Monday, June 27, 2011

Down on the farm | Strawberry Jam

One fine afternoon, we as a family got a true taste of fresh produce and had fun picking strawberries at Finnell Farm Harborcreek PA. Those strawberries were big and sweet this time. This was my second time visiting Finnell farm. The place is only about 20 minutes away from our house. There are other varieties beside strawberries they have peas as well.



I always thought that strawberries have to be sweet, and yes they were! My son enjoyed picking strawberries but not for long thought, he tended to play and talk about everything while I was picking strawberries.
“why are those strawberries red?”
“oh look mommy, they are so big!”
“mmm mommy I don’t see any bananas in these bushes”.
“mommy… answer me pleeeeease!”
I didn’t have time to answer one question before he jumped to another questions. The best thing for me is simply enjoying myself picking those red and sweet strawberries. LOL



At home, I  made half of the quart for jam and  froze the other half. I used CERTO to make freezer jam. Freezer jam is very easy to make and doesn’t require any cooking.
QUICK & EASY FREEZER JAM.
Recipe to make 4 cups of freezer strawberry jam.
2 cups crushed strawberries
2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
4 cups sugar
1 pouch certo

Direction:
Prepare fruits, discard stems and crush strawberries. Measure exact amount of prepared fruit (or juice) into a large bowl.
Measuring exact amount of sugar into separate bowl. (Reducing sugar or using sugar substitutes will result in set failures).
Stir sugar into prepared fruit. Mix well. Let stand 10 minutes; stir occasionally
Stir pectin into lemon juice and water (if required) in small bowl.
Stir pectin mixture into prepared fruit or juice. Stir constantly until sugar is completely dissolved and no longer grainy, about 3 minutes. (A few sugar crystals may remin).
Pour into prepared containers, leaving ½ inch space a top for expansion during freezing; cover.
Let stand at room temperature 24hours until set. Refrigerate up to 3 weeks. Otherwise, store in freezer for up to 1 year.



I made for about 8 jars of strawberry jam. I am hoping these will enough for sometimes next year:)

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Have a blessing sunday!


I see the sky is clear this morning

And that makes me so happy

I hear christian music is playing

and that brings my spirit up

Have a blessing sunday!

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Eggrolls

Looking through the window and wondering when this gloomy weather will go away, it has been a few days of gloom and rain. Meanwhile, we officially just have summer. Not knowing what to do as we can’t go out and play. I decided to make eggrolls. I thought it would be a prefect snacks for today.
Of course, this time I chopped vegetables pretty small. I had to do this in order to make my son not to notice so much about vegetables and actually eat them.  I did once post this recipe on my old blog, HERE.

Eggrolls:
Ingredients:
Some carrots, chopped them finely
Green beans cut tiny.
Some shrimps
Any ground meat, I used ground pork
Salt and pepper.
Garlic
To make skin:
100 gram all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1 tablespoon melted margarine
Salt
300 ml milk.
Combine all purpose flour with salt and melted margarine. Add eggs one by one and whisk them until smooth texture. Gradually add milk and whisk until smooth.

To cook skin, cook them the same way you would cook crepes. Take about 3 tablespoon and pour evenly on the non stick medium pan. When the skin is getting dry on the edge and easy to peel off that means it is cooked.
























































Direction:
Stir garlic on hot oil for about 2 minutes then add shrimps, ground pork, salt and peppers. Lastly add vegetables. I prefer to cook vegetables half done.
Take one cooked skin and add the filling on the middle of the skin and form it like you make an envelope

Everybody in my family loves my homemade eggrolls, now I am eating while watching ‘ghost hunt’  what the heck….

Friday, June 24, 2011

Chocolate bread.

I haven’t been blogging about food for 2 years maybe now. As you probably know I used to blog about food HERE. I wish I have more time doing things that I like to do, but besides the others things need to be done I am trying to manage to go back to blogging but this time with my new blog it is going to be a little different. I’ll blog about food, art and craft, travel, photography and life.
So why don’t I start to talk about food first…
For some people that know me, I have been known as a chocolate lover. Even to eat a slice of bread I do put chocolate on it.
This recipe is adapted from DAPUR BUNDA the owner of this blog is in heaven right now.




Chocolate Bread:
Ingredients:
500 gr bread flour
125 gr granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon bread improver ( I don’t use it, as it is hard to find here in US)
1 egg
125 ml milk
125 ml warm water
2 yeast (@11 gr)
80 gr salted butter

Filling:
Chocolate chips
Garnish:
Mix egg yolk with honey.

Direction:
Mix together flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Next add egg, butter, warm water + yeast and milk. Really blend them together with mixer. I used kitchen aid mixer with bread hook.  After all blend together nicely, put them aside for about 30 minutes to one hour or until the dough raises.
After the dough has risen, take one piece of dough about 30-40gr, then fill with chocolate chip or any filling you may like and shape them into around ball.
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Brush each bun with mix of egg yolk and honey before put them in the oven. Bake for about 15 minutes.




It was just such a fine day, bright and sunny. Perfect day to make bread! The only things that didn’t look good were grass and weed. They were growing pretty fast. I thought before my hubby mow the lawn I shall take picture of weed that grow in our back yard. Happy Summer!

About me....

Hello blogger stalker…..:)
First of all thank you for stopping by to my blog. Here is little bit story about me, I am a wife, a mom, a photographer and home maker. I have been blessed having a wonderful husband and son and also I don’t forget to mention I have 2 cats and a dog.
Photography is always been part of my life as a hobby, but recently I decide to do it as a business. You may also view my other blog about portrait and wedding photography HERE
I am a junk collector too, like to go shopping at second hand stores or garage sales just to find something unique for food photo property and something to inspire me to create unique photos. During my spare time besides going outdoors with my son and take the dog out for walks. I do love making things from sewing or knitting as well.
I am going to share about my passion of food, art and craft, photography and life in this blog.
Hope you enjoy your browsing and come back again soon.
Cheers,
Dwiana.