Canning and Preserving · Gardening · Recipe Roundup

Not So Simple Sunday- Canning Edition

I have canned all the things! Well, not quite all, I still have a list. I was determined to make a few things for our party this weekend, so those definitely got done, along with some others. I’ll add the jams to the Recipe Roundup, but the savory ones will get their own post. I had lots of extra time this week, so ended up making lots of new recipes as well. Seeing my low numbers for recipes last review didn’t hurt either.

I’ll start with the jams. 🙂 Several of the canned things have garden or local produce.

Pineapple Sage Preserves from Southern Living Little Jars, Big Flavors. The sage was garden grown.

I have another jar in the fridge, as there wasn’t quite enough headspace to safely can it. It’s delicious! I’m hoping the sage come out more as it sits. It will be going in a cake for our Big Summer Blowout Party. The book includes a vanilla bean layer cake with this in the middle which I think will be wonderful and summery.

When I bought the pineapple, the apricots from the farmer’s market looked good as well, so I made Apricot Riesling Jam from Simple Recipes. https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/apricot_riesling_jam/

This one is a very lovely orange color and has just a hint of the wine. I’m looking forward to this on toast. I think it would be lovely on ice cream.

I’ve made this one before, but it’s been a few years. I love it because it does taste exactly like strawberry lemonade. It uses Myer lemons, which are slightly sweeter than regular lemons.

This batch turned very dark red and I forgot to mash up the strawberries, as I had them in the freezer first. They are from last year and I had forgotten that I had them. There’s still a bag and a half left for my next strawberry jam endeavor. I have an Instant Pot freezer jam recipe and a strawberry basil that both want to be made.

There are more delicious jams and jellies on my list, but I need to regroup and figure out what I need. I ran out of single rings, but have tons of new lids. I may have to start storing them without the rings.

On to the recipes!

The Husband got special cookies for picking up the puppers from the dog sitter and letting me stay home. Chocolate Chips and M&Ms!

These were from the cookbook 101 Things To Do With Chocolate by Stephanie Ashcraft.

He liked these, but he likes the chewy ones better.

I got bored with breakfast this week and couldn’t sleep on top of it, so I made strawberry doughnuts. They were supposed to be mini muffins, but I couldn’t find the mini muffin tins.

These are from the Pillsbury: Best Muffins and Quick Breads. 

I was hosting craft night the same day, so I made meringues  with leftover egg whites from ice cream. These are super crumbly, but they taste okay.

The ice cream is Amaretto Ice Cream from The Cookie Writer. 

https://thecookiewriter.com/amaretto-ice-cream/

I had it with leftover peaches and it was delicious! The amaretto is very light, but you can definitely still taste it. There’s only two tablespoons in the whole recipe, but it doesn’t get cooked out, so bear that in mind.

We used the new Food Network magazine already. It’s the September issue. The Hoisin Meatballs were good.

I thought they needed more seasoning in the meatballs themselves, but the Husband thought they were just fine. We used Udon noodles, mushrooms, and carrots as the substitutions. It was nice to find another use for ground beef.

We had Macaroni and Many Cheeses from the 2014 Food and Wine.

We had to have it because of the name. 🙂 I had Gouda, triple cheddar, and a Monterey jack mix. It was quite soupy at first, but firmed up over time. It had parmesan cheese crusted on top. It was pretty tasty.

We had grilled steak for dinner on our anniversary, after going to the shooting range and going to the chocolate factory for a tour. We weren’t allowed to take pictures at the factory.

Mashed potatoes and grilled zucchini completed the meal. The Husband is an excellent grill master, so everything was great. We had  fun chocolate from the factory for dessert. I had a peanut butter block and he had cookies and cream clusters.

The range trip was fun, but both of our pistols broke towards the end. My back sight fell off my revolver and Eric’s 22 was not having it at all. They definitely both need to be cleaned and we have the name of a good gunsmith. It was a little disappointing but the rest of the day was fun. 🙂

We had Margarita Shrimp for Saturday. We intended to grill, but had an unexpected rain shower, so they were broiled instead. They were from A Farm Girl’s Dabble. 

https://www.afarmgirlsdabbles.com/grilled-margarita-shrimp-kebabs-recipe/

They were still tasty. We paired them with cilantro rice from Five Heart Home. https://www.fivehearthome.com/cilantro-lime-rice-recipe/

We used jasmine rice and it was delicious. This rice will definitely be staying in the recipe collection for a nice side dish. The Husband approves as well, which is surprising, as he doesn’t like a lot of Mexican based dishes. This one is lightly flavored though. It heats up great as it has butter and olive oil in it to keep it soft instead of dried out.

We had it tonight as a side with Tequilla Lime Chicken and pico with the leftovers from salsa making.

The purple plate was awarded for my enormous amounts of canning completed this weekend.

Those are just the jams!

The featured picture is the second set of zucchini and the others as well. I used the peppers in the salsa and the zucchini in squash pickles.

So there’s the update so far. I’ll have a savory canning post shortly. I figured it would be too long, considering how many pickles I made. 🙂

It’s been so much fun to use things from the garden while canning. I’ve tried to use local produce as well, as much as I can. Somehow I don’t think I can find Michigan pineapples…

Stay tuned for more canning! Sewing too, hopefully, but I have been a little busy. 🙂 Have a great night!

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