I did groceries today and found (about) an 8 lb bag of 'used' (to use
George's word) Roma tomatoes for $1.99. I've just finished washing and
coring them. Then I sliced them in half and shook them, by hand, really
hard over the kitchen sink - this got most of the wet pulpy-seedy stuff out,
and then I froze them in freezer bags. I'm not ready for tomatoes yet...

I also picked up mangos and kiwi fruit on sale, and will have to pick Barb's
brain as to how she came up with her famous jam recipe (with strawberries),
so that I may adapt it for low sugar Certo powder, which is what I use these
days.

All those strawberries I picked at the jend of June ended up cleaned and
cored and frozen in freezer bags. Haven't done anything with them yet,
except eat as much as we could while there were still fresh.

I did find wild blueberries in my freezer, so made another batch of Bluebarb
jam. The first batch I added a bit of water to because it was looking like
glue in the pot, and it still hasn't set up quite right, but the 2nd batch
is nice (no water). Prolly shoulda written down what I did
different....;-( I also found strawberry juice and cherry juice in the
freezer, so made jellies out of both. The strawberry jelly is perfect, but
the cherry jelly is too firm....I'm still learning to 'translate' regular
Certo powder recipes into low sugar Certo recipes, I guess.

I need a bigger freezer. I don't know what the capacity is of the one I
have, but it's about 3 feet high, 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep......it's SO
not big enough.....there's the usual weekly stuff in there - the meats, the
breads, the ice cream and popsicles, but there's also the stuff that I say
"I'll do something with that later"...bananas and pumpkin for breads and
muffins, the strawberries, the tomatoes, the home made chicken, turkey and
beef stock.......I really need a bigger freezer.........

Kathi,
having spa day tomorrow with my girls (don't have any jars to can in...) -
we're gonna colour our hair, soak our feet, paint our nails and I'll drink
wine....my girls ARE only 13 and 8....they can have fruit punch!

Kathi Jones wrote:

I need a bigger freezer. I don't know what the capacity is of the one I
have, but it's about 3 feet high, 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep......it's SO
not big enough.....there's the usual weekly stuff in there - the meats, the
breads, the ice cream and popsicles, but there's also the stuff that I say
"I'll do something with that later"...bananas and pumpkin for breads and
muffins, the strawberries, the tomatoes, the home made chicken, turkey and
beef stock.......I really need a bigger freezer.........



You need to get one of those new TARDIS freezers that's bigger on the
inside than it is on the outside. It's amazing how much space they save.

(wondering how many people get it)

Bob

Kathi Jones wrote:
I did groceries today and found (about) an 8 lb bag of 'used' (to use
George's word) Roma tomatoes for $1.99. I've just finished washing and
coring them. Then I sliced them in half and shook them, by hand, really
hard over the kitchen sink - this got most of the wet pulpy-seedy stuff out,
and then I froze them in freezer bags. I'm not ready for tomatoes yet...

I also picked up mangos and kiwi fruit on sale, and will have to pick Barb's
brain as to how she came up with her famous jam recipe (with strawberries),
so that I may adapt it for low sugar Certo powder, which is what I use these
days.

All those strawberries I picked at the jend of June ended up cleaned and
cored and frozen in freezer bags. Haven't done anything with them yet,
except eat as much as we could while there were still fresh.

I did find wild blueberries in my freezer, so made another batch of Bluebarb
jam. The first batch I added a bit of water to because it was looking like
glue in the pot, and it still hasn't set up quite right, but the 2nd batch
is nice (no water). Prolly shoulda written down what I did
different....;-( I also found strawberry juice and cherry juice in the
freezer, so made jellies out of both. The strawberry jelly is perfect, but
the cherry jelly is too firm....I'm still learning to 'translate' regular
Certo powder recipes into low sugar Certo recipes, I guess.

I need a bigger freezer. I don't know what the capacity is of the one I
have, but it's about 3 feet high, 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep......it's SO
not big enough.....there's the usual weekly stuff in there - the meats, the
breads, the ice cream and popsicles, but there's also the stuff that I say
"I'll do something with that later"...bananas and pumpkin for breads and
muffins, the strawberries, the tomatoes, the home made chicken, turkey and
beef stock.......I really need a bigger freezer.........

Our freezer is 13 cubic feet, about 3 feet wide by 5 feet tall by 2 feet
deep. In it are frozen soup starter, aka turkey and chicken stock with
the meat in it. Lots and lots of chopped sweet chiles from last year,
chopped okra from last year, broccoli from our winter garden, chard also
from the winter garden. About 5 lbs of frozen blueberries a friend
picked and gave to us. Some bread, two loaves of Mrs. Bairds multi-grain
and a big loaf of whole wheat French bread. We're not big bread eaters
but our descendants are so we keep some on hand. Potato flakes in a box,
used to thicken soups. Corn dogs and pot pies for emergency dinners, ie
when neither of us feels like cooking. The freezer pot for our little
automatic ice cream maker, ice cream bars, Blue Bell no sugar added ice
cream. And other assorted stuff like Yucchh!, cauliflower.

Meat is kept in the freezer over the fridge mostly with some big cuts in
the big freezer in the pantry.

Haven't canned anything since Sunday but am trying to figure out where
to put the stuff we do have canned as the pantry is chock-a-block full.
Probably going to have to put some fig jam in pint jars back into the
jar box and set them on the floor. Been making various recipes of fig
cake with last years fig jams just to see if there is one that we like
better than the others. So far we prefer the 40-year old recipe we got
from a friend.

Sleepy Dawg and I are just bouncing around this old house with no
direction since Miz Anne is busy enjoying her visit to her Mom. Someone
is going to have to mow, generally Miz Anne's job (she likes it)as it
appears to have quit raining for a while and I don't want to have to get
Farmer Jerry in with his mowing and haying machinery. It's either going
to be me or the kid down the street who is always looking for some work
to make a buck or forty.

Sleepy goes to the beauty parlor for hair and nails on Friday but I
think I'm beyond their help. Haven't had my nails and hair colored since
my granddaughters decided to "do" me while I was napping one time. Do
you know how hard it is to get crayons off your nails and paint stick
paint out of your hair?

George

Kathi,
having spa day tomorrow with my girls (don't have any jars to can in...) -
we're gonna colour our hair, soak our feet, paint our nails and I'll drink
wine....my girls ARE only 13 and 8....they can have fruit punch!

You need to get one of those new TARDIS freezers that's bigger on the
inside than it is on the outside. It's amazing how much space they save.

(wondering how many people get it)


it's what dr. who uses.

joe
petersburg (who hates the current dr. who) alaska

zxcvbob wrote:
Kathi Jones wrote:

I need a bigger freezer. I don't know what the capacity is of the one I
have, but it's about 3 feet high, 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep......it's SO
not big enough.....there's the usual weekly stuff in there - the meats, the
breads, the ice cream and popsicles, but there's also the stuff that I say
"I'll do something with that later"...bananas and pumpkin for breads and
muffins, the strawberries, the tomatoes, the home made chicken, turkey and
beef stock.......I really need a bigger freezer.........



You need to get one of those new TARDIS freezers that's bigger on the
inside than it is on the outside. It's amazing how much space they save.

(wondering how many people get it)

You mean you wonder WHO gets it?

B/

zxcvbob wrote:
Kathi Jones wrote:

I need a bigger freezer. I don't know what the capacity is of the
one I have, but it's about 3 feet high, 3 feet wide and 2 feet
deep......it's SO not big enough.....there's the usual weekly stuff
in there - the meats, the breads, the ice cream and popsicles, but
there's also the stuff that I say "I'll do something with that
later"...bananas and pumpkin for breads and muffins, the
strawberries, the tomatoes, the home made chicken, turkey and beef
stock.......I really need a bigger freezer.........



You need to get one of those new TARDIS freezers that's bigger on the
inside than it is on the outside. It's amazing how much space they
save.
(wondering how many people get it)

Bob

Your . Freezer. Is . Inferior. Exterminate! Exterminate!

"Kathi Jones" wrote in message
...
I did groceries today and found (about) an 8 lb bag of 'used' (to use
George's word) Roma tomatoes for $1.99. I've just finished washing and
coring them. Then I sliced them in half and shook them, by hand, really
hard over the kitchen sink - this got most of the wet pulpy-seedy stuff
out,
and then I froze them in freezer bags. I'm not ready for tomatoes yet...

I also picked up mangos and kiwi fruit on sale, and will have to pick
Barb's
brain as to how she came up with her famous jam recipe (with
strawberries),
so that I may adapt it for low sugar Certo powder, which is what I use
these
days.

All those strawberries I picked at the jend of June ended up cleaned and
cored and frozen in freezer bags. Haven't done anything with them yet,
except eat as much as we could while there were still fresh.

I did find wild blueberries in my freezer, so made another batch of
Bluebarb
jam. The first batch I added a bit of water to because it was looking
like
glue in the pot, and it still hasn't set up quite right, but the 2nd batch
is nice (no water). Prolly shoulda written down what I did
different....;-( I also found strawberry juice and cherry juice in the
freezer, so made jellies out of both. The strawberry jelly is perfect,
but
the cherry jelly is too firm....I'm still learning to 'translate' regular
Certo powder recipes into low sugar Certo recipes, I guess.

I need a bigger freezer. I don't know what the capacity is of the one I
have, but it's about 3 feet high, 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep......it's SO

Freezer capacity is measured in *interior* cubic feet L X W X H or 3 X 3 X 2
=18.....did you measure inside or outside? If you measure the interior and
get a measurement in inches, you can convert it this way as well. (Be sure
to convert all 3 measurements into inches or the formula will not work) L X
W X H /1728 or 36 X 36 X 24 /1728 = 18

KW

"zxcvbob" wrote in message
...
Kathi Jones wrote:

I need a bigger freezer. I don't know what the capacity is of the one I
have, but it's about 3 feet high, 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep......it's
SO not big enough.....there's the usual weekly stuff in there - the
meats, the breads, the ice cream and popsicles, but there's also the
stuff that I say "I'll do something with that later"...bananas and
pumpkin for breads and muffins, the strawberries, the tomatoes, the home
made chicken, turkey and beef stock.......I really need a bigger
freezer.........



You need to get one of those new TARDIS freezers that's bigger on the
inside than it is on the outside. It's amazing how much space they save.

(wondering how many people get it)

Bob

OK, I had to look it up, but you're right, Bob, that's EXACTLY what I
need!!!

Kathi

"KW" keith_warrennospamatallteldotnet wrote in message
...

"Kathi Jones" wrote in message
...
I did groceries today and found (about) an 8 lb bag of 'used' (to use
George's word) Roma tomatoes for $1.99. I've just finished washing and
coring them. Then I sliced them in half and shook them, by hand, really
hard over the kitchen sink - this got most of the wet pulpy-seedy stuff
out,
and then I froze them in freezer bags. I'm not ready for tomatoes yet...

I also picked up mangos and kiwi fruit on sale, and will have to pick
Barb's
brain as to how she came up with her famous jam recipe (with
strawberries),
so that I may adapt it for low sugar Certo powder, which is what I use
these
days.

All those strawberries I picked at the jend of June ended up cleaned and
cored and frozen in freezer bags. Haven't done anything with them yet,
except eat as much as we could while there were still fresh.

I did find wild blueberries in my freezer, so made another batch of
Bluebarb
jam. The first batch I added a bit of water to because it was looking
like
glue in the pot, and it still hasn't set up quite right, but the 2nd
batch
is nice (no water). Prolly shoulda written down what I did
different....;-( I also found strawberry juice and cherry juice in the
freezer, so made jellies out of both. The strawberry jelly is perfect,
but
the cherry jelly is too firm....I'm still learning to 'translate' regular
Certo powder recipes into low sugar Certo recipes, I guess.

I need a bigger freezer. I don't know what the capacity is of the one I
have, but it's about 3 feet high, 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep......it's
SO

Freezer capacity is measured in *interior* cubic feet L X W X H or 3 X 3 X
2
=18.....did you measure inside or outside? If you measure the interior and
get a measurement in inches, you can convert it this way as well. (Be sure
to convert all 3 measurements into inches or the formula will not work) L
X
W X H /1728 or 36 X 36 X 24 /1728 = 18

KW



Thanks. I don't really need to know the capacity of my freezer - I already
know it's too small...
actually, now that I need to measure the inside, it's even smaller ;- )

Kathi

In article ,
"Kathi Jones" wrote:

freezer, so made jellies out of both. The strawberry jelly is perfect, but
the cherry jelly is too firm....I'm still learning to 'translate' regular
Certo powder recipes into low sugar Certo recipes, I guess.

How firm is too firm, Kathi? Jelly is supposed to maintain its shape
when it's cut. Stiffer than jam.

I made reduced-sugar apricot jam and was happy with the way it looks --
how's the jelly for color and clarity with it? My understanding is that
the lower-sugar products aren't so colorful and clear. How's the jelly?
Thanks.

Kathi,
having spa day tomorrow with my girls (don't have any jars to can in...) -
we're gonna colour our hair, soak our feet, paint our nails and I'll drink
wine....my girls ARE only 13 and 8....they can have fruit punch!

Hey! Me, too, sort of. Gonna fetch raspberries and my sister from
another sister's house in about an hour, stop at the farmers markets
(different ones) on the way over and on the way back, then take sis to
have a facial while I have my toesies fancied. :-) She's paying. :-)

I've a fair amount of raspberries so I'm hitting the Mpls farmers market
on the way over in hope of finding some already-ripe mangoes for some
raspberry mango orange jam -- that stuff won the big prize a couple
years ago at our state fair. The next year -- not so much. Go figure.
Outstanding, regardless.
--
-Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
http://www.jamlady.eboard.com - story and
pics of Ronald McDonald House dinner posted 6-24-2007

Melba's Jammin' wrote:
In article ,
"Kathi Jones" wrote:


freezer, so made jellies out of both. The strawberry jelly is perfect, but
the cherry jelly is too firm....I'm still learning to 'translate' regular
Certo powder recipes into low sugar Certo recipes, I guess.


How firm is too firm, Kathi? Jelly is supposed to maintain its shape
when it's cut. Stiffer than jam.

I made reduced-sugar apricot jam and was happy with the way it looks --
how's the jelly for color and clarity with it? My understanding is that
the lower-sugar products aren't so colorful and clear. How's the jelly?
Thanks.


Kathi,
having spa day tomorrow with my girls (don't have any jars to can in...) -
we're gonna colour our hair, soak our feet, paint our nails and I'll drink
wine....my girls ARE only 13 and 8....they can have fruit punch!


Hey! Me, too, sort of. Gonna fetch raspberries and my sister from
another sister's house in about an hour, stop at the farmers markets
(different ones) on the way over and on the way back, then take sis to
have a facial while I have my toesies fancied. :-) She's paying. :-)

I've a fair amount of raspberries so I'm hitting the Mpls farmers market
on the way over in hope of finding some already-ripe mangoes for some
raspberry mango orange jam -- that stuff won the big prize a couple
years ago at our state fair. The next year -- not so much. Go figure.
Outstanding, regardless.
Do they grow mangoes in your part of Minnesota? Our farmers markets
only carry locally grown stuff( sold by the grower,)
Ellen

ellen wickberg wrote:
Melba's Jammin' wrote:
In article ,
"Kathi Jones" wrote:


freezer, so made jellies out of both. The strawberry jelly is
perfect, but the cherry jelly is too firm....I'm still learning to
'translate' regular Certo powder recipes into low sugar Certo
recipes, I guess.


How firm is too firm, Kathi? Jelly is supposed to maintain its shape
when it's cut. Stiffer than jam.
I made reduced-sugar apricot jam and was happy with the way it looks
-- how's the jelly for color and clarity with it? My understanding is
that the lower-sugar products aren't so colorful and clear. How's the
jelly? Thanks.


Kathi,
having spa day tomorrow with my girls (don't have any jars to can
in...) - we're gonna colour our hair, soak our feet, paint our nails
and I'll drink wine....my girls ARE only 13 and 8....they can have
fruit punch!


Hey! Me, too, sort of. Gonna fetch raspberries and my sister from
another sister's house in about an hour, stop at the farmers markets
(different ones) on the way over and on the way back, then take sis to
have a facial while I have my toesies fancied. :-) She's paying. :-)

I've a fair amount of raspberries so I'm hitting the Mpls farmers
market on the way over in hope of finding some already-ripe mangoes
for some raspberry mango orange jam -- that stuff won the big prize a
couple years ago at our state fair. The next year -- not so much. Go
figure. Outstanding, regardless.
Do they grow mangoes in your part of Minnesota? Our farmers markets
only carry locally grown stuff( sold by the grower,)
Ellen


I have a mango tree; it's in a 4" pot and is about a foot tall now. ;-)

(I think I'll winter it in the basement)

Bob
Texan living in Minnesota

"Melba's Jammin'" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Kathi Jones" wrote:

freezer, so made jellies out of both. The strawberry jelly is perfect,
but
the cherry jelly is too firm....I'm still learning to 'translate' regular
Certo powder recipes into low sugar Certo recipes, I guess.

How firm is too firm, Kathi? Jelly is supposed to maintain its shape
when it's cut. Stiffer than jam.

Well Barb, I just opened a jar just for you to find out. Turns out it isn't
too firm. It didn't move at all in the jar, that's why I thought it might
be, but I guess that's OK - the texture is quite nice. There's a bit of
'weeping' in the top - gotta hate that. The taste is sweet-tart - has a bit
of a pucker to it. The colour is very dark reddish purple and not perfectly
clear, but close.

Might need your recipe for mango raspberry orange....sounds pretty nummy ;-)

Kathi





I made reduced-sugar apricot jam and was happy with the way it looks --
how's the jelly for color and clarity with it? My understanding is that
the lower-sugar products aren't so colorful and clear. How's the jelly?
Thanks.

Kathi,
having spa day tomorrow with my girls (don't have any jars to can
in...) -
we're gonna colour our hair, soak our feet, paint our nails and I'll
drink
wine....my girls ARE only 13 and 8....they can have fruit punch!

Hey! Me, too, sort of. Gonna fetch raspberries and my sister from
another sister's house in about an hour, stop at the farmers markets
(different ones) on the way over and on the way back, then take sis to
have a facial while I have my toesies fancied. :-) She's paying. :-)

I've a fair amount of raspberries so I'm hitting the Mpls farmers market
on the way over in hope of finding some already-ripe mangoes for some
raspberry mango orange jam -- that stuff won the big prize a couple
years ago at our state fair. The next year -- not so much. Go figure.
Outstanding, regardless.
--
-Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
http://www.jamlady.eboard.com - story and
pics of Ronald McDonald House dinner posted 6-24-2007

In article ,
"Kathi Jones" wrote:

"Melba's Jammin'" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Kathi Jones" wrote:

freezer, so made jellies out of both. The strawberry jelly is perfect,
but
the cherry jelly is too firm....I'm still learning to 'translate' regular
Certo powder recipes into low sugar Certo recipes, I guess.

No recipe to follow on the insert?



How firm is too firm, Kathi? Jelly is supposed to maintain its shape
when it's cut. Stiffer than jam.

Well Barb, I just opened a jar just for you to find out.

Shoot, don't do it on my account. That it didn't move in the jar sounds
just the way it should be, IMO.

Turns out it isn't
too firm. It didn't move at all in the jar, that's why I thought it might
be, but I guess that's OK - the texture is quite nice. There's a bit of
'weeping' in the top - gotta hate that. The taste is sweet-tart - has a bit
of a pucker to it. The colour is very dark reddish purple and not perfectly
clear, but close.

Close is good. :-0) It sounds wonderful.

Might need your recipe for mango raspberry orange....sounds pretty nummy ;-)

Lemme see if I wrote it down. I'll post separately if I can find it.

Kathi

Hey! Me, too, sort of. Gonna fetch raspberries and my sister from
another sister's house in about an hour, stop at the farmers markets
(different ones) on the way over and on the way back, then take sis to
have a facial while I have my toesies fancied. :-) She's paying. :-)

I've a fair amount of raspberries so I'm hitting the Mpls farmers market
on the way over in hope of finding some already-ripe mangoes for some
raspberry mango orange jam -- that stuff won the big prize a couple
years ago at our state fair. The next year -- not so much. Go figure.
Outstanding, regardless.

Got a late start (that's different! Hah!) and skipped the Mpls farmers
market and the mangoes -- picked up 8 pints of razzleberries from Sister
Julie. It's nearly 2:00 a.m. and I just took the second batch of Cherry
Berry Jam from the canner. Fed dinner to my sister and brother and
then went to a farewell pah-ty for some neighbors. A sober affair. I
didn't start the first batch of jam until about 10:45 p.m. If I had
any sense, I'd go to bed.


--
-Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
http://www.jamlady.eboard.com - story and
pics of Ronald McDonald House dinner posted 6-24-2007

In article kVrli.108540$1i1.91469@pd7urf3no,
ellen wickberg wrote:

Melba's Jammin' wrote:


I've a fair amount of raspberries so I'm hitting the Mpls farmers market
on the way over in hope of finding some already-ripe mangoes for some
raspberry mango orange jam -- that stuff won the big prize a couple
years ago at our state fair. The next year -- not so much. Go figure.
Outstanding, regardless.
Do they grow mangoes in your part of Minnesota? Our farmers markets
only carry locally grown stuff( sold by the grower,)
Ellen

No, ma'am, they do not. :-0) The Minneapolis farmers market allows
shipped-in food -- a number of wholesalers come with their trucks. It
is a VERY good place to buy a lot of stuff pretty darned inexpensively
-- blueberries (from New Jersey or Michigan) are often a dollar a pint
vs $2 or $2.50 in the supermarket; lemons, limes, mangoes, mushrooms,
can be had for not much money. Local stuff also, but not only.

The St. Paul farmers market organization requires locally grown foods.
Two very different operations in more ways than that.
--
-Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
http://www.jamlady.eboard.com - story and
pics of Ronald McDonald House dinner posted 6-24-2007