A Busy Morning...

I've been busy so far today.  I just bought a book called Preserving By the Pint by Marisa McClellan.  I have been reading her blog "Food in Jars" for a while now.  The thing I like about this book is the recipes are for small batches of preserves.  I have a small house, and there are only 2 people in it. I can't store (or consume) 3 bushels of apples turned into butter.

One of the more successful plants in our garden this year was habanero peppers.  The problem with habaneros is, they are hot. I mean really hot.  I've never seen a salsa recipe that calls for more than 1 at a time.  So as I was leafing through my new book, I came across a recipe for raspberry habanero jam.  I decided that would be my first attempt at solo canning.

I made it earlier today, and I have to say it's good.  It isn't very spicy, but it tastes very fresh.  Next time I will cut more slits in the habanero, so more spiciness gets into the jam.

After my success with the jam, I decided to try a recipe for marinated lemon cucumbers.  I haven't tried them yet, but how can cucumbers marinated in vinaigrette be bad??

If you have any desire to begin preserving food, I urge you to buy this book.  It will open  whole new world of small batch canning!