Sweet Cherry Jam...

The other day I decided I needed to do a little "domesticating"...yah, cause I am just not busy enough!
Anyhow, Daddy Dearest was away on a hike with "the guys" so Jax and I headed off to gather supplies.
First we picked up some jars (I needed some for another project I will post shortly) at Canadian Tire - we selected the Bernardin 500ml (2 cups) jars as they are a generous size! Then we headed off to Calgary CO-OP - they had cherries on sale for $1.99lb and they were the perfect ripeness for our needs. We also were able to find Certo Light there and it is pretty difficult to come by for some weird reason!?! For this project, we bought 4.5kg's of cherries and 4 boxes of Certo Lite.
Then it was home to start the preparation for the Sweet Cherry Freezer Jam - here is the recipe that I used - it was from the "What's Cooking Kraft" website.
Here it is (with my notes added):

Sweet Cherry Freezer Jam
Ingredients:
4 cups of finely chopped pitted cherries
2 tbsp. lemon juice
3 cups of sugar
1 box of Certo Light Pectin Crystals

Make it:
Wash and pit all your cherries. I used my cherry pitter that I bought a couple of years ago (I believe the brand is XOXO) and then I put the cherries into my handy dandy Tupperware Powerchef System with the chopper blade - 12 pulls. I chopped them in batches and got them all ready ahead of time.
It is important to note that IF YOU ARE DOUBLING, TRIPLING, or QUADRUPLING the recipe - you MUST do it in single recipe quantities - I don't know why but "my mother told me so" is a good enough answer for me! Something about the pectin not working properly.
Measure the prepared cherries into a non-color absorbing bowl (another VERY IMPORTANT STEP) so your nice green tupperware bowls don't end up with cherry juice stains down them. Just saying'!
Measure your sugar and set aside.
Combine fruit pectin crystals with a 1/4 cup of the measured out sugar.
Add pectin mixture to the prepared cherries, mixing well. Let stand 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Stir in the remaining 2 and 3/4 cups of sugar and continue stirring for 3 minutes until most of the sugar is dissolved.
Pour into clean, sanitized jars (I ran my through the dishwasher on a hot sanitize cycle just prior to filling). Cover with tight lids and let stand at room temperature until they are set (may take up to 24 hours).
Store in freezer. If used within 3 weeks, jam may be stored in the fridge.
This recipe yielded 11 and 3/4 - 500 ml jars of yummy sweet cherry jam.
I had about 1 cup of minced cherries & juice left over and decided to make an awesome cherry & port sauce for our BBQ'ed pork chops we had for dinner that night!

Look at these luscious little gems! Washed and ready to be pitted...

Removing the pits from these little guys took about 1/2 hour....

Ever wondered how many pits your get from 5kg's of cherries?

And finally I am done!!!

Next I filled my Powerchef half full of pitted cherries...

And pulled the cord about 12 times - give or take -...

I did this in batches to keep my consistency the same...

When I was done chopping them all up, it was time to measure them out and make the jam. As I mentioned above because I Quadrupled the recipe, I did 4 separate bowls...

Once the recipe was complete...I poured them into 500ml jars and sealed them up...

But they were looking a little lame-o so I opened up Photoshop and created some simple yet elegant labels for the tops of the jars...and voila!!!

Ready for the freezer - or for whomever was lucky enough to receive a jar from Bootybella's kitchen!!!
Until next time...
~MWAH
Bootybella

I'M ON ETSY!!!! And A Giveaway!!!!

So if finally took the plunge and opened a little store on Etsy!!! I love this site soooo very much! I have bought some of the neatest little gifts for people from people off of Etsy and it is my go-to browsing site of all time! If this is the first time you are hearing about it, well I definately encourage you to check out all the shops it has to offer. If you are a returning customer...I encourage you to check out my NEW shop! Which brings us to the GIVEAWAY!!!! All you have to do is go to my Etsy store HERE and take a little "looksee" - then come back to my blog and comment on my store so far or offer up any suggestions on what you think I should offer moving forward! You can also earn an additional entry by sharing in a post a link to your favourite Etsy Store! It's that simple!!! The draw will close at midnight on December 15th and one lucky winner will receive one item of their choice from my ETSY store!!

I thought I would also like to take this opportunity to share some of my favourite shops that I have come across at Etsy!!

First up is Janey.Mac Vinyl Wall Art

I have just ordered a project for Jaxon's nursery wall that just arrived the other day. I can hardly wait to document to process and post it for all of you! Stay tuned for that one!


Next is Betsy Farmer Designs! I simply love this jewellery! Custom work and stunning!

Two Pink Hearts provided me with my awesome camera strap cover...

And Amy at Custom Creations made me the most beautiful quilted travel bag to take to the hospital when Jaxon arrived! He now uses it to travel with!

These are just a few of my favourite places to check out on Etsy....why don't you share your favourite store with me and grab a chance or two to win something fun!!!!!

A Spicy Re-org...

And now to tackle that hideous "SPICE CABINET".....
Listen...I am going to spare you the confusion, disgust, and trauma that a photo of the "before" would have given you!

I am just going to cut to the chase - long story short - THESE are the containers that used to house my many spices!!! They would fall all over you when you opened up the cupboard, IF you could get the lid off without ending up with spices all over you, you would be pissed to find out that you were completely out of chilli powder whilst the chilli was simmering on the stove, awaiting it's last ingredient!!! Something HAD TO BE DONE!!!!

These are the AWESOME Tupperware containers that the spices are GOING to be in!!!

I used my handy-dandy Dyno Labelmaker and clear Dynotape to make the labels, trimmed them and put them onto the containers.

Filled the containers with the coordinating spices and ta-dah!!! No more mayhem!!!
Off to prepare a spicy dinner!!!
MWAH~