Some of my hubby’s fondest memories from his childhood is going strawberry picking with his family.  They did it every every year and came back with buckets and buckets of strawberries.  His mom would make homemade jam from the strawberries and can them so they could have delicious strawberry jam all year.

As the spring weather approaches my husband always starts craving that homemade jam!  Unfortunately, his mom now lives 2000 miles away from us so I have had to step into the role of fulfilling his strawberry jam requirement.  I have to say that I am glad though… I would never have done it with out his insistence and am happy to have learned this skill and be able to pass this tradition on to our own growing family.

After a lot of research from several different sites, I have mastered canning strawberry jam!  I mostly pulled my research from LovelyLittleDetails.com and pickyoruown.org.  Let me first just suggest you buy this canning kit from Amazon to get you started with all the useful tools.  It isn’t absolutely necessary, but it is only $12.97 and will make your life much easier.  You’ll also need some canning jars.  You can get these at most grocery stores or target/walmart.

Before you start make sure to sanitize your jars and rings in the dishwasher or by boiling them in water.  DO NOT WASH THE LIDS.

Ingredients:
6 pints or 4 lbs of fresh strawberries
2 cups sugar (if you are not using reduced sugar pectin you will need closer to 7 cups, check the pectin box for specifics).
1 box reduced sugar pectin
2 lemons or 1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tsp butter (optional)

MAKING YOUR STRAWBERRY JAM

1.  Rinse and hull your strawberries.  The goal is to cleanly remove all of the stem of the strawberry.  I use a small paring knife and just get at each one individually while I watch TV however, I am guessing there is probably some tool out there to do this for you, but I just never think about it until I am already hulling.

Try to get the entire stem out without sacrificing too much of the fruit.

2.  Mash up your strawberries!  Some people like to use a blender to do this, but personally I like to have a few small strawberry chunks in my jam so I prefer to use a potato masher and to leave it a little chunkier.

If you are not sure what consistency you want this first time you can try mashing half and blending the other half. This will give you something in between.

3.  Put the strawberries in a large pot and begin cooking on high heat.  Add one pectin packet and the juice of 2 lemons (or 1/4 cup of lemon juice).  The lemon juice helps preserve the jam so it keeps longer and the pectin helps to thicken the jam.  The next step is optional.  Adding butter to the strawberries as it heats helps reduce foaming.  You can always skim the foam off the top instead of adding butter and you may need to skim a little foam even with the butter.

4.  Let the jam come to a full boil before adding the sugar.  Then, stir constantly and bring to a rolling boil.  A rolling boil is a vigorous boil that keeps boiling even when you stir.  Keep the jam at this rolling boil for at least 3 full minutes.  Don’t forget to keep stirring!  It’s very important!

5.  Skim any foam from the top of the jam using a large sauce spoon or a ladle.  Keep a spoon in a cup of ice water.  Then to test the consistency of your jam, pull out the spoon  and scoop up a teaspoon or so of jam.  Let it cool to room temperature then turn it sideways checking to see if it is firming the way you would like.  Don’t worry… if it is not as thick as you want just add a little more pectin from the 2nd pouch in your box and bring to a rolling boil for another 3 minutes.  Then test again.  You can continue doing this until you are satisfied the pectin is thickening your jam.  I usually add another 1/4 a packet to mine…. maybe I just like mine a little thicker.  😉

Ice water spoon test!

6.  Poor the jam into the jars.  I needed 7 jars (1/2 pint sized).  You can use the funnel from the canning kit for this or you can cheat like me and poor all the jam into a juice pitcher and then poor into the jars.  I found this way easiest and less messy.  Wipe all along each jar to make sure there is no jam residue from pouring.

7.  Get the jar lids in some hot water to soak.  This loosens up the waxy stuff on the rim of the lid to help it seal.  Let the jam sit to cool for 5 minutes while the lids soak.  Before you put the lids on stir your jam carefully one more time.  This makes the chunks of strawberries distribute more evenly instead of all floating to the top.  Seal the jars tightly with the lid and rings and your are almost done!

8.  Put the sealed jars in a large pot of boiling water.  Note:  Do not let the jars rest directly on the bottom of the pan.  You need a buffer of some sort.  I use a wash rag at the bottom and put my jars on top of the rag.  Make sure the water is at least 2 inches above the top of your jars.  Let them boil for at least 10 minutes.  You don’t want to keep them in much longer than that or the jam will get runny and turn dark.  Be careful putting the jars in and pulling them out… this is where the jar tongs from the canning kit are very useful.

8.  Pull the jars out and let them cool on a wire rack.  You will hear a popping sound as the jars cool and seal.  Check to make sure they have sealed after 24hrs by pushing in the center of the jar.  If it pops up and down your lid did not seal correctly.  If you do not can your jam it will keep for a month in the fridge.  If you can them they will keep for a year, but start to get runny after about six to eight months.

That’s it!  You’re done!  Now you can tie a cute ribbon around it and you have a great gift for a friend or neighbor.  I will be using some of mine for teacher appreciation week. 🙂  Enjoy!

The jam tastes great on rolls, breads, crepes, cheesecakes, short cakes, etc… Pretty  much anything!!!

Love this jam with homemade Lion House rolls!

Do you remember my previous bunny craft?  Here is another cute bunny idea!  Thank you pinterest!  The actual blog is here.  Check it out!

Cute bunny!

My daughter begs for crafts, so I have to get creative (or look on pinterest).  I found this craft and had everything we needed.  Here is what I used (a little different than what was in the link):

• paper plate (I cut the outside ring off.  The other site calls for large white card stock).
• three pipe cleaners (two black one pink)
• cotton balls
• 2 larger googly eyes
• white construction paper
• pink construction paper
• glue
• 3 pink pom poms

She loves crafts!

She’s so proud!

Happy of her work!

This is one of my favorite snacks!  It’s really my mom’s genius recipe… she has been making it for as long as I can remember.  Movie nights as a kid, long car trip snacks, game night treats, party treats, or just because treats!  I always loved them and have many great memories eating them!  Later I began making them for my roommates at college and even later for my own family.

It’s easy to make and is seriously so good!  Perfect game time snack!  I couldn’t resist making it with Easter m&m’s!

Chewy M&M Chex Mix
1/2 box Golden Grahams cereal
1/2 box Honey Nut Chex cereal
2 cups shredded coconut
1 cup slivered almonds
1 bag m&m’s (any kind you like)
1 stick butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup Karo syrup

***Mix cereal, coconut, and almonds in the largest mixing bowl you can.  Melt butter, karo syrup,and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat.  Bring to a boil stirring constantly.  Let it boil for at least two minutes, but keep stirring.  Poor over cereal mixture and mix using a strong spoon.  After a minute, dump in m&m’s and keep mixing.  I always add the m&m’s a minute later so that they don’t melt.  My mom would tell you to keep stirring until the mixture cools, but I cheat!  Once it is all combined well I spread it out on the counter on top of some parchment paper or tinfoil to cool.  These keeps it from getting all stuck together in one giant ball.

So yummy! I could just dive in!

Great snack to bring to a party!

**Update**

I just made the Christmas version of this recipe!  Check out the colors!

Love how you can make it for each holiday! Merry Christmas!!

Such a yummy dish!

Remember my recipe party?!?!  Well, this was one of the dishes that I made.  It is another awesome meal to take to your new mommy friends too (notice I say this a lot, I was SO appreciative of all the meals I received!).

Here is what you need:

• 3 chicken breasts
• 2 bunches of broccoli
• 1 can cream of chicken
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup mayo
• 1-2 teaspoons curry powder (we like curry so I go with 2)
• 1 cup shredded cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

• Bake Chicken on 350 degrees for 1 hr then cut up into cubes (this is what I did last time) or cut into cubes and cook on stove top with some oil (less time).  I put some salt and pepper on it before baking.
• Cut up broccoli and steam. (I put a little bit of water in a pot and throw the broccoli into the strainer and put a lid on it and I also seasoned with salt).  Do not over cook the broccoli.
• Meanwhile, mix milk, mayo, cream of chicken and curry powder into a bowl.
• Put chicken and brocoli in a 9×13 pan and pour mixture over it.
• Top with cheese.
• Put in oven on 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
• I served over brown rice!

Wahlaaaaaaaa:

Delicious Chicken Casserole

Even my adorable 11 month old loved it!

Even my 11 month approves!

Can’t beat that for cute!  Happy cooking!  Let us know if you make it!!!

Looking for a fun St. Patrick’s day treat for the kiddos?  I came across this recipe from Betty Crocker.  Green and cute, but with lots of mint and chocolate flavor.  Simple recipe and the grown ups will like it too!  I love the mint taste in these!

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
Any sugar cookie dough you want (homemade, mix, premade… doesn’t matter)
6 – 8 drops of food coloring
1/2 tsp mint extract
1 cup Creme de Menthe baking chips
1 cup chocolate chips

***Make up your sugar cookie dough, add the food coloring and mint extract and mix well.  Gently stir in creme de menthe baking chips and chocolate chips.   Bake the cookies how your sugar cookie recipe directs (although mine needed an extra few minutes).

Most important ingredient! So yummy! You can find them in the baking section in your local grocery store.

The dough is yummy too! Love the chocolate mint flavor in these!

My cute husband found this video and I had to share.  What a GREAT idea.  I just love how he kisses her belly.  It will be awesome for them to show Amelie when she gets older!

Share this with all of your newly pregnant friends.

We did a lot of fun stuff this week for preschool.  The thing I like about this preschool swap arrangement is that I only teach every four weeks.  It works out great because you don’t get burnt out and you have plenty of time to come up with creative things to do when it is your turn.

So its letter R for me!  Here are some of our letter R activities for Preschool.

Letter R Activities for Preschool

R is for Rainbow!  There are so many fun rainbow crafts to do!  I really had to pick a couple of them so I would have time to do everything else.  The rainbow cupcakes were the kids favorite of course!  They were pretty simple too!

All you need to do is use white or yellow cake mix and prepare it as the directions say.  Divide the cake batter equally between 4 or 5 bowls and add food coloring to each bowl.  Put a small scoop of each color in the cupcake papers and bake as directed!

This is a great cross curricular activity since it includes language arts for the letter R, life skills in baking, and science for food coloring.  The kids really enjoyed helping mix the colors together and scooping them into the cupcake tin.

The easiest why to get your frosting in your pastry bag!

Yummy!

We also made some rainbows out of fruit loops!  How cute are these!  Click here to download your own rainbow/fruit loop template.  I wouldn’t leave your final project out on the counter unsupervised if you have a dog… I made that mistake!!!

We also read “The Little Red Hen” and “Little Red Riding Hood” during circle time.  I had the kids raise their hands every time they heard me say the word RED.  Then we made collages out of everything RED we could find!

Look at that cute bunny!!

I am very partial to Easter!  I love all the hunts and the reason for the season, BUT I especially love it because my husband asked me to marry him on Easter (yes, my ring was in an egg).  So, here is my girl’s first Easter craft.

All you need is:

• white cup
• pink grass
• googly eyes
• pink pom pom
• white pipe cleaner
• pink and white construction paper for ears
• school glue
• glue gun

Gluing the ears!

She loves it!

She’s so proud of her work!

Enjoying her new craft!

Alright, listen up…  Everyone with kids should own Magna-Tiles!  They are great!

I like to rotate my toys every few months so that when my kids start getting bored with some I rotate in another batch they haven’t seen in a while and they get all excited to be reunited.  Magna-tiles are the only ones I don’t rotate out… and that is because they are the only toys the kids play with every single day.  They never miss a day playing with them.  They never get bored with them and they are finding new ways to play with them as they get older.

Magna-tiles are basically flat magnetized building blocks.  They come in a 100 piece set or a 32 piece set.  You can get them in solid colors or a colored translucent set.  There are five different geometrically sized shapes in the set and it is suggested for ages 3 and up.

I first got magna-tiles for my little guy’s 4th birthday almost 3 years ago.  He loved them and built the most interesting things!  His 18 month old brother also loved them.  Neighbors, friends, cousins, boys or girls come over and they always want to play with them.  Even my 10 year old nephew will play with them when he comes over.

I babysit 2 little boys full time and have 3 boys of my own.  The magna-tiles are incredibly durable! The boys often throw them around and once even went through a phase where they built towers and then jumped off the couch to land on them!  They have withstood and are still in great shape 3 years later.

Here are few of the creative things my kids have done with the Magna-tiles:

Built by a four year old!

They called this “TheTemple”

So proud of his castle!

My six year old built this before school

The boys like to make castles, towers, temples,  you name it! They like to build them up and wreck them.  They love to build super hero forts and keep their action figures in them.  My two year old builds garages to store his favorite cars.

My 18month old building

A five and six year old playing

Here is my list of pros:
Creativity, Creativity, Creativity!!!
Loved by all ages
Durable
Gives familiarity with shapes
Increases fine motor skills
Develops cognitive thinking by teaching spacial relationships, math, logic, and problem solving

And now for the Cons:
A bit expensive ($120ish for a pack of 100 or $50ish for a set of 32)
Wrecked magnet towers are often scattered across the floor!

I started by buying the 32 piece set of magna-tiles and as soon as they arrived I realized they just wouldn’t do and ordered the 100 piece set months later.  Save yourself the time and just start with the 100 piece set.  It is pricey, but I am telling you, you wont be sorry.  The cheapest place I have found to buy them is here (plus they have free shipping).  They will be back in stock this spring so keep a look out.

Had to add this one in here… This little guy is 2 1/2 years old and made this all by himself!

Literally falling off the bone!

I always noticed the whole chickens in the grocery store and was almost afraid of them.  I had no clue what to do with them.  It was priced so much cheaper than chicken breasts (which were always my go to), that I thought I would give it a try.  I looked up a recipe from food dot com and I found this one.  It was even better that it was a crock pot recipe.

Here is what you need:

• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon white pepper
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 large roasting chicken (with pop-up timer if possible)
• 1 cup chopped onion (optional)

Look at this beauty!

Wahlaaaaaaaa…. Now you have yourself a pretty chicken!  We ate this for a few meals.  So delish!