So, on a whim, I snagged the latest copy of Mother Earth News a week ago. Try a new bread recipe for myself? Well, yes! So, when I had Christmas Eve off I knew I had a mission. I had actually made blackberry juice for jelly earlier this fall and put it in the freezer. From September up until now I felt as if a fuse had been lit in my life and things went into overdrive. I had one opportunity or success after another (and I can ask for NO better problem to have really) but boy was it a whirl wind. Now I finally got to try out the preserves recipe I've been toting around.
I never did try out that recipe in the magazine! I didn't have some of the ingredients so I just made one up. To my dismay, it seems the food moths got into virtually all my flours so I inadvertently had to clean out my baking cabinet. My bread ended up being a oat, flax seed, whole wheat/white mix. Still tasted good!
I had two recipes I wanted to try. The first I did was for blackberry jelly. Jelly has no seeds. Jams and preserves retain the seeds. The blackberry juice cooked up so pretty. Any fan of blackberries will appreciate the sweet dark rich abyss bubbling on the stove top.
I had just enough blackberries left in the freezer to also do a batch of jam. Woohoo! Now there is room in my freezer to stash other things. It was surreal to be canning my jam and then look out the window and see snow falling. How lucky we got today to actually have a white Christmas Eve!
It's been a while since I've updated on the goats but they are doing well. We switched them over to the garden yesterday and put up the temporary shelter. I wish I had more photos but they didn't stand very still and it was getting dark. Vada is turning into a little ham. She kept hopping up on my legs and putting her snoot into the camera lens. I managed to snap one good shot that wasn't snuffly or blurry.
Say Goat Cheese!
~~~Happy Holidays, Everyone! ~~~
