a new nothing with a speckled handle

ahhhh, yes, it's that time of year again! i love strawberry freezer jam. i think everyone should have some in their freezer, especially when it's really this easy. honestly, though, i can remember the day (cuz I am so old, remember) that i thought freezer jam was so hard to make. i called my mom and asked her for the precise measurements and exact directions so that i didn't mess up my strawberries. once i made it myself, i understood why my mom laughed. it's really a few simple steps...mash some berries, add sugar and let it dissolve, add pectin and let it set. really, peeps, try it! and just in time for berry season, here's how: here are all of the ingredients you will need.  you can use whichever pectin brand you can find or have handy.  i actually love the new liquid freezer jam pectin but this powder version was already in my pantry! first you will wash and remove the stems from your strawberries.  then the directions say to mash with a potato m...

during a recent trip to costco, i purchased a box of the most delicious looking blackberries. i haven't cooked a lot with blackberries because, you see, i was so spoiled for the majority of my life that i just couldn't bring myself to buy blackberries. why was i spoiled, you ask? well, let me tell you, my grandma lived in southern california and had a row of beautiful boysenberry bushes. she'd make the most fantastic things with those boysenberries. when she moved to utah she brought as much as she could freeze but we still missed those boysenberry bushes. and since her passing a few years ago, we miss much much more than just those boysenberries. but i would bet you if you were to look somewhere within the depths of my mother's freezer, you'd still find some boysenberry juice packaged away just for nostalgia's sake. and i would keep it too because it's like gold to me. so back to blackberries...after making this tart i can't wait to try out mor...