To all of you whose challenged homemaking skills have made you feel like only a consolation member of the Relief Society, there is hope. I, Stephanie, made jam. It was even easy. So that pretty much means that anyone one can do it, even the domestically handicapped. Behold:
We picked strawberries at a local farm.
Grant and Clark washed and cut them.
I chopped them in a food processor, and added some chopped tangerines as well, just because I wanted to.
Then I added sugar and fruit pectin. I tried it with two kinds and this was definitely the easiest way to go and it set up much nicer than with Sure-Gel:
Then I put it in little jars, and that was all. Not kidding. That’s all. Then it keeps in the fridge or freezer. So with no disrespect to those of you who have spent your summer writing novels, running marathons, and building life-size models of ancient Mayan ruins with your children, let’s not underestimate the glory of this accomplishment.
I made jam, people. And it was good.
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Some end notes:
1. Apparently some of you are intimidated by the haiku contest. Let me put your fears at ease about a 3-line poem:
This is a haiku. (5 syllables)
You can write it just like this. (7 syllables)
That wasn’t so hard. (5 syllables)
See? Piece of cake. Entries due by Saturday night.
2. I also retro-posted the General Conference Book Club talk of the week. It’s up as of Sunday’s date, or you can hop to it here if you wish. Can I just encourage some of you that have disappeared from the comments section at the GCBC to jump back on board? I’d love to hear from you again, and it’s never too late to pick up and old goal and run with it again.
3. Coming very soon, like maybe tomorrow: A review of some guilt-free summer screen time options for your kids, and a giveaway to go with it. Stay tuned.
Diapers and Divinity 
(just have to get one thing off my chest and yes, I realize the comment was made for humorous purposes: Just because someone doesn’t feel they have proper homemaking skills doesn’t mean they are allowed to think that they are fringe members of RS! I cannot for the life of me do the RS announcements without doing a metaphorical faceplant and yet I’ve been shackled to that duty for another indeterminate length of time. Please participate in RS, all you people who think you don’t belong! We NEED you, whatever your skill set is or is not!)
Where did you go to pick them? I’m looking around for that opportunity. I did it last year and froze the berries whole (still can’t bring myself to make jam…too hard!). Yummy!
I wrote poetry. Bad poetry. So far, that’s my Everest of the summer. I might even clean off one of the kitchen counters this summer too. But I’m not getting my hopes up.
Yay for homemade jam!
I made three batches this summer – the first batch turned into strawberry syrup, but the other two turned out just fine. Yum!
I made freezer jam last year. And made about 4 batches because I screwed up the measurements with the first two. Who screws up freezer jam? This guy.
I am so ridiculously behind on blog reading right now, but I had to pause for a good laugh over this. I think that domestically, you and I are very much alike. And I have never had the courage to even ATTEMPT making jam. You rock!
Hooray! We love strawberry freezer jam at our house, though we use the harder sure-jel because they have a low sugar version. My kids are now jam snobs and will *only* eat strawberry freezer jam. This is how bad it is. When I was pregnant with our triplets I told the older kids (then ages 11.5, 7.5, 4.5) that I could not do freezer jam because I couldn’t go and pick the berries, and I didn’t think I had the stamina to make the jam either. (Triplet pregnancies are hard. At least mine was.) My kids told me that if I took them to the berry farm they would pick the berries, and that they would make the jam. And they did. The only thing I did was the pureeing of the berries…they did all the rest!
Strawberry freezer jam is the best. My mom made cooked strawberry jam all growing up and believe me, it’s way not as good. And I love my mom a lot, but it’s just not.
Wait, Wait, Wait a minute. I just read to “pregnant with our TRIPLETS” I think that qualifies as glorified domestic perfection for eternity. And you dont even have to leave the couch.
I love freezer jam. That was always the special jam at our house. It’s also great as an ice cream topping.
Congratulations! I tried freezer jam once and it didn’t set up. I haven’t tried again since. You give me hope. Maybe.
Agh, I’ve been slacking on GCBC…
I have been reading a lot lately about making jam. I’d like to try it…you are giving me courage! Thanks!
Good for you, ya jam rock star! Looks like fun too. 🙂
Wow, I still haven’t tried jam… I’m really trying to get to the GCBC talks! I’m so grateful for all those who have been consistent with it! Hopefully, I’ll have more time to read them on vacation. It’s more of a sit around with family and relax type of vacation, so it might actually happen! 🙂