• Blog - Kitchen - Outdoors

    T Tuesday: Juneberry jam edition

    June 30, 2015 - By 

    Welcome to yet another edition of T stands for Tuesday hosted by Dr. E aka Elizabeth, caretaker of Bleubeard and Squiggles.

    20150629_8030So what’s a Juneberry you ask? I love putting words in your mouth…makes me feel all powerful and full of myself.

    20090623_2733 But seriously…ever heard of a Juneberry? How about a Saskatoon berry? Or perhaps a Serviceberry? Until recently I didn’t know that they all happen to be the same thing. And even more so…we have a tree in our yard. Wish I’d realized that 12 years ago when it was much smaller!!

    20150629_8044Of course they are much tastier when left until they are a deep purple…but you have to fight the birds for them.

    I found several recipes online for Juneberry jam but decided to go with this low sugar version.

    20150629_8029Isn’t it pretty!?! I ended up with a partial jar that went into the fridge for immediate consumption.

    I’m not a big sweets girl…(unless it’s chocolate…which I’m allergic to but I’m willing to deal with the consequences occasionally but that’s a whole other issue)…so a slightly tart jam suits me just fine. Honestly I haven’t tried it on bread yet…just the spoon. Slightly tart and quite full of seeds. It will depend on if anyone else likes the jam if I bother with all the tedious picking again. It would be interesting to know if you could make wine or mead or some sort of adult beverage from these berries. More research I guess.

    Speaking of research…can anyone help me with the name of this flower?

    20150629_8035I believe it starts with a “C” but I threw out the handy dandy marker that came with the plant. I want to write it down so I can remember to purchase more next year.

    I’m not sure what’s on the docket for today other than talking to my in-laws. The Twin Cities area got hit with some pretty big thunderstorms yesterday…large hail, winds and heavy rain. We got very little hail here and not much of it so the garden is fine. We heard reports of two inch hail in their area  though. UGH..that would be awful!

    I have to show you my rouge bean plants too…I did not buy climbing beans but 4 of my plants have decided to climb.

    20150629_8038I’ll be putting in some bamboo stakes today.

    What are you doing today?

  • Blog - Kitchen

    Recycled Christmas card ornament

    December 18, 2014 - By 

    This is definitely not a new craft…but it was a new one for me. I hang on to all our old cards. They are so pretty I can’t bear throwing them in the recycle bin.

    Of course, Pinterest played a big part in me actually creating one of these. Ah, Pinterest… How much time I spend with you… The thousands of pins we share… Time organizing and reorganizing when I should be organizing the real things in my life.

    IMG_0052

    Maybe this is a better clue to the size. IMG_0051

    It was created with a 1.25″ punch. IMG_0054

    The green one on the left. My neighbor borrowed the blue 2″ punch. I’m curious how much exponentially bigger another one will be with that punch. Yes I’m aware I could do the math…but I’ll just give it a whirl in the physical dimension and compare. Results to follow…soon.

    Unless I’m crushed under all the Christmas goodies I’ve been making…treats2

    These are just from this morning. I’m getting a sugar rush just smelling them.

    I’m getting to the point that just thinking about eating any of it just doesn’t sounds appealing. Just like when I worked at Baker’s Square when I was a teen…when you are around pies, cookies and muffins all day long…you have desire to eat any.