Garbage Can Planter

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Last year I picked up several  metal garbage cans from a sale from an elementary school that had been closed.  I think they were about .10 each, so even if all I used them for was trash, it would be ok.  Today I finally had the time to do a quick make-over on one.  I sprayed it with Rust-oleum High Gloss Black and then used my Silhouette to cut out the house number and name.  I spent about 10 minutes on the painting and about 10 minutes on designing the house label.  After that, it was up to the Silhouette to get the job done.  The lettering is about 8 inches x 11 inches total.  Pretty quick project.

I like it so well, that I may do one for my own house.

Before:

After:

Note: I didn't fill the can directly with dirt, I just stuck the flowers that I bought in a plain plastic pot in it (the pre-done pot of flowers is from Walmart).

Strawberry Freezer Jam

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I love fresh strawberries. I've tried several locations and types of plants and not succeeded in growing them until I finally planted them in my front yard! I have too much shade everywhere else, so I created a patch along my driveway. This is year 3 with my plants (year 1 was bare-root, June-bearing plants from Gurney's), year 2 gave me just enough berries to eat with my cereal, but this year, ah, I've had enough to make pie, to snack on, to serve with shortcake and today, freezer jam! I'm still getting more berries, so maybe strawberry ice cream is next! I may even make more jam and put it away for Christmas gifts for friends!

When making freezer jam, it is so much faster and easier than cooked jam (and as a bonus it doesn't heat up the kitchen) and I prefer the fresh berry taste of freezer jam. You can use whatever brand of pectin that you prefer, but just be sure to follow the package instructions EXACTLY. I usually treat recipes as general guidelines, but not with jam. I measure, I level, I time...everything.

Ingredients

1 pkg Sure Jell pectin

1 quart fresh strawberries

4 cups sugar

1. Wash the berries, cut off the stems and any icky parts and slice up the berries.

2. Use a potato masher or fork to crush the berries (use a wide bottom bowl or pan and only mash up 1 cup of berries at a time). You will need 2 cups of crushed berries when you are done.

3. Pour the berries into a large mixing bowl.

4. Carefully measure 4 cups of granulated sugar into a separate bowl (use a knife to level off the sugar exactly).

5. Pour the measured sugar into the berries and mix it up. Set the timer and let the berry mix sit for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.

6. Now mix the Sure Jell with 3/4 C. of water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute. Stir constantly.

7. Pour the hot pectin into the berries while stirring. Stir for 3 minutes to make sure all the sugar gets dissolved.

8. Pour the jam into five 1 C. containers suitable for the freezer (I used 1/2 C. mini-plastic containers since I only need a small jar of jam at any given time).

9. Leave the containers of jam on the counter for 24 hours to set, then refrigerate or freeze.

*These directions are based on using the Sure Jell brand pectin, your directions may vary if you use a different brand.

Jalapeno Jelly

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I was at the library and saw a gorgeous book on display that I just had to bring home-its called You Can Can by Better Homes and Gardens.



Its full of beautiful pictures of jams, jellies and other preserves--very inspirational. I was looking through it and found the perfect gift for my friends/neighbors this year. Jalapeno Jelly! I like to do homemade items, but I wasn't too excited to do repeats of projects from past years (cherry syrup, applesauce, chocolate popcorn etc...) and I thought how unique a gift this would be. Its really quite tasty with crackers and cream cheese (or goat cheese!) Its also tasty on a cornbread muffin or on a turkey sandwich. It was really simple to make--total hands on time was about 30 minutes from start to finish.



Ingredients
1 1/2 C. cranberry juice (not low sugar)
1 C. cider vinegar
2-4 jalapeno peppers cut in half (seeded or not...depends on how spicy you like it. I used 2 peppers and cut off the stem end and left the rest of the seeds)
5 C. sugar
1 3oz pkg of liquid pectin (Certo)

1. In a small saucepan bring the juice, vinegar and peppers to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Pour the mix through a strainer to remove the pepper pieces (if you have less than 2 cups of liquid left, top off with juice to make 2 cups exactly).
3. In a 6-qt saucepan mix the sugar and hot juice mixture and bring to a rolling boil while stirring.
4. Add the liquid pectin and return to a boil and keep stirring for 1 minute.
5. Remove from heat, skim off the foam.
6. Pour into sterilized 1/2 pint jars
7. Process for 5 minutes (or just give it out right away and tell folks to refrigerate)

The recipe made enough for 12 of those 4 oz jelly jars. I was able to use a coupon for the juice and the peppers were less than $1! Great inexpensive gift.

I will warn you that the boiling of jalapenos and vinegar is strong...so don't stand directly over the pot in that first step.