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Strawberry Pie Fill

Well strawberry season is upon us and I don't know about you but I am loving it. I have already made a triple batch of my strawberry jam recipe I shared with you last year. Wow it is hard to believe I started this blog almost a year ago, where has the time? But I digress. Strawberries are huge right now and perfect for canning, what a great to the start of canning season. Something new I tried this year by request is canning strawberry pie fill. It turned out amazingly well, we LOVE it and it really wasn't as hard as I had worried it would be.

One note though before we start is to make sure you have at least an inch of water above the jars when you are processing, I didn't have quite that much and the top inch of my pie fill is a little more pink than red. Nothing wrong with it just the water ran low for a little bit near the end.

Ingredients: for about 2 quarts

• 7 cups of chopped strawberries
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup Clear Gel (spelled Clear Jel in the United States) not any other version or thickener
• 2 cups cold water
• 7 tsp lemon juice

Instructions:

1. Blanche your strawberries for 1 minute. This involves putting your strawberries in boiling water for 1 minute than straining them.  Put them in a covered bowl.
2. Mix your Clear Gel and sugar in a large stock pot or canning pot. (Clear Jel/Gel is the only approved thickener by the USDA). Add your cold water and whisk the ingredients together. Add heat and stir often until the mixture thickens and begins to bubble, this does not take long so be sure to keep a close eye on it. 
3. Add your lemon juice and stir constantly until it starts to bubble again.
4. Remove from heat and gently fold in the strawberries, stir gently. 
5. Put the pie fill into your hot jars and tighten until hand tight.
6. Seal the jars with a hot water bath, this took me 40 minutes. Again make sure the jars are completely covered in water for the entire processing time. 

As you can see the top is a little pink as opposed to red there is nothing wrong with it just the water ran a little low near the end. 

Please follow USDA guidelines for canning and use caution when handling hot dishes and ingredients. 

Pumpkin Banana Muffins

Hi there, sorry about the delay I meant to get this post up last night but our internet went down. This recipe is tasty as well as somewhat healthy. My partner and son love it with my canned apple butter. This recipe is simple and only uses 1 bowl which is a bonus for doing dishes after. This is also a good way to use up some of the canned or frozen pumpkin that is taking up room in your house.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour ( I used whole wheat but you can use whichever flour you prefer)
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 cup oil of your choice ( I have used vegetable, sunflower and olive in the past all have worked well)
• 1 banana mashed
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup maple syrup (1 cup if you like sweet muffins)
• 2 cups pumpkin puree

Directions

1. Oil or spray your muffin pans (this recipe makes 24 muffins or 2 9" x 5" loaves) and preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. In a large bowl combine all of your dry ingredients, mix thoroughly so there are no chunks of any one ingredient.
3. Mix in your wet ingredients and mix until smooth. 
4. Pour into your pans and bake. Muffins take approximately 20 minutes loaves take about 45 minutes.

Please use caution when handling hot pans.