So whatcha think?  Thick enough?

I followed the directions..

10 cups blueberries

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 package of pectin (suger free)

1/4 cup sugar

3 cups apple juice

1 cup sugar

1st step : Crush blue berries. 10 cups crushed should equal 6.5 cups blueberries

2nd step : Add blueberries, water, lemon juice, all of the pectin,  & 1/4 cup sugar then bring to a rolling boil that you can’t stir away

3rd step : Add remaining sugar and apple juice and bring to a hard boil for 1 minute.

*extra side note: Keep a spoon in a glass of icewater over to the side. Scope out a small about of the blueberries and let come to room temp and check the consistency of the jelly. If it’s not the consistency that you like then add more pectin then boil hard for another minute.

*another side note: Blueberries don’t have much pectin in them to begin with so you’ll have to add a bit more pectin at the start. I added 1 full package then opened a 2nd and added a little more.*

4th step : Once the jelly is the consistency you like then jar it and let it set on the counter until cooled off. The jars should not be too close to each other. You will hear the jars seal with the little “pop” of the lid.

Now after following these directions word for word my blueberry jam is soupy. I seriously don’t know what I did wrong.

Oh, and I also made some really good apple sauce. I canned it up so I can use it later in the winter.

Since we currently do not have a grill we had to make do with what we have. So we purchased a cast iron Dutch oven and made our food in that. I went ahead and sauteéd the onions and green peppers in some olive oil to release some of the flavor they hold. Then I cooked the flank steak till done and set them aside to rest. Once everything was basically “cooked” I put everything back into the Dutch oven and cooked everything together to mingle the flavors. One nice thing was Margaret suggested putting a bit of salt into the mixture along with some Cholula Hot Sauce. With all that combined, the taste of the fajitas came through. Since we weren’t grilling I had to pour vinegar into the Dutch oven to get the flavor I was looking for. In the end everything tasted magnifique.

I think Margaret’s queso was the icing on the cake though. She always kicks ass with her queso. She wants to perfect white queso at home, but her yellow queso is superb. With her queso on the fajitas it made the taste just explode in your mouth.

I also made salsa, but I’m still not to happy with it. I think it might need more garlic, lime juice, or something. I got a small thing of it on the side to experiment with.

Let’s see, what else……oh yea, we made margaritas too. Man they are soooooo good. Basically if you like margarita’s on the rocks all you have to do is follow this simple recipe: 2 cups margarita mix (lime or strawberry), 1 cup tequila, & 1 cup triple sec. Put all that into a pitcher of ice and you’re set. Make sure you mix up the pitcher a bit so the alcohol mixes and doesn’t settle. You’ll get a perfect margarita each time. If it’s too sweet, reduce the mixer by an 1/8th of a cup and keep the same proportions for the alcohol. Easy peasy, one, two, threesy.

We’re on our second pitcher of margaritas and we’re feeling pretty good. It’s only 3pm right now, so after another glass, it’s water city for me.

Trav, sorry for not posting the recipes, but mom has something substantial you’ll enjoy just as much. Just remember, for banana nut bread the banana peels have got to be blackened and mushy (very over ripe). I never knew that.

One more thing, it’s great having a gas range to heat up tortilla’s. They fluff up and blacken nicely. Can’t do that in the oven properly like you can with an eye from a gas range.

And the ooey gooey cheesy goodness below was made by D for dinner tonight. It is scrumptious!! The recipe was given to him by Francie (one of his co workers). Thanks Francie!!!!

I’ll make D post the recipe later…

We produced two soups (Creamy Chicken Mushroom & Chunky Beef Vegetable), a beef enchilada casserole, and two loafs of Applesauce Bread (which you see pictured here).

All of it was so tasty!!! I’m so glad that my hubby knows how to cook… or I’d starve to death!!!

It’s a pretty good range. So far! It’s been almost 20 years since I last cooked with gas and today’s experience was good. It’s funny, for our first meal it was Darryl’s (aka, great hot sandwiches). Dinner for tomorrow will be chicken marsala, steamed broccoli, and penne pasta. I’m gonna work on reducing the marsala wine to make it thick and syrupy. Anyway, back to the range. It’s a Whirlpool Gold (GFG471LVS) model that we’re testing for Whirlpool. We have to make sure that we have answers to the questions they have when that time comes. What I like so far is that the broiler does phenomenal and I love the cast iron grates. To me, cast iron cookware has a history of durability and longevity. With cast iron grates I feel the same connection with the cookware. It’s funny how much faster things heat up on the cooktop with gas versus a ceran top/coil top. The onions I was sauteeing released so much stuff in the air that Margaret’s eyes were stinging for awhile.

One thing I do miss from our old Kitchenaid range is the ‘easy convection converter.’  Say you wanted to bake something at 350, you’d input that temperature into the converter and the time and it’d adjust the heat to about 300 or 325 degrees. Very nice, but since I have experience using my own temperature range for convection cooking I feel confident in my abilities.

What else?  Oh yea, Margaret always wants to help, because she’s sweet like that (Plus I think it’s because it keeps her mittens off of her camera, addiction anyone?!?!?).  See below.

See what I mean?  Just kidding. I asked her to put the small gas line adapter thing into the range, but I put 2 layers of sealant tape on the thing and the range kept shedding it off. So I had to fix my mistake. That’s what that picture is. Luckily where Margaret came in handy was when we were getting the range into the kitchen. As ya’ll know, our kitchen is friggin’ huge, so we had plenty of space to maneuver the range into position. With me crawling from behind the range minutes later, we were ready to fire up the range…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………until I realized that it wasn’t level (CRAP!!!). Had to pull the damn thing out and throw some tile behind the range, because when a certain someone decided to tile the kitchen they ran out of backer board for the floor in that corner leaving a nice 1/4″ plus difference from being level. So, with all that done we got the range in place and then fired her up. Oh yea, I checked the lines for gas leakages. I had to throw the monkey grip to them to make sure they weren’t going to leak. It took a bit for the burners to set ablaze, but they did (per the instructions).

So overall the Gas-Similation and Electric Sex are tied for superiority of the kitchen, but E.S. (as we like to call her) has height in her favor. To finish off this post here are some more pictures. Check out the cool blue display from the range. NICE!!!!!!!!!!

I’m out!

I was interested in trying a baked omelet of sorts and this morning I took the plunge. With Margaret’s help we were able to slap together all the ingredients in record time. The longest part of the whole process was it being the first time we made it. Next time it will be more stream-lined.

I culled a few recipes and put together what I thought were the basics and then expanded from there. It turned out great and we get left overs.

If anyone’s interested I posted the omelet recipe below… Enjoy

Thaden Family Omelet

Ingredients : ¾ cup milk, 1 lb bacon, 2 bell peppers, 1 ½ cup diced onion, 4 cups diced potatoes, 1 ½ cup sliced mushrooms, 16 eggs, 2 cups shredded cheese, 1 medium tomato, black olives, salt & pepper to taste, (optional : 1 lb hot sausage)

Directions : Preheat oven to 400°.

Prepare all veggies prior to cooking.

Cook bacon until crispy

Fry the potatoes in the left over bacon grease until almost done.

Crack all 16 eggs in a bowl and whisk until completely mixed up.

Add veggies, meat, cheese & milk to eggs and mix.

Pour mixture into glass casserole dish and place in oven.

Cook until done (brown on top). Let rest for 5 minutes before cutting.