to make the soap…adding a richness to it over your average Calendula soap bar.

We have chosen to keep this bar unscented adding no fragrance oils or essential oils and although there are no noted precautions with calendula, those with plant based allergies may want to do a patch test before using.

To complete this fabulous cold process soap bar we have added shea butter. Shea butter is soothing and moisturizing and helps create a great conditioning bar making a wonderful creamy lather.

Our Calendula soap will be ready in a couple weeks after its cure, so be sure to check back when it’s ready and snag a bar for you.