Strawberry Jam

Hello!! My name is Elizabeth and I am good friends with Katie. I have been a viewer of cooking with cuties since it started!! I feel honored to get to post on here!! WOO HOO!! I love to cook and try new recipes... I have a blog called The Stone Family Blog, if you want to check it out...

Some friends and I went to a local strawberry patch to pick berries. It was a lot of fun and pretty reasonable for fresh berries (1.75 a lb.) I took my cutie Henry and we saw Sarah (Katie's sister) there with Jack and Noah. Henry tried his first strawberry and loved it!

Because the berries were so ripe, I decided to make jam with them because there is no way I could eat them all before they went bad. I have never made jam before so I looked for the easiest recipe I could find.

Here it is!! Strawberry Jam recipe

Ingredients:

2 lb fresh strawberries, hulled

4 cups of white sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

Directions:

Crush strawberries in batches until you have 4 cups of crushed berries.

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, mix together the strawberries, sugar and lemon juice. Stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to high and bring mixture to a rolling boil. Boil, stirring often until the mixture reaches 220 degrees.

Transfer to hot sterile jars leaving headspace in the jar and seal. Process in a water bath. If going to be eaten right away, dont process, just put jars in the refrigerator.

Footnotes: To test for jelling, place three plates in the freezer. after about 10 minutes of boiling, place a tsp of liquid jam on plate. Put back in freezer for one minute. Run your finger through the jam, if jam stays seperated, its ready for canning!

Henry watching his mama make Strawberry jam!

Review:

This was such a fun jam to make. Each process did not take too long and I was able to hang out with Henry and get other things done while making it.

I was not familiar AT ALL about how to process and can jam. Looking back that is something I would have researched before getting started. I think I did it right but felt a little unsure of what I was doing.

The jam tastes great. It is pretty dark red, which I dont really like.. but it has a yummy taste and flavor... good texture and very easily spreadable without being runny.

I ate the jam over scones last night with my sister and friend. They both gave the jam a B+... I think thats what I would give it too... a good jam, but I cant give it an A.

I got the jars for $1.85 a piece at the glass barn in Reading. I plan to give the jam to my neighbors.

Baked French Toast Casserole

Katie always comes up with these amazing french toast recipes. I just had to try my hand at one. Plus, it was "breakfast for dinner" night at small group, so this sort of food was perfect.

I found a recipe from by Paula Deen on foodnetwork.com and thought I'd give it a try.

It was ok. It got pretty good reviews from our friends but I wasn't crazy about it. I think Katie's creme brulee french toast is MUCH better!! With all the nuts this one reminded me of fall and I think it would have been good with some kind of apple cinnamon syrup (do they make that??) instead of the raspberry syrup (which I bought, I didn't make it) that the recipe calls for.

Since there is a french toast recipe I like better, I doubt I'll make this one again, not because it was that bad, but because there is something much better out there. (Katie, I love your creme brulee french toast, can you tell??)

Baked French Toast Casserole by Paula Deen

* 1 loaf French bread (13 to 16 ounces)
* Butter, for pan
* 8 large eggs
* 2 cups half-and-half
* 1 cup milk
* 2 tablespoons sugar
* 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* Dash salt
* Praline Topping, recipe follows
* Raspberry Syrup, recipe follows

Directions

Slice French bread into 20 slices, 1-inch thick each. (Use any extra bread for garlic toast or bread crumbs). Arrange slices in a generously buttered 9 by 13-inch flat baking dish in 2 rows, overlapping the slices.

In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and beat with a rotary beater or whisk until blended but not too bubbly. Pour mixture over the bread slices, making sure all are covered evenly with the milk-egg mixture. Spoon some of the mixture in between the slices. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread Praline Topping evenly over the bread and bake for 45 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden. Serve with Raspberry Syrup.

--------------------

Praline Topping:

* 1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter
* 1 cup packed light brown sugar
* 1 cup chopped pecans
* 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and blend well. Spread over bread as directed above.

Raspberry Syrup:

* 1 cup raspberry preserves
* 3 tablespoons water
* 2 tablespoons raspberry liqueur (recommended: Framboise)

Combine ingredients in a small saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir until warm and thinned out like syrup.

Chicken with Balsamic and Garlic Sauce

I'm always blogging about dessert recipes, so I intentionally chose to do a savory entree this week. Unfortunately, I didn't remember till the end of the preparation that this was my CWC meal. You didn't miss much in the way of pictures though. Just raw chicken in a skillet.

I've had this recipe printed for a long time. I got it from Tastespotting long ago. I seriously love that site, but I haven't gone in quite a while. If I'm not careful, I can waste an hour looking at all the yummy food pictures!

Chicken with Balsamic and Garlic Sauce

5 boneless skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of
any fat
1 tbsp olive oil
Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp butter, softened
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar
1 cup of chicken broth

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat the olive oil in a large OVEN PROOF skillet over medium high heat. Season the chicken thighs with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. Lay the chicken thighs smooth side down in the pan and cook until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Turn the chicken over and place in the oven. Cook for 8 minutes or until cooked through.

Remove chicken from oven and set aside on a platter to rest with a tinfoil tent to keep warm. Return the skillet to the stove over medium high heat (add more olive oil if needed) and add minced garlic. Cook, stirring constantly for 60 seconds then add the balsamic vinegar. Stir, scraping the browned bits from the bottom of the pan for about 1 minute. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Mix the butter and flour together making a paste. Whisk in the flour and butter mixture and let the sauce return to a boil. Simmer until the sauce gets thick - about 1-2 minutes. Pour the sauce over chicken and serve. Enjoy.

Ok, so here is the picture of the sauce. You use the same skillet that you cooked the chicken in so you can get all the browned bits.


My finished picture is at the top of the post. Here's the one from the original Tastespotting recipe. The sauce looks thinner, and more brown. Mine had more of a reddish tint.


We have loved eating outside recently. It's been perfect outdoor dining weather. Isn't summer the best?!


This is the first CWC recipe that I really haven't liked. Brent thought it was great, but it just wasn't my cup of tea. I thought it tasted salty. We both agreed that it tasted a lot like teriyaki chicken (which I don't like). It's odd it tasted that way though, since there was no soy sauce in it. I know I won't make this again, but if you like that kind of flavor, you probably enjoy this one.

Best part of the dinner - this butterfly that kept landing on Brent's hair. It would just sit there for the longest time while he moved all around and ate. I thought it was so funny!

Spicy Tilapia

Okay, I have now officially started my 2010 Cooking with Cuties recipes. For my first, I chose a recipe Dad sent me from work asking me to try it out. Here is the description and recipe:
For a healthy and tasty meal, try seasoning tilapia fillets with cumin and pepper. Combine diced tomatoes with green chilies, sliced green olives, fresh cilantro, and 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Spoon this mixture over the tilapia. Bake until flaky and opaque in the center - about 12-15 minutes at 450 degrees. A 3 ounce serving provides about 180 calories and 5 grams of unsaturated fat. Use fresh tomatoes to reduce sodium. Enjoy!


So, I cooked it tonight. It was so easy and the fish was delicious. I made a small Greek salad to go with it and (because I wanted to use it up) split a sweet potato between the two of us. Not only was dinner delicious it was colorful! I would definitely do this one again!

Fruit Pizza

This was a super easy recipe but I'm behind on my posts so I pulled out something quick and easy.  I'm glad I did!  These little fruit pizza's were YUMMY!

We had Chris and Regina over for lunch on Sunday and I made these for dessert. They were a big hit! And, since we got together after church the fact that these were easy to pull off in a small amount of time was perfect. Everyone gave them an A+. The ingredients are easy to have on hand (since the "crust" is just store-bought sugar cookie!) so I see these popping up a lot in our future.

We make a fruit dip that is made with cream cheese and marshmallow fluff and thats all the "sauce" is on these pizzas. Of course you could top with any fruit you want, but we had these fresh strawberries and blueberries on hand. I halved the recipe and made tiny pizza's, but the picture on allrecipes.com (where I found the recipe) shows the pizza made in a tart pan and the fruit is arranged in a decorative pattern. Its actually quite pretty! Done that way, I wouldn't hesitate to make this for company.

As I said, it was a big hit. Here are a few pictures of my little taste testers. They are pretty easy to please, but they really seemed to enjoy this one. Their favorite part was the "sauce" and "toppings". They ate that off first, and then ate the cookie.

Fruit Pizza

* 1 (18 ounce) package refrigerated sugar cookie dough
* 1 (7 ounce) jar marshmallow creme
* 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. On an ungreased medium baking sheet, smooth the refrigerated sugar cookie dough into a single layer approximately 1/4 inch thick. Bake in the preheated oven 10 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned and center is no longer doughy.
3. In a medium bowl, blend the marshmallow creme and cream cheese. Spread the mixture over the baked crust. Chill in the refrigerator until serving.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

First of all, thank you ladies for letting me share this little gem! To introduce myself to anyone else who might be reading- I'm Abby, these cuties Cousin/niece, its great to be here! It makes it even more fun to share a recipe when there is a special story to go with it. I especially like using ingredients that are local and fresh when I can!

Growing up, my Dad's favorite summer dessert was strawberry rhubarb pie. Mom always had a big rhubarb plant in the backyard that she was cut and cook up. Well, here in Northern Michigan they haven't yet planted the rhubarb but one day Mom and Dad (TQ and PopPop) were out on a walk in the woods and Mom spotted some wild rhubarb on their property! It still needed a few weeks to mature so the other day John and Mom went on a walk in the woods, armed with a knife and a basket to harvest the wild rhubarb!





I spent the next day making a pie crust, but unfortunately I had a bad pastry day (I'm told they happen to everyone) and alas, there was no crust for the pie. We were not deterred though, Mom went quickly to the Internet to her trusted source on foodnetwork.com and found a recipe courtesy of Anne Burrell for strawberry rhubarb crisp. It was quick, easy, and GREAT!

Ingredients::
Filling:
- 1 quart strawberries, stemmed and quartered
- 4 stalks rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch lengths
- 1/2 C sugar
- 1/4 C cornstarch
- 1 orange, zested and juiced
- 2 TBSP balsamic vinegar

Topping:
- 1 1/4 C whole-wheat flour
- 1/2 C rolled oats
- 1 C brown sugar
- 1 1/4 sticks butter, cut into pea sized pieces
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
- 1-2 TBSP water

Directions::

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Filling: Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and stir to be sure everything is well combined. Spoon the filling into 9 individual ramekins or 1 wide shallow baking dish.


Topping: In a food processor combine the flour, oats and brown sugar and pulse to combine. Add the butter, vanilla and salt and pulse pulse pulse until the mixture looks dry and crumbly. Add 1 TBSP of water and pulse until the mixture starts to come together and look crumbly. If the mixture still seems dry add 1 more TBSP of water and pulse to combine.

Crumble the topping over the filling. Bake in the preheated oven until the filling is hot and bubbly all the way through and the topping looks crispy and light brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Serve warm and with whipped cream or ice cream.



*note* I made this one with splenda sugars and olivio instead of butter due to the dietary restrictions of PopPop, and it was still fabulous!

Blueberry Caramel Pecan French Toast

Last night I made this Blueberry Caramel Pecan French Toast. I got the recipe from a Cedarville Alumni magazine - apparently some professor at Cedarville made this for her students every year at a Christmas party (I never had her). But I thought it sounded good so I cut out the recipe and saved it. I love making breakfast things but I never make them in the morning, so sometimes I like to do breakfast for dinner.

Here's the recipe:
Blueberry Caramel Pecan French Toast

Texas toast, cut in half
5 eggs
2-1/2 cups milk
1 cup packed brown sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Arrange a single layer of bread in greased 9x13 inch baking dish. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, milk, 3/4 cup brown sugar, vanilla, and nutmeg; pour over bread. Cover and refrigerate for eight hours or overnight.

Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Sprinkle pecans over egg mixture. Combine butter and remaining sugar, drizzle over top.

Bake uncovered at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Sprinkle with blueberries. Bake 10 minutes longer or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

I started the french toast in the morning since we were having it for dinner and it needed to sit in the fridge for 8 hours. Here's the bread with the egg mixture poured over it:


I forgot to take a picture of the butter/brown sugar topping that you put on before putting in the oven (we omitted the pecans). But here's the french toast after cooking for 25 minutes, before adding the blueberries:


And after another 10 minutes in the oven - the finished product!


The critics (yes, Joy is drinking Smirnoff with her breakfast):


I thought this french toast was really good. It was easy to put together, but still a little special since it had the blueberries and "caramel" topping. I would definitely make this again, although I think I still like my Creme Brulee French Toast better (that one will be in the second Tastebook!). But everyone thought it was yummy and went back for seconds. That's success in my book!