Strawberry Freezer Jam

The hubs and I took baby bear strawberry picking yesterday! We figured we'd pick a bucket full or so to freeze for the off season. Well, we picked a bucket or so.. More like two heaping buckets weighing in at 12 pounds! What in the heck do you do with 12 lbs of strawberries?!?! I cut up 25 cups of them and used our foodsaver to seal them up well for freezing. I wanted to make some jam, but I've never made it before. I found this super easy recipe and I now have 6 pints of jam to add to the freezer strawberry collection! The recipe warns several times to "follow exactly," so I did. I can't say how it tastes, since it's still in the cooling process, but it looks delicious! I will say that it's a bright pink color that you can't get from processed jams you buy at the grocery store. Happy jamming!

Strawberry Freezer Jam

Ingredients:
- 2 cups of crushed, fresh strawberries
- 4 cups of sugar
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 box of pectin (I used Sure-Jell)
- 5 1-cup containers with lids


Yield: 5 cups of Jam


1. Wash, core and cut up the strawberries. Place them into a bowl and crush them with a potato masher, one cup at a time. 
2. Stir the sugar into the strawberries and allow it to sit for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, with boiling water, wash the containers and lids, then dry thoroughly.
3. In a saucepan over high heat, mix the water and pectin. Bring to a boil while stirring continuously, then boil for one minute, stirring continuously. 
4. Stir the pectin/water into the strawberries and stir continuously for 3 minutes, or until the sugar is mostly dissolved. 
5. Allow jam to stand for 3 minutes, then pour into containers. Leave 1/2 inch between the top of the jam and the top of the container to allow for expansion in the freezer. Wipe off the edges of the containers, then put the lids on.
6. Allow the jam to cool/set for 24 hours at room temperature. Store in the fridge for up to 3 weeks or in the freezer for up to 1 year.

Homemade Granola Bars

My love affair with granola started in high school when I needed a quick breakfast that I could eat in the car. My mom probably should have bought stock in Quaker since she bought so many boxes of Chewy bars. This continued on through college and even as an adult, I find myself buying the huge box of Chewy bars from Costco for breakfasts. I'm not getting on the "processed food is the devil" bandwagon with this one, but I will say that the homemade version of Chewy bars are equally as delicious, easy to make (literally took five minutes while the baby was crawling around the kitchen) and are very inexpensive to make. Also, if you are an allergy sufferer like me, you can use local honey and build up your natural tolerance to the local pollen! Cheaper, probably healthier, and delicious, sounds like a win to me!

Chewy Chocolate Granola Bars
Ingredients:
1 cup of crisp rice cereal
2 cups of rolled oats
1/4 cup of honey
1/3 cup of brown sugar, packed
2 tbsp. butter (or you could use 2 tbsp of your favorite oil)
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup chocolate chips (I used the minis)

Directions:
1. Grease an 8x8 pan (metal or glass)
2. In a medium bowl, combine oats, cereal and chocolate chips, mixing well
3. In a saucepan over medium high heat, melt brown sugar, butter and honey together, stirring very often. Reduce heat to medium after it becomes bubbly and stir constantly for one minute. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract
4. Slowly add the contents of the saucepan to the oat mixture, stirring very well until all of the oat mixture is well coated and it sticks together.
5. Spread mixture into the pan, smoothing out the top with a spoon or spatula.
6. Let cool for an hour before cutting. Cut into bars and store in an air-tight container for up to 7 days.

If you are granola obsessed as I am becoming, check out this website for a ton of yummy recipes: http://foodgawker.com/?s=granola+bars