Thursday, June 23, 2011

Todays Jam

I found a recipe for Peach Lavender Jam.  Since I'm into Lavender right now I thought this would be perfect AND the peaches looked great.


I had a few problems so if you have any ideas please share!


The recipe came from "The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving" by Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard..  In a canning magazine I have it suggested boiling the peaches until the skin broke (approx 30-60 seconds).  I boiled for several minutes and the skin never "broke".  Then I was to dump them in a bowl of ice water for 1-2 minutes.  The did not peel easily at all.  I know I tried this once before and it worked, don't know what went wrong this time.





Peach Lavender Jam
2 tbsp dried lavender flowers
1/2 cup boiling water
4 cups finely chopped peaches (5-6 medium)
2 tbsp lemon juice
6 cups granulated sugar
1 pouch liquid fruit pectin

Place Lavender flowers in a small bowl. Pour boiling water over flowers and steep for 20 minutes. Strain and discard flowers.  (Later I added Lavender extract)

Combine lavender liquid, peaches, lemon juice and sugar in a very large stainless steel or enamel saucepan. Bring to a full boil over high heat and boil hard for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in pectin. (I did this and it never thickened. I re/boiled the finished jam the next day until it geled so the liquid pectin was in it while I boiled this time)

Ladle into hot jars and process for 10 minutes.

Makes 6 cups

So, it sounded easy but as you see in the red it didn't work for me until I reboiled the fruit with the pectin in it. 

Now it looks and acts like it should!!!!:)

Comments?

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Well, I have been baking bread for a long time - over 35 years - and have never come close to baking the beautiful loaves that came out of the oven recently. That's because I recently got a copy of "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day" and used their awesome recipe. Bernadine mentioned it to me and gave me a copy of an article about the bread. However, when I used the recipe in the magazine, it did not work. I found out after reading the book that the article was flawed. Oh, well, you gotta try stuff to learn. Anyway, the book has an amazing process for rising and baking that does not require kneading!!! Be sure to check it out - not only is the basic loaf delicious but the alternative recipes are yummy as well and it is the easiest raised bread I've ever made.

By the way, I made lamb chops the other day so had to make more hollandaise sauce, which then left me with two egg whites. Of-course, I made more Angel Food cupcakes, only this time, I replaced one tablespoon of flour with cocoa powder and added banana extract - they were so good! They were a little more dense since the cocoa powder has fat in it but who the heck cares - a little fat in an Angel Food cupcake never hurt anybody!! I dipped the tops in chocolate ganache - scrumptious!

Does anyone have any good recipes that include gnats? Maybe we could catch them and put them in cake - they would just look like poppy seeds! I've sprayed vanilla scent on myself and that seemed to ward them off!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Fun, Fun, Fun

This has been the best summer here at the Stillman Inn so far! 

Creativity is flowing everywhere you look!

I bought this at the local Wild Bird Feed Store downtown.  It is filled with nesting material and you can see the birds love it.  You can also fill it with peanuts for the squirrels.  It's a great place to stuff my extra wool after spinning!



Here is the lovely "Fairy Garden" I splurged on this  year.  Purchased at Valley Perennials in Galena.  You can just sit and dream all day long looking at this beautiful mix.








 


And what can beat watching my sweet Grandbaby out in the cement mixing tray?  Yes, a turtle swimming pool is on the list to buy but she really loves playing around in our small ponds.  So for now, it works.









Currently working on "romantisizing" our little well in the back yard.  We have a turtle spitter in it, some plastic "chandeleir" mini lights with rose garland around the roof and we're growing a potatoe vine plant and parsley in front of the little pond.  There were marigolds too but my baby squirrels ate them up.  There are also morning glories sprouting.  That should be terrific.





Ahhh, the square foot gardens.  Love, love, love talking to the guests about them.  Many of the guests know right away the type of garden it is!  What fun to hear their gardening stories!

I've had my struggles with it, baby squirrels, hot weather, but mostly it is going just great.  Glad to be gardening again!  Already had sandwiches with homegrown lettuce.  Toooooo coooool!  Hope you are also enjoying this summer!