Mary, Mary, quite contrary — how does your garden grow?
Well, I dunno about Mary, but my garden is growing splendidly. I am so pleased that my berries are doing so well. And my tomato plants have green tomatoes on them 🙂
Anyone else having a good year with their garden?
Yup, a third recipe. Don’t worry — back to crafts after this. I couldn’t help it though 🙂 I never ever bake or cook exciting things, so when I do I feel compelled to share. Remember Mean Girls and “word vomit“? It’s like that. … it’s blog vomit. Weird, but it sorta works.
Moving on… After you are done making your amazing strawberry jam, try your hand at making some blackberry jam. I was in Costco and saw a huge thing of blackberries and had to buy them to make some jam for my momma. I know she loves her some blackberry jam.
This recipe is fairly similar to the strawberry one. Here goes.
I filled a quart-sized baggie with blackberries and smashed the heck out of them. I didn’t want to chop them up, and they are soft enough that squishing does the trick.
Looks yummy already, huh?
I poured my blackberries into my jam maker, adding a tablespoon of butter and 1.5 tablespoons of pectin.
After four minutes, I added the sugar. I added 1 1/3 cups to this batch. Blackberries aren’t always as sweet as I’d like, so I added more to this jam than I did to the strawberry jam.
Let the jelly maker do its job (remember, this can be done on the stove, too!) and can immediately after the jam is done.
If you plan on eating some right away, put it in the fridge. Once it is cool, slather it on some toast an enjoy.
Two recipes in a row?! You are gonna be so shocked when I’m sharing a third tomorrow 🙂
Today’s recipe is for a super healthy snack: Apple Chips!
I found a recipe on Pinterest from Maggie at Vittles and Bits and just had to try it out. I tweaked mine just a bit and now am a total addict. Just what I need, one more thing to be addicted to!
I grabbed some Golden Delicious apples from the store for my chips (Maggie used Red Delicious) and set them aside to be sliced.
Then, I lined three baking sheets with parchment paper. This probably goes without saying, but since I am not a total foodie I had no idea there was a difference between wax paper and parchment paper. Rookie move. I ended up destroying a baking pan because of that, so make sure you have the right kind of paper.
Spray your parchment paper lightly with cooking spray.
Start to slice your apples. I used three for this batch. Slice them as thinly as you can and lay them on the parchment paper. I cut some of mine in slices, others in circles going straight through the core. Either way works, just make sure there aren’t any seeds.
If you have a dog, make sure no seeds fall onto the floor. They aren’t good for dogs (or anyone, really). Just sayin’.
Once your baking sheets are covered in the thin slices, I sprinkled a mixture of Splenda and cinnamon on them. You can bake them without either, with just cinnamon, with just Splenda, with sugar… blah blah blah, you get the idea. Use your imagination. On one of my baking sheets I lightly drizzled honey on the apples — it added a really nice flavor. Next time I make them, I want to sprinkle nutmeg on top. Yum!
Now, time to bake! I set my oven to 215 F and put those suckers in for 2.5 hours. They take a while to dry out all the way, but they make your house smell amazing the whole time. Totally worth the wait.
When you take them out, your super thin slices will be extra crispy. Some of your thicker slices might not be all of the way dry. I found that if you put them into a container they finish drying out. Or, you can eat them that way, too. Still delicious.
Now your chips are done. Eat to your heart’s content. It is fruit after all 🙂
Thanks for the inspiration, Maggie!
A Smith of All Trades 