Women's Home Activities

One of the most rewarding aspects of my life is the privilege I have of being a “Grammie” to three wonderful grandchildren. They add continual joy into mine and their “Poppy’s” world with all of the escapades we encounter with them. I often write about the family bonding activities we share with them as this is the theme of this blog, “Family Bonding – One Activity at a Time”.  Every time we get together it is a new adventure. We truly love and feel blessed to have the chance to be able to share in the important events in their lives. Which lends itself to today’s post on how Grandparenting Leads to Grateful Moments. Let me fill you in on one way I am full of gratitude for being a grandparent that just happened recently.

Much to my surprise this past week I was contacted by another blogger who had included our site in a post she had written titled, “The 50 Best Blogs By and About Grandparenting”. You can read her entire post by following the link. Wow, I thought, how nice of her to include us in this list. I was completely humbled and grateful for her mentioning Women’s Home Activities on her site. While we do have varied categories on this blog one of my favorite things to write about is the family time we spend with our kids and grandkids. By the way she has some very interesting other sites listed in the post that I intend to check out myself.

I visited her site and found out that she started MSNDegree.com as means for students who wanted to understand their options for obtaining a Master of Science degree in nursing. Find out more about her by clicking on the link mentioned. As a former teacher and Work Evaluator whose duty it was to assist my students in finding a career path that fit their individual needs and desires I send kudos to Maureen Denard for creating a venue for those seeking to discover their true calling.

So you see Grandparenting can lead to Grateful Moments, even when they come unexpectedly. I treasure the special time I am blessed with our grandchildren and family as a whole. We treat each occasion as an opportunity for growing closer as a family. Time is so fleeting and we don’t want to miss any chance of sharing and creating memories that will last a lifetime. Thank you again Ms. Denard for reminding us how precious a gift that we have been given as grandparents. We never want to take that for granted. We will continue share the joys we take in on this wonderful loving adventure of life.

I just wanted to fill you all in on a Back to School Offer from Reading Horizons at Home that I just received in my email. This information comes directly from their site and the offer is such a good one I didn’t want any of you to miss this opportunity to act on it.

For those of you who are home schooling your children Reading Horizons offers a proven, non-consumable home school curriculum that provides the foundation for young readers and intervention for older, struggling readers. They have FREE online trainings so that you can teach effectively, armed with the tools necessary for systematic reading instruction. This program provides proven results with fast, measurable improvement — everything you need for homeschooling success!

Even if you are not home schooling your children Reading Horizons has programs that can help your children that might be struggling readers. The Discover Intensive Phonics at Home program will increase your child’s reading, writing and spelling skills. This reading program is easy to use and understand. Results come quickly and your child will see vast improvements from one to three grade levels as a result of using this program. The methods are researched based on the multi-sensory Orton Gillingham approach to learning. You can sample a skill for FREE so that you can see for yourself just how the program works.

Special Back to School Offer from Reading Horizons

Now through the end of August, Reading Horizons is offering 20 percent off of your entire purchase so that you have access to a research-based program with the materials already planned and organized for you. For this limited time only they will take 20% Off your purchase of any Reading Horizons Software or Instructor Materials.

All you have to do is simply enter the following code at checkout to receive your discount!

Coupon code: “Back2School”

How easy is that? I couldn’t let you pass up this opportunity for the discount so I just had to let you all know about it as soon as I got the message. Head on over to the Reading Horizons At Home site now. You’ve got nothing to lose and your struggling reader has everything to gain.

**UPDATE:  The Reading Horizons at Home Back to School offer ended 8/31/2010. However, they are constantly updating the site with other deals from time to time.  Check back with them to see what special promotions Reading Horizons At Home may be running right now to help you save money.

As promised in my previous post on Making Grape Jelly – First Get the Juice I am continuing on with the second phase of making grape jelly by letting you know How to Can and Process Grape Jelly. This is where the “magic” begins. Now as I stated before in the first post on making grape jelly this is not really a difficult canning project. You just need to be aware that the steps you need to take to complete the grape jelly making procedures does take up a bit of time and once you start you need to finish. So just make sure that you set enough time out of your busy schedule for this part too.

Personally I like to set up canning dates with friends and loved ones to help me. Not that I can’t complete my home canning activities by myself and you could too. It is just I love the treasured time spent with others who enjoy canning and preserving fresh food as much as I do. We share tales of past gardening and canning events and I usually pick up a few more tips and tricks to help bolster my ever eager mind of learning canning and preserving from those who have much more experience in the methods of home canning than I do.

Usually I set aside time from morning until early afternoon to complete which ever home canning venture I attempt and thought it best to let you know the range of time you would need to commit to. On this occasion the grape jelly making process has been broken into two sessions. The nice thing about getting the juice first meant that making the grape jelly gave me a chance to visit with these folks twice and the juice is all ready to go for the canning and processing part of making grape jelly. So without further ado, I will share with you my strategies for the next steps in making grape jelly.

How to Can and Process Grape Jelly

Now those of you that have been following this blog know that I am a big fan of either the freezing techniques of home canning or the water bath approach to canning and preserving. In this instance for canning and processing grape jelly I will be using the water bath canning method because it works so well for making jellies. You can find out more about this way of canning by following that link where I go into more detail on boiling water bath type of home canning.

Today I will be sharing with you the steps you need to take to make grape jelly using regular powdered fruit pectin mixed with sugar and the juice that you have rendered from the grapes described in the previous post. The reason I choose using the regular powered fruit pectin is that it is the jelly prepared this way is a bit easier and less time consuming than the long boil recipes for making grape jelly. The fresh taste and beautiful color of processing your grape jelly in this manner cannot be denied as you will soon find out.

Steps to Canning and Processing Grape Jelly

Before I go into the actual steps I need to emphasize a few of crucial points in order for your grape jelly to turn out right:

1. First it is very important not to alter the quantity of ingredients to be included in your grape jelly.
2. Secondly it is essential that you whisk the powdered pectin into the grape juice until it is very well mixed.
3. Thirdly the juice-pectin mixture must be brought to a boil with the pectin fully dissolved before adding the sugar to the mixture.

Recipe for Making Grape Jelly

The following recipe will yield about seven 8 ounce jars (half-pint):

Ingredients:

• 5 cups Grape Juice for Jelly – I let the juice thaw that I had rendered from my previous session. I had bagged the juice into the 5 cups needed for one batch of jelly.
• 1 package (1.75 oz.) of powdered fruit pectin – I prefer to use the brand Sure Jell as it has worked well for me in previous jelly making projects but you may have your own preference.
• 6 cups of granulated sugar - I have only tried this recipe with real sugar. For those of you that may want to use sugar substitutes you will have to consult the recommended amount of substitute for this recipe.

Directions:

• Prepare canner, jars and lids. See this post for more detailed information – Water Bath Canning Procedures

• Put Grape Juice in a large, deep stainless steel sauce pan. Whisk in pectin until thoroughly dissolved. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently. Add sugar all at once after making sure that the pectin is completely dissolved and bring back to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Continue stirring during this hard boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and quickly skim off the foam.

• Pour the hot jelly into hot jars quickly, leaving ¼ inch headspace. Wipe the rim of the jar and the threads if any spilled with a damp cloth or paper towel. Center lid on the jar. Screw the band down on the jar until resistance is met, then increase to a finger-tight grip.

• Place jars in the canner making sure they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Take the canner off the heat. Remove the canner lid. Wait 5 minutes then remove the jars to let them cool on a dish towel placed on your counter top.

• You will probably begin to hear a popping sound as the jars begin to cool off. This is a good sign as this means that the jars are completing the sealing process. Let the jars sit in the same position overnight. Check the next day to make sure that all of the lids have been sealed. Wipe any residue with a damp cloth or paper towel. Store the grape jelly in a dark, cool dry place.

There you have it! You have just completed your first try at making grape jelly. Now that wasn’t so hard was it? Your family will surely be pleased with your attempts at this yummy treat. Giving credit where credit is due, I have to let you know that this recipe is in my new favorite canning book – the Ball Complete Book Of Home Preserving. They have 400 recipes in this book and I haven’t found one yet that isn’t as easy as this one. Why don’t you find out for yourself and let me know what you think?

I hope you enjoyed this second part of my series on making grape jelly by learning How to Can and Process Grape Jelly. I look forward to sharing other fun home canning activities with you in future posts. Until then I wish you well in your own canning ventures.

The crops from the garden have steadily been coming in and from now until the time they are depleted my kitchen has been geared up for the home canning part of the season. I’ve shared with you all in my previous post Canning and Freezing Food at Home that my two favorite means of preserving fresh food is by using either the freezing method or the water bath approach. What I realized was that I have neglected to tell you about the Water Bath Canning Procedures. My apologies for that, but let me make it up to you by explaining the process now.

Water Bath Canning Equipment

In order to get started with your home canning activities there is some basic canning equipment that you will need to purchase if you don’t already have the items on hand. I have written about this also in another post that conveniently has a list of the items that can be used for most of your canning projects.

Where to Look for Canning and Preserving Utensils-Part 2 contains the canning equipment that I most frequently use with my own canning and preserving endeavors. I felt it important to include this link so that you may also take a look at the different kinds of canning utensils that you will need for your own ventures in preserving fresh food. Two of the most important canning equipment items to have are the canning utensil set and the water bath canner with rack. You will understand why these pieces of canning equipment are so crucial for your canning project in a moment.

It is also very important to remember that glass canning jars (mason jars) are the only containers recommended for safe home canning especially with the water bath canning method. Please do not be tempted to use any other type of glass container.

Inspect each jar and don’t use any jar with chips or cracks, or rings that appear to be damaged. You will also need to use new lids for the jars after they have been processed or the after the seal has broken. These lids are not re-useable for canning again. The glass jars and rings are recyclable so don’t throw those out when you have finished polishing off your yummy treats; keep them for next year’s canning project.

Basic Steps to Water Bath Canning

The reason I choose water bath canning has a lot to do with the type of fruits and vegetables that we grow in our garden. This type of canning method works well for some of the vegetables like the tomatoes and cucumbers we grow that are soon turned in to sauces, salsas, stewed tomatoes and a variety of pickles. We also have a few different kinds of fruits such as peaches, pears, apples and grapes that we like to make jellies and preserves out of and water bath canning is a great way to process these high acidic foods.

Follow these basic steps to prepare your jars for water bath canning:

Preparing the canning jars -

• Clean the jars, lids and ring bands in hot soapy water. You do not have to dry them, but they do need to be well rinsed. I tend to run them through the dishwasher myself.

• Prepare the recipe of what you plan on canning. I follow package directions or use my home canning book for these wholesome recipes.

• Heat the canning jars. Make sure you put the rack in the bottom of your water bath canner before you put your jars in. Add water to the canner around the jars. For half-pint jars fill the canner with water until it reaches the top of the jars. For pints and quart jars fill each jar about 2/3 full of water. Let the jars simmer over medium heat to about 180 degrees F; boiling is not necessary. Just make sure the jars stay hot until your recipe is prepared.

• Prepare the lids and bands. Set the clean ring bands aside; they do not need to be heated. Put the flat round lids in a small sauce pan covered with water and simmer on stovetop at the same temperature and directions as with the jars.

Filling the canning jars-

• Take the hot jar out of the canner with your canning lifter. Only work with one jar at a time. Pour the hot water back into the canner.

• Put the hot jar on a heat protected surface.

• Place your canning funnel in the jar.

• Ladle your prepared recipe into the hot jar allowing for the headspace specified in the recipe.

• Use a flat plastic/rubber spatula between the food and the inside of the jar to release air bubbles. Adjust headspace if necessary.

• Wipe the rim, threads and outside of the jar with a damp cloth or paper towel. Use your magnetic lid lifter from the hot water and place a lid on the center of the filled jar.

• Place the band ring on the jar and screw the band down until resistance is met then continue to finger tightness. Do not over tighten.

• Return the jar to the hot water bath canner. Repeat steps until all the jars are filled.

Processing the filled canning jars –

• Heat-process the filled jars. When all of the jars are filled with the prepared recipe adjust the water level in the water canner so that the jars are covered by one inch. Put the water bath canner lid on and bring the water inside the canner to a full running boil. Once the water is boiling hard and continuously you must start the processing time specified on the particular canning recipe. I always set a timer for this to help me remember.

• Cool the jars. When the timer goes off, turn off the heat and remove the canner lid. Let the canner sit and cool for 5 minutes. (Again I use a timer)

• After timer ends remove the jars one by one using your canning jar lifter. Do not tilt the jars.

• Don’t worry if there is water on top of the jar lids, some of it will evaporate.

• You do not want to touch the top of the lids at this point anyway because this is the time that the seal is being formed.

• Put the jars on a towel in an upright position and leave them undisturbed for at least 24 hours. If there is a draft in this area place another dish towel loosely on top of the cooling jars so that the draft doesn’t interfere with the cooling and sealing process.

• In just a few hours after the jars start to cool you may hear a pop or ping sound. Don’t worry this is a good thing; it means the canning jars are beginning to seal.

After Processing your filled canning jars –

• Checking the vacuum seal. The next day (24 hrs.) you should check the jar lids to see if they have sealed.

• Remove the ring bands and press down on the center of the jar lid. Sealed lids will be concaved (an indention downward) and will not move when pressed.

• If you are not sure that the canning jar is sealed, grasp the edges of the lid with one hand while holding the bottom of the jar in the other. A cooled, sealed lid will stay firmly attached to the jar.

• Jars that have not sealed properly should be refrigerated immediately. It would be a good idea to use this product up within a few days.

Storing your Home Canned Foods –

• Your sealed canned goods need to be cleaned and labeled before storing.

• Take a damp cloth and thoroughly wipe lids, jar threads and surfaces to remove any water residue or food particles.

• Label the newly canned fresh food with the month and year as well as the type of canning recipe. (Ex. – 7/10 Sweet Pickles) You may either use a stick on label to the lid or just write on the lid with a permanent marker. I tend to place the labels on the lids because these will be discarded after the canned goods are gone and then I don’t have to soak off the label on the jar before next year.

• Store home canned food in a cool, dark place such as a pantry or cupboard. Basements are ideal but we are not all blessed to have one, so do the best you can.

• It is recommended to use the home canned goods within a year. Not that the food goes bad after that, it is just that the quality will be reduced after that time. (Just an aside from that recommendation – I have found that jams and jellies for sure are just fine past the year date. Mostly they don’t last that long in my family though, we like our jelly biscuits in this household!)

Viola! There you have it the Water Bath Canning Procedures for your viewing and attempting pleasure. I bet you are wondering where I got all this helpful information, right? Well I have friends and family that have been home canning for decades. I learn a lot from them and I feel very blessed to have them share their secrets with me.

As a reference point though I do love another source of canning and preserving that not only was the basis of this post with all these helpful steps and tips but also includes tons of recipes for you to try out yourself. I’m talking about the Ball Complete Book Of Home Preserving. Check out this link and see if you agree with me. It is very well written and breaks things down so that even a canning novice can understand the steps. Believe you me this canning book has helped me immensely with my canning projects.

Well that’s all for now folks. Leave me a message and let me know what you think or if you have any questions. Until next time, Happy Home Canning y’all!

Have you decided to try your hand at homemade grape jelly? The first step in Making Grape Jelly is Get the Juice. I had a busy time this weekend in my kitchen because that is exactly what I was doing. I was getting the juice from some luscious Concorde grapes donated by a friend of ours. (I’ll fill you in on more of that later)

Extracting the juice from grapes is not really a difficult part of making grape jelly. I will tell you though that you need to know it is somewhat of a time consuming task. Just be prepared to spare a few hours from your busy schedule before you take on this canning project.

I am breaking down this post on making grape jelly in two parts so that you will see that the process of jelly making doesn’t have to take place all in one setting. This first post covers how to get the juice from the grapes so that it will be all set to go when you are ready for the next step and post on making grape jelly: How to Can and Process Grape Jelly.

The method I used to get the juice from the grapes came from a couple of sources. Our daughter gave me a wonderful canning book for my birthday this year. She knows that we enjoy our garden and how much we have been trying to learn canning and preserving so this was a most appreciative gift from her.

I have really come to treasure this resource, the Ball Complete Book Of Home Preserving because it has such wonderful recipes, easy instructions and it follows many of the traditional methods of home canning that I have come to love so much. This book on home canning also gives you up to date approaches so that you aren’t fearful of the measures used and your fresh food will be preserved safely. The other source of methods for canning that I use comes from the sweet lady who gave us the grapes for this canning activity which I will tell you about a little later.

Getting the Juice for Making Grape Jelly

The steps for getting the juice for jellies is found on page 106 of the canning book I mentioned before and can be used for a variety of berry fruits such as blueberry, elderberry, strawberry, red/black currants, cherry, raspberry, blackberry, grapes and a few others.

You will need at least 3-4 cups of fruit to yield a cup of juice. There are variations for certain fruits which you will find on the page but the basic steps are as followed:

• Use tender, ripe grapes

• Gently wash the fruit in cool water and drain

• Remove caps and stems

• Handle carefully to avoid juice loss

Next you will need to place grapes in a large stainless steel saucepan and just cover the fruit with water. I actually used my stainless steel stock pot because it has a strainer that fits inside the pot. This really helped with the straining process that follows.

Bring the grapes to a boil over medium high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat, cover loosely to avoid the grapes from boiling over for about 5-10 minutes. Every now and then stir and begin crushing the grapes with a hand held potato masher so that more juice starts coming out. The grapes should be softened enough by this time and can be taken off the stove.

I mashed the grapes while they were still in the strainer of my stock pot so that the juice would fall in the pot. I tilted the strainer to its side so that more of the juice would drip down. The strainer worked great because it captured the skins, did not allow the gushy part of the grape to mix with the juice and it also kept most of the seeds out.

I then set out a bowl and put a fine meshed strainer on top of the bowl. The canning book recommends using cheesecloth to help with the straining process and so would I. Unfortunately my cheesecloth had been used by a project my husband started and was not readily available for this canning activity so I will tell you what I used instead.

I have decided that coffee filters are one of my new favorite friends to help with canning. I had heard that these filters could be used for lots of things and they are right. They make great juice strainers too. So if you don’t happen to have cheesecloth on hand, coffee filters make an excellent replacement.

I placed a dampened coffee filter over the fine meshed strainer and poured the hot juice in so that the pulp and leftover seeds would be left out of the juice falling into the waiting bowl. This juice was then transferred to a larger bowl while I strained another bowl of juice with a new filter each time. I followed this procedure until the large bowl was full. I then strained the juice one more time to make sure that the juice was even clearer and pulp free.

I let the juice then cool to room temperature and started bagging it up. I measured enough juice for each freezer bag for one batch of grape jelly which is 5 cups of grape juice. This way I would know how much juice I would need to continue with the processing part of making grape jelly. I closed the bags and got out as much air as possible. I allowed the juice to completely cool and then placed the bags in the deep freezer.

That day I yielded enough grape juice to make six batches of grape jelly. 30 cups of juice came out of those beautiful grapes. Now all I have to do is set aside another day for the next part of making grape jelly; canning and processing. The frozen grape juice can be easily thawed and won’t loose any flavor before you start the next part of the process of making homemade grape jelly.

I try and only wait a few days in between the time to complete my jelly making mainly because I can hardly wait to sample the yummy outcome. You’ll have to follow the link to the post to read more about how we turn the grape juice into grape jelly. Just think about how good your hot biscuits or toast will taste when you put on your own homemade grape jelly. I get excited just picturing it in my mind. Hope to see you in the next post.

P.S. I know I promised to tell you more about the lady who gave us the grapes but this post was already quite long so I have decided to include that in another related post coming soon.