Canning - Fig Jam

Canning is my new obsession.  I have a lot of new obsessions.  Queer as Folk, baby carriers, long and complicated recipes that take up my whole afternoon, and now canning.  This is the second time in my life I've canned.  You can read about my first time here canning peaches.

I love fig jam.  The first time I had it was in Tallahassee.  I bought a huge jar for $9 at the county fair.  It just seemed that it would be delicious even though I never actually tasted a fig in my life.  It was heavenly.  We ate most of it with Havarti cheese and crackers.  I was very sad when we moved away from Tallahassee... mostly because I wouldn't be able to buy this fig jam from the old black lady at the county fair.  That's about it.  Oh, and the Live Oak trees.

First, I made the following fig jam recipe.  I didn't can it because it only made a small amount.  Me and about 10 of my closest Mommy-Friends were able to take care of it right quick.  Spicy Fig Orange Microwave Jam is easy and can be whipped up in about 45 minutes.  It's called "spicy" because it has some spices that remind me of Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Lovely on my sweet potato muffins.  I'll post that recipe later.

So my obsession continues every time I see figs go on sale at the supermarket.  That happens a lot because not a lot of people buy figs and they discount them when they're very ripe.

I bought some canning jars at Publix and a canning kit accessories for about $5.  I used Matt's brewpot for the boiling part.  Turns out you don't need a ton of equipment to can!  All you need is a ton of whatever it is you want to can.  (By the way, why isn't it called jarring?  My friend Jamie raised that interesting point.) 

Anyway, the last batch of refrigerator fig jam I made I used some gelatin to see how it firms up.  I like my jam on the runny side... the better to put over ice cream, my dear.  The jam was very firm... I didn't like it that much.  So I decided to stick to my no pectin or gelatin route for my big batch.

I used a mixture of the Spicy Fig Orange Jam recipe and this regular old recipe from the Mack Daddys of canning.  Then I realized that I really love that spicy taste and smell.  I added some ginger, cinnamon and some fresh ground cloves.  It made my kitchen smell like Christmas.  I also used orange juice instead of lemon juice and threw in about 3 oranges worth of zest.  It tasted great just out of the pot.  I hope it keeps that way. 

The brew bubbling.  I used a potato masher to squish the fig chunks into tiny itty bits.  Although I do like my jam how I like my men - on the chunky side.

All the jars filled up.  Got ten 8oz jars out of 3.5 containers of figs.  Each container was on sale for $4, regularly close to $8.  Fig jam sells for $6-$10 a jar at the grocery store.  All those numbers = a good price for homemade fig jam.

Hello Gorgeous

You two come here often?

The jars processing in a tall stock pot.  They made a lot of noise clinking and clanking together.  Next time I will put a towel down underneath them in the pot so they won't have the chance to break.  Thankfully, none of these did.

My precious.  

 They all sealed.  They turned out pretty runny in the jar, but again, I like it that way.  I hope others do too because you're getting these babies for Christmas presents. 

Mexican Pulled Pork

Matt loves mexican food.  I hardly make it.  I don't know why either.  I love mexican food, REAL mexican food.  Not just some spiced up meat with cheese smothering it to death.  That's what Matt loves.  That's why I don't make it.

I saw this recipe on one of my favorite TV cooking shows: America's Test Kitchen.  Their recipes are always spot on.  The only thing that sucks is that you have to pay to view most of their content online.  Usually I just write down what I see on the TV show and make it from my notes.   Funny enough, I don't own any of their cookbooks.  Hint Hint.

This recipe is free on their website although you may have to register.  Check it out because I'm not going to repost it here. Mexican Pulled Pork

Sorry if you're a vegetarian and I just made you look at a dead animal. 


I made soft tacos out of these with onions, jalapenos, sour cream and feta cheese.  The feta is supposed to mimic queso fresco.

Ham & Cheese Two ways

I'm a bit obsessed with ham and cheese.  I'm not a big ham deli meat lover.  I hate it, in fact.  I buy this chunked ham pieces in the prepackaged deli meat section of the grocery and use it for soups, eggs, lots of things.  Then I saw this recipe from Weelicious.  One of my absolute favorite online cooking blogs.  Ham and cheese muffins?!?!?   To which I reply the following:

1. I love muffins.
2. The boys love muffins.
3. Muffins muffins muffins.

I made them and seriously ate more than the kids.  These are just awesome.  Freeze them and you've got a great, quick, no-cook breakfast.

I had leftover ham so I thought... hmmm... what else do I love?  Muffins!  Oh wait, did those already.  Umm... croissants!

So easy.  Croissant dough, squish 2 peices together to make 1 big croissant (or make little ones if you're not as much as a fatty as I am), put a small slice of cheddar cheese and about a tablespoon of ham chunks.  Roll it up, tuck in the sides and bake!  I froze the extras and reheated them in the microwave for dinner tonight and they were awesome.

Grilled Chorizo Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Jalepenos

Now that's what I call a mouthful!  Our awesome friend Ben told me about his little creation and he had me at "chorizo."  Ben made some stuffed jalapenos for us a couple years ago and all I remember about them is almost burning my tongue off from the spiciness.  The cream cheese helps cool these down... also taking the seeds out, too.

• Get the biggest jalapenos you can find.  Cut a slit down the middle and try to get out as many seeds as you can.  I usually make Matt do this because he probably isn't going to touch a baby's nether regions in the next 30 seconds.
• Cook the chorizo and drain the fat.  Mix it with a package or two of cream cheese.  Stuff it into a ziploc bag and cut off the tip.
• Carefully squeeze the chorizo cream cheese mixture into the jalapenos.  You still want to be able to close the pepper without cream cheese splooging all over the place.
• Wrap the bacon around it.
• Skewer it onto 2 skewers.  This is a tricky part, but the more you do it the easier it gets.

• Grill it on medium/medium-low.  You want the bacon to render all its fat and get crunchy.  Plus it helps hold the whole thing together when its hard (that's what she said).

Thanks, Benway!  Everyone loves these.  Especially pregnant women.  I wonder why?