What's the opposite of man....JAM!

"Do you remember when you were little and your mom would drop you off at the movies with a jar of jam and a spoon?" -Joe

This post is dedicated to my college roomies :) As most people know, I am obsessed with Friends...I literally watch it every night while eating dinner and I can quote every episode. There isn't a situation in life that can't relate to an episode of Friends. And my college roomies are about the only people I know who share that obsession! So in season three there is The One with the Jam, and I felt like I was in that episode this weekend.

My dad and I (with a little help from my mom) made blackberry jam on Sunday. It was our first attempt at jam and I have to say it was a huge success! We had some old berries frozen from 2008 that needed to be used or thrown out, and since I'm not one to waste good food we decided to see how they tasted in the jam. I was worried they wouldn't be good since they were old but it didn't seem to matter. We used the recipe in the 'jelly powder stuff' box (I don't know what it's really called). It was very easy to make and delicious! We're making more soon!

Also this weekend I got to see my BFF, Dana and her family. My mom and I judged their county fair's baby contest....crazy! Lots of cute babies and it was very hard to pick winners! I also got to see my favorite little boy! Here's a picture of him in one of his birthday presents I got him:

If that doesn't make you smile, I don't know what will :)

"You're so pretty." -Rachel

Ooh La La

I made a French dessert last night that was absolutely delicious! I found the recipe on a blog I follow, Confabulation in the Kitchen (http://shallwecook.blogspot.com/2010/07/berry-cherry-clafoutis.html). It's called Berry Cherry Clafoutis. Both the berries I used were freshly picked by me and my dad! The original recipe is on that blog but here is the recipe with my changes:

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
1 cup fresh blackberries
3 large eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup sifted, all-purpose flour
1 cup skim milk
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons almond extract

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9-inch, round baking dish with nonstick spray, then toss in blueberries and blackberries.




2. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, flour and salt until well-combined.
3. Add milk, vanilla, and almond extract to egg mixture and whisk well. Pour wet ingredients over fruit.



4. Bake 45 to 50 minutes, or until dessert puffs and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Center will deflate as the dish cools on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.




It has a great custard texture and the almond extract gives it great flavor! Plus the berries were so juicy when eaten warm! I will definitely be making this again and again!





Okay, it's also time for another quote of the day from my mom! This weekend we were showing the garden to some friends. My mom was pointing out one of our tomato plants, which has odd shaped fruit growing on it. She told our guests that she thinks the plant has a "generic disorder." Um, mom...I think you mean genetic! :)

Also, here's a few pictures of what I saw hanging out on my front porch when I left for work this morning: