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The other day when I went to the grocery store I saw that strawberries were on sale, 88 cents a pound! I bought a LOT of strawberries. I love a good strawberry, and it was perfect for the strawberry spinach salad I was going to make for dinner that weekend.
However, I had several pounds of strawberries, and PH and I are only two people. I didn't want them to go bad, and so I was planning on building our food storage with them. I have a lot of fruit and veggies that I've frozen to have on hand when necessary, but this time around, I decided I wanted to try my hand at canning. My mom has talked to you about canning a few times on this blog. I remember growing up all the canning she would do. She'd make different types of jams, and she'd can various fruits and veggies, and even meat! You may remember this post where she told you how to can peaches using a water bath. She also gave you some jam canning tips (including strawberry jam!) here and here. My mom is kind of a canning pro, and since I have never canned anything before in my life, I asked her if she'd come help me make some strawberry jam! She came over, and we decided to do something a little different this time and film the process for you to watch and enjoy! Check out our videos below.
Now I have to step in here and let you know that this is where we had some technical difficulties with our camera and had to switch to a different one. Unfortunately, by the time we realized our camera wasn't filming we had missed a few crucial steps. The main one being that once the jam was boiling after the pectin and butter were added we added the sugar. A few tips from my mom. The recipe calls for A LOT of sugar (seven cups!) You can make a low sugar variety of jam, but you have to use a special pectin or it won't work. Since we had regular pectin, we had to use all the sugar. The second thing about the sugar is, you have to add it all at once. I measured all seven cups into a large bowl and when my mom told me it was time to pour in the sugar then I poured it all in at once.
We kept stirring continuously until the jam came back up to a rolling boil. Then we turned the head off. All while cooking our strawberry jam our jars were sterilizing. We filled the jars up with boiling water, and we put the lids in a bowl and covered them with boiling water as well. That water also helps the lids to soften so they'll be ready to seal once your jars are filled. Once you turn the heat off you'll see some foam in your pot. Mom took a regular spoon to skim that foam off the top. She put it in a separate bowl. There is nothing wrong with the foam, but when it cools it kind of looks like a hardened skin and isn't very pretty inside the jars. So just use a spoon to skim around the top and get all the white foam out. She also saves the bowl because at the end there is always a little extra jam that you can pour into the bowl and you can use it right away. It gets you started on enjoying your jam! Okay, continue onward now that you know the rules about the sugar and the foam!
Making my own jam and canning it was a lot of fun, and actually much easier than I thought! This recipe we used used up three pounds of strawberries. So I actually have three more pounds that I intend to use to make even more jam this weekend! It's exciting to be able to do something that helps build our food storage, and it was a fun little project to do with my mom! So get together and make some strawberry jam!
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I have had a lot of reasons to brag to you about this young man recently. He graduated from High School and was awarded his Eagle Scout Rank, and now he has received and accepted a mission call for our church. I will reveal where he is going later in the post! It is so exciting! But, first I want to address some questions about missionary service in our church that people often ask me. 3 Reasons why Youth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Serve Missions:
"And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! That is just one of the places the Savior gave this instruction. We believe that his instruction to preach his word is still in force today. So, our youth begin at an early age to prepare to know and understand the gospel well enough to teach it to others. For young men who are given the Priesthood, it is an obligation to keep themselves "physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight", as taught and said so well in Boy Scouting, in order to be able to be ready to fulfill their duties as a Priesthood holder. If they are prepared and have a desire to do the work, they will choose to serve a mission. Missionary service is always an individual choice. For young women, it is also an individual choice, without the Priesthood duty attached to it. Young men and young women are equally prepared to be missionaries throughout their lives, as they receive Gospel instruction in the home and at church that is centered on Jesus Christ. When they reach the age of 14, they begin to attend Seminary everyday where they study the scriptures in depth for 4 years. They also are given opportunities to serve others, such as the sick and elderly. The Young men serve and officiate in the ordinance of the Sacrament on Sundays. They are also given chances to speak and teach during these teenage years. All of these experiences help them to learn the Gospel and to gain confidence in their ability to teach it and know what they are talking about. As they go through these processes, they learn to love Jesus Christ and their Father in Heaven and develop the desire to serve.
"But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another." We try to teach our children from an early age to love their fellowman. We are not always perfect at it, but we try. Think about this. When there is something in your life that makes you extremely happy and you know that it makes your life better in so many ways, don't you want to share that thing with the people you love? And, if you know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ will help to bring love and peace to a very conflicted world, doesn't that motivate you to share that good news with anyone who hasn't received it? I have seen my children feel the excitement of realizing that they have something true and wonderful in their lives and want to share it with others. The shine in their eyes when they tell me about their opportunities to share their love of God with others makes my heart fill with joy. That joy is why I am sharing this post with you today! That is why these young missionaries work and save their money to be able to go and serve for 2 years. They aren't paid to go on missions! They pay their own way! They live on very little as they go out to preach. They also go where ever they are asked to go. They don't get to pick the place they go. They have faith that the Lord will send them where they are needed. I recently heard one young man, who had just returned from is mission in Uganda say, "I didn't go halfway around the world to live like that in order to teach a lie, I was teaching truth." I found that very profound I am so excited to tell where Jacob is needed! Wait for it...
So....Are you excited to hear where Jacob is going? Cote d'Ivoire in West Africa! Oh my gosh! Can you believe it? Luckily he took French for 4 years of high school. He wasn't great at it, but it should help him as he goes to the Missionary Training Center in Ghana for about 5 or 6 weeks before heading off to Cote d'Ivoire. We have so much to do to get him ready! Shots, Visa, we've sent for his passport already, clothes! He leaves December 19th, so we will be busy, fitting it all in with the holidays. Yup! He leaves before Christmas! But, we will make sure he enjoys all of the fun leading up to it. As long as he gets some Florida Fudge, I think he will be happy!
Stay tuned to find out more about the Ivory Coast as we do! If you want to know more about our church and our missionaries, be sure to click on https://www.comeuntochrist.org/ .
This post contains affiliates and I may be compensated if you buy from our links. Thank you for your support.
Happy Great American Solar Eclipse Day!
We hope you have an awesome experience on this exciting day! Remember to be safe! Don't even take selfies with the eclipse behind you, because the reflection can still hurt your eyes. If you didn't get the solar eclipse glasses, Alicia showed another safe way to view the eclipse here.
Last week on Renny’s Recipes, Lindsey shared her favorite camping treat, Peach Cobbler. She and I were on the same wave length! I had also promised on Friday Faves to share some of my peach cobbler recipes. This one, Essie’s Cobbler, is an old fashioned one that I remember my mother making when I was small. It not only has peaches, but delicious berries. Her recipe calls for canned peaches and either raspberries or blueberries.
If you remember, I showed you how I canned peaches on this post, and blackberries in this post. I decided to use both of those in this recipe, and the result was delicious!
The recipe calls for making this cobbler in a loaf pan. I needed to make two of these. One for home and one to give away. So, I had purchased an aluminium cake pan for the one to give away so the family wouldn’t have to worry about returning it to me. (I like to keep these on hand for when I take food to people or functions. They really come in handy! This link is to a really good price on a dozen of them!) I will show you pictures of both of the ways of cooking these different sizes. For the cake pan, I merely doubled the recipe. That meant, I 1 ½ timed it over all! The recipe I am giving you is just for one recipe. You can do the math yourself if you want to make a bigger batch! Click on the pictures below for tips.
We may also need to start a cobbler category over on our sidebar because this is the 3rd recipe for cobbler that we have given you. I just remembered this one! We called it a Blueberry Dump Cake, but it is pretty much a cobbler.
So, go ahead! Celebrate Solar Eclipse Day with a delicious cobbler! You don't really need an excuse anyway! Click the button for the printable recipe! Be sure to pin and share. Thanks.
This post contains affiliates and I may be compensated if you buy from our links. Thank you for your support.
My husband and I went on a trip in May, and I left my favorite dress shoes somewhere along the way. They were starting to get worn out anyway, so it was a good reason to get a new pair of shoes. But, here we are in August now and I haven't replace them. The shoes that I have been wearing just aren't cutting it, so I really need something cute and stylish, but also practical and not high.
My girl's all adore shoes so I thought that they would get a kick out of today's Friday Fave question:
What shoes would your favorites be today?
We decided to shop on one of our affiliate companies, Lulu's! Lulu's carries clothing, shoes and accessories for any price range. We just stuck to shoes today, and wait until you see the selection we came up with! Look for the great offers at the bottom of the page! You can click on the pictures to go to the site yourself.
Alicia says, "I like these sandals because they're neutral and will go with a lot of things. Plus many of the reviews say they have problems with bunyons and wide feet and these sandals don't bother them. Also, they are vegan leather and best of all, only $17!" She also pointed out that she is the type of person that will wear sandals in all types of weather, so cute sandals are important.
Maddy says she chose these because, "I love heels and I love wearing black. Black matches everything. And, the embroidery on them is very trendy right now! It will add more interest to otherwise basic outfits!" These fashion forward shoes are on sale for only $23 right now!
Lindsey adores a cute pump heel! She wears them well and these are to die for. They also come in red and wine two-tone. They are Daya by Zendaya and cost $89.
I think all of the above are adorable! But, I am going to have to go with these...
I could wear them with pants or a skirt and they would go with so many things. They aren't high and the pointed toe elongates the foot and leg. At $25, these cute black loafers are a great price.
So what shoes are your favorite? Do you like any of these? You won't believe how many cute shoes they have on the Lulu's site. And, here are some great deals...
Shop Lulus and enjoy $15 off + Free Shipping on orders over $150 - Use promo code 'take15' at checkout. Click here.
Shop Lulus and enjoy $10 off + Free Shipping on orders over $100 - Use promo code 'Freeship10' at checkout. Click here!
So, have fun shoe shopping!
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Creators of Hot Cocoa Bombs! (copyrighted)
Author
Helen Reynolds: Mother of six children , grandmother to eleven! I love to cook, craft and create things and I especially love doing that with my family, So, when my lawyer daughter, Lindsey, my artist daughter, Madalynn, and I came up with the idea of Hot Cocoa Bombs, this blog was born. Then, one more daughter, with her technical and science skills, plus creativity has joined in to round us out! Read more about us here! Archives
April 2024
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