Raspberry jam; let the canning begin

My wonderful sister came over to watch the kids while they napped so I could go to the store ALONE!

At Costco I couldn't believe the 12oz packages of raspberries were on for less than $3. I bought two but I really should of bought more. When I got home and both kids were sleeping I was inspired to whip up some jam!

I set out my ingredients.

I did 4 cups of fresh berries, 5 cups of white sugar (rather than the 6&1/2cups as requested) with one sac of liquid pectin.  I like a thinner jam; one that can be used as dessert topping too.

When I combined the fresh berries with the sugar I noticed on the instructions that I was to have 4 cups of crushed raspberries so I added about 3 cups of frozen berries to bulk it up.

Put my clean jars in the oven and turned it to 350F once it preheated to 350F I turned the oven off and then they are sterile.

Boiled my sealers and utensils in water.

I rapidly boiled the mixture before I added the liquid pectin and then let it boil for one more minute. If you try making any type of jam follow the recipe on the pectin package; times and quantities differ from fruit to fruit.

I used my magnetic canning tool to grab the sterile sealers. So much easier with this tool. I bought a 6 piece canning set off amazon.ca for under $20; worth every penny!

I got 12-125ml jars and 2-250ml jars.

Aubrey enjoyed the small bowl of berries I saved for her!

Still sleeping however he wanted to be held so we finished the project together!

All done...love the sound of pop pop pop!

Banana, chocolate and almond coffee cake

Nostalgia plays a big part in my cooking. This bundt pan was my grandma martins and I love to make a good ole coffee cake in it. Since I had three ripe bananas on hand I thought id look for a new recipe.

I followed this pretty closely making a few modifications for what I had on hand. I used sliced almonds instead of walnuts. I used oil instead of the butter. For the buttermilk I used two tablespoons of sour half and half creamer and  one tablespoon of Greek yogurt. 

I combined and set aside the streusel. I totally thought this was too much but it ended up being tasty; decedant but tasty!

Whipped my wet ingredients and then added in the dry ingredients.

I thought it was quite thin for a coffee cake batter but I decided not to mess with it and hoped for the best.

In my greased pan I put half the batter and then half the streusel and then repeated ending with streusel on top.

I put this in my 350F preheated oven and this took exactly 45 minutes. 

I let it cool in the pan on a wire rack and then I inverted it onto a serving plate.

This was moist and very delicious. The streusel topping could be halved in future; it was a little excessive!

Couldn't resist showing off our little man; almost 8 weeks old!

The grocery store adventure; artichoke

Going to the grocery store with two kids can be an adventure all on its own but for Aubrey  and I we love discovering new things and bringing them home to daddy-chef as she often refers to Jeff!

This past week it was the artichoke. Aubrey had seen it on Giada's show; oh yes we're on a first name basis with our Food Network show hosts!  Giada stars on the show "Giada at home" which often features her four year old daughter.

Aubrey thought it would be great to bring daddy this secret ingredient and see what he could create. It would be like our own version of "Chopped" or as Aubrey calls it "Chomped".

I had no clue how to even begin with the artichoke so good thing we have a professional on site!

Peel off the small leaves on the stem

Trim stem

Peel off the upper leaves until you see lighter green and expose the choke

Scoop out all of the choke; hairy like flower in the centre

Peel the stem and around

Get lemon water ready to put the artichoke heart in so it doesn't oxidize and brown

Slice the artichoke into 6 pieces and put it in the prepared water mixture 

Aubrey was so excited to use her new saute pan! Turn heat on high and add olive oil

Sauté the artichoke with one clove of thinly sliced garlic, lemon juice, salt, and pepper

Deglaze with a little white wine and let it sauté for a minute or so; finishing with a knob of butter

And serve!

Delicious! Quite a lot of work for 6 petite bites but we got the idea. This would be the beginning of a tasty pasta dish or something you could serve over fish ect....

Now for the taste tester!

I think she preferred the adventure of making it rather than the eating part but atleast she gave it her one-bite try!

It only took five minutes for her to get it down!!!  

I love these tasty food memories we are making.