canning

5-Minute Rocky Road Fudge

Guys, it didn’t occur to me that when I started posting recipes that meant I was going to have to post my SECRET recipes.  This is painful, but this time of year I basically prepare for Christmas and those preparations involve my secret Christmas recipes.  This weekend I made some…

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Vanilla-Bourbon Pear Butter

If you saw the apple butter pie or plum butter posts, you probably are getting the message: fruit butters are easy to make even if you’re super busy.  I was at the grocery store the other day and saw that pears were on sale.  So clearly I was required by…

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Sweet and Tart Crock Pot Plum Butter

It’s definitely time to get started on my homemade Christmas gifts for the year.  Up first is this plum butter! When I told my mother I was making plum butter she just kept saying “Ew!” over and over again.  I’m not sure why.  Plums are delicious, so plums cooked down…

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Candied Jalapeños!

You may have noticed there aren’t a lot of recipes on here that use peppers.  There are two excellent reasons for that: I loathe them.  And it turns out, I’m pretty allergic to them!  One of the few positive results on my skin-prick test that didn’t bring me to tears!…

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Sweet and spicy pickled banana peppers

A sweet pepper-pickling recipe

Since my sweet banana peppers turned out to be mislabeled hot banana peppers, they haven’t been picked as much as I had hoped.  Usually my peppers just get eaten straight off the plant by my mother when she comes by to visit, but she doesn’t do that when they’re this…

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Apple cider jelly

We’re finally having some fall-like weather here in Virginia, so it’s definitely apple picking time!  Some girlfriends and I went up to Carter Mountain Orchard outside of Charlottesville the other day.  I always say I love apple picking, but here’s the thing: unless you’re buying a metric shit-ton of apples,…

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