Chunky Applesauce

I love chunky applesauce and fondly remember having it with meals when I was young.  

chunky Applesauce makes a great side dish, garnish is yummy with pork especially a roast but is also good served over ice cream.

While on a girl road trip with my daughter Alexis and Daughter-in-law Jennica, we found a small family-owned farm with a market selling various types of apples.  

We bought a lot of apples with the intent of making our own Homemade Chunky Applesauce and jam.

And oh my gosh, I'm in love.  
This will now be on my list to make every fall when apples are in season!

Upcycled Chalkboard Signs

OK, so yeah, I'm a trash picker.  I will definitely stop along the road if there is something in someone's trash that I think I can repurpose. And that's where I picked up the kitchen cabinet drawers to make these: Vintage Display Shelves,

and where I scored the wood for these Chalkboard signs!

These chalkboard signs are actually the ends or sides of kitchen cabinets. The cabinets already had this old, flaky grayish-blue paint, which really gives them a great vintage weathered look.

But you could also use an old heavy picture frame or mirror. Heavy because you don't want the wind to blow the signs over.

Vintage Display Shelves

My daughter Alexis and I decided to try a booth at our local farmer's market.  We decided to sell our fresh eggs, garden produce, and vintage kitchen gadgets, while also advertising our farm and showcase Alexis's beautiful Champagne D Argent rabbits she breeds.

We decorated the booth with a "Farm Vintage" look so packed up my DIY Chalkboard Signs, vintage tablecloths, burlap banner, vintage tags, baskets, and all the items we wanted to sell.  

Strawberry Jam (No Canning Required)

Strawberry Freezer Jam in 30 Minutes

Strawberries are ripe here in central Ohio around the first week in June. 
I started making Strawberry Freezer Jam in the early 1990s and now my kids will not eat (or even like) commercially produced jam. Every year we go to a “Pick Your Own” farm to pick the strawberries fresh. 

When choosing strawberries, homegrown or farm fresh strawberries produce the best jam.  Store purchased lack the intense sweet strawberry flavor. 

I have also made cooked strawberry jam and it’s great for shelf life but there is just no comparison with Strawberry Freezer Jam for flavor. 

Quick Raspberry Jam

This recipe locks in the summer-fresh-just-picked-from-the-bush raspberry flavor.  And what’s even better, there’s no canning process involved.

I have been using a similar recipe for freezer jam for years, but with strawberries.  This Raspberry Freezer Jam is just as good!

Remember, when choosing berries, fresh from the farm fruit is always best and has the most intense flavor, which in turn produces the best results.

If you are purchasing produce from a grocery store, try to stick with the organic.
If you are concerned about the sugar, Sure-Jell has low sugar and no sugar recipes on their website. But please research the dangers of artificial sweeteners before using!


I use homemade Raspberry Jam as an ingredient in my sauce for my Jamaican Pork Tenderloin, and on Raspberry Sponge Cake.

Chicken or the Egg

Eggs, Eggs and More Eggs:
As some of you know one of my dreams was raising chickens. That dream I have fulfilled with beautiful fat happy chickens I raised from babies.

The excitement to find the first egg, well unless you have raised chickens you have no idea the anticipation that goes into each visit to the coop, wondering if today is the day I will find our first egg. Being the goof that I am, I cried over that first egg.

There is a kinship formed with the chickens when you raise them, and all of a sudden I was sadden by the thought of eating those perfect eggs my chickens had created. So I decided I would be the one to eat those first few eggs myself. It was something I felt I needed to do since I was the one to nurture the chicks into adulthood. Doing so completed a very beautiful cycle, as I see it.

Choosing a Farm Market and Making Jam

I have been going to the same farm for strawberries for years, but the last couple of years, the farm was unkempt, strawberries were bad, little or non-existent, and the people running the farm store were not very helpful and a little unfriendly.

I decided this was the year to find a new farm! so started to look for a "Pick Your Own" type farm.
   

My son Daniel and my mid 1990's cow motif kitchen

I started canning (or preserving food) when my son Daniel was little,in the early 1990's.  The photo above shows him at about 2 1/2 years old. And yea, I had a "cow" decorated kitchen, yikes!