Soft Pretzels

There's nothing better than a soft pretzel! Every time I make these, they are gone right away! They are very easy to make with little effort.  Serve with a cheese sauce or even cream cheese.

Soft Pretzels 
Yield 16 pretzels

2 cups warm water
3 Tbl sugar
1 pkg dry active yeast
4-5 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 baking soda
3-4 cups water
Egg wash (1 egg + 2 tbl water)
Sea Salt
1. Turn oven light on and keep door closed.  This will keep the oven at 85* and will give you a warm place to allow pretzels to rise.
2. In a non-metal bowl, whisk yeast, sugar, and warm water.
3. Place in oven and allow to sit 5 minutes until the yeast is bubbly.
4. In your stand mixer with the dough hook, add the flour and the salt.  Mix together.
5. Add yeast and mix until until dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
6. Place dough in a large bowl and lightly cover with a towel or plastic wrap.  Place in oven and allow to rise until doubled in size, approx. 1 hour.
7. Bring baking soda and water to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer.
8. Divide dough into 16 pieces.
9. Roll each piece of dough into an 16" rope and form into pretzel shape.
10. Using a large slotted spoon, dip each pretzel into the baking soda water.
11. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet and allow to rise for 15 minutes in oven.
12. Remove from oven and preheat oven to 450*
13.  Brush each pretzel with egg wash and sprinkle with sea salt
14. Bake pretzels for 13 minutes, until lightly browned.

Extra Crispy Fried Chicken

I love chicken and I think fried chicken is one of my favorite foods!! This chicken is so easy to make and tastes so yummy!! I think fried chicken tastes better in a cast iron skillet, but any deep pan will work fine. It also tastes better fried in shortening rather than oil.

Extra Crispy Fried Chicken

Chicken breasts or strips
1-2 c. flour
1 c. buttermilk (reg milk okay)
1 egg
shortening
assorted seasonings: salt pepper, seasoning salt, garlic salt, thyme, sage, rosemary, poultry seasoning

1. Heat shortening in pan until hot. Make sure there is enough to cover the chicken.
2. In a bowl, mix egg and milk.
3. In another bowl, mix flour and seasonings.
4. Dip chicken in milk then flour, then milk, then flour, then milk, then flour. This builds the breading up to be extra crispy.
5. Place chicken in hot shortening and fry until done. This will depend on how thick your chicken is, You want your oil to be hot, but not too hot because it will burn the chicken quickly.

My favorite things to eat with fried chicken are: fresh green beans, cole slaw, and biscuits!

Kentucky Lemonade

This is an awesome drink that I just discovered recently. It's perfect for your outdoor summer parties!! Be sure to serve in a Mason jar.

Kentucky Lemonade

1 cup sugar
1 cup hot water
1 cup fresh lemon juice, about 5-6 lemons
3-4 cups cold water
ice
6 shots of Kentucky bourbon

1. Dissolve sugar in hot water.
2. Add lemon juice.
3. Fill pitcher with ice and add cold water.
4. Stir.
5. Pour a shot of bourbon in each glass.
6. Add ice and pour lemonade in glass.
7. Enjoy!!
Makes 6 servings

Mama's Doughnuts

This is a super simple recipe for doughnuts that my grandmother used to make. I remember as a little girl going over to her house and we always had to make doughnuts. An easy, cheater way to make these is to used refrigerated biscuits instead of making biscuit dough. There are several different possibilities to use as topping for the doughnuts. You can use powdered sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon/sugar mixture, icing, and/or sprinkles.

To make these doughnuts, heat oil in a deep fryer to 375*. Place 2 cups of desired sugar in a paper bag (ie. powdered sugar, granulated sugar, etc..). Separate biscuits and make a hole in center if desired. Drop 3 biscuits at a time into hot oil. Fry biscuits until golden on both sides, about 2 minutes. Place on paper towel to drain and immediately place in choice of sugar. Shake to coat.

In the picture, I used granulated sugar for the doughnuts on the left and a cinnamon sugar mixture for the ones on the right.

Fredia the Fundrasier

I feel like "Fredia the Fundraiser" right now. I baked 36 Sesame Street cupcakes for a bake sale at Jaiden's church for a Haiti Fundraiser, I ("and Jaiden") raised $190 for a trike-a-thon for Jaiden's school that supported St. Jude, and I have baked 60 cinnamon rolls for a business expo Jaiden is participating in at my mother's school. I am just in fundraising mode right now!

My Cookie Monster cupcakes need a lot more practice, but I thought I'd share them any way. I cheated and used store bought icing and used coloring to tint the icing. For the fur, I used tip #233 and for the eyes, I used tips #12 and #18. Cookie Monster's mouth is an Oreo cookie cut in half. I also made Elmo, Oscar, and Big Bird cupcakes, but I didn't get a picture of them.

The kids had a lot of fun riding their bikes at school! The teachers had a drink and snack station set up for the kids and a toy gas pump. Here's a little video of the trike-a-thon. Jaiden is in the hot pink helmet.

FBCT - Frozen Buttercream Cake Transfer

This is Arya's cake that I made for her birthday party! I was so happy with the results and got a lot of nice comments about it! The transfer for the cake is made using the frozen buttercream cake transfer method, FBCT.

It is really easy to make, I practiced twice before I made my official transfer for the cake. I had never used the piping bags to decorate anything other than cookies. I really needed to practice the technique of tracing. After I felt comfortable, the rest was a breeze! (Click on any pic to make it bigger)

Supplies:

Wilton Black Decorating Icing (comes in a tube)

Pipping bags and attachments- coupler, coupler ring, decorating tips. (I used small round, medium round and star tips.)

wax paper

coloring book page

masking tape

small icing spatula

icing/frosting (I cheated and used store bought in a can)

coloring/tint to color your icing

portable surface, IE. cutting board, cookie sheet, etc...

1. Clear out a space in the freezer to accommodate your portable surface.

2. Cut or print out the coloring book page (CBP) and tape it down to your surface.

3. Cover the CBP with wax paper and tape it down.

4. Using the Wilton Black and a round tip, trace your CBP. I used both small and medium. You'll want to think of this as in layers, if needed. For example Jerry's whiskers would be the first layer I traced and his face the second. This is so that when he is turned over and put on the cake, his whiskers will be on top of his face and not under it. Also, any thin lines that go off the image, as in his one set of whiskers, do not trace these, add them later. The didn't transfer very well. (The pic is of my first attempt)

5. Use your coloring to tint the icing to the desired color of each part. I used light pink of his ear and tongue, light brown for his body, and white for his eyes.

6. Fill your piping bags with the colored icing and attach tip. I used the small round for the smaller areas and the star tip for the large areas. When the image is fully covered, use the icing spatula to evenly spread the icing and to fill in any areas that might have been missed.
7. Put your image in the freezer to harden, I left mine in overnight.

8. Have your baked and iced cake ready to go. Take the transfer out of the freezer, carefully remove your transfer from the portable surface, and place it on the cake. (Icing side down, wax paper on top)

9. Rub lightly over the transfer to "set" it on the cake. Very carefully, take one corner of the wax paper and begin removing it from the transfer.

10. Go back with your Wilton Black and fix any necessary areas or to add thin lines like the whiskers (mentioned above in step 4)

Remember, your image is going to be backwards, so print any words in a mirror image so it will appear correctly on your cake.

Dollar Store Homemade Deodorant

I have been searching the internet for recipes to make deodorant and I have found there are just as many different recipes as there are brands of deodorant in a store. I took bits and pieces from the different recipes and made my own deodorant. Let me just say, it works! I have put in to the test for three days now. I put some on in the morning and that evening, I mowed grass, the deodorant held up! Ryan wore some to work yesterday to test it himself. It was a hot day and was out in the elements all day delivering several appliances. In other words, he had a hot and busy day. He even came home and worked in the yard without applying more deodorant, he really put the deodorant to the test. It's amazing how it kept odor away all day! This is a keeper! He usually has to reapply deodorant when he gets home from work, but didn't yesterday!

I bought all the ingredients at Dollar General to make this and spent $3.50 for supplies that will make a ton of deodorant. A big price break from store bought, plus this stuff isn't giving Ryan a rash like the store bought does. This deodorant will not keep you dry, but it defiantly keeps the smell away!

I just used a plastic spoon for measuring and stored it a mini Glad container.

Homemade Deodorant

3 tsp. Queen Helene Cocoa Butter Cream
1 tsp. Vitamin E skin oil
2 tsp. baking soda

Stir all together to make a cream deodorant. It may be necessary to add more coca butter for a smoother consistency.

King Cake

" The history of the King Cake has its roots in pre-Christian religions of Western Europe. Part of the Harvest celebrations that the pagans practiced was the sacrifice ritual. It was customary to choose a man to be the "sacred king" of the tribe for a year. That man would be treated like a king for the year, then he would be sacrificed, and his blood returned to the soil to ensure that the harvest would be successful. The method of choosing who would have the honor of being the sacred king was the purpose of the "King's Cake". Several men of the tribe, would eat of the cake A coin or bean would be placed in the cake before baking, and whoever got the slice that had the coin was the chosen one.

When Christianity extended its influence and began overshadowing the religions that came before it, many of the local customs were not outright abolished, but instead were incorporated into Christian tradition and given a new spin. Catholic priests were not predisposed to human sacrifice, so the King's Cake was converted into a celebration of the Magi, the three Kings who came to visit the Christ Child.
French settlers brought the custom to Louisiana in the 18th century where it remained associated with the Epiphany until the 19th century when it became a more elaborate Mardi Gras custom. In New Orleans, the first cake of the season is served on January 6. A small ceramic figurine of a baby is hidden inside the cake, by tradition. Whoever finds the baby is allowed to choose a mock court and host the next King Cake party the following week (weekly cake parties were held until Mardi Gras).

The classic king cake is oval-shaped, like the pattern of a racetrack. The dough is basic coffee-cake dough, sometimes laced with cinnamon, sometimes just plain. The dough is rolled out into a long tubular shape, then shaped into an oval. The ends are twisted together to complete the shape. The baby hidden in the cake speaks to the fact that the three Kings had a difficult time finding the Christ Child and of the fine gifts they brought.

The cake is then baked, and decorated when it comes out. The classic decoration is simple granulated sugar, colored purple, green, and gold (the colors of Carnival)."
The colored sugars on the cake also have meaning. The purple represents justice, green represents faith and gold represents power.

The girls saw a picture of a king cake in a magazine and got excited and told me that we had to make one. Since we were snowed in again yesterday, the girls and I made our very first king cake. We all had a lot of fun making the cake, but it took us all day!

Since this was my very first king cake, it came with a learning experience. There are some things I will do differently next year. I think that the cake baked a little too long, the top was a little hard and we didn't care for the icing. I also changed the amount of cinnamon/sugar mixture that went into the filling and omitted the raisins.

The recipe listed is WITH my changes. **As a tip: Anytime the recipe says to "let rise in a warm place free from drafts", put the dough in the oven with just the oven light on. The oven keeps the dough free from drafts and the light adds the warmth the dough needs to rise. (thanks to my friend Tiffany for this tip!!)**

King Cake

Cake:
1 c. milk
1/2 stick margarine
2 (.25) pkgs. dry active yeast
2/3 c. warm water (110*F/45*C)
1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
5 3/4 c. flour

Filling:
1 c. sugar
2 Tbl. cinnamon
1/2 stick margarine, melted

Icing:
1 stick plus 2 Tbl. margarine, melted
4 c. powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
4-8 Tbl. hot water

Colored Sugar
1 1/2 c. sugar, divided
red, green, blue and yellow liquid food coloring

1. In a medium sized bowl, dissolve yeast, 1 tablespoon sugar, and warm water. Let rest for 5 minutes.
2. After 5 minutes, whisk the yeast to mix it until it is completely dissolves. Let stand in a warm place for 10 minutes.
3. Scald milk. remove from heat and add butter. Allow to cool slightly.
4. Place dry ingredients in mixing bowl. Add eggs. Using the dough hook, being mixing the dough. Very slowly, add the milk and the yeast mixture. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes.
5. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 2hours.
6. When risen, punch down and divide dough in half.
7. Roll dough halves out into large rectangles, about 1/2". Brush with melted butter.
8. Mix cinnamon and sugar. Sprinkle over each dough rectangle.
9. Roll up each dough, like a jelly roll. Place on a greased cookie sheet, using each roll to form a half circle. Pinch the ends of each roll together.
10. With sharp knife, make cuts 1/3 of the way through the rings at 1 inch intervals.
11. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
12. Bake at 350*F (175*C) for 20-25 minutes.
13. When cool, push the doll into the bottom of the cake and ice.
14. To make icing: In medium bowl, mix melted butter, powdered sugar and vanilla; add hot water 1 tablespoon at a time until glaze reaches desired spreading consistency.
15. For colored sugar: In a small bowl, mix 1/2 cup of sugar with yellow food coloring. Whisk to incorporate the coloring. Repeat with the green, and the red and blue(purple). If you mix yellow first, then green, then purple, you can use the same bowl and whisk.
16. Sprinkle sugars over the icing.
17. Sit back, relax, and eat a piece of cake, you deserve it!!





History of the King Cake taken from Mardi Gras Digest

Boring Cupcakes, or are They??

Want a way to "WOW" anyone that eats your cupcakes? If so, you have to make these cupcakes!!

I got the idea from Omnomicon, where she made a beautiful rainbow cake. (side note: there is some language on her site that some people might find offensive.) I thought this would be so neat to make for Jaiden's school for St. Patrick's Day, you know, the rainbow with the gold at the end. My thought was to get some chocolate gold coins to decorate the top of the cake. Then, I thought, cupcakes would be so much easier for the kids to eat. So, I experimented today to see if it would work. I am so very pleased with the results! I am going to try to find some of those coins or some sort of Paddy's Day pick to put into each one.

Rainbow Cupcakes

1 box white cake mix
(egg, water, oil, or whatever the box calls for)
1 box food color gels (not liquid food coloring)
homemade or store bought icing/frosting
24 paper cupcake cups

1. Make your batter according to the instructions on the box.
2. Divide your batter into 6 bowls by putting approx. 1/2 cup of batter into each bowl.
3. Squeeze the appropriate color into each bowl and stir well. (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple) You will have to mix colors to get orange and purple.
4. Place the papers into the pan and lightly spray each paper with non-stick spray.
5. Decide what look you want for the cupcakes. I did one set starting with red, one set starting with purple, and one set in no particular order.
6. Place one teaspoon of 1st color in the bottom.
7. Place a teaspoon of 2nd color on top of 1st color in the middle. This will make the 1st color spread.
8. Continue placing the colors on top of each other.
9. Bake according to box directions.
10. Ice/frost you cupcakes.
11. Stand back and admire your results.

This is all the colors in the separate bowls


Before the cupcakes went into the oven


After the cupcakes came out of the oven


This cupcake is made with the purple on bottom and the red on top






This cupcake was made with the red on bottom and purple on top






This cupcake was made by just putting the colors in together




Here are the 3 different types all together

Old Fashioned Caramels

All I have to say is, once you try homemade caramels, you'll never eat store bought again!! I found this old, handwritten recipe in a bundle of old recipes that I bought at estate sale last summer. Ryan and I both love caramel, so I thought I would give this a try!

Next time, I am going to make a change to the original directions. The recipe says to butter a pan and turn out onto wax paper when cold. The next time I make this, I am going to have wax paper already in my pan. The recipe states to cook this over a slow fire, which means low heat, but I cooked it over medium low and it did just fine. It took a little over an hour to get the caramel to temperature. I will be making this again!!

Caramels

1 c. milk
1/2 c. cream
1 c. sweetened condensed milk
1 c. light corn syrup
2 c. sugar
1/4 butter or margarine
2 tsp. vanilla

Mix all but vanilla over medium high heat until caramel reaches hard ball stage, about 248*. Be sure to stay close by and stir constantly the last 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour into a well buttered 8x8 pan. When cold, turn into wax paper, cut and wrap.

Easy Valentine's Dessert

Homemade Holidays #6

Here's post #6 in the Homemade Series.

1. M&M Christmas Recipes

2. Hershey's Christmas Recipes

3. Pillsbury Christmas Recipes

4. Duncan Hines Christmas Recipes

5. Toll House Christmas Recipes

6. Melting Snowman Cookie Pt 1
Pt 2
Pt 3
Pt 4

7. Red Mommy Snickerdoodles

8. Red Mommy Chocolate Chip Cookies

9. Red Mommy Chocolate Chip Brownies

10. Red Mommy Buckeyes

11. Red Mommy Base Fudge

12. Red mommy Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Store Bought or Homemade?

Jaiden needed cookies to take in to school and I didn't have the time to make them from scratch, so I took store bought ones and gave them a homemade touch. I think these look and taste so much better than the store bought ones that come already iced!

All I did was to buy plain sugar cookies from the bakery at my grocery store. I got a canister of white icing and assorted sprinkles. I put the icing in the microwave for 30 seconds , added a few drops of red food coloring, stirred it well, and put it back in the microwave for 30 more seconds. I placed the cookies on a cooking rack with a pan lined with wax paper underneath. I took a spoon and put some icing in the middle of the cookie and spread it out to the sides. I then immediately put the sprinkles on the cookie. It took about 10 minutes for the icing to set back up so that the cookies were not sticky anymore.

They were very good! No one will know you didn't bake the cookies and make icing unless you tell them!

California Medley Soup

I am a big soup person and I think this is one of my favorite soups! One of my former bosses used to make this for me all the time and I forgot all about it until the other day. The veggies I used were leftovers from a relish tray I had from a football party! This soup is fairly easy to make and tastes great! And, it's great on a chilly day!

California Medley Soup

small head Broccoli, chopped
small head Cauliflower, chopped
10 baby Carrots, chopped
4 cups water
2 chicken bullion cubes
1 lb. velveeta cheese
1 can cream chicken soup

In a large soup pan, boil veggies with water and bullion, covered for 15 minutes or until tender on high. Drain most of the water and add chicken soup. Cook over low heat for 5 minutes. Slowly and while stirring, add velveeta. Continue to cook and stir until cheese is melted. Goes great with a baguette roll.

Horseshoe; Red Mommy Style

I have a confession: Ryan and I are addicted to the show Man Versus Food on the Travel Channel. If you have never seen the show, this is how the Travel Channel describes the show, "In the new series, Travel Channel's Man v. Food, host Adam Richman sets out to travel the country in search of the best places to do some serious indulging. Adam begins his quest to find the best traditional food the nation can serve up." The host, Adam, participates in local food challenges like eating 5 bowls of habanero chili, eating a 15 pound burger, or even eating 13" pancakes. It is just a neat show because of the food challenges and showing the smaller, local restaurants a particular area is famous for.

Well last night, we were watching the show up in bed, slightly hungry, and they featured Springfield, Illinois. One the the local foods caught Ryan's total attention. It was an open faced sandwich called the Horseshoe made by restaurant called D’Arcy’s Pint
This sandwich had Ryan drooling before it was even described. It starts with a piece of Texas toast, then a hamburger patty, fries scattered on top, all topped off with their famous cheese sauce. Our stomachs immediately started growling. It looked so good!

We talked after the show, and even though we have never been there, I thought I could come up with something similar from the description. I did, and it tastes wonderful!!! We are adding it to our "possibles menu" for lunch.

Red Mommy Version of the D’Arcy’s Pint Horseshoe
Texas Toast Garlic Bread
hamburger patties (I fried ours)
crispy french fries
Velveeta cheese (melted)

Toast garlic bread in the oven. Place hamburger patty on top. Scatter fries over the sandwich. Pour melted cheese over entire sandwich.

I put some chopped green onion on mine, while Ryan left his plain. The possibilities are really endless!

Blackberries, Blackberries, Blackberries

This is a 3-in-1 blog post today! I am going to tell you how to freeze blackberries, make blackberry cobbler, and freeze blackberry cobbler. Last week, it was a peach kick, this week, I am up to my elbows in blackberries!

For those of you that like blackberry cobbler and think it is too hot to use the oven right now, you can freeze your blackberries to use later. All you have to do is rinse your berries and allow to drain. Place in a freezer bag and freeze overnight. The next day, use a food sealer to seal the bags. It's that easy! When you are ready to use the berries, pour into a colander and allow to thaw, then rinse.

Now the best part, cobbler!! I usually make this cobbler 6 at a time. I have halved the recipe to make 3 (you could do the math to only do one). As good as this cobbler is, you'll probably want to make 3, one to take, one to keep, and one to freeze. As you can tell, I was in the picture taking mood! Oh, I cook these in the disposable 8x8 aluminum pans.

Blackberry Cobbler (3)

Crust
2 c. all purpose flour
2 c. sugar
2 c. milk
6 tsp. baking powder
4 tbl. margarine, approx.

Filling
1 qt. fresh blackberries
2 c. sugar

In a large saucepan, mix blackberries with sugar on high. Stir to incorporate the sugar. Allow to cook for about 10 minutes.






Melt butter in microwave. Pour enough butter to completely cover the bottom of the pan. Mix all the dry ingredients for the crust. It is important to mix the dry ingredients together before the milk to avoid a lumpy batter. Slowly add milk. Your batter will be very runny. Pour the batter into the pan with the melted butter. You want the butter/batter mixture to be just under the halfway point in the pan.

Ladle 1/3 of the blackberry mixture to pan. Make sure to get some of the juice! Do not stir this at any time!! You want your cobbler to fill the pan about 3/4 (give or take)full.


Bake at 350* for 30 minutes.
(no idea why the camera decided to make my cobbler look red. I assure you, it's a deep purple color)


To freeze the cobbler, cover pan with foil. Freeze overnight. Remove foil, place in a food saver bag, and seal. When ready to eat, allow to thaw and warm in the oven at 350* for about 5 minutes.

Pickle Making: 101

There is nothing like making pickles yourself! They are so much better than store bought ones. And, cheaper too! With a few basic supplies, you can turn your home grown cucumbers (or store bought) into delicious pickles!

Before you start, you need a few basic canning supplies:
1. Hot water canner - They are about $18.00 from Walmart. You do not need a pressure canner to do basic canning.
2. Canning tongs - Ball Canning makes tongs that are specifically for lifting hot jars in and out of the hot boiling water. The pack also contains a magnetic lid lifter and a thingy for popping air bubbles in jelly. ("thingy" is my technical term)

Make sure to get pickling cucumbers. They are smaller than the other cucumbers and are grown especially for pickling. There are such things as "salad cucumbers", these are not the same, the pickles made out of salad cucumbers just do not taste as good.

Pickles

10 lbs pickling cucumbers
1 package Mrs. Wages Dill Pickle Mix
White vinegar
12 pint sized canning jars with lids
Kosher salt

1. Cut your cucumbers. Cut in 4ths for spears or thin slices for chips. Place in a large bowl of ice water with some kosher salt. Let sit for a hour.

2. Filler your canner half way with water and place on burner set to high. Be sure to cover with lid.

3. Prepare pickling mix according to package directions.

4. Pack cucumbers into jars, tightly.

5. Pour pickling liquid into jars, leaving and 1/2" space from the top of the jar.

6. Place lid and ring on jar. Do not over tighten.

7. Using tongs, place jars into boiling water.

8. Allow to sit in water for 10 minutes.

9. Remove jars and allow to sit until cool. Make sure that all of the lids have popped down. Some will pop after they have set for few minutes after being taken out of the water.

10. Store pickles in a cool, dark place until ready to use. Pickles will be ready to eat after 24 hours. Be sure to refrigerate any jars after opening.

Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake

If you like blueberries, I have a treat for you! This is one of my coffee cakes I am selling at the Farmer's market. Very easy to make!

Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake

2 c. All Purpose flour
1 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 stick margarine, softened
1 c. milk
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 pint fresh blueberries

Streusel:
1/2 c. b. sugar
1/2 c. flour
1/2 stick margarine

Mix all cake ingredients in a bowl except blueberries. In a separate bowl, mix streusel ingredients. Oil and flour a 10" tube pan. Pour half of cake batter in pan. Add blueberries. Pour remaining batter on top. Sprinkle streusel topping on top of cake. Bake at 350* for 45-50 minutes. When cool, turn onto cooling rack, then onto serving plate.

Strawberry Jalapeno Jelly

This is another tasty treat I am making to sell at the local Farmer's Market and it is good!! Last night, I spent over an hour looking for a recipe for making this and I came up empty. I found strawberry jelly and I found jalapeno jelly, but no recipe with the two combined. Plus, the recipes for strawberry jelly called for 7 cups of sugar for one batch and I thought that was outrageous!! So, I decided to make my own! Here's my strawberry jalapeno jelly recipe from my kitchen to yours.

Strawberry Jalapeno Jelly

2 1/2 lbs. fresh strawberries, hulled
3 jalapenos, stems removed
3/4 cup cider vinegar
2 tsp. lemon juice
8 cups sugar (makes 2 batches)
2 packages powdered pectin

Place strawberries, jalapenos, and vinegar in a food processor and puree. Add lemon juice. Measure out 3 cups of strawberry mixture and bring to a boil. Add one package of pectin and allow to boil for 2 minutes. Add 4 cups cups of sugar and bring to a roaring boil for 3-4 minutes. (It took awhile to get mine to boil.) Pour into sterilized jars and process in hot water for 5 minutes. Repeat with remaining ingredients to make another batch.

Makes 12 half pints

Great over cream cheese.

Peach Jalapeno Jelly

One word, "Yum"!!! This stuff is so good!! I made two batches yesterday to sell at the farmer's market to earn some extra money. I can eat this stuff right out of the jar with a spoon, but you can serve it over cream cheese with crackers.

Peach Jalapeno Jelly

6 lbs. fresh peaches
3 fresh jalapenos, stems removed
2 tsp. lemon juice
3/4 c. apple cider vinegar
6 cups sugar
2 packs dry pectin

Peel and de-pit peaches. Place peaches and jalapenos in food processor to puree. Add vinegar and lemon juice. Measure out 3 cups of peach mixture and heat to a boil. Be careful, it will splatter. Add 1 packet of pectin and bring to a boil for one minute. Add 3 cups of sugar and bring to a boil. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour into sterilized jars and process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. Repeat process with remaining ingredients.

Makes 12 half pints