Thursday, April 17, 2008

In a Jam

Once I convinced my preschooler that jam didn't start out in jars and we were about to make some, she ran and got her book, "Bread and Jam for Frances," which would serve as our recipe.

Her favorite part of the jam making was all-you-can-eat strawberries as she dropped the strawberries into the (unplugged) food processor. Second favorite was pretend-snapping me with the rubber bands that were on the pint containers.

Then she found the 2 biggest strawberries I've ever seen in my life. She put them on a paper towel along with a regular sized strawberry and dubbed them a family. Then she mimicked their scared little voices, "No no, don't cut off my hair," (when I cut the green tops off) and "don't chop up my mommy!" I swear I did not teach her to make her food talk. It is very disturbing.


The one thing that was a hassle was the sticky factor. I'm kind of messy in the kitchen (understatement) and combine that with my preschooler's talent for covering every surface with goo, I'm still finding stickiness.


We've been having bread and jam every morning for breakfast and it's so yummy. I think it has a surprisingly bright flavor, and you just need a really thin layer to get a big taste. This was a lot of fun, and not that hard. Plus it's good for my ego to see all those little jars of jam. Maybe I'll try raspberry jam in a few months.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I made raspberry jam last summer, with my mom's help. I should enlist my son's help this year- it looks like your daughter had fun! And the jam looks yummy!

Teresa said...

I love to have the kids in the kitchen helping do things like this. It always makes for great conversation! :-) It's also something that I hope they will have fond memories of.

I love homemade strawberry jam. It's my favorite! After this, it'll be hard to go back to the store bought stuff.

Kris said...

Aren't you just a domestic goddess? I need to make some of that. Have you ever made it with Splenda? Still yummy and none of the guilt.

RainyPM said...

Kris - I'm not even close to a domestic goddess. Unless domestic goddesses break out in panics when they only have 2 weeks left of maternity leave and try to cram in all the bliss they neglected during the previous 3 months of Dora, Diego and Disney. ;)

Swistle said...

MMMMMmmmmmmmmm! And I LOVE the look of little jars all lined up! The first time I made jam, I got A Little Carried Away and made about six kinds, just because the little jars were so pretty!

(I answered your comment on my blog, in the comment section.)

Lahdeedah said...

Soooo...

You made Strawberry Jam to alleviate the guilt of not making Strawberry Jam earlier in your maternity leave, which you get to help recover from having a huge little life form burst from your tummy demanding you immediately feed it (nine months of putting up with them in the womb, and the first thing they do is want us to feed them...)

Or you made Strawberry Jam to alleviate the guilt of not having chickens that could provide you with fresh eggs.

Or you made Strawberry Jam to alleviate the guilt of not having a decent asparagus crop?

Either way, I now have homemade strawberry jam envy. Now I have to go buy peanuts and make homemade peanut butter to alleviate my guilt of not making homemade strawberry jam. Thanks a lot.

:)

Amanda said...

Not even close to a domestic goddess?!! If the lady with the not-quite-3 month old makes strawberry jam with a 3 year old "helping" and then runs out to plant fresh herbs in her garden isn't even close to a domestic goddess then I'm in a lot of trouble. I was hoping to at least hit domestic-journeyman this year.