The Best Homemade Strawberry Jam

Growing up I remember picking strawberries with my mom and sisters on hot summer mornings. Returning home with my fingers stained red—and probably my lips too because I had to taste-test every few feet :-)—we would enjoy those strawberries whole, crushed with sugar for strawberry shortcake, and, of course, mom would make strawberry jam.

I swear homemade strawberry jam cannot be compared to store bought in any way, shape or form. It is beyond delicious, and that is probably why I have found myself making it for the past couple of years. While I planted 100 strawberry plants this spring, they won't really produce until next summer, so for this year I headed out with a dear friend and picked about 10 pounds of strawberries.

I decided to use the bulk of them for strawberry jam because, to my delight, I'm not the only one who can't get enough of homemade jam—the hubby loves it too! I wish I had thought to take pictures of the process, but, alas, my tired mind was only focused on the job at hand.

Here is the recipe and instructions to the yummiest strawberry jam that you can make too!

Ingredients

6 2/3 Cups Crushed Strawberries (hull, wash, then crush one layer at a time using potato masher)
1 2/3 Cups Water (or unsweetened fruit juice, thawed fruit juice concentrate)
1/3 Cup and 2 Tablespoons Ball RealFruit Low or No-Sugar Needed Pectin
2 1/2 Cups Granulated Sugar

Instructions

I began with filling my big canning pot with water, enough so that when I put my jars in they would be covered by 2 inches of water. Place this on a burner set to high.

I then hulled, washed, and sliced 6 & 2/3 cups of strawberries, crushing them with a potato masher. It is best to crush one layer of strawberries at a time in order to get them really crushed. After they were all crushed I placed them in a big pot along with 1 & 2/3 cups of water. You can also use unsweetened fruit juice, but water works fine for me.

After I was finished crushing the strawberries I prepared my jars by making sure they were clean and then setting them in a sink full of very hot water, where they will remain until I fill them with jam.

I set the strawberries and water mixture on the stove to bring to a boil. While waiting for it to boil I slowly added in 1/3 cup & 2 tablespoons of RealFruit Low or No-Sugar Needed Pectin. I then brought it to a rolling boil, meaning I couldn't stir the bubbling away.Then I added 2 & 1/2 cups of sugar and mixed it in well. When it came to a rolling boil again I set a timer for 1 minute and stirred constantly. After the minute I removed it from the heat.

I took my jelly/canning jars and began to fill them with the strawberry mixture until they were about 1/4 inch from the top. I wiped off any jam that was on the rim or around the band area of the jar and then I placed a clean brand new lid on the top and screwed the band on loosely. With this recipe I was able to make just over 10 cups of prepared jam. I had a small amount left over so I placed it in a small container to be used right away and didn't bother to give it a water bath but instead placed it in the fridge a couple hours later.

I placed all of the jars gently into the canning pot, which at this point was gently boiling, and boiled them for 10 minutes. Upon taking them out of the pot I set them on a towel on the counter to sit for 24 hours, and listened for the beautiful popping sound that ensured they were properly sealed. After 24 hours you should press your thumb into the middle of each jar lid to ensure the lid is properly sealed, if it is not it will pop in an out. If you find that any of your jars didn't seal properly place them in the fridge and use them first.

We enjoy using our jam for PB&J's, toast, on crackers and ice cream and in some recipes that call
for jam.

Here are some of the products I used to make my jam. These links contain affiliate links, which just means that if you choose to purchase them I get a small commission at no additional cost to you, which helps compensate us for the time we put into bringing you Penny Pinching Prose.


The start up cost to make your own jam may seem like it's not worth it, but once you have the jars and canning pot the only thing you will need to purchase in the future is the pectin and lids. I made my 10 cups of jam for less than $20, and not only is it yummy, I know exactly where it came from and what's in it!

Keep pinchin' :-)

Memorial Day Craft

Memorial Day is almost here! I know, it feels like just yesterday it was winter... wait, it was just yesterday!

No matter, the gateway to summer is just around the corner. Last year on Memorial Day weekend we got a fairly big snowstorm. It hit the day after we put out the patio furniture, dropping several inches of snow on green leaves, flowery bushes, and some of the plants in my garden.


I learned my lesson, at least where the plants are concerned, and I am waiting until after Memorial Day before planting my garden this year. Well, except for the lettuce and peas, which I planted last week, but they should be ok.


I like to decorate my house with seasonal or holiday decorations so last year I put together this easy-to-make wreath to hang on my front door. It was super simple and fast, and no matter how uncrafty you might think you are you can make this too.

You'll need a grapevine wreath—which you can find at Walmart—along with some scraps of blue, white, and red fabric, and some sparkly star foam stickers. I tied the three strips of fabric into bows, stacking them on top of each other, and placed the stickers over the rest of it.

It was a really simple decoration, and I like it enough that I can keep it up all summer because it works for Memorial Day, Flag Day and Fourth of July.

Keep pinchin' :-)

Don't Keep Lying Dormant When You Can Thrive

I love strawberries, and my hubby is a big fan of strawberry smoothies, so this spring I ordered 100 strawberry plants with the intention of planting them, growing them, and enjoying them for a long, long time!

But then I forgot to plant them.

Well, sort of. When they first arrived it was pretty cold outside, rainy, and the ground was mostly frozen, but I was told I could safely refrigerate them to keep them dormant and moist. So the bagged-strawberries settled in on my refrigerator door next to the mayonnaise and Root Beer where they remained for a week.

Actually, it was two weeks.

Ok, if I'm completely honest, it was three! Yikes!

Some of the strawberries looked like they were frozen and possibly dying, but since we had invested some hard-earned money in them I was determined to plant them. That way if they did die I could blame nature and not my fridge. (I know I'm totally to blame, but just work with me here).

So on the next nice day we had I planted them in my garden. In just a couple of days I noticed that they actually appeared to be thriving in their new environment—they were growing leaves and getting bigger.

I told a friend who knows a thing or two about strawberries and he assured me that living in the fridge for three weeks wouldn't be a problem because the strawberries were lying dormant.

Cue sigh of relief.

This got me thinking about finances because, yes, just about anything gets me thinking about finances. No matter how impossible it may seem sometimes we all have the potential to be financially responsible. Making the journey to debt-free living is a choice that has to be made, and until you make it you're just lying dormant. In the fridge. Freezing. And possible dying. The potential is there, but until you're planted into some good soil and given some sunlight you probably don't even that potential is there.

That's kind of what it was like for us going through Financial Peace University. It brought us out of a lifestyle of overspending and debt and gave us the knowledge we needed to grow. It took some time to get used to—just like it's taking my strawberries some time to adjust—but when done right it's possible to thrive, even flourish, in a debt-free lifestyle.

Storms are going to come, and there will be dry spells, but if you stick with it you have a much better chance of thriving than if you stayed in the fridge.

Are you still in the fridge lying dormant, recently planted, or in full blossom financially?

Keep pinchin' :-)

How Pruning Can Benefit Us

At the end of winter I decided to cut back my raspberry bushes. I'm not entirely sure if that was the right thing to do, but it seemed logical to me. The raspberry bushes were on our property when we bought our home almost two years ago, and I'm not sure how long they had been there prior to that or how long it had been since someone took care of them. I wasn't sure what was old and what was new, so I decided to just cut it all back in hopes that in the future I would reap a greater harvest.

As I was raking out all the branches I had pruned and the dead leaves, I was reminded of how this is kind of what Jake and I have done with our finances. In some ways I feel like we have hacked back and hacked back as far as we can go in hopes of building a better financial future. We went into this process with some hesitation, facing a lot of unknowns, and we still don't really know what will happen next, but we are trusting the process to produce financial fruit for us. We knew that we couldn't keep spending the way we had in the past if we expected things to be different in our future, but knowing that didn't necessarily make it any easier to cut out restaurants, Netflix, or our vacation budget.

Another thought that occurred to me was how God prunes my spiritual life. Often times in order for God to really work in my life He has cut back or completely remove things that I thought I needed. While this process is painful, if I stick with it and trust in Him, I usually find that He is faithful to do a mighty work in my heart and life. Sometimes He even replaces the things I thought I needed with much more precious things.

It amazes me how often I am willing to hang onto the old, broken, damaged parts of my life for fear that I won't like what will happen if I allow them to be pruned back, but as long as I am unwilling to allow that process to happen I am missing out on the good things my Father in heaven has in store for me.

So, while I wait to see what comes from my raspberry bushes I will allow those newly cut-back plants to remind me of the importance of the pruning I need in order to continue in my financial and spiritual life.

Keep pinchin' :-)

To Everything There Is Season

To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted.
Ecclesiastes 3:1, 2

This verse came to mind today as I was thinking about how I'm tiring of this whole Penny Pinching life. Don't get me wrong, I'm not throwing in the towel yet, but there are days when the end seems oh so far away, and I just want to go to Six Flags.... Have you seen the new ride at Six Flags Great Adventure? If not you have to check it out!

Today was one of those days. It's amazing how far we have come since we began this journey about 18 months ago, as we have paid off about $25,000. However, to completely pay off our home we have a long way to go, not to mention that when we get some sort of health care that will cut into the amount we send to the mortgage company. Thankfully I've recently been asked on several occasions to babysit, which definitely helps, but that can get tiring, too, as I already work 40 hours a week and I work weird hours which throws my body off.

As I was thinking about how I'm going to keep on doing this the verse above came to mind. To everything there is a season. Right now we are in the planting season, so that hopefully one day we can reap what we have worked so hard to sow. It's kind of like my garden last year, I worked really hard to prepare the ground, plant the seeds, weed and water and then finally I was able to reap the harvest and enjoy all the fresh veggies.

So, I will keep pressing on and make the most of this time in my life, knowing that one day I will get to pluck that which I have planted.

Keep pinchin' :-)

A Dream or a Nightmare?

For Christmas my in-laws gave me a book. Not just any book, but a book that I had been drooling over at their house this past year. It's called "The Backyard Homestead." And I titled this post "A Dream or a Nightmare?" because whether you're me or my husband a book like this could be just that.

I read this book, which is about growing our own fruits, veggies, herbs, and animals, and I think of all the possibilities we have on our four acre property. My husband looks at it and sees lots of work, and declares he doesn't want to be a farmer. While I don't want to go all "small farm" here in Bethlehem, the possibilities of a small-scale backyard homestead have been imprinted in my head, and I fear there is no going back now! Sorry honey :-/

This idea is very close to my heart, and it's not because I want to know where everything we consume was grown and how it was processed, or to make sure that we are eating the healthiest food we can, although those are all good reasons.

I want to do this because I feel like it will give me more purpose when I hopefuly in my dreams stay home someday to raise our children. It will also help keep me busy, and I believe that if done right it could also help us save a lot of money on our grocery bill when we have to feed all of the imaginary kiddos.

So I guess that is my main reason. Once I stay home our income will take a severe slashing, and one way I can help compensate for that and help provide for our family is by growing fresh fruits and veggies, and maybe a few birds, on our little homestead.

My hope is to start really small this summer, by expanding on what I did last year (which was have a HUGE garden) and learn how to better take care of the raspberry bushes, grape vines, and apple trees we have on our property. Also, I would like to start growing a few more fruit trees/bushes as I know it will be several years before most of them will begin producing. Just small stuff you see. Now to just get the hubby on board :-)

Keep Pinchin' :-)