A Berry Beautiful Day

We spent our first official day of summer picking blueberries at one of our favorite places-The Butler Family Orchard.  Any day of blueberry picking must begin with reading one of our favorite books, Blueberries for Sal.

There is nothing more delicious than picking your own fresh fruit.  When Nash tasted his first blueberry he excitedly exclaimed, "I never knew that blueberries could be so heavenly!"  

  

When we got home we made blueberry pancakes and blueberry freezer jam together.

Recipe:

4 Cups Whole Blueberries

5 Tablespoons Pectin

2 1/4 Cup Sugar

Sterilize freezer jars by boiling them with their lids for 3 minutes.  Place 4 cups of washed blueberries into the food processor and liquefy.  Combine sugar and pectin and then add liquefied blueberries. Stir with a whisk for 3 minutes. Pour into jars leaving at least 1/2 inch at the top for expansion in the freezer.  Seal jars and let set at room temperature for at least 1 hour before freezing.

Whatcha' Doing?

It's been a long time since I have had time to do anything crafty, but today I busted out the hot glue gun and made this seashell wreath.  These shells are just a few of the at least 20 pounds we hauled back from Panama. 

It is also canning season at our house.  Scott hates this time of year. He has convinced himself that it always ends in some sort of a disaster, just because of one little incident involving exploding glass, a melted kitchen rug, a few minor burns, and some glass shards embedded in a foot.  He is so dramatic.  Anyway,  I canned seven quarts of peaches and 18 pints of jam.  My grandma's raspberry peach recipe can be found HERE on my blog.

This year I also tried a strawberry/peach freezer jam that we absolutely love.  We have eaten 3 pints in 4 days.

Peach & Strawberry Freezer Jam

3 Cups Peaches

2 Cups Strawberries

1/4 Cup of Lemon Juice

1 Box of Sure Jell Fruit Pectin

4 1/2 Cups of Sugar

1 Cup of Light Corn Syrup

After peeling and removing the pits from the peaches and the stems from the strawberries chop in a food processor. Do not over chop. You want a few chunks.  Add the lemon juice and the pectin.  Allow the pectin to dissolve for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the corn syrup and then the sugar.  Pour into PREPARED freezable glass jars.  Do not overfill because the jam will expand when it freezes. It should last about a year in the freezer and up to 3 weeks in the fridge.

Adapted from Chief-In-Training

In other news, I went to Target today and Atley had me paged. He told the security guard he was lost, which was odd considering he was right next me only 2 minutes earlier.  Nash was so excited when my name was blared over the loud speaker in the store. I think there was a bit of a conspiracy between the brothers.