Strawberry Freezer Jam

If you hurry you might be able to get one of the last flats at the strawberry stand and make some really yummy jam! I usually try and get mine made in the summer, but this summer went too fast. So, I got some last week and got it done. Thank goodness! My kids won't eat any other kind of jam - seriously, won't touch anything else. I can't blame them. I grew up with this jam too, my mom has been making it for as long as I can remember. She used to give it to friends every year for Christmas and they would wait for it. One of them wouldn't let her kids have any and would eat it alone with a spoon! It is that good. It tastes like dessert.

When you go to the road-side stand, ask them if they have any "jam ready" berries. They all know what that means. I got a whole flat of smashed and watery berries for $3!! Perfect, because I go home and mash them up like this... Actually, my husband washed all the strawberries and mashed them the night before I made the jam. Yes, he is awesome.Follow the directions for the "Quick and easy" freezer jam inside this box. I haven't ever tried the pink, lighter sugar box. Don't want to mess with perfection.

If you want to stock up for the whole year like I do, you will need to buy a big bag of sugar like this at Costco. Every batch calls for 2 cups of mashed strawberries and 4 cups of sugar. That's it! Only 3 ingredients (plus a little water.)
Yes, those are old peanut butter jars. They are perfect for little hands grabbing the jam multiple times a day. I make some in cute jars to share, but most are for us. I made about 24 jars, hopefully that will get us to next summer!

Crock pot salsa chicken

When school starts, so does all of the craziness around here! I want my kids to be able to have the opportunity to develop new talents and keep themselves active. So, when school starts so does soccer, piano, dance... which doesn't leave much time for dinner. I LOVE crock pot recipes. Love. When 3:00 rolls around I don't have the time to think about whats for dinner. Especially when I have 30 minutes to get out the door and won't be home all afternoon!

This dinner is so easy and tastes GREAT! This is all you need to make it. It should take you about 2 minutes!

Chicken

1 jar Medium salsa

frozen corn

1 can of black beans

Put the frozen chicken in the bottom of the crock pot. Don't worry about it being frozen.

Pour the salsa on top of it. Make sure you use Medium salsa or else it may be a little bland. Cover the chicken with the corn (as much as you like) and the beans. Cook for 4-5 hours on high or 8 hours on low.
Chop up some good toppings...
and then put them on top of your chicken. I shredded the chicken real quick with a fork before putting in the bowl. And I always put the chips on top so they aren't soggy. One more good meal for the busy, crazy days! Enjoy!

Dinner Rolls

I love rolls. No really, love them. I could (and do) eat them all day and night. My kids too. They start eating them right off the cooking trays! I used to make them with a great recipe my mom gave me, but it called for cake yeast and had to be made the night before. I am usually going day-to-day and can only think about today! So, when I found this recipe and it tasted exactly like the other recipe, I was soooo happy!

Dinner Rolls

3 cups lukewarm water

2 packages (2 Tbsp.) dry yeast

1 cup sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp. salt

4 eggs, beaten

8 cups flour, plus a little more

Butter to spread

Dissolve the yeast in the water in a bowl and set aside. In a different bowl mix sugar, oil, salt and eggs. Add the yeast and mix slowly. Add the flour a little at a time until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Place the dough in a greased bowl, turn over and let rise until about double.

Place the dough onto a cutting board and divide into 4 equal parts.
Roll dough out into a large square or circle. I made mine a square because that is the size of my cutting board. A square shape will give you different shape rolls, which I think is fun. If you want your rolls to be uniform in shape, go for a circle.

Soften a cube of butter and spread it out on top of the dough. You don't have to use a lot. I use approximately 1 cube for all four of my batches. But, it is a step you don't want to miss! And don't use anything but real butter! Cut the dough with a butter knife into equal amounts. I did 12 in this picture - but did 16 on the next batch. It doesn't matter!
Starting at the widest part, roll down until you have a crescent shaped roll!
Stagger them on a greased cookie sheet - they need room, they are going to raise a little bit more.
Having a helper is always good!
Aren't they pretty! They wont last long.
Let them raise for another 2-3 hours, until they are fluffy. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Then devour them like we do!

Chocolate Crackle Cookies

My husband brings home really yummy cookies from work sometimes. They are made at a very good cookie store, and we love them. My kids always argue over who gets to eat the Chocolate crackle cookie in the pack - no problem for me, my favorite is the oatmeal raisin! Well, one day my husband came home with more than a box of cookies. This time he brought me the recipe for the Crackles...their recipe! You are not going to believe how easy it is! This is all you need.

1 package brownie mix

1 cup chocolate chips

2 eggs

1/4 cup vegetable oil

powdered sugar to sprinkle

In a large bowl, combine the brownie mix, eggs and oil. Mix with a spoon and stir in the chocolate chips. The mix will be very thick! Refrigerate dough for one hour.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. After an hour, spoon dough by rounded teaspoons into a ball. Dredge cookie in powdered sugar to coat. Place the balls of dough on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes.

The cookies will be soft and chocolately (is that a word?) delicious!

French breakfast Puffs

I was looking for a new recipe to make for the kids for breakfast this week. It is their first week of school and I am trying to send them off with a homemade breakfast (at least for this week!) I needed to find something I could make fast and something everyone would like. Wow! This recipe is just what I was looking for! My kids devoured them and then fought over them after school. They have already requested them again. I love it when I find a winner!

French Breakfast Puffs

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup shortening

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

topping

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

6 tbls. melted butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease your muffin pans. I made 24 mini-muffins, but you could make regular muffins instead.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, cream together the sugar and shortening. Add the egg and mix well. Stir the flour mixture into the shortening mixture alternately with the milk.

Spoon the mixture into your muffin pan. I used a large spoon to drop the batter into my new $4 pan from Wal-mart! I LOVE mini muffins! Bake the muffins for approximately 15 minutes, or until they are golden on top and a toothpick comes out clean. Just watch your oven.

While the muffins are baking, melt the butter in a bowl. In a separate bowl combine the sugar and cinnamon for the topping. When the muffins are done baking, remove them from the pan and immediately dip them into the butter...

and then into the cinnamon-sugar mixture. They were so hot & smelled so good!

Serve them warm with a side of scrambled eggs. Delicious. I think I am making them again in the morning.

Blueberry Crumb Bars

I saw these bars on a blog last week and immediately knew I needed to try them. I have become addicted to blueberries lately, I put them on everything. I am a big cobbler fan also (what am I not a fan of?) so to combine blueberries and cobbler is YUM!

I have found a new favorite recipe. We ate it warm out of the oven with some vanilla ice cream and it was sooo good. I thought it couldn't get much better until I took a piece out of the fridge the next morning - yes, I ate a piece for breakfast! And it was even better cold! I am not allowed to make any more now. I have no will power.

I got this recipe from the blog yourhomebasedmom. She has lots of great recipes!

1 cup white sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup cold butter (2 sticks)

1 egg

1/4 tsp. salt

zest and juice of one lemon

4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

1/2 cup white sugar

4 tsp. cornstarch

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and grease a 9x13 pan.

Stir together the first three ingredients. Mix in the salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Pat half of the dough in the pan. It is okay if it is a little crumbly, just press it with your fingers until it looks like this.

In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Mix in the blueberries. I had some fresh berries but not enough, so I just substituted the remaining amount with frozen blueberries. I didn't even thaw them out! Layer the blueberry mixture over the dough in the pan.

Crumble the remaining dough over the top. It will already look pretty!

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes or until the top is golden.

Eat warm with ice cream or wait until it is cool and cut into bars. Just try not to eat them for every meal!

Watermelon and Strawberry Lemonade

I love lemonade in the summer! I found this recipe a while ago and make it every time I have a watermelon. It is really refreshing and my kids love it!

8 cups cubed and seeded watermelon

1 cup strawberries, halved

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

1 cup white sugar

2 cups water

(you may substitute Sprite or 7-up instead of water)

Combine all the ingredients and blend until it is smooth (you may have to do it in 2 batches!) A fun trick I have learned, is to cube the watermelon and freeze it ahead of time. Then you have a tiny bit of a slushy feel - my favorite!!

Enjoy!

My favorite Oatmeal Cookies

I am a HUGE fan of oatmeal cookies. I got it from my dad. We naturally gravitate towards them every time if given a choice. I have been making these cookies since I was a teenager. I remember making multiple trips down to the kitchen (in a day) for handfuls of them at a time. They are really that good.

3/4 cup shortening

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup water

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups quick oats

1 cup flour

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

raisins (optional)

Add all the ingredients until the vanilla and mix well. Your cookie dough should be smooth and look like this (without the funny child trying to sneak in the picture!)

Next, add the dry ingredients and mix well. Your dough should be a little thick now.

Use a big spoon to drop the dough onto a greased cookie sheet. It doesn't need to look perfect, that is the great thing about oatmeal cookies! They actually look better when you can see all the texture.

Bake them for about 11 minutes at 350 degrees. Always watch the first batch really carefully to see how long they should bake in your oven. The trick to making these cookies GREAT is to undercook them just a bit. I like to take them out when they are just barely turning golden. It will seem like they wont be able to stay together, but if you let them cool they harden. This is also the trick to keeping them a little thicker. I like oatmeal cookies when they have a thick, chewy center instead of being thin and crispy. SOO Yummy!!