Summer is here!

A couple weeks ago my pastor's wife Annie invited me to go strawberry picking with her and her two kids. We had such a good time and came home with tons of yummy strawberries! On the way home I was seriously thinking, "What am I going to do with all of these berries??" when Annie mentioned a brillant idea - making jam! The idea itself seems a little bit overwhelming but don't be scared. It really isn't that hard. I just used old salsa/jalepeno/jelly jars (this is why we save them, Cody!) that I had sanitized. The whole process didn't take very long either and the results were very yummy!

**Strawberry Jam**
5 cups crushed strawberries
7 cups sugar
1 box Sure-Jell fruit pectin

1. Crush berries or quickly pulse in a food processor.
2. Measure berries into a large pot.
3. Measure sugar into bowl; set aside. (This is an important step; don't overlook it like I did!)
4. Place fruit over high heat. Add Sure-Jell, stir until mixture comes to a hard boil. Add sugar at once.
5. Bring to a full rolling boil and boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly.
6. Remove from heat, skim (I didn't do this step...but not for lack of trying) and pour quickly into jars.

Trust me, when it says "add sugar at once," it's not kidding! I had the bright idea that it would be okay if I added 2 cups of sugar, then measure out another 2 cups, then another and then one more. Wrong. I ended up with a lot of burnt sugar on the bottom of my pot. Tastewise, it ended up more than okay...actually the jam turned out sweeter than I like but maybe it's just because I'm used to eating "no sugar added" jams.