Sharing some exciting news and celebrating my return!

hi!!
I am not going to get too excited, who knows how long I'll be able to get in to post, but as long as I have access I'll try to keep posting! I was so shocked when I was able to get logged in last night, I almost fell out of my chair!!!

Things have been busy, busy, busy with my Etsy shop the last few months. I have made custom orders for eight events since my last post. I feel such joy and honor to have this tiny part of someone's special event!! Folks have been super creative with their jam, too! Some have gone with custom labels that I have created, others are dolling up the jars themselves. I'll share some photos of their creations soon.

But the most exciting thing for me recently, started when Sarah of Repeat Crafter Me emailed me an idea for a back-to-school teachers gift. I have been following her blog for some time now and give most of the credit for my current following to her. She asked if I could make her Apple Butter minis and shared what her gift idea was. AMAZING!

I'm sharing the picture and link to her post for Plastic Bottle Apple Containers with you all. Be sure to stop by and say hi to her and let her know I sent you.

How adorable are these apples!

Just about the same time I was getting started on Sarah's labels and some party favors for an event in Rhode Island, I got an email from La Bella Box. They were interested in using my mini jars for their October Bella Box.

This is all too unreal. Being given the opportunity to share my items with up to 70 folks who subscribe to La Bella Box, who other wise may have never heard of my little business. How could I say no!
I will be making Apple Cranberry Jam for them and can't wait to hear what everyone thinks of it!

I still have quite a few Summer favorites available in the shop in both mini sizes for Samplers and 4 ounce jars.

In the coming weeks I will be adding Apple Butter, Apple Conserve and Apple Cranberry. Welcome Fall!! Oh, how I have missed you!

Sneak Peek: Strawberry-Banana Jam

So many people like Strawberry Jam. It's a classic for sure! How could it not, sweet, red, chunky and it goes so well with Peanut Butter.

Last year my husband asked if I'd make some different varieties. He'd blurt out a flavor combination and we'd think about it a while. Then one day he says Strawberry-lemonade. I liked the idea of this! It was a mix of sweet strawberries and tart lemons. The combination works beautifully as a drink, why not as a jam!

Believe it or not, it was my most popular of the Strawberry Jam flavors I'd sold last year. So once again the think tank went back to work to come up with another winning Strawberry blend and I think we've come across it!

Strawberry-Banana!!

The bananas are added at the end of the cooking process so they keep some of their shape, but spread well. As you take a bite there's a subtlety to the banana throughout with the bonus bite of a piece of ripened banana.

This is a beautiful blend especially when served as a Classic PB&J. Who out there doesn't love a little sliced banana on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Well, now it's already blended in with that sweet Strawberry Jam!!

If all goes as planned, Strawberry-Banana will be available for purchase by Memorial Day weekend. A great kick-off to a wonderful summer filled with fresh fruit and Jam.

Sneak Peek: Golden Raspberry Jam

I am so excited to be offering three new flavors to the selection of Jams that I will be making for the 2012 Jam season. That will mean there will be 12 Jam flavors for this year!!!

The first one I'm letting you get a sneak peek at is Golden Raspberry.

A little History

The first spring here in our home, Steve went to the local hardware store and picked up three berry plants for a container garden we built on the side of the house. Two raspberry and one Black Raspberry. We planted the Black Raspberry in the middle of the raspberry plants and anxiously waited for the Summer fruit!! To our surprise though, one of the raspberry plants fruit was this pale pink, almost white. The flavor was sweeter than a red raspberry but didn't think anything of it. When we picked the berries, we put all the Black Raspberries together and the Red and "white" together. So when I made red raspberry jam, it didn't taste any different to us but the color was slightly different. We were surprised to see that this plant continued to produce fruit into the fall.

a few berries from our garden

Doing a little research I learned that the "white" raspberry was really Golden and of the Ever-bearing variety. These berries are much sweeter than a Red Raspberry and the plant produces fruit from Summer into Fall making it a great plant for a garden.

Test Batch

Thanks to the crazy winter of 2010-2011, we only got about 1/4 cups worth of Golden Raspberries. Nowhere near enough to make a
batch for selling, let alone gift giving to family. So I held onto them until things quieted down and I could make a small batch for us to taste. I barely got an 8 ounce jar out of the berries but...

Oh, my!! If you like Raspberry Jam, but not so much the tartness of Red Raspberry you will LOVE this Golden Raspberry Jam. It tastes like honey, with a very slight undertone of raspberry tartness. Truly amazing when it warms on toast.

With the crocus already blooming here (opened up today) I am very nervous to see what the berry season is going to be like and am hopeful that I will have enough of these beautiful little gems to make a batch of Golden Raspberry Jam for you!!

feeling blue

Even though we're all slowly but surely coming down with this stomach bug, the boys and I were very excited to give Daddy his Valentine gift!!

A few weeks back, I bought some Turtles from a fellow Etsy teammate, Stacey and just knew they'd be the perfect thing for my husband for Valentine's Day. It was simple, sweet and something he loves but rarely ever eats.

Armed with a box I found on clearance and pink construction paper we'd cut into thin stips with the paper cutter (it's buried under all that paper in the background...she's a workhorse!), Connor and Liam got started on crumpling the paper to make a nest for these sweet little treats. The boys had also worked on handmade cards for Dad earlier in the week and were absolutely thrilled to be able to put their mark on Daddy's gift.

We cut an entire sheet of construction paper and had enough strips left to hide his surprise with some ribbons of paper on top.

For our family, we've always celebrated quietly. Steve's favorite thing was to cook dinner for me for Valentine's Day since I cook most other days. An honest, sincere gesture that shows how much he appreciates me, by cooking for me. I was confident that even though this gift was small, it was going to be greatly appreciated. He absolutely loved them!! As a matter of fact, he's hiding them so he can enjoy them slowly...
 Sadly though, he wasn't able to cook me a special Valentine meal because half of the family is still not eating most foods. I feel terrible that we're still under the weather, but I know he will have his chance to cook me a delicious meal and I look forward to that day. Being Valentine's Day, I decided that if we were going to have homemade Mac n' Cheese, I'd make it Special!! While the sauce was coming together nicely, I added a few drops of food coloring and dyed the cheese sauce pink... Happy Valentine's Day!!

I hope you all had a chance to spend some time with the one's you love this Valentine's Day, which as we all know is celebrated every day when we tell them that we love them!

Coming up later this week: Sneak peek at a New Jam flavor and Sandwich pocket recipe

"fruit on the bottom" Yogurt cups

Here's a fun way to use your favorite Fruitful Delights jam, make your own "fruit on the bottom" yogurt cups!!

If you really want it to be completely homemade, you can also make your own yogurt. I've heard it's amazing and you can make it to whatever thickness you like. I included a link to a recipe, if you'd like to try it. If you do, please let me know how it is. I haven't had a chance to try making my own yet.

 "fruit on the bottom" yogurt cups

Here's what you need:

about 6 ounces of your favorite plain yogurt
a jar of jam (i'm using Red Raspberry)
a container to store it in

Super Easy!!
All you need to do is spoon out about 3 ounces of yogurt into the bottom of the container (I'm using a ball canning jar because I have lots of them, but any container with a good sealing lid will work).

Carefully spoon your jam on top of the yogurt. You can use as little or as much jam as you'd like to give your yogurt the fruity flavor you desire.

Then top with more yogurt. Of course you can put the jam anywhere you'd like in the jar. On the bottom for the real "fruit on the bottom" or even on the top!! I topped mine with some crunchy Grape Nuts cereal making it a wonderful parfait.


Here's the Homemade Yogurt recipe I found on the simple dollar. She does hers in the crock pot, which makes trying this even more appealing!!

Do you have a favorite homemade yogurt recipe? Have you tried this recipe? I'd love to hear your thoughts on any great healthy homemade recipes! Feel free to post in the Comments below

Not your Grandma's Jam

This fall after we'd picked somewhere around 70 pounds of apples, I had my recipes all lined up of what I wanted to make. Of course there was Apple Butter and Applesauce (my kids LOVE my applesauce), even Apple Peach Jam. After all of that, I still had quite a few apples left so I went digging for something different! I came across this recipe in an old cookbook of mine and it sounded intriguing.

The apples were only slightly cooked, still skinned and cut into bite size pieces. Raisins and Walnuts were the other two main stars of this "Jam". I had to try it! The method of preparing this particular product was a bit different for me, but the end result was something extraordinary. I call it Apple Conserve and it is amazing when served with pork or lamb instead of Mint Jelly.

Having nut allergies in the family, I was very concerned about selling it in my Etsy shop, fearing someone may not see that it contains walnuts. The views of it have been wonderful and I've been amazed that I haven't just sold one jar, but someone came back for a second.

The out pour of support from both Etsy and Facebook has just been so wonderful. I really look forward to announcing the new flavors for Fruitful Delights 2012 season this April. I will have all of the flavors that I currently make, as well as a few new ones and I will also be making many of my flavors in Sugar-Free versions!

Check back on Friday for my post about Sandwich pockets...it was an interesting experiment!