My Once A Month Cooking (OAMC): Jalapeno Jelly

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Jalapeno Jelly

12 oz of jalapeno peppers (about 12 medium)
2 cups cidar vinegar, divided
6 cups sugar
2 3 oz pouches of liquid pectin
green food coloring, optional

Wash and seed and devein peppers. puree peppers in blender with 1 cup cidar vinegar until smooth. DO NOT STRAIN PUREEcombine puree with remaining vinegar and sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat. bring to boil that cannot be stirred down, over high heat. Boil 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add liquid pectin, immediately squeezing entire content from pouches. Return to a hard boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary.

Lade hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Wipe rims. Center lids on jars. Or pour melted paraffin approx 1/8 inch.

Now I'm working on our menu for the Once A Month Cooking session. Plus deciding on a day to do it. Will let you know on the progress.

Upstairs simmering, I have cinnamon pickles simmering in the vinegar brine. shortly I'll put them in a container to stay for 24 hours. tomorrow night I'll make the sweet sauce and can them. I'm waiting for some more cucumbers to get large enough to pick to make more sweet pickles.

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Introduction

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by deciding what to prepare for a meal? I know I have. Many times. Especially our evening meal when our three children were growing up. Then one day I stumbled across a program called "Once A Month Cooking" (OAMC) and thought I'd give it a try. It was a lifesaver and I loved it. I did it for years, from the time my youngest was in preschool until he was in the 8th grade. I don't remember why I quit, just that I did. When I was doing the OAMC back then I prepared a lot of full, complete meals and froze them, entree, side, and dessert. The only thing I had to actually prepare for the meal was the vegetable or the potatoes. For those of you not familiar with the OAMC program, I will try to explain it to you here. This blog is to try to help you see what it takes, how to do itm give you ideas and how much fun you can actually have. OAMC is the ultimate do-ahead dinner preparation technique. The secret of the OAMC technique is that you cook all your dinner main dishes for a month (or two weeks or even a week) in one day, freeze them, and enjoy eating tasty food, every night without the hassle of lengthy meal preparation. In this blog, I will try to provide the menu we use, shopping lists and recipes. You do not have to have organizational skills, nor do you have to be a good cook to successfully accomplish OAMC. What you need to expect and plan to is: Take a longer-than usual shopping trip, preferably the day or night before your cooking day. Spend the bulk of your month's food budget on this shopping trip (saving money over the course of the month) Cook with a partner or two or three, like I do, for maximum fun and efficiency. Cook half a day for a two week cycle, a full day for a month cycle. Love the freedom and possibilities this will bring to mealtimes. Enjoy family building times around the table and like us, the time we cook together. Take the stress out of having company for dinner I suggest for the first few time you do the OAMC to try to do the two week cycle. Then when you get the feel of the "system" advance on the full month if that is what you want and have room for the food. Also in this blog I will frequently give you suggestions of what to serve with a certain recipe. Please feel free to email me with any suggestions and question syou might have. Even leave a comment here on the blog.