love: the holidays!

if we've covered this topic before pardon me, but we're gonna talk about the holidays. specifically gift giving. at some point in my childhood my pops decided that gift giving was totally out of wack and not at all the way to celebrate the holidays. so we scaled way, way back to almost no gifts. we also tend to give each other things and buy what we want through out the year. the idea of waiting till a specific date seemed more about bragging about what you received and that prolly also rubbed him the wrong way.

it doesn't mean we don't buy stuff, heck the fella and i have a running chat with our ups guy he's here so often with all sorts fun gadgets. it just means we don't keep lists of people to buy for, go to the mall or buy random crap. i would like to encourage all of you to take part in this approach. it's awesome. when everyone else is chasing around going broke you get to sit back and think how awesome this not 'buying for buyings sake' is. also, hallelujah, no crap you don't know what to do with or ugly sweaters that have to be returned. it's like you get to check out of a whole portion of activity's.

if you really must give a gift i suggest you make something. all of the gifts i do happen to be giving this year are thing i'm making. i'm also participating in two handmade food swaps this holiday season so i've been washing up a storm of dishes in the kitchen. so far i've put together a beautiful batch of flavored salts, my trusty delicious tomato jam and a cranberry rye whiskey sauce that is so good i can hardly stand it. i find this wayyy more fun than trying to figure out what 'so and so' needs. jam, they need jam. it's that simple. jam is so multi-purpose i never realized till i started making it by the pot full.

jam making in progress. i have a huge low pot i can make double batches in, a great big pot for boiling the jars and two smaller pots for the lids in the back. yes, i have a 6 burner stove but you could do this on a smaller scale, i'm just a bit um...overenthusiastic.

 

oooh, pretty! 

 

in case you think you can only have jam on toast let's cover a few more options. 

yogurt: man, a tablespoon over non-fat greek yogurt is a great way to start the day. add some fresh fruit and you're good to go. i really can't imagine eating yogurt with flavor already in it at all anymore, homemade jam really hits it out of the ball park.

sandwiches: got some whole wheat bread, some ham and some mustard? add a smear of stone fruit jam to the sandwich for that feel good 'i coulda paid $10 for this sandwich but i made it at home' feeling.

salad dressings: making a salad- just mix a tb of jam with a tb of mustard, add a glug of vinegar, whisk in some olive oil, salt and pepper. you basically used jam instead of honey. you can get fancy here by pairing the jam with the vinegar for added flavor- say, rice wine vinegar with spicy prickly pear jelly. yeah that doesn't sound like it sucks at all. if you have trouble getting the jam to dissolve pop it into the microwave for a few seconds.

meats: making dinner but all you've got in the fridge is some boring looking chicken breasts?  salt and pepper, 1 tb of jam mixed with bbq sauce or mustard, spread over the chicken for a glaze, it will get bubbly and crusty as the chicken roasts and be ever so yummy. add dried spices or additional chili to this one for added flavor.

tea: i read a thing just yesterday about using marmalade to make a hot beverage. a tb or so of marmalade in the bottom of a mug with hot water poured over it makes a sugary, citrus, yummy drink. this is totally on my mid afternoon treat list!

you can see how i cook here, sugar, acid, spice- i pretty much add that combination to most of what we eat in various combination's. the key is to have a light hand with the jam. i think of it like honey to keep my proportions right.  go make some jam!