Well, it was a busy weekend!!!! Friday Matt had friends over (more about that later) and a huge storm decided to come through. It was so bad that the french doors in the kitchen and dining room bowed out and water was pouring in. While I ran to get towels, it took 5 teenagers to hold the doors in their frames. Matt finally decided to bungee them closed. Have to admit it was pretty quick thinking of him. However, it didn't seem to stop the kids from coming over! Oh no.....they just kept pouring in. What was suppose to be a few kids turned into more than 20!!! Yep, they were coming in and I didn't even know. A few of them got smart and went down to the basement using the garage stairs. Luckily, Matt has good friends and they came up to tell me that one of the kids was texting "PARTY AT ANDERSON'S". Yeah, I don't think so. So what does any self respecting mother do? That's right I went all MOM on them. That was good for clearing out 3 or 4 of them. I shut the garage doors, and plopped myself on the couch and kicked kids out if they weren't invited. Finally went upstairs at 1am when I was pretty sure that everything was under control. Needless to say there will be no more "get together's" for a while :)
Saturday Dan came home with a bushel of strawberries from our church garden. They were a bit rough, so on Sunday I tried my hand at strawberry jam. I have to admit it turned pretty well. I have shared some with friends and neighbors and have received rave reviews. So, here is my recipe:
4 cups strawberries pureed
3 cups sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
Clean, hull and puree strawberries (I put mine in the blender)
Place puree, sugar and lemon juice into a large stock pot
Bring to a rolling boil (it will foam up high but then eventually subside)
Continue to boil for 20 minutes stirring occasionally to avoid burning.
Let set-up for at least 24 hours.
Place in sterilized jars (I ran mine through the dishwasher). I used canning jars. These are NOT preserves. I did not worry about the seal and let everyone know to refridgerate the jam and eat soon! I used 1/2 pint jars.
Hope you have a great and safe 4th of July!!!
Catherine
