Blueberry Cobbler

Who's invite to the party:

Blue Berries (2 pints- I used a mix of frozen and fresh but whatever you have on hand)
Sugar (1 cup for the berries and you will need another cup for the cobbler topper)
Corn Starch
Flour
Baking Powder
Cinnamon
Dash of lemon juice (I tell you, I dash just about everything with lemon juice and recommend purchasing the little lemon bottle (Sam's has them the cheapest for the amount) as my lemons always go bad before I get to use them all.)
Milk
Eggs
Oil (butter would have been better but was out)


I put the blueberries in a sauce pan and brought to a boil- I didn't have to add any water to them as my frozen ones had plenty of ice chips (oops). Added about a cup of sugar and a sprinkle of corn starch to make a thickened sauce.


Poured into a 9X13 baking pan that had been sprayed with cooking spray- any kind will work here but the best is the baking spray with flour already added in the mix (genius!)- I was out so I went with olive oil spray.



In the mixer I added: eggs, oil and milk till mixed completely. Then I added the dry ingredients: flour, b. powder, sugar. Our the mixture over the berries and spread around. It's important to have all the berries covered. If you have to do the *scoop and move* you can. Place in a preheated 400 degree over for 25 minutes.

This gets the top all brown and yummy first. Then turn the heat down to 350 for 35 more minutes. The end result should be similar to this unless your lucky enough to get it a little more level.

Strawberry Jam

The players:


Strawberries (6 pints)
Sugar (5 cups)
Lemon Juice (dash)
Butter (two tablespoons)
Surejell (2 boxes)

Strainer
Two stock pots or other big pots
Lids for said pots
Wooden spoon
Tongs
Sauce pan and lid
Potato masher (sorry folks, this works best anything else will make it too soupy)
Jam jars, lids and rings (I used 12 8 ounce jars but I'm going to try bigger jars this next go round)

Optional:
Veggie peeler (I peeled my strawberries because I dislike the little seeds that much. You can use a knife but that really takes away too much of the berry)

First task: wash the jars, lids and rings in hot soapy water, rinse and set to dry. I added the rings and lids to the sauce pan about half full of warm water and put the pan on the stove to simmer. I filled one of the big pans with about two inches of water in the bottom and put on to boil. I dried the inside of the jars completely and placed them in the boiling water on a little grill thingy (They might have been okay placed directly on the metal pan bottom but I have had one too many Pyrex explode in my kitchen for me to feel comfortable chancing it.). Actually, and I encourage you to skip this next step, I knocked the jars over in the water, fished them out, dried them again and tried again. :)



Wash the strawberries (stainer) and started the peeling process. This took as much time as one would expect. Definitely not my favorite part of the task but completely worth it.



Once this task is happily completed, mash the berries with the p. masher until your happy with the texture. For me, I wanted small tiny bits of fruit so I mashed until I was happy.



Placed the strawberries and dash of lemon juice in the second big pot and placed on the stove to boil. Added a box and a half of Sure Jell, butter and brought to a full rolling boil, stiring constantly.



Stir in 5 cups of sugar and return to your rolling boil for 1 minute. Really, 1 minute.




Add to heated jars and seal with the lids and rings. Enjoy!




Two options for sealing the jars...turn them upside down and hope for the best or you can put them back in the boiling pot they bathed in before and cover for 10 minutes, take them out and listen to them "pop".