ShareTweet The family activities that take the most amount of hustle often pay the sweetest dividends. I’ve always wanted to have that house, that neighborhood hangout house that kids flock to after school. Since we’ve moved to Chicago, we’ve been living that dream, and with it comes the reality of a yard filled with bald… Continue Reading
Tag Archives: canning
Making Memories and Simple Strawberry Jam Fresh from the Fields
ShareTweet Adventures are best when they’re spontaneous. And when they involve strawberry picking, they’re spontaneously delicious. Last weekend, after what felt like months and months of baseball games, dance recitals and swim meets, we finally had an afternoon with nothing at all scheduled. Nowhere to be, nothing to do: pure bliss. The couch beckoned but… Continue Reading
Roasted Tomato Ketchup for the Chicago Food Swap
ShareTweet One of my favorite aspects of the food swaps Emily Paster and I have been organizing is the motivation to innovate and cook new things. I wanted to prepare something savory, something that people would be able to enjoy more than once, and something easy to transport. As the unbelievable spring weather has had… Continue Reading
Make those Sweet Honeycrisp Apples Last with Apple Jelly
ShareTweet With every snowflake that drifted to the ground this morning, the death knell tolled for those sweet, gleaming, red apples piled high at the supermarket. Soon that moment of delight when my teeth make contact with their sweet flesh after piercing the cheery skin will be just a memory, like the crinkle of riotous… Continue Reading
Boozy Jams: a Surprisingly Delicious Combination
ShareTweet Wanting to kick my jams up a notch this summer, I picked up a copy of Better Homes and Gardens Canning magazine at the supermarket checkout. Choosing it over the latest issue of Glamour or People definitely forced me to face my decline in sex appeal, but having lugged around my pregnant belly for… Continue Reading
A Giveaway to Get you Started Canning
ShareTweet I only started making my own jams a year ago, but my little jars of summer sunshine helped our family survive our first Chicago winter. Canning is one of those things that seems completely daunting but is actually really easy. Yesterday, I shared some quick and easy blueberry jam recipes. Later next week, I’ll… Continue Reading
Blueberry Balsamic Jam and the Joys of Small Batch Canning
ShareTweet There’s a French fable by La Fontaine that French kids are taught in school called La Cigale et la Fourmi (the Cricket and the Ant) which could become the motto of any canning enthusiast. It tells the story of the fun-loving cricket who sang all summer long while the ant diligently built up his… Continue Reading