Breakfast Recipes Week & Asheville Girls Vanilla Giveaway

Welcome to The Egg Basket's Breakfast Recipes Week Featuring an Asheville Girls Vanilla Giveaway

 

Last week I mentioned how much I LOVE baking with the Asheville Girls Organic Vanilla so this week I'm going to share my favorite Breakfast Recipes each day that require (Farm) Fresh Eggs & (Asheville Girls) Vanilla!  Along with that, the generous and kind ladies of Asheville Girls Vanilla have offered my readers a couple FREE bottle of  their awesome, organic Vanilla for a sweet Giveaway!  Entering the Giveaway is Oh, So Simple!  Just "Like" The Egg Basket and Asheville Girls Vanilla on Facebook and you've earned yourself two entries!   Now, that was easy, right?  Want to earn MORE entries another easy way?  Okay then!  Follow THIS blog (yep, right here, the one you're already reading!) to earn more entries, then leave a comment (because I so love to hear from you'll!)  on any or all of the Breakfast Recipes this week, try them, let me know how you like (or don't like) them and earn yourself MORE entries!  The contest will run from today through NEXT Monday to give everyone the weekend to try out some of these amazing recipes! 

Okay~ so, without anymore chit chat from me, here's today's first Breakfast Recipe!

Blueberry Buttermilk Coffee Cake

I mentioned this breakfast coffee cake on Facebook last week and received a very positive response and requests for the recipe.  Since I'm delayed in getting it typed up and posted for my lovely readers, I think I owe you more than one!  With that thought in mind, I'm also going to be posting yet ANOTHER deliciously warm, sweet, and comforting coffee cake later this week for your baking pleasures!  It's started out as a snowy, cold Spring here in Virginia- perfect weather for these morning delights!

 

I'm very pleased to say the kids gave this Buttermilk Blueberry Coffee Cake a solid thumbs up on the taste test and I'm pleased I was able to add whole wheat, blueberries, flax seed, and wheat germ to their morning meal to start their day off right!

 

Blueberry Buttermilk Coffee Cake

 

1/2 cup butter or margarine

Zest from 1 Lemon

7/8 Cup Sugar + 1 T sugar

1 Egg (of course we use our Farm Fresh Eggs for the extra healthy, fluffy cakes)

1 tsp. Vanilla (we prefer Organic Vanilla and I LOVE the Asheville Girls Vanilla)

1 cup Whole Wheat Flour

1 Cup All Purpose Unbleached Flour
1/3 cup Wheat Germ
3 Tbl ground Flax Seed
2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

3/4 cup of buttermilk

 

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. 

2. Cream butter with lemon zest and 7/8 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined.  Meanwhile, toss the blueberries with 1/4 cup of the all purpose flour.
4. Whisk the remaining flours, wheat germ, flax seed, baking powder, and salt together in a separate bowl.
5. Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time alternating with the buttermilk.  Fold in the blueberries.
4. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan (or similar pan) with non-stick spray (we use organic).  Spread the batter into the pan.  Sprinkle the batter with the remaining tablespoon of sugar.  Bake for 35 -45 minutes.  Ours took the entire 45 minutes but definitely check with a toothpick for doneness at 35 minutes.  You don't want to burn your delicious breakfast!

Step 5 ? Enter the contest of course! 
a Rafflecopter giveaway  



Healthy, Real Food, Easy Honey Wheat Bread

As a wife and mom, eating healthy has always been important to me.  What my idea of eating healthy looks like has changed over the years as our lives have changed and I've grown and educated myself on what I believe is important for my family.

After being diagnosed with a rare autonomic dysfunction and heart disease in my 20s, I began researching and reading about what true healthy eating is.  I discovered that for our goals, it wasn't about the newest food fad or weight loss diet but about truly healthy food for nourishment, energy, and growth.

I realized we needed a more natural, homemade approach to our meals instead of the "sugar-free", "low-fat" processed foods marketed by the big food companies.  What I wanted was a sustainable mix of my Grandma's style and recipes combined with the current trends of local and/or organic foods and whole grains.  It was perfect, or at least the idea was perfect. 

There were some challenges and differences.  My grandma didn't home school, run a small chicken farm, she wasn't driving kids to martial arts, piano, and home school co-ops.  Life moves faster now.  She wasn't battling heart disease and dysautonomia.  However, she also didn't have the luxury of the Internet with amazing online resources to assist her. 

I'll not fib and tell you I have this "whole foods" thing wrapped up nice and neat.  What I will tell you is I do my best.  Do we have weeks when my body gives out on me and my dear, sweet, overworked husband gets stuck handling the meals?  Certainly!  Does he create real food, homemade meals from scratch after working all day and handling MY side of the responsibilities? Heck no!  Do we run late between our Thursday Co-op, chicken chores, and or mad dash to martial arts class?  Yep!  Do I panic and hit McDonald's (GASP!) sometimes when this happens?  Sadly, I'm guilty.  Do I let this hold me back any longer from trying to maintain a healthy, real food lifestyle on the other days? No way!

Life is life, it's unexpected and we just have to roll with it!  I have finally convinced myself that it's one step at a time and I can't take an all or nothing approach!  I AM learning ways to prepare myself and avoid those obstacles.  Cooking some of our favorite, whole food meals in double servings for freezing and taking advantage of our crock pot are two ways.

Finding my perfect, honey wheat, homemade, simple basic bread dough recipe and making it in triple batches is another way.  As a matter of fact, it's also my most tried and true tactic to keeping things "real."  I must admit baking my own bread was intimidating at first.  Rising?  Punching?  Yeast?  I was clueless in the beginning. 

That's why THIS recipe, my friends, has become my honest to goodness stand by.  When the Farm Chick Chit Chat ladies all decided we would have a bread bake off, I knew without a doubt, this was the recipe I would share. 
It's real food, easy to make, easy to freeze & bake later, tastes delicious (even after freezing it!), a great starter bread for your other rolls and recipes, and it's user friendly.  Can you tell I'm proud of my bread?  It's been a big hit here, at friends' homes, at baby showers, and with family's I've taken meals to.  I generally make three loaves at a time and that lasts us approximately a week.  I also send frozen loaves back to college with my baby sister every time she's home visiting and I know she's at least getting some whole grains in her diet.  I love it! Okay, are you convinced to try it now?  Let's bake some bread!


The Egg Basket's Honey Wheat Bread

 

In a medium size bowl combine:
1 cup warm water (110-115 degrees F)
1 TBL milk
2 TBL Olive Oil (or coconut oil or any oil, I like the Olive Oil and it's heart healthy)
2 TBL Honey
2 TBL Brown Sugar
1 tsp Salt

 

In a large bowl, combine:
1 1/2 c. All Purpose unbleached flour
1 1/2 c. Whole Wheat Flour - + extra for kneading
1/3 c. Wheat Germ
3 TBL Flaxseed
2 tsp (1 packet) of Instant Active Dry Yeast

Create a well in the center and add your liquid ingredients.

Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic (about 10-15 minutes).  You may need to add extra flour to the dough if it's too sticky but be careful to just add a little bit at a time.  Place the dough in a greased bowl, turning once to grease both sides and cover with a clean towel.

Let the dough rise until doubled in a warm, draft-free spot (about 45 minutes).  I let mine rise in the microwave (do NOT turn on the microwave!) I find I know it's draft free even if the kids are running in and out of the house and the kitchen!

 

Punch down the dough after it's doubled and knead until smooth.  Form into a loaf.  Place the loaf in a greased loaf pan and cover again.  Let the dough rise in the pan in a warm, draft free place again until almost doubled in size (about 30 minutes).  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

 

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.  If the loaf starts browning too soon, you may lightly lay a piece of aluminum foil over the top. 

Remove the bread from the oven and let it rest in the pan for a few minutes.  After that, remove it to a wire rack and cover with a cloth.  It's best to store your bread in a cloth bag. 

For Freezing-
Make your dough, allow it to rise the first time, punch the dough down and knead it until elastic as above but instead of placing it in a loaf pan to rise a second time, add it to a freezer bag.  Try to get all of the air out of the bag, label it and place it in your freezer.  When you're ready to use the bread, take it out of your freezer the night before, place it in your refrigerator to thaw and rise the second time and then bake it as above.  It's that easy! 

I'd love to hear back from any of you that try the recipe and any tips, tricks you may have!  I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine does!

Love & Blessings!

Tiffany

Cranberry & Chocolate Chip Cookies for Christmas Baking

 

As with some of my other new things to try, this recipe was what I call a Pinspiration!  When my sweet, fellow blogger friends over at Farm Chick Chit Chat decided we would host a Christmas Cookie Swap, I knew I'd need a new, Christmas"y" recipe to share.  Where do I turn when looking for new recipe ideas?  Well, Pinterest, of course!  

I found these amazing, Cranberry and White Chocolate Chip Cookies originally posted by averie cooks.  I knew right away this could very well be the Christmas cookie recipe I'd been looking for so I pinned it and after looking through many others, I came back to this one.  I'm so pleased to share it with you and hope you enjoy the crispy, yet ooey-gooey goodness this amazing recipe brings!  Be sure and make a huge double or triple batch like we did, you're going to want to share them!

I did make changes to the original recipe.  I added some healthier ingredients (YES! I know it's Christmas Cookies so I did leave much of the initial ingredients but I added in my own wheat flour, flax seed, wheat germ, replaced part of the sugar with raw honey, used UNbleached all purpose flour instead of bleached and they were STILL yummy!) Of course, I also only bake with our own farm fresh, free ranged lovely eggs so those were collected fresh that morning!  They ensure much better texture to baked goods I must say!

After making our version of these chewy, soft centered, yummy cookies, we decided to take two batches with us to our homeschool Christmas party.  They were just as big a hit there as they were at my house so I KNEW then I had my recipe for this swap!

Without further ado, enjoy the recipe! 

Cranberry & Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
(this is double the original creator's recipe so you may cut it in half should you choose)

1 cup unsalted butter, softened (2 sticks)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup raw honey

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

2 large eggs

4 tablespoons cream or milk (I used milk)

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups Unbleached All-Purpose flour

3/4 cup bread flour (all-purpose flour may be substituted and used exclusively; bread flour yields chewier cookies and is recommended)

3/4 cup Whole Wheat flour
1/4 to 1/2 cup Wheat Germ depending on your family's tastes (you may leave this out)
1/4 cup Ground Flax Seed (again, you may leave this out if it's not in your family's taste)

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt, optional and to taste

1 cups dried cranberries

12 oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips ~ next time I am going to try dark chocolate chips so if anyone gives that a whirl, please come back and leave comments I'd LOVE to hear how that turns out!

Directions
1. Beat the butter on low speed until smooth. 

2. Add the sugars and beat on medium-high speed until creamed and well combined

 

3. Add the eggs, milk, vanilla, and honey and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy

4. Next, add the flours, wheat germ, flax seed (if using these two), baking soda, salt, and mix until just combined. 

 

5. Add the cranberries and chocolate chips, fold in by hand.

 

6. The original recipe called for you to, "Transfer dough to an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, up to 5 days."

I did not have the luxury of the time for this so I put my dough in the freezer for about 20 minutes and it did fine.  You can decide how you'd like to chill your dough.

7. Preheat oven to 350°F, line your baking sheet with aluminum foil, parchment, or spray with cooking spray.

 

8.  Using a scant 1/4 cup measuring cup, place them on the baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until pale golden and edges have just set, even if slightly undercooked in the center, as cookies will firm up as they cool (For crunchier cookies, extend baking time by 1 to 2 minutes).

9.  Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing.

 

Storing & Freezing: Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.

 

We hope you enjoy these delicious creations, we certainly did!  These cookies were part of our Family Advent Christmas Countdown Series.  If you'd like to read about other activities you can enjoy with your family during the holidays, try here.  If you try the recipe, try it and add your own twists, or new things, please leave us comments about it!  We really love to hear from you!  From the Burchell Family here at The Egg Basket and all of the families at Farm Chick Chit Chat, Happy Christmas Baking! 

 

Love & Blessings!

 

Tiffany

Advent Calendar Countdown~ Day 15 North Pole Breakfast

Advent Calendar Countdown~
Family Activities Day 25- Day 15

 

We have an Advent Calendar I sewed together for the kids last Christmas.  I'm NOT a seamstress by any means of the word, just self taught from books and tutes on other blogs.  I won't pretend our Advent calendar is the cutest (or has the straightest lines) out there but the kids seem to enjoy that I created for them - knots showing and all! <3 


I won't do a tutorial on how I made our calendar because it's only beautiful to us ha ha ;)  I will tell you if you're new to sewing and crafting with fabric like I am- just buy the wool felt and have fun with it!  The wool felt doesn't fray like other fabrics.  I just bought the wool felt in different colors to match my idea and then drew the squares and numbers by tracing and drew the little reindeer and tree shapes out and attached with stitch witch and sewed the edges.

In each pocket on the calendar I have slips of paper, on those slips of paper are fun activities, family nights, sweets, or holiday events for us to enjoy as a family.  The kids really enjoy these small treats each year and it gets us in the mood for a family oriented holiday season!

I'm obviously late getting the blog posts going for this year since we're already ten days into the month but I still wanted to share our ideas and activities in case someone else out there could enjoy them with thier own family!

I'll list what we've done so far and then hopefully find time to post the rest of our calendar frequently throughout the season to share with you!

So far this year in our countdown to Christmas we've enjoyed:

Day 25- We decorated the house together.  This is the first year that my mom has lived with us so going through our family's things AND her things together made it even more fun.  My kids laugh and call my mom's inlaw suite the "Winter Wonderland!"  Growing up, she was amazing during the holidays about decorating and bringing the holiday spirit into our home.  There was always Christmas music playing and the house would stay decorated in snowmen, miniature houses & shops, and other Christmas cheer from the day after Thanksgiving until the New Year.  I'm so pleased she's continuing it this year and that my children can enjoy it the entire season! 

Day 24- My dear husband treated us to dinner out at our favorite hamburger restaraunt, Red Robin.  Our actual Advent calender activity for the day was our local Christmas Parade.  After some farm incidents we were too late to find parking ANYWHERE in our downtown area.  Instead of having three sad kids, my husband decided to take us to dinner.  It was still a wonderful, fun Christmas activity AND I didn't have to cook or do dishes! :)

Day 23- Family Sweets- I found the kids some adorable Hot Cocoa mix packets at Target and put them together with some Cookies n' Cream chocolates.  Not EVERY Advent day has to be difficult.  Something as simple as a sweet treat, especially when they don't get them often, is just as exciting.  I believe it's simply looking forward to the surprise of what the day brings and knowing I took a little extra time thinking of them!

Day 22- My kids have miniature trees they set up in their bedrooms each year.  When they've outgrown ornaments a particular year, we'll go shopping for something new.  Last year they all decided to go with their own handmade ornaments and some colored balls they wouldn't outgrow.  We pulled their trees out on this day, decorated them, and set them up in their rooms.  It's much nicer than boring nightlights!

Day 21-  Baking Christmas Cookies!  We always carry food to our Christmas parties (for Day 6's Advent Activity) so the Day before usually is a Cookie or Desert baking day.  This year that falls on this day, Day 5.  We made the most DELICIOUS cookies from a recipe I found...of course...on Pinterest!  Let me just tell you it was AMAZING!  All of the moms raved over the recipe as did my family.  YUMMY!  If you're going to give a new cookie recipe a whirl this year, THIS is the one!  The cookies were Chocolate Chip & Cranberry and I blogged about them here. 

Day 20- Christmas Party!  We homeschool and are so very blessed to be members of a local homeschool co-op.  Our co-op celebrates each year together with a Christmas party.  This year, it fell on our Day 6.  It is ALWAYS a blessing, no matter where we have the party, to fellowship, eat, and enjoy the priorities of the season with our like-minded friends.  This year was even more fun as we held the party at a local roller skating rink.  Moms and kids alike had a fantastic time!

Day 19- Day 7 happened to fall on a Friday night.  If you haven't read my post about our Friday Night tradition, we make sure to spend each Friday evening together as a family with as little meal and clean-up time taken out of it as possible.  We always enjoy DiGornio pizzas (much less expensive than carry out or delivery) with a fun snack (often cookies made quickly from refrigerated dough) and we enjoy a Family movie together.  It's a tradition I pray we stick with even as the kids continue to get older.  For this movie night I decided I wanted to make it just a little more fun and create Grinch Drinks for everyone to go with thier snacks for the movie!  It was super simple and easy but the kids (and my mother) enjoyed it so much!  I found the idea on Pinterest as well as several other ideas for our Advent activities this year.  Here is the link. 

Day 18- Family Campout (indoors!) My kids still love to hang out with us and they REALLY love to do things outside of the norm.  As much as I dread sleeping on the couch ;), it makes them happy so one night of the Advent calendar is always spent "camping out" together in our living room AND staying up as late as they'd like, as long as they stay in the living room with us.  It usually involves a movie, lots of giggling, and talks we wouldn't normally have.  It also usually includes mom and/or dad being the first to fall asleep and being teased the next day! :)

Day 17- Jelly Belly jellybeans! :) I told you it's not extravagent or difficult! :) We love JB's and very seldom get them. This time of year, fun sweet treats are easy to find with all of the stocking stuffers out in the stores. I often will go through the stores a few days after Thanksgiving and pick up Advent items off of the stocking filler rows. Again, it's inexpensive but a fun little treat to look forward to.

Day 16- Christmas Movie Night!  This night is a special movie night of a Christmas movie that we watch all together.  Probably should be a classic but it's not.  This year we watched, "Santa Paws 2" together!  I surprised the kids and picked it up while I was out doing some shopping and we all sat and watched it together! Great little, feel good family movie! I recommend it for any families with kids :). 

Day 15- Today (well today when I wrote the post anyway) we had a North Pole Breakfast!  It was yet another idea I found on the amazing Pinterest website.  I made my usual pancakes for the kids, then used sliced strawberries and canned whip cream to create "Santa" cakes!  I used chocolate chips for his eyes and the very tips of the strawberries for his jolly red nose.  The canned whipped cream created his fuzzy hat border and tip and his fluffy, white beard.  Even my 11 year old son (who I thought might think he's too old for this) thought they were pretty cool! :)  With that we had some Hot Cocoa from my amazing Keurig (I don't know what I did before my dear hubby bought this convenient machine for me!) and sat down to eat with some Christmas music!  Another perk?  The chickens LOVED thier bowl of scraps including egg shells and strawberries!

 

We hope you've enjoyed sharing our Advent Calendar & Holiday Activities with us! We have many more activities to come as we enjoy the holidays and pray to spend the time loving each other and celebrating our family and praising our Lord Jesus Christ!  Please check back later for more Christmas Calendar Countdown Days and other ideas to add to your family's holiday.  Starting new traditions and maintaining them strengthen the family and leave your children with memories they can always cherish!  Many blessings from our home to yours!

 

Love,

 

Tiffany 

National Tie One On Day with Farm Chick Chit Chat

I'm so blessed to be a contributing author with an amazing group of Farm Chicks over at Farm Chick Chit Chat!  I can honestly tell you, they are creative, talented, compassionate, and plain old good ladies!  <3 

We're celebrating National Tie One On Day on November 21st at FCCC and running a contest for some beautiful aprons from our FCCC girls and contributors!  Head on over to celebrate with us and enter to win!


http://www.farmchickchitchat.blogspot.com/2012/11/tie-one-on-day-and-apron-giveaway.html

Pineapple Coconut Smoothies by Alyssa

 

 Pineapple Coconut Smoothies~Alyssa

It's cold outside but inside it's paradise!

 

Ingredients
2 and 1/2 cup of crushed pineapple
3/4 cup of coconut milk
3/4 cup of vanilla flavored yogurt
2 tbsp sweetened flaked coconut
1 and a 1/2 handful of ice

Directions
Blend all ingredients till smooth
Serve with additonal flaked coconut on top


 Now enjoy!

Paula Deen's Pumpkin Bars w/ Cream Cheese Frosting- Happy Fall Y'all!

Paula Deen's Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

Happy Fall Y'all!

 

 



Here in Virginia, Autumn is in full swing!  It seems like we went from a hot, humid summer to cold, rainy winter overnight so I'm so excited to wake up for some Gorgeous Fall Weather this morning!  Woo Hoo!  Fall is my FAVORITE time of year so I'm a happy farm girl today!  Autumn weather puts me in the mood for all things Fall related which always starts with thoughts of PUMPKINS!  Since it was our week to bring goodies for the teacher's lounge at our homeschool co-op, I thought it was a great time to teach my girls about baking, and of course, we started with a delicous pumpkin recipe!

 

When I think of great southern cooking, one of the first ladies that comes to mind for me is the beautiful and creative southern chef, Paula Deen!  I love that she's so successful and still stays true to her roots, right Y'all?   I'm a big fan!  When I was wasting   spending time on Pinterest I just happened across a yummy Paula Deen treat!  Paula Deen Pumpkin Bars with the most buttery, sugary, creamy, cream cheese frosting you have ever tasted!  If I'm going to teach my girls how to bake goodies, Paula's recipes are the way to ensure success!  *By the way- if you're a fan like I am, Paula actually has a Pinterest page of her own with more dreamy recipes and country ideas!

 

The best thing is, although it's made from scratch, it's a simple recipe!  My favorite combination: homemade, delicious, and easy to put together!

 

Ingredients

 

Bars:
4 eggs
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
15-ounce can pumpkin
2 cups sifted all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Icing:
8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy.

 

3. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda.

4. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth.

5. Spread the batter into a greased 13x10 inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes.

To make the icing:
6. Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth.

7.  Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again.

8. Let cool completely before frosting.

9. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars

10. Cut into bars.

 Oh so yummy!  I must tell you these bars melt in your mouth!  Obviously, there's another goodie on the plate with the pumpkin bar.  I have twin girls and since we needed to make goodies for the teachers' lounge I decided to let them each make different recipes.  Beside the bread is Briana's baked good, Buttermilk Cinnamon Bread! It's delicous also and I'll be posting that recipe next week!

 

 

 I'm so proud of Alyssa for baking these Pumpkin Bars all by herself!  Everything was made from scratch!  It warms my heart to see my daughters taking an interest in homemaking and learning to provide.  It's perfect for our Keepers at Home lessons and it's a joy to share the time and energy together!

The Paula Deen Pumpkin Bars were a great hit in the teachers' loung also! Alyssa was all smiles when my son reported back to her that his teachers were raving in HIS classroom about her bars!  She blushed and grinned so wide when he told her his teachers were in awe that a 9 year old baked it on her own!  I bragged in front of her that my only assistance was placing the pan in the oven (I worry they're still too young to reach it without getting burned).  

  

  The Bible commands every Christian girl to "Use hospitality one to another without grudging," ~I Peter 4:9, so it was such a blessing to be able to homeschool and share the opportunity to provide hospitality to our friends at co-op with my daughters!  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did!

 

Love,

 

Tiffany

Pears, Jam, & Canning

Pears, Jam, & Canning
 Farm & country people seem to be kinder and more relaxed than others.  It's a gentler kind of pace when you're involved with nature the way country and farm folks are.  It's easier to be in touch with the Lord when you spend your days admiring his glory in the simplest of things.  Nothing against anyone who lives in a big city, I'm not trying to get a list full of frustrated comments from anyone.  I'm sure you'll are good people too! :) I'm just speaking of my own personal experiences.  As of late, I've been touched by generosities and kindness from others around me and it lead my heart to this post.  It was outlined to be a post on pears and canning... and I WILL get to that :) but when my heart needs to spill over about some good, I just go for it!

Brantley Gilbert is a country singer (for those who don't know him) and one of my newer favorite country songs is one of his, it's "Country Must Be Country Wide."  Some of the lyrics go like this,

"It ain't where, it's how you live
We weren't raised to take, we were raised to give
The shirt off our back to anyone in need

We bow our heads before we eat
Before we start our day,
before we fall asleep
'Cause in God we trust and we believe

And we see what's wrong
And we know what's right

And old Hank, he said it all
When he said country folks can survive"

Now, I know I look silly grinning all stupid to myself driving my mini van but anytime this song comes on, this part right here strikes a chord with me and I sing loud and stupid and grin all big! :) Maybe seeing me look dumb will brighten someone's day.  I don't know- I just can't help it!

I was browsing the Farm & Garden and Free section on our local Craig's List last week.  I was hoping to find some materials for our next chicken coop or a show quality white Silkie or Silver Ameracauna roo.  What I found instead was a free post for pears.  (see, this is how kindness and pears merge, I told you I'd get there!) 

Evidently some nice family has a pear tree in a field and there's more pears than they want or need.  They posted this ad that if anyone was willing to pick them, they could come do so for free.  Well, I'm all over that.  It sounded like something fun to do with the kids, I've been wanting to learn to can lately, and it's FREE!  When we finished up piano lessons last Saturday, I took the kids on over there. 

It was only one tree but there was more than enough for us (and did I mention it was FREE?  I mean most local orchards charge just to walk onto their fields!)  They even left their long fruit picker out there for visitors to borrow for picking.  How kind is that?  Like I said, country folks helping each other.  We're helping by keeping the mess out of their yard, cutting back on grossness in their mower and bees, and they're allowing us to have free, fresh pears! Just like Brantley's song!  Is it in your head yet?  I'm singing it while I blog!

We had a great time, I think the kids just wanted to play with the long fruit picker mostly but we got the job done.  There were tons of perfectly good pears already on the ground so the girls and I gathered those up first so Chance could be the man and get some of the high ones.  Then everyone had to have a turn with the fruit picker.  You know how kids are so fascinated with anything on a long stick! I was just giddy with myself for such a great score, and for teaching the kids a bit about community. :)

So, now we have this huge mess of pears and I wanted to do something with them.  I've NEVER canned before so I was nervous and there are SO many things out there about it.  I think I've pinned dozens (check out my pinterest boards here).  As I'm discussing this on the Farm Chick Chit Chat Facebook page, one of the other sweet ladies offered up her latest recipe for Apple Pear Jam!  Did I tell you farm folks' kindness is good?  So, my farm chick, sweet friend Janet from over at Timber Creek Farm sent me her Apple Pear Jam recipe to try and the kids and I got moving on it!

Can I first say the directions for canning read MUCH more tedious than they actually are?  I was floored that I can read the classics, edit with photoshop, program all of our electronics, but had to read the canning directions like 10 times!! If it's your first time canning, hang in there.  It's so much simpler than it actually reads.  I'm not sure if it's suppose to scare you or what. :) My dear friend said this morning, "It just seems tedious!" Boy, that was the perfect word for it!  However, now that I've accomplished my first set of canned jam, the next time will be so much easier.  I'm trashing those directions from the Ball labels!

Here's Janet's recipe:

Ingredients
2 cups peeled cored and finely chopped pears
1 cup peeled cored and finely chopped apples
6 cups of sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup bottled lemon juice
6 ounces liquid pectin (2 pouches)

Directions
Crush the apples and pears in a large heavy bottom saucepan. and stir in the cinnamon. Thoroughly mix sugar and lemon juice with the fruits and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly.
Immediately stir in pectin. Bring to a full rolling boil and boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat, quickly skim off foam and fill hot sterile jars leaving 1 inch of headspace.
Wipe jar rims, and cap the jars.
Process for 5 minutes for 4 ounce jar, 10 minutes for 8 ounce jars in a boiling water canner. **

Yield: 7 - 8 half pint (8 ounce) jars

I was all good until the "Processing" part came in.  Then I became nervous and looney.  It's not that hard, however!  Make sure you put your jars in hot water while you're working.  In hindsight, I would have started those soaking when I began the recipe but I didn't know and waited too long so I had to wait on those. I also didn't realize I should have had the water in my canning pot (or stockpot) simmering while I was cooking. 

 

This is how I would do it the next time:
Canning 101 with the Jam

Go ahead and set your jars and lids (not the bands though) in the hot water (I just filled my sink up with hot water and set them in that) and get your canning pot about 1/2 full of water and simmering with its top on while you're making the jam.  The jars just need to be warm so you don't bust them when your hot jam hits the glass. 

Make your jam according to the recipe above. 

 

Once it's finished, I took one jar at a time out of the hot water and set it on my counter.  I used my funnel to ladle jam into the jar leaving the "correct headspace", basically just leave an inch at the top of the jar without any jam.  Now, at this point, I was SUPPOSE to remove air from the side of the jar.  I didn't see any bubbles on the side of the jar.  I figured it might be necessary for a thicker recipe but this jam was pretty good and liquidy so I didn't do this.  I won't PROMISE you I did it the "right" way- it was my first time- but ours turned out okay :) so you decide! If you want to be a good girl and do it the right way, just take a spatula and run it around the inside of the jar between the jar and the jam a few times and make sure there aren't any air bubbles.

Wipe the mouth of the jar well with a damp cloth.
Set the lid on top so the seal is in line where it's suppose to be.
Screw the band on evenly and tightly.

 

Now, do that with all of your jars until you've used all of your jam (minus what you have to lick because you just can't wait to try it and then of course, what you have to let the kids come lick because now you have to show them what a cool mom you are!)

Once all of my jars were done, I set them on my canning rack (I just had to google the name of that) and gently set them down into my simmering pot.

Increase the water to boiling and then put the top on.

Boil them for the amount of time in the recipe.  I used 8 oz jars so mine boiled for ten minutes.

After ten minutes, I turned off the heat and removed the lid to the pot. 
LET THEM SET THERE LIKE THAT FOR 5 MINUTES.
Evidently, if you take them right out they can crack and that was a big thing on all of the directions I read- let them set in the water to cool in that some for 5 minutes.

Then we took them out of the pot and set them on a kitchen towel upright on the counter and there they set for 24 hours. 

The next day, check to make sure they've sealed and you've just canned your jam!!

 

I was so excited to have been successful at this!  You would have thought I'd won the Pulitzer or something.  There was just something comforting about all of those jars full of ooey gooey delicious, local fruit that I processed with my own hands with the kids that makes me feel good!  Country folk can survive, right?  Maybe that's what it is but the whole experience just gives me a warm fuzzy!  If you try canning this recipe or another, let us know, we'd love to try new recipes now that we think we have the hang of it and we'd love to hear how your first experience turned out! 

Love & Blessings! 

Tiff  








 



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