Jalapeno Jelly Recipe

I've had a request for my jalapeno jelly recipe. This makes about 5 half pints.

3/4 pound jalapeno peppers
2 cups cider vinegar, divided
6 cups sugar
2 pouches liquid pectin
green food coloring (optional, but recommended)

Wash peppers; drain. Remove stems and seeds. Puree peppers and 1 cup vinegar in a food processor or blender. Combine puree., 1 cup vinegar and sugar in a large pot. Bring to a boil; boil 10 minutes stirring constantly. Stir in liquid pectin. Return to a rolling boil. Boil hard 1 minute stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam. Stir in a few drops of food coloring (I forgot to do this once. The jelly turned out a more yellow green color than brighter green. It looks more appetizing with the food coloring). Ladle hot jell into hot, sterilized jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Use 2 piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.

I also made some yellow pepper jelly. Green, red or orange peppers can be substituted for yellow peppers.

Sweet Pepper Jelly

7 sweet yellow peppers
1 jalapeno pepper
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar, divided
1 1/2 cups apple juice
1 package powdered pectin
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 cups sugar
yellow food coloring (optional- if using another color pepper make sure the food coloring matches the color of pepper you are using)

To Make Juice: Wash peppers; remove stems and seeds. Pureehalf the peppers and 3/4 cup vinegar in a food processor or blender. Puree remaining peppers and vinegar. Combine puree and apple juice in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Strain pureed mixture through a damp jelly bag or several layers of cheesecloth. Measure 4 cups juice. Add additional apple juice to make 4 cups if necessary.

To Make Jelly: Combine juice, powdered pectin and salt in large saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Add sugar stirring until dissolved. Return to a boil. Boil hard 1 minute stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam. Stir in a few drops of food coloring. Ladel jelly into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust two piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.

More Pillows

I haven't had much time for quilting lately. I need short, easy projects that I can start and finish during nap time. Over the last few days I've made some skirts for my daughter. I think I'm addicted. I can make one in less than a half hour. I recovered a lampshade. I made these pillows: I needed some pillows for my living room couch. The fabric is by Sandi Henderson from her line

Meadowsweet. I love the fun, bold pattern. I made four. Two for my couch and two for my chairs in the same room. The orange pillows were bought at Ross for super cheap. I'll post the skirts and lampshade another day!

Pillows

I saw a pillow very similar to this when I was shopping this weekend. I wanted to buy it, but it was $30. I'm too cheap to spend that much, so I made it myself. It's a fun way to add color to a room without spending very much money. I need to make another one for this room and then also a red one. I need to experiment with different shaped petals. I used the basic idea from this tutorial. The one I saw at the store was all felt like the one I made, but I also like the flower in different fabric than the pillow cover. It stands out with all felt in real life much better than it does in the pic.

I finally finished that hutch!

Remember this ugly orangish wood hutch? Well, I finally decided what to do with it. What I wanted was a sofa table, not a hutch. I got such a good deal on it that I originally planned on putting table part behind my sofa and figure out what to do with the shelves later. Well.... then it was too tall for behind the sofa. After months of debating back and forth about what to do or just sell it I decided on Saturday to paint it.

Here is the finished product. I restained the top and then painted the bottom an added a glaze. I think I'm going to like it. The top is now housing a fleet of Tonka trucks.

Now, I have some lamps that need refinishing. They are currently an ugly 70s brown. I had wanted to pain them teal, but I'm thinking that will be too much when placed on top of my "new" table. So do I do black or white? The fireplace in this room is white and I have a few picture frames that are black.

Tomatoes

I don't ever want to look at another tomato again. Yesterday I had 25 lbs of tomatoes that needed to be used. It took about 7 hours. What did I get? 8 pints of salsa and 6 quarts of spaghetti sauce. And I did something to my back when I was pulling the spaghetti sauce out of the canner. I think I just turned the wrong way or something. Was all this worth it? NO!!!!!!! Maybe I'll think differently on a night when I don't have time to cook. I had my husband pick up some refrigerated tortellini on his way home from work. I made different pasta sauce for that. Jeff wanted to try what I had just bottled. NO WAY!!!! We aren't going to be digging into this for a long time. I wish tomatoes came already peeled.

For my Sous-Chefs

It's been a busy week so far. The first day of second grade for my oldest, more canning, dental appointments, back to school night and FSA stuff (I'm the co-chair for our office). I did manage to get some sewing done last week though.Sorry, I can't move the pictures around and I'm too lazy to retype stuff. This is the apron I made for my oldest. My boys always want to help me cook and are quite the mess makers so they needed aprons.

I love boy fabric. It seems like it's becoming more available now too!

I decided to make one for me while I was at it. I still need to make one for my four year old, but I just couldn't resist this fabric any longer. Ignore the way it looks totally misshapen on my floor.

Remember the dilly beans I posted last time? Well.... I realized an hour ago I need to make more. They are suppose to sit for 2 weeks before you eat them. We opened some today and I was thinking my 4 year old would maybe eat 4 or 5 with lunch. Nope. Between he and my 15 month old they ate the whole jar. They are a little on the spicy side. Why knew a 15 month old would like them so much?

Canning

I will admit it. I'm one of those strange people who like canning. I don't really like cooked fruit or jam (except very rarely on hot homemade bread), but my kids like jam. I like to can different things. This week I've done pickles and dilly beans. I forgot to take a picture of the dilly beans until they were already on the shelf in the storage room (next to the Western Family canned pineapple). Behind the beans is jalapeno jelly, which I love on crackers or tortilla chips with cream cheese. I can't wait to make more later this season when the jalapeno peppers are ready! I also am excited to try a few new things like red and yellow pepper jelly and possibly peach chutney later this season.

I'm not really sure why I like canning. It does make me feel domestic. I only canned one thing last year ( I had a newborn + the swine flu), strawberry jam. Last year was the first full summer in this house and when I put the canner on the stove I realized I had a problem. The canner is too high for the microwave. It was on a Saturday when my husband was home and I realized I needed two extra hands. Two to pull the canning pot out and my two to put the caning basket in and out of the hot water bath. This year I have been using the burner on the BBQ but that presents another problem...... it takes FOREVER to boil and then when I put the cans in it takes another 10+ minutes to get to boiling again. Any suggestions?

Anyway, since no sewing has taken place at my house (think 15 month old) I thought I'd post my recipe for dilly beans.

Dilly Beans

2 lbs green beans snapped and washed
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp cayenne pepper
4 sprigs dill
2 1/2 cups cider vinegar
2 1/2 cups water
4 TBL course salt

In 4 one pint jars put one clove garlic, 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper and one sprig dill. Turn jars on their sides to add green beans. In heavy pot boil vinegar, water and salt. Add to jars leaving 1/4 inch head space. Process for 10 minutes in boiling water bath.

Yield: 4 pints

The past few days I've had two sous-chefs that help me snap beans. I see aprons in their near future!!!!