Grinches

Boy am I glad this week is coming to an end. It’s been slow in the office so that makes my days longer. 

This morning at work I set out some cookies and had coffee brewing for the employees to start their morning. 

Last night I finally got busy making my Christmas goodies. I made fudge and peanut butter balls so far. Tonight I will be making a couple different kinds of cookies. My daughter likes to help so I have put the cookie baking off until she gets home tonight. Then we will pack Christmas tins for the neighbors and make deliveries. 

Luckily we got our Christmas shopping done before December but every day it seems like there is that one little thing I forgot to get or some kind of ingredient I needed for a recipe. So we head back out to the stores. It’s not so bad when your not rushed to find gifts. 

But sadly I can not do it alone. It’s just too dangerous to even go to a fast food restaurant anymore. We have pan handlers that will approach your windows while your in line at the drive through. Sorry, But I can’t stand a pan handler.

And then we have Grinches!!

I hate to write about bad news, but im tellin ya, it’s been crazy around my town this week. The bad guys want to put a damper on everyones Christmas shopping. I mean, everytime we settled in for the night we would hear on the news the things that are going on. We would look at each other and say “we just missed that” or “we got out of the store just in time”. For example, Our local Walmart was evauated an hour after we had been shopping there. The police came in with guns drawn and asked everyone to leave their merchandise and get out of the store . There was a possible shooter in the store. It ended up being two men quirling. 

That was just the beginning of the week.

The rest of the week there was something every day. Here is some to name a few. 

Armed Robbery at the Family Dollar Store- I mean “its a dollar store for heaven sake” how much you think you gonna get?

Armed Robbery at Wendys- Really?

Armed Robbery at Bojangles- Ok, so their BoBerry biscuits ARE that good.

Lowes caught fire.

And just today, up the road at Big Lots, two employees were attacked. 

I think it’s best I stay in for the weekend and keep on baking. I will be spending quality time with my daughter and we have church and some family get togethers to attend. It’s gonna be alright.

I refuse to let the grinches steal my joy. 

Tis the Season.

Easy Cranberry Jam

Ok readers, hold on to your aprons. Your gonna love this one. Its easy peasy and will make a great little quick gift for your neighbor, teacher, family, secret pal, mail carrier, ....well, you get the idea.

I have been looking for a recipe to use up the bags of cranberries I have stashed away in my refrigerator. I have never made anything good from cranberries unless they were from a can. I have been in search of a recipe to make with my fresh cranberries, I thought about muffins until I found a recipe for Cramberry jam that only called for three ingredients. 

Oh yea, I can do that!

So I made a trial run.

 WIN!

Cranberry Jam

1 cup of Cranberries

1 cup of Sugar

1/8 cup water

Tiny drop of vanilla (optional)

(I was worried this was not enough liquid but just wait.. It will be enough)

~Boil and stir all together until the cranberries start popping and soften. 

~Use an emerssion blender and blend until smooth and replace back on the stove. 

~cook on medium heat and stir until the jam makes a sticky coating on back of the spoon. 

~Pour into small mason jar. 

THATS IT! REALLY!

If you plan to store your jam or give as a gift, place the lids on them and leave on counter until sealed. 

The jam will thicken more as it cools. 

*Incase your wondering: No extra pectin is needed for the recipe as cranberries produce their own. 

We had to try out a small bit on a slice of buttered toast. My husband gave it a thumbs up and litterally scraped the jar clean. 

We liked it! It was really sweet with just the right amount of tart to make this a new breakfast favorite. 

The hardest part of making this is finding small Mason or Ball jars. Walmart has them in sets of 12. I only need about 6 so I didnt buy any. I’m in search of a smaller bulk of jars, but for now, we will enjoy ours from our own reused jars. I do not need to worry about sealing the jars because this yum yum will not last that long in my kitchen. 

The original recipe and many more can be found at Kleinworthco.com.