- Whew! What a busy weekend! I’m almost glad it’s Monday, so I can get some rest! I spent almost the whole weekend at home, since I officially have a virus and am still attempting to cough up a lung. The doctor ordered rest, so “rest” I did! As I actually felt a wee bit better, and I started getting cucumbers out of the garden, the first thing I did was attempt to make pickles! Witness:
They have to stay in the refrigerator for 7-10 days, so I’ll have to let you know how they taste.
The next thing I did was make Apple Cinnamon Jelly. This is a favorite around our house. I know the recipe by heart. It is soooo yummy.
Then, since I had everything out ANYWAY, and I had fresh blueberries, I made one of my favorites; Blueberry Lime Jam!
And Apple Mint Jelly, which is amazing. Absolutely amazing. I’ll be making this again!
Today, just for the heck of it, I made Cranberry Lime Jelly. I’m dying to try this one, but it’s still hot (as I type this up).
Isn’t that gorgeous?
- While all that was boiling away, I caught up on some reading. Andi and I are reading The Secret Garden together. I’m not sure I’ve read this since I was a kid, so it’s been a treat to walk down memory lane. I’ve read about 70 pages of. I also used the time to catch up on The Stand for The Standalong. I read over 100 pages of that, to reach 17% read. Isn’t that crazy? That’s usually half a book! Geez, this is going to take fooooorever.
- Father’s Day was delightful. The kids and I got Daddy another lightsaber. We got him the Darth Vader one for Christmas, so we got Luke’s green one this time. All he needs now is the blue one and he’ll have all three. This made him absurdly happy. The girl brought him breakfast in bed and I made one of his favorite meals for supper; Frogmore Stew. South Carolinian’s probably know this as Low Country Boil. If you’re still not sure what I’m talking about it, it’s basically red potatoes, corn, kielbasa sausage, and shrimp boiled in water flavored with Old Bay. It’s delicious! We usually throw in crab legs, but since they were $30 this week at the grocery store, I passed on adding them this time. It was still good and he was happy.
- Lastly, a couple pictures of my crazy garden:
I guess I’ll be making more pickles in the next couple of days! Have a great week!
That is A LOT to get done whilst being sick. But you've got me thinking about making jam now. I haven't made any since I was a kid.
Making all those jams doesn't sound like rest to me. Take care of yourself!!
I love homemade jams and jellies, ad yours look fantastic! I hope you're on the mend.
We ended up not planting anything this year because of our terrible heat/drought last summer. Now I'm kind of kicking myself. And now I know who to bug on twitter with my jam/jelly questions. Last night I was flipping through my Ball Handbook and died at the amount of sugar in the recipes. I've never canned anything (other than freezer jam)…do i really need all of that sugar? I'd love some tips–your jars (well the contents) are just gorgeous.
If you can find it, Sure Jell makes a low-sugar pectin that I have used on occasion with good results. You do need all the sugar though, if you want it to set. The Apple Cinnamon actually didn’t set the first time and I had to do it again. I lost count as I was putting in the sugar, I’m sure a child distracted me, and it didn’t set. It was like yummy syrup. Once I went back and added a cup of sugar, it set beautifully. You can always search the internet for low-sugar jelly recipes. There are tons out there. I made some low-sugar fig jam for a sick relative one time, and I found the recipe on the internet.
Hit me up anytime! I still feel like a novice, but I’m definitely more comfortable than I was when I started 2 years ago!
First off, LOVE the new header. So cute and clean. And you know I'm nuts about yellow lately.
The garden looks fantastic! Totally jealous. Hope I'll be able to get a decent herb garden going at the new place soon.
And the Father's Day sounds stellar. Especially the food! You need to make crock pot baked ziti. I shared the recipe on my blog post today, and it could not be any easier.
Oh I should have done a garden this year! I wanted to! I just ran out of time… as usual…. *sigh*
Your garden slooks so beautiful and I'm SO jealous of all of those jams you've been making!!!! We totally need to do a recipe card exchange or something…hmmm…maybe we should set that up :p
I used to can quite a bit. I just love to see all of the jars and colors lined up on the shelves and there is such a sense of satisfaction involved. Thank you for your beautiful post.
Oh, my gosh, I love your garden!!