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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.

Crescent Roll Pizza Pockets

Hi there,
So I don't know about you guys but my little guy loves pizza and I just can't bring myself to order pizza every time someone gets a craving. So I tried this recipe one day and my family just loved it. The extras can be reheated without drying out completely... although there are rarely left overs. This recipe is simple and delicious, a perfect meal for a busy week night without a whole lot of prep.

Ingredients:
2 cans Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
Pizza Sauce
Cheese
Assorted pizza toppings of choice

Procedure:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line your pan with parchment paper.
Lay out one of your cans of crescent rolls and apply your pizza sauce to all but a small border around the outside edge.
Add your toppings and your cheese within this border as well.
Put another crescent roll over top of your toppings and cheese and press down the edges with a fork to seal the pocket.
Bake on the middle rack for about 30 minutes or until the pockets are golden brown.

Enjoy and please use caution when handling hot ingredients and utensils.

Pictures Update

Hi there I wanted to let you all know that most of the pictures are up the frozen peanut butter pie picture could not be saved so I guess I will just have to make it again... oh darn.

Homemade Scalloped Potatoes.

Is it just me or are potatoes the ultimate comfort food? They never get boring because there are so many ways to make them, I am getting hungry just thinking about them. One of my favorite ways to have them is scalloped. Many people think that they are hard to make but they really aren't. They may seem a little daunting if you do not know how to make them but this method is pretty easy. My grandmother was a cook most of her working life and this was how she made them.

Ingredients:

• 6-8 medium to large potatoes
• 1-2 cans of cream of mushroom soup (depends on the brand and size of the can)
• 1 large onion
• salt
• pepper

Instructions:

1. Grease your cooking pan. and preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Slice your potatoes into 1/4 inch slices. You do not have to be exact this is only a guideline.
3. Chop your onions into whichever size pieces you prefer and add them as well as your potatoes to your pan. 
4. Sprinkle salt and pepper over your potatoes and mix in your cream of mushroom soup. You want your potatoes and onions to be covered in the cream of mushroom soup but you do not want it pooling around the bottom of the pan. 
5. Cover your potatoes with aluminum foil and bake at 400 degrees for approximately an hour or until your potatoes are tender. You can tell if your potatoes are tender by poking a fork through them, if it easily goes through they are done, if it takes effort they are not. 

Please use caution when using an oven and handling hot dishes.

UPDATE: Here is the scalloped potato recipe, I did mine in the slow cooker on high for 3 and a half hours.

Confetti Squares

So one of my son's favorite snacks, and also one of my favorites of all time is Confetti Squares. This is another of my grandma's recipes she made them for me almost every week while I was pregnant with my son... maybe that's why he likes them so much. They always remind me of Easter because of the colors in them. By the way if there are any requests for recipes feel free to send them my way I am more than happy to oblige.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of butter or margarine
• 1 cup of peanut butter
• 1 regular package of butterscotch chips (or chocolate either is good)
• 1 small package of the rainbow mini marshmallows 
• 1 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened either work well)

Instructions:

1. First melt your butter, peanut butter and butterscotch chips. You can do this in the microwave or on the stove whichever method you prefer. If you are doing this on the stove however use a double boiler method so you don't burn it. 
2. Remove this from the heat and stir in the coconut and marshmallows.
3. Pour into an 8 x 8 inch pan or container and refrigerate overnight.
4. Cut into squares and serve.

Just as a note these squares can be frozen if you prefer to save some for later.

UPDATE: Here is the picture for the confetti squares before they were cut.

Please use caution when handling hot ingredients.