Strawberry Refrigerator Jam

berries in jars

 I love summer!  Especially when my strawberry plants start producing.  I like to make refrigerator jam with the berries because it's a quick and effective method of processing them (especially if we don't eat them quick enough).  There's lots of recipes on the internet but the basic idea is sugar with berries and maybe some lemon for tartness.  I made my jam with approximately 4 cups of berries with 1.25 cups of sugar.  I don't really have a good ratio for the berries to sugar, so I go with the taste.  

my berry patch

How to make the jam:

pick berries

clean berries

sugar the berries

mash the berries

stir the berries occasionally

heat the berries to low boil (approximately 15-20 mins)

jar the berries

place the berries in the fridge.

rinsing the berries

a strawberry

 

                                                        

adding sugar

mash the berries

boiling berries

I hope you get the chance to try this!  Enjoy!  

~Katie

Chorizo Casserole

I tried a new recipe tonight.  I was getting tired of just plain old soy chorizo over potatoes with cheese.  I found this recipe from Spicy Southern Kitchen on Pinterest and it looked good.  I didn't have all of the ingredients so I modified it.  Be sure to check out her original recipe.  I think I could eat this for breakfast too.

Here's what I used (all from Trader Joe's except the salsa):  

Shredded Hash Browns

chopped onion

butter

olive oil

1 cup non-fat greek yogurt

1 egg

1/2 cup of Pace Picante Sauce

Soy Chorizo

cheddar cheese

Here's how I assembled it (preheated oven 350):

heated oil and butter in a non-stick pan

browned up the hash browns with onion

put that in a 9x13 casserole pan line with parchment paper ( I hate cleaning)

mixed the egg, picante sauce, and yogurt 

poured that over the potatoes

crumbled the chorizo over the yogurt and potatoes

topped with cheese

baked 30 minutes covered and then uncovered for 10 minutes

It was so good!!!

~Katie