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No farmer's market this week

Kids are sick and demanding. Here's hoping for a better week next week.

Saskatoon Season

Yes, it is saskatoon season. The best way to save money preserving is to get supplies for free, right? Saskatoons grow wild everywhere, I have 3 bushes in my yard alone.
We started by picking an ice cream bucket full of berries. Yakko helped me crush them with a potato masher.

At this point, we were intending to make jam. My neighbor called me during the crushing process and said "you aren't making jam out of these berries are you? The seeds are huge!"

Ok, so we switched things up to make jelly. At least she didn't call me 5 minutes later.

So, to make jelly, we take the crushed berries and boil the hell out of them for 20 minutes. As they cook, we run downstairs and search desperately for some thin fabric because there is no cheesecloth or jelly bags in the house. We found a piece of thin muslin, about 36"x36"
Put the pseudo-cheesecloth in a bowl and pour the cooked berry goo inside.

Tie up the corners of the cloth and make a bag. Hang it somewhere over a bowl or large measuring cup and leave it overnight. Try not to get too attached to your counters staying their original colour. This stuff stains.


Next morning, sterilize jars and fill a small pot with your lids and rings as well as some water. Don't boil canning lids! It makes them not work.



Measure off 3 1/2 cups of juice and pour it into the biggest pot you have. Add 1 package of Certo crystals and cook until it is boiling. Add 5 cups of sugar and cook, stirring constantly until it is up to a full, rolling boil again. Boil it for 1 minute and then remove it from heat


It will grow once you add the sugar! See that line where the juice was? Yeah, that is most of the way up my big pasta pot.

After it has stopped boiling, pour the jelly into sterilized canning jars, screw on the lids and rings and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. This makes 6 cups of jelly. It's really good!

The Boi says "Wow! It tastes like blueberries and honey!" and he doesn't normally like fruit or jam. 5/5

What you can get for $15

The BC Farmer's Market Association has a program where they provide selected families with $15/week in coupons to use at the market. Yay! I thought I would feature some ideas that the $15 will get ya.
First, a photo of $15. That's lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, garlic, green onions, potatoes, baby carrots and a dozen eggs. I probably could have purchased more economical foods, but the garlic and carrots lured me with their siren song. I also got a lot more than 2 potatoes, but we eated them.


Potato Salad
4 good sized potatoes (4-5 lbs)
baby carrots
1/2 c mayo
1/4 c mustard
3 cloves of garlic
Green onions
Salt and pepper

Boil potatoes and chill overnight. Cut into bite-sized pieces and add carrots and any other tasty veggies from the garden. Radishes are very nice.
In a medium bowl, mix together mayo, mustard, garlic, green onions, salt and pepper. Toss with potatoes and add seasonings as needed. Top with devilled eggs because that way, you only bring 1 bowl to the picnic

For Devilled Eggs:
3 hard-boiled eggs
1 tbsp mayo
Salt and pepper
oregano
1 clove of garlic, minced
paprika
Cut the hard-boiled eggs in half, scoop out the yolks. Mash yolks with remaining ingredients except paprika. Put the yolk mixture back in the whites and sprinkle paprika over top.

Boi rates the dish 4/5. Needed salt but we were on a picnic which makes it a little hard to add.

Mustard-sauced potatoes

Just a quickie. No pictures because that would mean I remembered to bring my camera to Mom's


Mustard-Sauced Potatoes (thanks Charmin!)

1/4 c butter
1/4 c mustard
2 garlic scapes
2 green onions
salt and pepper
4 big potatoes, chopped

Melt butter. Whisk in mustard until smooth and chop garlic scapes and onions. Toss together with potatoes, wrap in foil and throw them on the BBQ until done (about 1/2 an hour)

Alternately, roast in a 350 degree oven for about 25-35 minutes.

Yum.

They can't all be winners.

Lets anyone think I am some perfection-obsessed control freak, I thought I would share the failures this week














1. Dehydrated Strawberries


I tried drying these with my new, no instruction book included dehydrator. They all stuck to the trays and apparently I totally overdried them because they turned to powder and tasted burnt when they were done. Lesson learned? Check for dryness on cooled fruit and maybe rotate the trays.

2. The garden.

I really have to go take pictures because the garden does look pretty cool. Unfortunately, peas and lettuce crapped out on me so I only have blank space where those should be. A few other things have been disappointing and the grasshoppers like basil almost as much as I do.

3. The culinary fickleness of 6 year olds.

Nope, can't get him to eat 1/2 of what I make. No way, no how.