Easy Strawberry Jam

Easy Strawberry Jam

3 pounds Strawberries, topped and sliced
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsps lemon juice

Add all ingredients to 5 quart sauce pan.  Bring to boil and then reduce heat to medium low to simmer.  Stir occasionally for 45 minutes.  Allow to cool and then pack in sterilized jars.  Keeps in fridge up to 1 month.

**You know me...always changing things up.  I had only 2 pounds berries on hand so I used what I had.  I figured 1/4 cup per pound of berries, and reduced the sugar to 1/2 cup.  I didn't decrease the lemon juice and wish I had, but the jam is not too tart.  Per the recipe (Country Living or BH&G?) blurb, strawberries have enough natural pectin that it's not necessary to use boxed pectin.  I like that I could use just what I had on hand without purchasing anything extra.  It tastes very good!  I don't know yet if it will gel like commercial jelly, because it's too warm yet to tell, but it is nice and thick and syrupy the way warm jelly usually is...

Homemade Egg Rolls

While the photos for this post are pulled from my Xanga archives, Egg Rolls were made in my home today.  I thought you'd like to see how it's done and share in my recipe for these tasty treats.

In the above photo you see many of the ingredients: slaw mix, onion, garlic, ginger root (on the cutting board in the foreground) soy sauce and egg roll wrappers.  Today I also included some frozen chopped oriental vegetables and red and yellow bell peppers that I'd diced. 

Cook slaw mix, vegetables, garlic and ginger over low heat until tender.  I don't add water but do add about 1 tbsp olive oil and then clamp on the lid and steam cook. When tender add about 2 tbsps soy sauce. Allow to cool.

Separate egg roll wrappers and lay about 2-3 tbsps of cabbage mix on the diagonal of the wrapper.

Roll the first corner up over the vegetable mix, then tuck in the corners like this:

and continue to roll away from you until you have a neat little packet.

Place on a greased cookie sheet and brush with oil.  Bake at 400F for about 20 minutes until lightly browned and crisp.  The end photo here shows a batch I made without the oil and baked on parchment.  They were good, but the ones brushed with oil have less tendency to break open and have a light crisp texture. 

1 bag of slaw mix generally will make about 20 egg rolls.  These freeze well after baking and may be reheated in the microwave for 1-2 minutes depending on the wattage of your microwave.

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

My friend who introduced me to this dish, insists that it is a salad...and in the South, she's probably right because that gives us an excuse to go on and eat dessert, too!  This recipe is not mine, but was found on this site:  http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/Judys-Strawberry-Pretzel-Salad/Detail.aspx  My friend always makes this dessert, urhm, I mean salad, in a 13 X 9 inch pan.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups crushed pretzels
• 4 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
• 3/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
• 1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 1 (6 ounce) package strawberry flavored gelatin
• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 (16 ounce) package frozen strawberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Mix together the pretzels, 4 1/2 tablespoons sugar and melted butter. Press into the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan. Bake for 10 minutes, or until lightly toasted. Set aside to cool completely.
2. In a medium bowl, beat the sugar and cream cheese until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Spread evenly over the cooled crust. Refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together the gelatin mix and boiling water. Mix in frozen strawberries, and stir until thawed. Pour over cream cheese mixture in pan. Refrigerate until completely chilled, at least 1 hour.