Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Strawberry Jam & SC164

I have noticed that strawberries have been more cheaply available lately -- I got a really good deal just last week. My kids just love strawberries. This week, instead of telling you what we are making for dinner (which I am pretty sure will be KFC bowls again - home made of course), I decided to share a recipe for strawberry jam with you! Hope you enjoy!!

Home Made Strawberry Jam

Ingredients

Makes 48 ounces.

  • 4 pounds strawberries, rinsed, hulled, and cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 5 cups granulated sugar (2 1/4 pounds)

Directions

  1. Put a small plate in the freezer. Place berries in a nonreactive 10-quart stockpot set over medium-high heat. Using a wooden spoon, mix in 1/4 cup sugar with berries. Cook, stirring, until berries are juicy, 5 to 6 minutes. Stir in a third of remaining sugar until dissolved. Repeat until all the sugar has been added and dissolved, about 7 minutes total.
  2. Bring mixture to a full boil; cook, stirring, 10 minutes. Continue boiling; use a stainless-steel spoon to remove foam from surface. Boil until most of the liquid is absorbed, mixture thickens, and temperature registers 220 degrees.on a candy thermometer, about 30 minutes.
  3. Perform a gel test: Place a spoonful of jam on chilled plate, and return to freezer. Wait 1 to 2 minutes; remove plate from freezer, and gently press jam with fingertip; it should wrinkle slightly.
  4. After jam passes the gel test, remove from heat. Pour warm jam into jars; seal, label, and refrigerate up to 4 months
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I made this card using Kristin's Artful Inkables again. This set is called Enchanted Fairies and is one of the two fairy sets that Kristin recently released. They are super fun to color, so if you like to color, you *need* these. I used simple masking on this card to create the fairy sitting ON the toad stools. The main image is popped up using foam mounting tape -- it works as well as pop dots and it was only $1 for the whole roll at my dollar store in town . . .

Stamps: Artful Inkables - Enchanted Fairies NEW Paper: Me & My Big Ideas - Chester - Dandelion, Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi Ink: Memories Black Dye Ink Accessories: Aquapainter, watercolor wonder crayons (SU!), diamond stickles (on the wings), white sheer dotted organdy, blue brads, mounting tape, Avery Dennison Scrapbook Border Stickers (53213), prismacolor pencils, gamsol Techniques: Masking, Watercoloring

4 comments:

MichelleO said...

Cute card... and I will keep an eye on strawberries! That recipe sounds just yummy!

Helen said...

Love love LOVE that paper - it's so cheerful and funky! Great card, too. It's not strawberry season here for months, unfortunately, and the imported ones just aren't the same.

Unknown said...

Such a super sweet fairy card! Love the bright colors!!!

Donna Baker said...

LOVE your cut out fairy on the toad stools - I also love her sets! I got 2 so far, check out my blog when you get a chance, I made one using Lauren's sketch today.