Before my last-minute heart surgery last Friday.... oh, wait! You thought I was just out lounging by the pool on vacation?!!! NOT EVEN!! (*wink*)
OK, seriously, I DID have some heart surgery last Friday that was not totally unexpected, but I just didn't expect that when I visited my Dr. on Thursday he would say "how 'bout if we do the surgery tomorrow morning @ 11:00???" I mean, who does that?!! LOL! But it's all good. I obviously took a few days off to recover from the anesthesia, and now I'm getting back in the groove.
So....as I was saying "before my last minute heart surgery last Friday...." I had just made my FIRST EVER Blueberry Jam!!! Seriously, I'm not a Martha Stewart, or certainly not an Emeril, in the kitchen. This is the first time I've ever attempted any kind of jams, or canning. And it was so easy!! I mean, yeah, it took some organizing, etc. But it wasn't like rocket science or anything!! (check the bottom of the post for the recipe!)
So I had intended to finish the job last week, by making some cute little covers & tags for my little jars of Blueberry Jam... but the Dr. threw me for a loop. But this morning I got up & went straight upstairs to work. Don't you love these little jars?!!
I used some cute little tags & dies from Paper Trey called Tiny Tags (with coordinated die!!). They are perfect for this size jar. The fabric is from SU! last mini catalog called "Spring Vintage". Love it!
Here's how the jars look up in my cabinet. ahhh... I love being able to stand back & view the fruits of your labor - LITERALLY!! I had a really fun time making the jam, and have given away most of them. I'm so inspired that I went out yesterday & got some strawberries to try my hand at freezer jam. I'll let you know how that goes!!
Oh...the flowers in the pic!! The tall, fresh flowers were hand-delivered to me by Adam & Katie (love them both!) ... the ones in the back right-hand corner were also hand-delivered to me by Andy ... perfect for my new flower garden in front of the NEW GREEN HOUSE!!! And the sweet little posies were also hand-delivered to me by my very own mama! Now just how cool is that?!! And the card...well, I'll tell you about the card in my next post!! Be sure to check back to see who gave me the card!!!
I hope you have a fabulous day today! If you're in the south or mid-west ... then I hope you have a fabulous AIR CONDITIONER!! Oooh baby, it's hot out there!!
Thanks for visiting!!
BLUEBERRY JAM
4 c. prepared fruit
2 tbsp. lemon juice
4 c. sugar
1 pkg. fruit pectin
Crush ripe blueberries, one layer at a time. Measure into 6-8 quart sauce pot. Add lemon juice. Measure sugar, set aside. Mix fruit pectin into fruit in pan. Place over high heat and stir until mixture comes to full boil. Cook gently 1 minute. Immediately add measured sugar and stir. Bring to full, rolling boil and boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, skim off foam with metal spoon, ladle into hot jars to 1/8 inch top of jars. Cover and process in boiling water bath 5 minutes. Makes 5 2/3 cups.
SPICED JAM: Add 1/4 teaspoon each cinnamon, cloves and allspice to fruit along with lemon juice.
