Homemade Blackberry Jam

May 29, 2012 By 4 Comments

Homemade Blackberry Jam
Homemade Blackberry Jam

Scrumptious Blackberry Jam

Summertime is full of tons of great berries: strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and let’s not forget blackberries. Blackberry Jam is a great way to have some blackberries all year round.

An 8 oz. jar of blackberry jam usually runs around $3 a jar. With making your own, you not only save money, but you know exactly what is in your jam! You can adjust your sugar levels or choose to use organic berries. You might even decide to get creative and mix them up!

Buy your blackberries when they are in season, and the riper the better. The more ripe your berries the less sugar you have to add to your jam!

Print
Cooking with Crunchy: Homemade Blackberry Jam

Ingredients

  • 5 cups crushed blackberries (about 6 pints)
  • 7 cups of sugar
  • 1 1/2 packages (1.75 oz boxes) of pectin

Instructions

    Prepare your jars
  1. Sanitize your jars and lids. Dry and set aside.
    2. Prepare your berries:
  2. Wash your blackberries, and pat dry.
  3. Place blackberries in large bowl, and with potato masher crush blackberries.
    4. Get Cooking:
  4. Put crushed blackberries in a large stock pot on medium heat.
  5. Gradually stir in pectin, and once all stirred in place on high heat. Stir occasionally.
  6. Once blackberries are proud to a hard boil, add the sugar.
  7. Stir the sugar mixture continuously.
  8. Bring back to a hard boil, and boil for 1 minute.
  9. Remove from heat.
    10. Fill Jars and Preserve:
  10. Use ladle to fill jars, leaving about 1 inch from top..
  11. Water bath the jars following the instructions in the Ball Guide to Canning

Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: ,

Make your Own Croutons!

March 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Crouton Recipes

Crouton RecipesI am a crouton lover down to my very core. There is nothing better than that crispy, garlicy goodness atop a beautiful salad. It just makes it complete. Unfortunately, my youngest daughter has a lot of allergies and most croutons have some sort of milk in them. She could eat her weight in croutons, but can’t normally have them because of the milk. Well the other day, I was staring at the last few peices of bread in about 4 bags of bread. (Kids are great aren’t they) An idea came to me. Why not try and make my own croutons? It should be simple right. (Let’s hope it doesn’t turn into another tortilla chip debacle. Let’s just say there was a fire extinguisher involved)

Off to the kitchen I went, grabbing my crusty bread and  brain filled with ideas. Wouldn’t you know, I actually was able to make my own croutons. Plus it’s SO much cheaper than buying them. I can even make them flavored how I want them flavored. This particular batch I made for Caesar salads so they did have cheese on them, but then I made a plain version for my daughter. She just loved them.

This recipe is super simple, and a lot more frugal than buying the store varieties.

Ingredients

5-7 pieces of stale wheat bread

3 T grated parmesan cheese

1 T olive oil

2 T garlic powder (to taste)

1 T Italian seasoning

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Set your bread out on the counter until it has a nice crust to it

Cut the bread into 1 inch squares. (bigger if you want bigger croutons)

In a ziploc bag pour the olive oil, parmesan, garlic powder and Italian seasoning

Place the bread in the bag, and shake, shake, shake (you may have to scrape the sides with some of the bread to get a good coating)

Place the bread on a cookie sheet, and then place in the oven for 15 minutes or until golden brownCrouton Recipes

Your croutons are ready to eat! Store them in an air tight container and enjoy!

Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: