Jay's Jammin'

  My glaucoma surgery with Dr Imami came out well, cataract repaired also. Then after 30 days back to Dr Ross for vitrectomy on the same eye. Recovering nicely.
  Since then we’ve put up red raspberry, Damson Plum Jam,  and Tangy Plum Sauce. Next up, cider jelly, and black raspberry jam .
  And in a turn-around I’ll be helping my financial adviser how to make seedless red raspberry jelly. More news anon.

  I awoke the next day to find Momma going through all the receipts for the last month at the dining table. Guess what? We were both being delusional. There was no record of any such purchase of jars.So she got on the road to Millington to pick some up at Rosati‘s When she returned we got busy and put up thirteen 12oz and two 16oz jars of dilled green beans. 
  OK, where are those plums

  Well, we stopped at Mcdaniel Farms store as the last stop on our “save mileage” tour of drugstore(drop off scrip),doctors office(pick up eye med sample), grocery (dog food & treats, bread, milk, grapes,eggs,and cat treats) Conlee Oil to fill truck(20.1 gallons), drugstore to pick up presciption spray for freezing needle site for dialysis.
  Got some green beans, garlic, and dill for making Dilly Beans. We planned ahead the other day & got a case of 12 oz jars for canning them. Arrived home, cannot find those @#%&^$# jars anywhere in this dome. Are we in the right one? There are over 200 domes in this tri-county area. No, there’s our dog & cat. This must be the blace. Out again in the morning for jars.

  I never know how many jars of jam, pie filling and canned fruit there is in a bushel . Yet we buy it any way. Then wonder why it takes so long to process. The peaches from Montrose Orchards were a little hard so we were from Friday the 14th to this morning finishing them.

  These were all that were left to do this morning. All done! Six pints of pie filling. Thirty- Two 1/2 pints of jam. Sixteen 1/2 pints of Peach Melba. . Twelve pints of cinnamon peaches. Eight 1/2 pints of peach and berry jam.
  Damn, we still have jars that are empty, the hunt starts for plums.

  We tried working with the peaches this morning, but they’re holding on to their pits for dear life. So we made the best of it using all those odd chunks and using leftover red raspberries, turning them into 8 jars of peach jam and 16 jars of Peach Melba jam. See MommasCorner for pics. Will try again in the morning.

  It’s been a lot of fun these past three weeks. Cherries, blackberries, red raspberries, cherries again,and this evening-peaches. and fighting the heat.Interwoven with doctor visits, out-patient surgeries

  It started with a request for a jam made by my vascular access’ doctor’s grandmother lo these many years ago. I thought he said rhubarb and orange slices jam. After a long search we figured that it was rhubarb and orange slice candy. And this is what we got. I’m diabetic, and just the thought of tasting this set my false teethe on edge. I gave it to him when we did our latest”tune up” on my fistula.

  A new breed of tart cherry “Balaton” from Austria developed for Michigan orchards. It is tart, but also a touch sweet, and boy is it dark, so taste when buying to not get a sweet cherry by mistake! Picture at bottom of post.

  While at Montrose Orchards to get the cherries, we found red and black raspberries in the cooler, so we picked those up also.

  Pretty nice, huh?
Then this afternoon while I was in my after dialysis nap, the orchard called to say the peaches were coming in. Talk about a wake-up call! Throw on some clothes, get eye-drops in, say good-by to the dog, and hit the road.

  Two hours and about 50 miles round trip, these were lying on our dining table, softening up for tomorrows projects, pie filling,peach Melba jam and regular jam.

  After buggin’ the heck out of the orchardists at Robinette‘s for the last two weeks, They said they had fruit to pick-up. Working around Dr. visits and dialysis, meant we had to go there on Thursday. When you do this take a lot of money so you can buy in bulk. We bought two half bushels.
  The drive out was thrilling, with a downpour that lasted from Flint to Lansing on I-69. After it cleared we made good time, arriving in 2 hours 40 minutes, 3 minutes ahead of Google Map. The return was via non-freeway map.That took 4 hours and 23 minutes, an hour longer than estimated because we stopped for lunch

  While I was in dialysis today Momma and Cindy started doing the jam thing..

  Momma at the end of the day, tired, sticky and worn out. The container you see next to the wall phone started the day with 40 pounds of sugar in it.

  The rest of todays run. A total of 28 pints of apricots and 71 jars assorted size jars of jam, mostly 1/2 pints. They left label making to me.

  Two anniversaries this weekend, Independence Day and the 50th Wedding Anniversary of friends in our old neighborhood in Pontiac MI tomorrow. So we spent today making Mini Cream Cheese Tarts, thanks to Paula Deens recipe. as our starting point. But I made a different crust with Nilla Wafers. See Momma’s blog for recipe. We had a ball making 57 crusts and filling for 48. That allowed for some (slight) errors. All using one 12 pocket mini muffin pan, adds up to a lot of time. Then Momma topped them with new batch Pluot-Apple and Dutch Apple Pie Jams Guess where the extras went, I’ve got the Humulin R ready for tonights sugar spike.

  Left for dialysis this morning leaving Momma with this.

  Bags of apples and the needed supplies for jam.While I was lying there sleeping at dialysis, she was busily turning them into this.

  A friend, GrammiePammie, sent me the recipe for the one on the right.

  That made 7 jars. I came in just in time to cap & waterbath them.

  She was just taking the second batch of these out of the kettle when I walked in. Pretty, huh? The official taste testing took place by licking all the utensils clean, scraping out the pot and spooning it out of the sample jar!. Outstanding! It was hard to stop, That was a full glass.

 
*Best Apple Pie Jam Recipe* from Taste of Home

    Cook Time

    10 mins
  *
    Level

    Easy
  *
    Serves

    3 pints

Close
Times:

Prep
  30 mins
Inactive Prep
  20 mins
Cook
  10 mins
Total:
  1 hr 0 min

Ingredients

  * 4 cups apples, peeled and chopped (tart apples)
  * · 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
  * · 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  * · 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  * · 1/4 teaspoon ginger
  * · 4 cups sugar
  * · 1 cup brown sugar, packed
  * · 1 (1 3/4 ounce) box dry pectin
  * · 1 teaspoon butter

Directions

Measure apples in a measuring cup, now add in the same measuring cup water to fill up to the 4 cup line (with the apples in it). Add pectin and the butter and spices, lemon juice. Bring to a boil. Add sugars and bring back to a full rolling boil, boil 1 minute. Stir constantly. Remove from the heat. Skim off any foam. Ladle into hot jars leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Put on lids. Process in water bath 10 minutes.
  So of course I had to go hunting and find this.

  SURE.JELL Dutch Apple Pie Jam

 
Recipe Rating:
Prep Time: 45 min
Total Time: 2 hr min
Makes: about 7 (1-cup) jars.
Except we bought too many apples and had enough for a double batch. Final tally, 7 Apple Pie and 14 Dutch Apple Pie.

4 cups prepared fruit (about 1 lb. Granny Smith or other tart green apples)
1-1/4 cups water
1/2 cup raisins
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
1 box SURE.JELL Fruit Pectin
1/2 tsp. butter or margarine (optional)
4 cups granulated sugar, measured into separate bowl (See tip below.)
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

BRING boiling-water canner, half-full with water, to simmer. Wash jars and screw bands in hot, soapy water; rinse with warm water. Pour boiling water over flat lids in saucepan off the heat. Let stand in hot water until ready to use. Drain well before filling.
PEEL and core apples; finely chop or grind. Add water and raisins. Measure exactly 4 cups into 6- or 8-quart saucepot. Stir in lemon juice, cinnamon and allspice.
STIR pectin into fruit in saucepot. Add butter to reduce foaming, if desired. Bring mixture to full rolling boil (a boil that doesn’t stop bubbling when stirred) on high heat, stirring constantly.
STIR in all sugars quickly. Return to full rolling boil and boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim off any foam with metal spoon
LADLE quickly into prepared jars, filling to within 1/8 inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with two-piece lids. Screw bands tightly. Place jars on elevated rack in canner. Lower rack into canner. Water must cover jars by 1 to 2 inches; add boiling water if needed. Cover; bring water to gentle boil. Process 10 minutes. Remove jars and place upright on a towel to cool completely. After jars cool, check seals by pressing middle of lid with finger. (If lid springs back, lid is not sealed and refrigeration is necessary.)

via GrammiePammie

  Very good day. And the topper? The procedure to clear my artery worked and dialysis was smooth sailing.
  *

  No, He’s worth much more than that. Zilch was transported our way last Friday. He’s a blog commenter and lurker who says he has no good ideas about what to write in a blog himself. BUSHWA!  We had dinner together and carried on conversation for about 4 hours Very interesting man, kept me so involved that I forgot to get his real name or get a picture. But he remembered to get some of the Dome.  It was a very enjoyable time. I hope he has an opportunity to visit again, realizing that Vienna, Austria is not just over the State line.

  Purely gratuitous picture of Our Dome Sweet Dome.

  Zilch was one of a few who called me while in hospital for open heart surgery. I remember the call and how I tried not to involve him in my recovery hallucinations coming out of anesthesia.

  We sent them into the gathering storm with Pickles and Jam, our pet Creations.