Apricot Pepper Jelly; My First Homemade Batch

From this (with a few other ingredients):

 To This:

 **None of the links in this post are affiliate links. Just my own links to things I thought would be helpful**

I had always stayed away from pepper jelly of any kind thinking it sounded like a horrible combination and would be too hot. Then in Door County, WI, where they have tons of samples I tried my first batch and was hooked! I found them delightful! They had a really nice sweetness to them with a little kick of spice. My sister introduced me to Apricot Pepper Jelly and that has quickly become my favorite. She gave me a couple jars with my Christmas gift last December since she knew I liked it so much. The problem is, the jelly doesn't last long. I love to eat it on toast and the jar goes quickly. My grocery store only carries a mint pepper jelly which doesn't appeal to me, so I started scouring Amazon and the internet. Unfortunately, pepper jelly is expensive! The Apricot Jelly my sister buys (I filled her 13.2 oz jar above) would cost me $9.95 on Amazon and $7.99 for shipping! Even after checking eBay, it would cost me over $10/jar just to get some pepper jelly.

So, I started researching whether I could just make my own. I am so glad I did. I've never canned anything before, so I thought jam or jelly would be out of the question. I found some recipes that make a relatively small batch (about 4-5 jars). That would mean I could store it in the fridge and I'm sure they'd be gone within a month or two.

These are the recipes I saved for trying out:

Apricot Pepper Jelly from Cook, Eat Share
Apricot Jalapeno Jelly from CD Kitchen
Hot N Sweet Pepper Jelly from Cooks.com

I ended up making the one from Cook, Eat, Share and it turned out wonderful! It includes minimal ingredients; just jalapeno peppers, red and/or green peppers, dried apricots, cider vinegar, pectin and sugar. It's amazing to me that you cook all these things together and come up with jars of yummy jelly!

I remember reading the jars needed to be sterilized, so I did that step even though I'm keeping mine refrigerated. I found a website that said you could put the jars and lids in the oven and bake at 225 degrees for 10 minutes to sterilize them. I did that since I don't have any canning tools.

After this experience of successfully making jelly, I'm now inspired to look into canning and preserving! I've always wanted to learn how to can and preserve, but I thought it would be too much for me. My mom often made homemade jam and my dad to this day still cans his tomatoes and Coho salmon that he catches during his fishing season, so it's part of my heritage that I'd like to carry on. I found a great website too that has several resources. It's called Pick Your Own and I found a wonderful tutorial for making jam. I spent a lot of time on that post since she includes a lot of wonderful links for canning supplies, books on preserving and FAQ about jam making.

I have several books I've put on hold at the library and will hopefully come back to blog more about it. My hope is to purchase a canning kit to get started. Here are the books I'll be skimming through:
*Ball Blue Book of Preserving
*The Beginner's Guide to Preserving Food at Home
*Canning & Preserving; All You Need to Make Jams, Jellies, Pickles, Chutneys and More
*Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
*Food in Jars

Do you can or preserve your food? What websites or books are your favorites?

As always,

Thanks for visiting!

Original Recipe: Cheesy Tuna Casserole

We like variety in our home, and adding something fish-related to the menu helps us rotate our meals while getting some heart-healthy Omega-3's in our diet. Tuna casserole is a regular for us, yet I'm always looking for new ways to spice it up. In the past several months, I've moved away from using cream-based soups (because they are often full of sodium and preservatives) after learning how to make a roux (a butter-flour mixture)!  Today I experimented with a couple new add-ins (Velveeta and extra spices). This turned out really tasty. The blend of Lawry's Garlic Salt, Paprika and Curry Powder worked well together. I'll be keeping this recipe for sure!

Let me know if you try it ;)

What is your favorite go-to Tuna Casserole recipe?

Ingredients

• 4 Tablespoons of butter
• 2 Tablespoons flour
•  1-1/2 cups milk
• 1 T minced garlic
• 4 oz Velveeta
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar 
• 1 bag frozen peas (cooked)
• 1 large can tuna (drained)
• 1/2 lb box macaroni noodles (cooked)
• Pepper (to taste)
• Few dashes of Lawry's Garlic Salt
• Dash or two of Paprika
• 1/4 tsp Curry Powder

 

Instructions

• Cook macaroni noodles according to package directions.
• In a nice deep pan, melt the butter.
• Once the butter is melted, add the flour and stir for 1 minute keeping the heat on medium low.
• Slowly add milk a bit at a time while stirring with a whisk.
• Continue stirring until all milk is added, then wait until mixture starts to thicken and comes to a low boil (over medium heat). Make sure it's not too high, or it will burn.
• Add Velveeta and minced garlic; stir until melted in.
• Add Shredded Cheddar and stir until melted in.
• Add the various spices and stir until combined.
• Once the noodles are done, add the tuna (flaked with a fork) and cooked peas.
• Pour the melted cheese mixture over the noodles.
• You can either eat it as is (which we did) or bake uncovered on 325 for 15 minutes or so.

Enjoy!!


As always,
Thanks for visiting!

Trying Out New Products for Free (Lysol Touch of Foam)

As a (mostly) stay-at-home mom, I'm always looking for new ways to save and earn money but most of all I love to get things for free  :) . In addition to doing online surveys for a little money on the side, I've joined up with a few companies seeking people to review their products. One company is called BzzAgent. My first review was for Garnier Fructis Miracle Oil. I had fun trying it out. So when we were selected for our second campaign, I was happy to again try something new. This time the Bzz Campaign was for Lysol Touch of Foam Hand Soap.

I received the product a few weeks ago, so we've had plenty of time to try it out. I have to say, it's become our favorite soap in the house. The packaging itself was really appealing, since my favorite color is purple. It also has a wonderful fragrance, Creamy Vanilla Orchid. It is a nice floral fragrance, but at times the fragrance was a little too intense for me. I really like the pump style that dispenses a nice amount of the foamy soap in your hands. The lather is pretty thick too. It ended up leaving my hands feeling nice and soft.

My 4-yr-old son also enjoyed trying this out with me. The soap was great for his little hands. The pump was very easy to press down and the lather was so full that he always had enough soap for washing. He told me to write the company with these words: "Thank you for the soap. We like it. Hope you enjoy the pictures."

Overall, I give this a 4 out of 5 stars. We really liked it and would purchase it for our family.

As always,
Thank you for visiting!

Tribute to Bob and Bettye, dear friends in Christ

My heart was impacted in a huge way this past week. A dear woman who is a cherished friend of mine lost her husband on April 27th after a long illness period. They were married for 57 years and raised four beautiful children and have lots of wonderful grandchildren. After the memorial service today, I sat at my computer to write about it and the Lord gave me a sweet tribute to share. I posted it on our church's Facebook and community pages and I'd like to share it here on my blog as well. I hope you are blessed by it.

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I attended the Memorial Service today for Bob Barnes here at Blackhawk Church and am still aglow from how much my heart was touched and encouraged in the celebration of his life. I am moved in a way that's hard to put to words but I am compelled to share.

When I joined Bettye Barne's bible study in 2006, I had no idea how much impact she and her husband Bob would have on my life and the life of my family, especially in ministering to me during a very traumatic postpartum depression time. It's not often that I've met a couple with such love and devotion for Jesus, in living for Him and sharing their faith with those around them.

I stopped by Bettye's home yesterday to offer my sympathies. I knew it was the day of her bible study, but I thought it would be cancelled and that the cars must be of her extended family. I was touched to find out she was still holding her bible study and looked truly radiant as she recounted to me all that happened in this week of preparation after Bob's passing. It was not until this morning, when I was getting ready for Bob's funeral, that something hit me in such a powerful way. After 57 years of marriage to Bob, I expected to see Bettye deep in grief. What blew me away was that instead of being lost in grief, she was singing God's praises. That Bob is no longer suffering and in pain, for her incredible family who have stayed all week making all the arrangements and taking care of every little detail including legalities ... she shared how she had seen the Lord's hand at work again and again within the minutiae of plans, arrangements and legal things. She told me this had truly been a glorious week. Wow.

As I was thinking about all this, being blown away by her faith in the midst of her loss, the song "I Will Rise" by Chris Tomlin came on the radio; a song I've listened to and sung many times - but today I really heard the words for the first time. It makes me look forward to the day when I too, will be called home, into the wonderful arms of my Savior.

"And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagle's wings
Before my God fall on my knees And rise, I will rise"

Thank you for reading this. I hope you enjoy the video and the picture above of Bob and Bettye when they came to my son's dedication/2nd Birthday celebration.

Thank you Lord for the B's!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf7t3P9ISrE

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As always, 
Thanks for visiting!