Lavender Sugar Scrub

I came across a wonderful book recently, "The Bust DIY Guide to Life," and found this recipe for your own homemade sugar scrub. This summer heat has done a number on my skin, but I frown on using scrubs that have a bunch of junk in it or cost a million dollars. This sugar scrub is easy on the wallet and even easier to make.





Ingredients:

1 cup raw sugar
About one ounce avocado oil
1/2 teaspoon vitamin E oil
6 drops essential lavender oil
12-ounce jar with tight fitting lid

1. Put the sugar in a bowl and add the avocado oil. (Add more oil for dry skin or less for oily)

2. Mix in the vitamin E oil (it'll act like a preservative)

3. Add the lavender oil and don't be tempted to add more, 6 drops is more than enough. Mix throughly and place in the jar. Add a pretty label if you're feeling fancy.

Pickled Jalapenos

I planted one, just one jalapeno plant in my garden and it has been exploding with peppers. I never really had a plan, on what to do with so many peppers, but pickling them versus freezing them, was the best option for me. I can't wait to use these on sandwiches, nachos, eggs, etc. 

This recipe is from "Canning for a New Generation."

Makes about 4 pint jars

Ingredients:

2 1/2 jalapeno chilies

4 cups cider vinegar (5% acidity)

2 tablespoons honey

1 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt

4 cloves peeled garlic

1. Clean jars and keep hot in boiling water till ready to use. Place lids and rings in a small sauce pan and bring to a light simmer.

2. Cut jalapenos into 1/8 inch rings and rinse to get rid of loose seeds. Place vinegar, 1 cup water, honey and salt in a pot and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve salt and honey.

3. Place one garlic in the bottom of each jar. Pack in the jalapeno slices and leave 1 inch headspace. Next pour in the vinegar mixture into the jars and leave 1/2 inch headspace. Tap jar on a lined towel to remove air bubbles. Wipe rims clean and add lids and rings.

4. Place the jars in the boiling water and make sure there is at least 1-2 inches of water covering the jars. Boil for 10 minutes and remove from the canning pot. Place on a towel and let rest for 12 hours. After an hour make sure the lids are sealed. If they didn't, place in refrigerator. 

Wash and cut jalapenos.

Peel the garlic.

In the back pot I have the lids and rings simmering. In the front large pot, I bring the vinegar, water, honey and salt to a boil.

Place garlic in each jar.

Pack in those jalapenos.

Next add the vinegar mixture and tap to remove bubbles.

Boil for 10 minutes and let rest on a towel for 12 hours.

Label and store!

Salted Brown Sugar Peach Jam

Millions of peaches, peaches for me....

I love me some peaches! They are in season right now and I can't get enough of them! I love them in oatmeal, on ice cream, on yogurt; Peaches literally taste like summer.

This recipe is another favorite from "Preserving by the Pint," by Marisa McClellan.


Makes 3-4 half pint jars

Ingredients:

2 pounds ripe peaches
1 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon finely milled sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Juice of 1/2 lemon

1. Bring a canning pit to a boil and sterilize jars for 15 minutes. Place the lids and rings in a small sauce pot and bring to a simmer.

2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. In a large bowl, fill with ice water. Once water is boiling, place peaches in the boiling water and blanch the peaches for 1-2 minutes and then transfer to the ice water. Once peaches are cool to the touch, remove the skins and cut in half and remove the pits.

3. Place peaches in a large bowl and smash with a potato masher until its a chunky pulp. Stir in the sugar and let the fruit sit for a few minutes, until the sugar is mostly dissolved.

4. Place the peaches and sugar in a pot and add the lemon juice, salt and nutmeg and cook medium-high heat. Stirring frequently, bring the fruit to a boil and cook until it looks thick, about 10-12 minutes. It's done when you pull a spatula through and the jam doesn't immediately rush in to fill the space.

5. Lade the hot jam into the hot sterilized jars and leave 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe the rims, apply the lids and rings and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Fill a large boil with ice water.

Blanch the peaches for 1-2 minutes.

Place the peaches in the ice bath. Once cool, remove the skins, cut in half and remove pits. 

Place the peaches in a large bowl.

Mash the peaches with a potato masher.

Get one cup of packed brown sugar.

Add sugar to peaches and stir til disolved.

Add peaches and sugar to a large pot. Add lemon juice, salt and nutmeg and bring to a boil. Cook till the jam is thick and ladle into canning jars and wipe rims and add lids and rings.

Process jam for 10 minutes and let cool on a folded towel for 18-24 hours.

Trials and Errors

This has been a great summer! Lots of fun canning and cooking adventures and there are still many more weeks to come!

Most of my jams and preserves have turned out great and I've done some pickling, but I recently tried making sauerkraut and fermenting radishes.

OMG, the sauerkraut was an epic fail. I apologize to my husband and roommates for keeping jars of cabbage, that pretty much just rotted in the pantry. It smelled awful.


I recently made some dilly beans and pickled jalapenos. I planted one jalapeno plant in my garden and I harvested over a pound and a half of peppers! I pickled 4 pint jars of jalapenos and I can't to use them in sandwiches this fall. I'll post the recipe soon. It was super easy and fun.

My sister and I have been picking lots of blackberries, and we've made tons of jam and I've been freezing them to use in pies and cobblers later. Its been super hot here in Washington and even though I love baking, its too hot to bake right now.

My tomato plants are also booming and I hope to can some stewed tomatoes, salsa and pasta sauce. I need to acquire a food mill, which will help with canning tomatoes.

Picture of the sauerkraut that was an epic fail.

Fermented radishes.

Blueberry Vanilla Applesauce

My coworker has an apple tree thats exploding right now and she gave me about 14 pounds of apples. These apples aren't the best for eating, but are great for applesauce.

I found some great applesauce recipes from www.theyummylife.com . They had some super easy recipes and the best part was I didn't have to peel a million apples. I used my Vitamix to puree the applesauce after it was cooked, so it was nice and smooth.

The best part is you don't have to can it either! It will keep in the fridge for about a week or freeze it for up to a year.

Makes about 4 pint jars of applesauce

Ingredients:

4 pounds of mixed, naturally sweet apples, cored and sliced, with the peels on
2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
1/2 cup of apple cider or juice (unsweetened if possible)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise down center; or 1 tablespoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

1. Sterilize jars in boiling water for 15 minutes. Keep hot in canning pot.

2. Add apple slices, blueberries, apple cider (or juice), lemon juice, vanilla bean to a large pan. Use a spoon to push vanilla bean to bottom of pan so it will cook in the liquid. Bring the liquid to a boil over medium high heat, then cover and lower heat to low and simmer for about 45-60 minutes. Make sure you stir every 10 minutes or so, to watch for burning on the bottom. Use a potato masher to speed this up. Once all the apples are cooked and falling out of their peels, remove the vanilla bean and in batches, puree the applesauce. Return the applesauce to the pan and keep hot.

3. Remove jars from canning pot and slowly pour boiling water back into canning pot. Pour some boiling water in a small dish with the lids and rings. Add hot applesauce to the hot sterilized jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe rims clean with damp towel and place lid and ring on each jar. Tighten the rings finger right. Water process in canning pot for 15 minutes. Remove from canning pot and let rest on a folded towel for 12-24 hours.

I used some of my friend's applesauces and some other apples I had in my fridge.

I used organic apple juice in my applesauce.

Poured apple juice, lemon juice, blueberries and apples in a large pot. Start cooking on medium high heat.

Cut vanilla bean lengthways and had to pot.

Once boiling lower the heat to medium-low to low heat. Keep stirring every 10-15 minutes.

Once the apples are fully cooked. Remove from heat. Remove vanilla bean before pureeing.

Puree in batches.

Return hot applesauce to pot.

Ladle into sterilized jars.

Place lid and ring on each jar.

Place in canning basket and place in boiling water bath. Process for 15 minutes.

Super easy and healthy!

Apricot-Vanilla Bean Jam

My husband and I have planted an apricot tree this summer and I can't wait for it to produce all kinds of yummy apricots for me to can and make pies out of in the years to come. In the mean time, my favorite produce stand sells apricots for about $0.99 a pound, so I've been making all kinds of yummy things out of them.

I've made this jam multiple times this season so far and it's super simple to make. This is another goodie from "Canning for a New Generation." I buy my vanilla beans in the bulk spice section and there are half the price as the ones in the jars. You can also buy them online, but I like to look at my beans before I purchase them.


Makes about 4-5 1/2 pint jars

Ingredients:

3 pounds of ripe apricots, washed, pitted and cut into slices
1 cup organic sugar
2 vanilla beans sliced lengthways to open pod
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about half a lemon)

1. Wash and clean mason jars. Start to boil water in a canning pot. Place the jars in the pot using a canning rack. Make sure that the water covers the jars about 1-2 inches. Once the water is boiling, boil the jars for 15 minutes to sterilize. You don't want to skip this step or else you might get some fuzzy-icky jam.

2. In a large pot, add the apricots, sugar, vanilla and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat till the juices from the apricots covers the fruit. Strain the apricots into a colander and carefully stir the apricots to release the juice. Return the juice to the pot and stir till the syrup is reduced by about half. Keep your eye on it or else it might burn!

3. Return the apricots and vanilla beans to the pot and cook for about 2 minutes more. Remove from heat. Remove the vanilla beans and cut into small 2 inch pieces.

4. Remove the jars and carefully empty the boiling water back into the canning pot. Place the jars on a folded towel. Take the lids and place in a small bowl and pour some of the boiling canning water into the bowl. Place a small piece of the vanilla bean in each jar. Using a funnel, ladle the hot jam into the jars. Leave 1/4 headspace from the top. Wipe the rims clean with a damp paper towel. Place a lid from the hot water on to the top of the jars. Screw on a ring till finger tight. Repeat with remaining jars.

5. Place the filled jars into the canning rack and return to the boiling water. Process for 5 minutes and then remove jars to a folded towel. In an hour, check to see that the lids have pushed down. If any jars haven't (meaning they make a clicking sound) place in fridge and use immediately. Store the jars in a cool, dark place.

Wash them yummy apricots!

Pit and slice

Slice open two vanilla beans

Place apricots, vanilla, sugar and lemon juice into a large pot.

Cook over medium heat till the juices just cover the fruit.

Strain out the juices. 

Return the juice to the pot and cook till reduced by half.

Meanwhile, make sure those jars are boiling for 15 minutes.

Syrup has reduced by half.

Return the apricots and vanilla beans to the syrup and cook for about another 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

Ladle the jam into each jar with the vanilla beans.

Make sure there is 1/4 inch headspace and wipe the rims clean.

Using a magnetic wand, place the hot lid on top of each jar.

Screw the rings on finger tight.

Place the jars in the canning rack.

Place in the boiling water for 5 minutes. Make sure that the water covers the jars about 1-2 inches.

Place the jars on a folded towel and let sit for 12-18 hours. Then store in a cool, dark place.