Blueberry Jelly Recipe

    This week I made my first ever thing to be canned!  I made Blueberry Jelly!  It was really easy and turned out so well!
     All you do is take approximately 2 quarts of blueberries and puree them in a blender or food processor.  Then you cook them in a pot on the stove with a half a cup of water.  You bring to a boil and then turn down and simmer for ten minutes. Stir it occassionaly.  Then you strain the fruit through a  cheese cloth lined colander.  Rinse out the pan and put 3.5 cups of juice into the pan with the one box of powdered pectin and a 1/2 tsp of butter. (The butter keeps it from foaming like crazy)  Mix it with a whisk on high heat until you have a rolling boil.  (The boil will not go away when you stir it)  Add the sugar, 4.5 cups,  all at once and mix and bring back to a rolling boil and boil for one minute.  Then take it off the heat and you are ready to add it to your prepared jars.  Well, if you have any foam scrape it off and eat it, it tastes great!  But the foam looks weird in a jar.
      To prepare your jars you make sure they are clean and have them in your large pot that you will water process the jelly in after you put it in the jars. The jars should be kept hot while you are making the jelly, but not boiling them.  The lids and screws can be in a smaller pot on the stove, being kept hot as well.  So, all in all you have 3 burners busy on the stove.
     Pour the jelly into the jars, it makes about 6 cups of jelly.  After that you wipe the lips of the jars off so they are clean.  You put the lids and screws on. But make sure the screws are not super oober tight. Just enough, but not wrenched on.  Then you put the jelly jars into the water bath pot, the one you had the jars in before you added the jelly, and heat the water all the way up to boiling and boil 10-15 minutes depending on your altitude.  Then let them sit in the water for five minutes to rest before removing from the pot. Then when on the counter do not shake or mess with them for 24 hours, so the jelly sets up the right way.  You can make sure the lid has sealed by being popped down.  But don't let anyone man handle them.  Then wahlah you have the best blueberry jelly ever!

It has a deep purple color and is very flavorful!  

    I really do not know why blueberry jelly is not super popular because mine was to die for good!  Holy Spirit inspired good!

The recipe said it made 5.25 cups, but I had originally 5.5 cups worth of jars and had to add another jar (the old smuckers one) so I wouldn't waste any!

      I can't understand why more people do not can and make their own jelly and jam!  It is so simple!  And takes very little time at all!

Trinity Cooky

       Today I made a new recipe of cookies.  I call these my Trinity Cookies.  I call them this because of the three dark chocolate chips placed on each and what '3' symbolizes is very important.

       For one, the obvious is the Trinity of God.  You have the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.  But you must not forget that we are also made up of three distinct parts.  We have a spirit, a soul (which has our personality realm), and a physical body.  

      So when I look at one little Trinity Cooky, I see a reminder of the fact that I am righteous and that I have the Holy Spirit inside of me, and that Jesus will never leave me nor forsake me, and that I have a relationship with the Father God of all time, Praise the Lord!  So, one little cooky can remind you of an awful lot if you allow them to!

      

Homemade Vanilla Extract Photos I had promised

   Here are the photos from the beginnings of my first batch of vanilla.  I made 2 half gallons with vodka.  One of the half gallons I cut the beans in half, the other half gallon I cut them and scraped some of the 'caviar' out of the beans and added it to the vodka.  The smaller jar is a batch of vanilla made with Paul Mason VSOP brandy.  It is simply yummy smelling now.  I will post photos in a few days of the extract and how it looks now.

This is what a jar of vodka with vanilla beans looks like on the first day.

These are the vacuum sealed beans I bought from Olive Nation.  Love their prices.

See, I used the really cheap vodka like everyone suggested.

These are the two half gallons of vanilla in vodka.  The one on the left is the jar withOUT the 'caviar' being scraped .  

 These jars here had only been in my cabinet sitting for 3 days and you can already tell a marked difference in the colors of the liquors.  There is a slight difference in darkness between the jar on the left that was not scraped and the one on the right that was made from partially scraped beans.

vanilla extract made with brandy

This is the jar of Paul Mason VSOP brandy vanilla extract. (after 3 days, as well)   It is much darker than the vodka, obviously, because it started with a darker liquor.  It has a much nicer smell, in my opinion. But they both have a nice vanilla aroma.

Who I am in Christ Jesus

This is from my facilitator Gail!  She is so thoughtful and this is blessing many people to have these verses all in one place and easily accessible in a list like this!  Thank you God for this!

Who/What I Am in Christ

I am reigning in life by Jesus Christ (Romans 5:17) 

I am not looking at the things that are seen, but at the things which are not seen (II Corinthians 4:18) 

I am walking by faith and not by sight (II Corinthians 5:7) 

I am casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God (II Corinthians 10:5) 

I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (II Corinthians 5:21) 

I am rooted and grounded in love, because Christ dwells within me (Ephesians 3:17) 

I am the workmanship of God, created in Christ Jesus for good works (Ephesians 2:10) 

I am a partaker of God's divine nature (II Peter 1:4) 

I am prosperous and in good health, because my soul prospers (III John 2) 

I am being transformed by the renewing of my mind to prove the perfect will of God (Romans 12:2) 

I am healed by the stripes of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:24) 

I am more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ (Romans 8:37) 

I am the salt of the earth, and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13a, 14a) 

I am complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10) 

I am strong in the Lord and in the power of His might (Ephesians 6:10) 

I am taking the shield of faith and quenching all of the fiery darts of the enemy (Ephesians 6:16) 

I am praying my desires and receiving them (Mark 11:24) 

I am like a tree planted by the rivers of water and everything that I do prospers (Psalm 1:3) 

I am a temple of the Holy Ghost (I Corinthians 6:19) 

I am given exceeding great and precious promises, and by them I partake of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (II Peter 1:4) 

I am led by the spirit of God; therefore, I am a son of God (Romans 8:14) 

I am not walking after the flesh, but after the Spirit (Romans 8:1) 

I am receiving all of my needs met according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19) 

I am casting all of my cares upon Him, because I know He cares for me (I Peter 5:7) 

I am blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 1:3) 

I am blessed when I come in, and blessed when I go out (Deuteronomy 28:6) 

I am an heir of God and a joint-heir with Jesus Christ (Romans 8:17) 

I am increasing and abounding in love (I Thessalonians 3:12) 

I am being made perfect in every good work to do God's will (Hebrews 13:21) 

I am showing forth the praise of God (Psalms 51:15)

Yay no more pervy meter reader!

      I am so praising God and everyone who made it happen without my knowing....but we know have a new meter reader!  It is a lady!  I have yet to meet her yet, but she works very fast and moves thorough our neighborhood really quickly!  So, I am very blessed to have God protecting us and keeping evil away from us.  I pray that Carl will repent and turn from his ways and start afresh.
      Praise God for His promises and his defending me when I really couldn't and did not want to ruin a man and his wife's life over something like this.

He decided to stay and C is for Cooky

    Well, praise God, he decided to stay and work on his communication.  So, that is a good thing.  I will  continue to meditate on God's word so that I have more revelation and patience with my husband, too.  I am going to give him space when he is irritated or upset and not ask a whole lot of questions.  That seems to just aggravate the situation.  Maybe once he has worked out his issue then he will talk and answer the questions.  I am going to handle things differently and I believe that God will use that to help our marriage relationship and our family overall.
     I think, too, that when I have questions for him, I am going to talk to God first and see if I should ask them.  Then go to my husband and let him know first off, that I am not attacking him, but I have somethings I would like answers to.  I am very observant and inquisitive.  I have an avid curiousity and love to find out answers and learn new things.  I am not going to quelch that part of me because it is a gift from God.  My husband may never appreciate it, but I appreciate that quality about me and I have quelched it far too much already.  I am going to be what God wants me to be, no matter what Praise God.
     I am excited about my mom moving up here!  We are going to have leftovers tonight as there is no room for more leftovers in the fridge.  What is in store you ask?  Homemade chicken nuggets, rib steaks, meatloaf, lima beans, buffalo chicken rice, cheese rice, baked potatoes, fried squash and fried okra, and probably some other veggie or starch I am forgetting.  That will be super yummy in our tummies.
    Did you know, that cookie is not the original way to spell it.  It is actually cooky.  From now on I am going to use cooky and not cookie.  Let us do it the way they did in the 1950's Betty Crocker Cookbook, my friend Michael gave me, thank you God and Michael for that!  
    C is for Cooky that's good enough for me...C is for Cooky that's good enough for me...C is for Cooky that's good enough for me...oh Cooky Cooky Cooky starts with C.....hehe!

Pervy meter reader

          I usually do not do this, but I just have to say something.  Our local utility company, Decatur Utilities, comes out and checks our electricity meter once a month.  We have had the same meter reader the entire time we have lived her, around 8 years.  The guy, I think his name is Carl, has parked in the same place to do our neighborhood readings every month for these past 8 years.  He parked across the street from the front of our house.
      Our house sits back a little from the road and so no one can see in the windows from the road unless it is night time and you have the curtains open.  So, I still nurse my son and sometimes walk around the house with my breasts exposed for a moment because I am doing something with my son.  But you can not see me unless you are spying on me or in my house...lol.  But one day I look up, while standing in my living room and I swear I see that meter reader sitting in his truck and when I looked at him he threw down his binoculars and tore out of there.
      I wanted to give the guy the benefit of the doubt.  Maybe I was wrong, maybe I did not see binoculars.  But then why did he practically peel out of there in such a hurry.  He has never done that before. In fact he talks way too much and will hold you hostage in your yard for a good hour if you let him.  In fact, I know way too much about the man.  Like how his little brother died by getting run over in front of them.  How his older daughter is married to an abusive hispanic man that Carl seems to abhorr.  He comes across as racist, a little.  But that is his issues that he has to bring to God, not mine.  The meter reader seemed nice enough...if not a little too friendly all these years.  But I have always been cautious with him.  I usually shut the blinds that are on the side of the meter when I know he is out there because I did not want him looking into my home.  Then I catch him with binoculars looking into my home?!
      So I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.  But then the next month, out of the blue, he parks in a different spot across the street.  He parks to where when I look out my front window, I can barely see him from behind the bush in my yard.  Hmm.  Why the sudden move after 8 years of the same place?  Then the month after that he decided to park on my side of the street but between mine and my neighbors house..  Weird!  Which bothers me even more because I do not usually see that he is there, which means he could be really pervy and sneaking around on me even more!
      I do not know what to do, but if you have D.U. for utilities and you have Carl, I believe that is his name, I am not that good with random names like that, then make sure you shut your blinds.  Did I mention that he said he used to teach tennis and would love to give me and my daughter free lessons?!  All this before I caught him peeping in my windows.  If I see him coming around again I will call on him.  I am doing my best to be compassionate and giving him a chance to repent because I do not want to ruin someone's life for one mistake.  But if he keeps being creepy I will have to.  
      I am not going to be followed by him either.  A week or two ago we went to the park to just relax and hang out and creepy Carl shows up and decides to talk with the landscape workers for over 20 minutes.  Just standing around doing nothing!   All the while facing us where we were laying and reading the Bible. If I have another run in with him again, I am going to contact the police.

Here is the photo I snapped of him having gone to the park not long after we walked there from our home.  

God Bless People

      Ok, I briefly attended a bible study at Bookout Studios.  We thought it was a God send, I had even blogged about it.  It seemed like a great fit of two families.  But, alas, not so.  The gentleman that started it cancelled it unexpectedly.  My husband thinks it is because the man's wife was uncomfortable with her husband giving a bible study to me.  Lol.  I was the only one who showed up.  But everything starts off small.  You have to be faithful in small things to get something big from God.  So, I did not mind.  I was just so excited to have in person fellowship with like a like minded believer.
      I was disappointed when it was cancelled indefinitely with no explanation.  Then I remembered my antique metal round cake pan that I had left with cake for them the last bible study.  So  I asked for it back.  I even offered to cook dinner for them if they brought it over.  No dice.  2 weeks later and he still had not mailed it to me.  So, my husband said he would get one of his drivers to pick it up for me. Which he did today.
    Guess what?!!?  They did not even wash the cake pan!  There is cake stuck into the roof of the lid!  You would have had to have thrown my cake plate or tossed it around with the cake it to get cake into the lid!  What the heck?  How weird and strange!!?!  Then there was even a crunchy piece on the bottom of it.  How rude! Someone lets you have homemade from scratch, no mixes here, cake and you one, don't bother to give the pan back, you make the giver retrieve it (When I live 30 miles away) and then you don't even wash it out all the way?   I am shocked because they seemed so different than how they have turned out to be.
     God bless you Bookout family.  I hope that whatever is bothering you will be worked out and that you will be at peace and have a wonderful ministry in the future. I am sure God will be using you whenever you are more comfortable with what He has in store for you.  You all seemed so nice.  I hope that your hearts will continue to be opened and renewed in God's kind of love and grace.  You have a nice family and I hope it continues to mature in the fullness of God!