strawberries

It's strawberry season around here and, I must admit, I've never been the biggest fan of just plain ol' strawberries.  I like desserts made with them and like strawberry-flavored things, but have never been much on the actual berries themselves. 

This year,  my mom took the boys strawberry picking. They didn't do much of the work, however.  Something about spiders... gotta have a talk with those boys.

Being the good daughter that I am... and being that I've apparently been bitten by some kind of "Suzy Homemaker" bug, I decided that I should make Strawberry Jam.  Now - with all that said earlier about not liking strawberries, I absolutely LOVE strawberry jam.  And to think of having my own supply.... ohhhhhhhhhhh... happy day!

I had decided to take the easy route and try the "freezer jam" method.  After sufficiently smashing the berries I added the sugar - an insane amount of sugar - and let them juice up.  Add pectin and lemon juice and viola...jam!  

Ok... so, not exactly jam... but the syrup that eventually will form jam.  I ladled the yummy goodness into little 8 oz. jars and sealed them up.  They have to sit now for 24 hours, then they go into the freezer. 

Tanner and I were both pretty bummed that we had to wait 24 hours.  He asked me at least three times on Friday when the jam would be ready.  I guess he inherited my sweet tooth.

Because we had quite a bit of berries leftover, I capped and washed the ripe ones and froze them for future strawberry smoothie concoctions and what else?...

Strawberry Shortcake!!  :)

Happy Summer!!