Mmmm, Strawberries

Saturday I was in Wal-mart getting last minute things for our Easter dinner, & noticed they had strawberries for $1.00 a quart. Wow! Now that's a really good deal...but I already had some at home. Oh well. I went home and kept thinking about them that afternoon. Then it struck me. I could make freezer jam. YUMMM. Kevin's mom always makes such delicious strawberry freezer jam that we enjoy when we go to visit. Hey, we could actually make some of our own. What an idea! It wasn't exactly what I had on the agenda for the Saturday evening, but I ended up going back to the store and buying 12 quarts of berries, some sugar and pectin. After putting Amy to bed I started making the jam. Freezer jam is not difficult to make. You don't have too cook the strawberries or put the jars in a canner to process etc etc. Kevin came in and started helping me, & we got a pretty good system going. Several hours later we ended up with 19 quart freezer bags and 4 jars of strawberry jam.

I won't spoil it for you by telling you how much sugar goes into one batch. Yikes! The flavor is so delicious though, so you only need a thin layer. We console ourselves with the thought that at least we know what's in our jam...no preservatives! ;)

Monday morning I was back at Wal-mart, and you guessed it... I bought more strawberries. We made 23 more quart bags of jam! Kevin & I had a good time working together. Ryan commented that it was some nice quality time for us. :) I wish my girls lived closer so we could do this together. I wanted to teach Bonnie too, but she just started her new job. Oh well. If you'll come to visit...I'll even share some. :)