Raspberry Jam Heaven

I did some honest work today; I made some jam -- two batches of raspberry jam.  There IS something so fulfilling about making jam.  I like the process -- the smell and color of the fruit while it is cooking.  I love how beautiful the jam looks in the jars.  I also LOVE the color red.

Look at these jars -- they KNOW they look good.

My kids are wild about raspberry jam -- it's one of their weaknesses.  I WILL have to hide some for a rainy day -- it is like candy for them.  Who wouldn't be wild about jam when it comes from such a luscious fruit -- I even have a teenie bit of guilt eating raspberries because they are soooooo good.

I am sure I helped my mom prepare the fruit for jam when I was a young girl, but I didn't make jam by myself until I was in my 30's.  I was living on acreage in California and we had wild blackberries on our property.  A friend from church, Terry Swarbrick, came home and taught me how.  That blackberry jam -- even with all its seeds tasted so wonderful to me and I was hooked on making jam.

Ten cups of fruit and an obscene amount of sugar yielded me 11 half-pints and 2 pints.

There is no recipe today -- I just used the recipe on the pectin jar.  I just wanted to show off my jars.

Posted with the following:  Ruby Tuesday, Rednesday, Wow Us Wednesday

Daisy Pie Crisps

On Sunday, I made little individual berry pies for the family.  While I was browsing Pinterest, my daughters -- on their own, were taking the pie scraps and made these cute little bite-sized daisies.  It reminded me of when I was a young girl making cinnamon sugar pie triangles from my mom's pie scraps.  So  I decided to make some more because they were so cute.

I used the medium Wilton Daisy Fondant Cutter.  Using pie crust was way easier to use than sugar cookie dough -- the pie crust doesn't stick on the cutter.  Obviously, the possibilities are only limited by your fondant or cookie cutter selection. 

Lots of little bite-sized daisies.

Talley applied the cinnamon and sugar for me.

Lots of fun for grands and children.

Thanks for dropping by my Red Couch and sitting for awhile.

Posted with the folowing:  Foodie Friday, Home Sweet Home, Full Plate Thursday, Sweets for a Saturday, Weekend Wrapup, Made By You Monday, Menu Plan Monday, Market Yourself Monday, Wow Us Wednesday

First Day of School Ice Cream Table

Welcome to Tablescape Thursday!  Today my table is an ice cream table that my kids enjoyed after their first day of school.  Although hoped for, the first day morning of getting everyone off to school wasn't so smooth.  We stayed up late, again,the night before and things went rough the next morning.  How about you? 

A napkin view. 

At home I have a 12th, 10th, and 5th grader going back to school as well as my husband, a college professor -- a perennial student.  Our oldest is also in school; he began his second year of medical school in Virginia this August.

A larger view of the table.

Which spoon would you like?  This silver-plated spoons were given to me by my sister Jacqueline, Purple Chocolat Home.  Don't you think ice cream tastes better on silver?

These are our everyday glasses; I love them.  They are from Wal-Mart and cheap enough that if you break one, you don't feel badly.

All the ice cream plates were given to me by my daughter Talley for my birthday last year -- they are fun.  Instead of using the plates, my children scooped off the ice cream on the plates and made cones.

 Of course you KNEW I would have ice cream for you.  This is Breyer's Strawberry ice cream;  I love the base ice cream in Breyer's.  I think Breyer's is under a different name in the east.

I hope you enjoyed your ice cream.  My children did.  The table sort of smoothed out a rough first day of school.

Table Information:

Placemats, napkins, glasses   -- Wal-Mart

Dinner Plates -- Tai Pan Trading

Napkin Rings:  Bed, Bath and Beyond

Ice Cream Bowls and Plates:  -- Robert's Arts and Crafts

Flatware -- Plated Silver from my sister

Thanks for dropping by Red Couch Recipes.