Jammin' in the New Year!!

YES... 

I have found THE perfect jam recipe!

TOMATO JAM

}cue angels singing{

This past summer, I found THIS recipe from Marisa at Food In Jars.

And let me tell you it has become a favorite of Cookie Man!

Sooo Perfect, I may change his name to 

"Tomato Jam Man"!

OK...not doing any name changes...as of now, 

but I will revisit the idea after another batch of this Tomato Wonder is made!!

It's great on Turkey Burgers

and the Cookie Man LOVES it in an egg burrito!

The recipe calls for every delicious morsel of the tomato to be used...

skin, seeds ...the WHOLE ENCHILADA!

Oh my!!

This spicy jam would be GREAT on my mom's enchiladas!!

*note to self...CALL YOUR MOM!!

The last couple of times I made the jam, it took me 2 hours to finely chop the tomatoes!

2 HOURS!!

 I have 4 kids 5yo and under...

PLEASE TELL ME THERE IS AN EASIER WAY!!

HELLO!!!

}cue angels singing...AGAIN!{

See this...

It's my juicer! 

And I LOVE IT!

I love it so much I may change my name to 

"Vallima-joos"!

*wink- he he

OK...but seriously, it has revolutionized MY Tomato Jam making!

I simply juiced the 5 pounds of tomatoes then threw the pulp in the pot!!!

 BAM!!

Done in 5 minutes!!

Added the ingredients!

and went from this

 to this...

 in 2 hours!
  

What can you do in the New Year to 'Lighten your load', in the kitchen or around your home?

Linking to

 

Lunch is in the Freezer!

I've always struggled waking in the morning to make breakfast for Cookie Man. 

I'm always trying to come up with different ways to make sandwiches. 

The funny thing is my husband is a creature of habit. 

He would completely happy with a Grilled Cheese Sandwich!

Freezing Sandwiches!

Yup!

Genius!! 

I love the idea!!

I made a loaf of Ham and Cheese Sandwiches ready for George!!

You know George...

What?

Don't have one!!

It makes the best:

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches!

French Toast!

Quesadillas!

OK OK... Back to freezing sandwiches!

It took me about 15 minutes to do the whole loaf!

 I used 2 slices of cheese and 2-3 slices of ham per sandwich.

The bread was buttered before wrapping the sandwich up in wax paper!

Brilliant!!

12 sandwiches!

One loaf of Grilled Ham and Cheese Sandwiches!

 I let my sandwich thaw a bit before throwing it on George.

Check out this beauty!

Minus 1/4 because I forgot to take a picture before I took a bite!

I have also made PBJ's for the freezer!
They are yummy too!

Now I can set the timer for at least 5 more minutes...

YAWN!

Linking to

What kind sandwiches will you try to freeze?

"Mint" to Be!

I recently was asked to do the Bible Study for my Catholic Mommy & Me group. 

I was honored to do so!

I wanted to give a little welcome gift to our moms since it was our first meeting.

I made Mint Jelly with mint from my brother in law's garden.

I used my 3" circle cutter to cut scrapbook paper to place between the seal and the ring!

They turned out great!

I used leftover shipping labels I had from my old craft booth ...ahem- about 12 years ago.

I cut coordinating scrapbook paper to cover the business name.

Good thing I saved them...
and even better that I knew where to find them!!

loop a rubber band in place of the string

I could not find a quote that would match the jelly! 

I searched and searched for the perfect quote.

My mother was in town and I asked her if she had any words of wisdom 

to help. She pulled out her prayer book and the scripture of the day was:

In Him all things

hold together.

~Colossians 1:17

WHAT?

Are you kidding me?

This jelly took the longest to set!

I was so worried it would be a yucky jar of syrup!

In Him all things hold together!!

Of course!!

Perfect!

 It was definitely

"Mint" to be!!

Linking to

Mint Jelly Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups packed fresh mint leaves and stems
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 1/4 cups boiling water
• 1 drop green food color
• 3 1/2 cups white sugar
• 3 fluid ounce container liquid pectin

Directions

1. Rinse off the mint leaves, and place them into a large saucepan. Crush with a potato masher or the bottom of a jar or glass. Add water, and bring the mint to a boil. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand for 10 minutes. Strain, and measure out 1 2/3 cups of the mint.
2. Place 1 2/3 cups mint into a saucepan. Stir in the lemon juice and food coloring. Mix in the sugar, and place the pan over high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Once the mixture is boiling, stir in the pectin. Boil the mixture for a full minute while stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and skim foam off the top using a large metal spoon. Transfer the mixture to hot sterile jars, and seal.
3. Place a rack in the bottom of a large stockpot and fill halfway with water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then carefully lower the jars into the pot using a holder. Leave a 2 inch space between the jars. Pour in more boiling water if necessary until the water level is at least 1 inch above the tops of the jars. Bring the water to a full boil, cover the pot, and process for 10 minutes.

Recipe inspiration

Slow Oven-Roasted Roma Tomatos

About 4 pounds Roma Tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and salt

Oven at 200 degrees

Done in about 12 hours (over night)

All Squished into this little jar!

DELICIOUS!

More {TITUS 2} SDAY

Inspired by Food In Jars

Kids in the Kitchen

DINNER SALAD

CUTTING TOMATOES

TRES

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE

UNO making sure the strawberries are good

L.O.V. E. TRES' concentration

DOS is very serious when using a knife!

This recipe was super fast and easy! 

We will definitely be making these all summer!

FRUIT SALSA for our HOMEMADE CREPES

UNO cutting Mangoes

DOS' again... very serious!

Homemade Crepes and Fruit Salsa

We ended up cutting our fruit instead of following the recipe.

(I also made the Cinnamon Sugar Tortilla Chips for snack the following day! YUM!)

The crepes still need perfecting!

I'm getting better and faster at making them!

DOS' asks for them daily! (Seriously... she does!!)

They do make a great snack anytime of the day. 

I usually double the recipe and freeze the leftovers! 

FRENCH BREAD

No pictures please!

Hot Bread + Butter = YUMMY SNACK

The bread was my first attempt! 
It was good but I think I rushed it since it was for dinner. 
Next time I'll start earlier in the day and give it enough time to rise properly. 
Oh... and close the window in the kitchen!
 

Prepping food from our Bountiful Baskets

TRES

DOS unloading cart

Our portion of the basket we share.

The picture above does not show the apples that were eaten 

or the bag of carrots that were left on the dining room table.

And the blackberries disappeared too!

SHUCKING CORN

CUTTING MUSHROOMS

Divine Mercy Sunday

Jesus, I trust in you!

Our Divine Mercy Craft

To celebrate we made
Lemon Panna Cotta with Berries

Yummy Lemon Juice

DOS helping pour

ready for the fridge

Topped with Fresh Strawberries!

Super Delicious!!

Get Recipe here!!

To read more about the story of St. Faustina and the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, CLICK HERE

You can find the craft here- Catholic Icing!

Spring Playdough

I intentionally did not make play dough at the first of the month because I wanted to focus on the season of Lent and simplicity. 

This did not mean the kidlets didn't mind. 

DOS was constantly asking for play dough! 

I throw away each batch at the end of the month so there really wasn't any play dough around.

So this morning, I began making the batches of play dough for Spring!

AND I LOVE EVERY ONE OF THEM!!!

I made the carrot tops from Green Pipe Cleaners

UNO played with the orange one for about an hour!

Robin Egg Blue with a Paper Bag Nest

TRES

DOS with her Garden

Homemade Playdough
1 c. flour
1/2 cup salt
1 T. cooking oil
1 T. cream of tartar
1 c. water
Food coloring of your choice
Add-ins of your choice (i.e. spices, extracts, glitter, etc.)
Stir ingredients together well.  Just measure them into the saucepan you will be using to cook the dough, but mix them well before heating up the pan.  Over medium heat cook the dough, stirring constantly until it forms a ball.  (NOTE:  When it starts to pull away from the sides somewhat and clump together and most of the "wet-looking" parts look dry, it's ready to remove from the pan.)  Turn dough onto a board (or the countertop) and knead until very smooth.

Capirotada- Mexican Bread Pudding

Capirotada is traditionally eaten during Lent. 

Growing up, my mother made it during Holy Week.

Family would come over to enjoy their "favorite aunt's" bread pudding.

I never knew the religious side of it until I watched my mom make it.

  ...and asked her to give me "the recipe".

Here is my mother's recipe... if you are looking for exact measurements, 

you won't find them here!

Take close look at the "bandejas" (pots & pans) in the pictures.

They belonged to my 'mama' and my mother now has them... 

adding to the 60-70+ cooking years my grandmother put them through.

Toasted bread use any type

Oil heating in pan... notice handle is missing

Once bread is toasted, dip in hot oil.

Boil water and add brown sugar or Piloncillo (Mexican Brown Sugar). One stick of butter, cinnamon sticks and whole cloves

Cinnamon Sticks  represent our sins and the wood used to crucify Our Lord Jesus Christ and the Cloves- Nails used to nail Jesus to the Cross

Bread- The Body of Christ

Raisins-People you are praying for family, friends, government officials, enemies, etc

Brown Sugar mix- represents the Blood of Christ

Cheese- our connection with Jesus Christ's suffering and our own suffering

Nuts are the hardened hearts or bad habits we need to let go

Layer Bread & cheese

then pour brown sugar mixture between layers

repeat in layers until all ingredients are used

bake at 350 degrees for 2-3 hours

my mother and her Capirotada!

Check out other Lenten Ideas here!!