Homemade gifts

I love to make homemade jams and jellies. It's a bit time consuming but so worth the effort. One of the things I don't like about it, is the cost of the canning jars. It's not bad really, however, I am usually buying 2-3 boxes (12 jars each) of jars, a few bags of sugar and fresh fruit. In the end the initial investment for 36 jars of jam is probably somewhere close to $50. But then where can you buy 36 jars of jam for less than $2 each?

So, here are a few "Easy" recipes if your interested in making some homemade goodies. I got these from the Ball Recipe page. I haven't tried the "freezing" method yet, but plan to give the Pumpkin Butter a try. Maybe the Apple Butter too.

QUICK PUMPKIN BUTTER
Makes about 5 (8 oz) half pints
Supplies You Will Need:
Blender
Ladle
Funnel
5 Ball® Plastic (8 oz) Freezer Jars

Ingredients You Will Need:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 (1.59-oz) pkg Ball® Simple Creations® Freezer Jam Fruit Pectin
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3 cups peeled, cored, coarsely chopped apples (about 3 large)
1/4 cup unsweetened apple juice or apple cider
3 cups pumpkin puree

Step 1, Getting Started: Read all instructions before starting. Assemble all supplies and measure all ingredients.
Step 2, To Prepare Quick Pumpkin Butter:
1.) STIR sugar, brown sugar, contents of pectin package, and pumpkin pie spice in a bowl until well blended. Set aside.
2.) COMBINE apples and apple juice in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Cover. Reduce heat and simmer 3 minutes.
3.) PLACE apples and apple juice in a food processor and process until smooth. Add pumpkin purée and blend until combined, about 30 seconds. Stir in apple-pumpkin purée to the pectin mixture. Stir 3 minutes longer.
4.) LADLE butter into clean 8 oz plastic freezer jars to fill line. Twist on lids. Let stand until thickened, about 30 minutes. Serve immediately, refrigerate up to three weeks or freeze up to one year.

QUICK TIP
For an even easier version, substitute 1-1/2 cups applesauce for the apples and apple juice. Blend with pumpkin purée and continue following instructions as above.

QUICK APPLE BUTTER
Featuring Ball® Simple Creations® Freezer Jam Fruit Pectin
Makes about 4 (8 oz) half pints

You will need:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1.59-oz pkg Ball® Simple Creations® Freezer Jam Fruit Pectin
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
5 cups peeled, cored, coarsely chopped apples (about 5 med)
1 Tbsp lemon juice
4 Plastic Ball (8oz) Freezer Jars

Directions:
1.) STIR sugar, brown sugar, contents of pectin package, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg in a bowl until well blended. Set aside.
2.) ADD apples and lemon juice to food processor or blender. Blend until smooth, about 30 seconds. Add apple puree to pectin mixture. Stir 3 minutes.
3.) LADLE jam into clean jars to fill line. Twist on lids. Let stand until thickened, about 30 minutes.
4.) SERVE immediately, refrigerate up to three weeks or freeze up to one year.

TROPICAL BREEZE FREEZER JAM
Featuring Ball® Simple Creations® Freezer Jam Fruit Pectin
Makes about 5 (8 oz) half pints

You will need:
1-1/2 cups sugar
1 1.59-oz pkg Ball® Simple Creations® Freezer Jam Fruit Pectin
2 cups finely chopped pineapple (about 1 whole pineapple)
1 cup crushed banana (about 3 medium)
1 cup crushed mandarin orange segments (about 2 11-oz cans)
1/4 cup dried coconut
5 Plastic Ball® (8 oz) Freezer Jars

Directions:
1.) STIR sugar and contents of package in a bowl into well blended.
2.) ADD pineapple, banana, mandarin oranges and coconut. Stir 3 minutes.
3.) LADLE jam into clean jars to fill line. Twist on lids. Let stand until thickened, about 30 minutes. Label.
4.) REFRIGERATE up to 3 weeks.

If you do decide to try giving homemade gifts, be sure to label the jars with the "use by" information. It might even be neat to print out the recipe and give that too.

If I have any jam left by the time Christmas rolls around, meaning if Ray didn't eat it all, I usually give it to friends and family along with a little something else homemade. This year the little something else homemade may be an original painting by Rylie. I've had her busy with a fun little art project called sand painting. I really wish my camera worked, because I would love to show you some of her artwork.

I went and bought 2 canvas's that were on sale for Rylie to start her paintings on. These are for 2 family birthdays we have coming up. However, it could also be done on a plain block of wood with a hanger on the back. Or you could pick up an old painting at the salvation army or a garage sale for a dollar and let them paint over that. You might even be able to find a cheap canvas painting or something at one of the dollar stores that they could paint over.

You just need to make sure that it isn't something that is going to be covered by glass. The really neat thing about sand painting is the texture. The kids can even build up the painting and make little hills, etc. Just make sure you do this with plenty of time for it to dry before you need to give it to someone.

Items needed:
Canvas, wood or whatever to paint on
White glue
Sand
Tempra or acrylic paint

Well, I just mixed it up. lol I mean, I had no "recipe" to go by. You can make it thicker (more sand) if you want to, which is cool if you want to have the paintings to have more texture to them. I basically mixed up the sand and glue in a big jar (with a lid so I could re-use it) and made it pretty thick. Then I used little plastic cups to mix up the sand mixture with the paint. I gave Rylie plastic ware and popsicle sticks to "paint" with. Uh, I also put a big old plastic table cloth down to catch any spills, and believe me there were spills.

Make sure you do this on a day when the kids have plenty of time. I know that Rylie really had fun and she actually spent an hour to an hour and half working on her projects. As a matter of fact, we got them out the next day and she worked on them again, trying to make sure she got all the empty spaces filled in.

I wish I could take a picture to put on here so you could see what this looks like. All I can say is, if your looking for a project for the kids to do, this one is a lot of fun. I love being able to teach Rylie new things and that giving a homemade gift is way more fun than something just bought at the store.

Have a great day.
Jill Marie