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I got busy yesterday and made 9 half-pints of cherry jam. I am still frustrated by the lack of a recipe that is usable. Even on the packages of SureGel it said to use 4 cups of cherries, but then take the pits out!! So how much space do pits take?? Anyway, I did my usual guessing but did a couple of things different this time: I added a bit more SureGel and I cooked the cherries to 220 degrees since I was now the owner of a candy thermometer. I tired their methods of testing the gel by putting some on a really cold plate, but that did not seem to help. Anyway, I cooked it a bit longer and threw in another half cup of sugar, and then put it in jars and processed it. Only 7 jars fit into my small canning pot, so put last two in refrigerator to use right away.

I did not finish until almost midnight, although that included doing dishes and cleaning up the whole mess I had made. The good news is that in the middle of the night, I checked the two jars in the refrig and they had gelled!!! Yea! And this morning, the jars that I had processed last night also look as if they have gelled. Double yea!!

Going to make another batch today since I still have extra cherries and more jars. It is all mixed up, ground with my immersion blended, and ready to start boiling. Then will put it in jars for processing and keep my fingers crossed.

By the way, I know some of you are diabetic or at least going low on sugar. Sure Gell now has a pink box of pectin that is especially made for low or no sugar jam. There are also recipes online for people wanting to make low sugar jam. That is a way to use your excess produce and to make something sweet you can eat.

Total now of 15 jars of jam from 5 pounds of frozen and pitted tart cherries. And I cleaned up all of my mess! I reserved about a cup of frozen cherries because I want to try to make some cherry muffins.

wow where is everyone?? of course I won't have to try and remember what you all said so I can either forget or comment
sounds like a lot of jars of jam Judy ... bet they taste good... I took a peak at a recipe for sour cherry jam but didn't get past her introduction and why she didn't like to use pectin.... so no idea how much sugar she used.... there were lots of recipes for sour or tart cherry jam but it sounds like you found something that works for you...
mom is suppose to be laying on her side she did ok earlier on her right side but not doing well on her left side... I need to find a different pillow that will conform more to her body... the nurse came over and dressed the sores....she is hoping that they will go away I hope so as well... she did say we ought to give thought to a hospital bed... I look around and can't picture where to put it... so that one can get around it... if we took out her bed and put it in the bedroom she will feel really isolated... if it's here in the living room where???? of course the couch is a very old and very uncomfortable so perhaps it could go where the couch is which is also very heavy not a hide a bed but still very heavy... and then where would me and my "stuff" go to guess we will see I don't think she is that bad off that she needs a special bed...
did get the few plants I had planted I question whether the pansies will make it...
we will hope though... one planter cleaned out tomorrow depending upon the weather ( hear it's suppose to rain and it did for awhile tonight)
went to Ace's and got a few things paid thinking that was really high so while in the car looked at the receipt was charged 74 dollars for Nigar seed now I love to feed the birds but not to that tune .... and I thought it was 19 so took the receipt in and told them I thought it was 19 she said no it was the bags below (hate that) so redid it and she went to swap the bags only to find out the 19 bag was wild bird seed I never ever buy it in my experience the birds don''t like it...give them black oil sunflower seeds or nigar seed they will like that ... so ended up not getting any bird seed... will look else where in hopes that it will be cheaper or I may have to take the sock back to the store... then discovered that the light bulb that I took out left the screw part in the light fixture... so need to figure out how to get it out the employee said to use a needle nose pliers now to find them... then one of the things I bought I only bought part of it... did however get the sandpaper that I needed so will be able to get started on my boxes after I finish some other things first...
you all have a great day
sheila

We needed the Ice Road Trucker guys on my road today. After lunch I headed out to bring my son some papers. When I rounded the bend the garbage truck was in the ditch. I was wondering why the trash hadn't been picked up. There was an 18 wheeler size tow truck trying to get him out of the ditch. It looked like the garbage truck could turn over. The tow truck driver finally came and talked to me. They were waiting for another tow truck so he moved so I could get by. My road dead ends at the river so there is only one way out. It's a good thing I didn't come back until late because I met the two tow trucks and the garbage truck about a mile from my road. They must have just gotten the truck out of the ditch.

Judy, I have to hand it to you for all the cooking you do in your motorhome. About the best I can do is use the microwave. Sometimes I will make something in the crockpot for a potluck. For the last potluck I baked some mini meat pies at home and froze them. I can buy the pies frozen at the grocery store. I just heated them in the microwave at the campground. That may be my goto for potlucks.

I stopped to pick up some pills the vet had ordered for Inky. These pills are tiny and melt in his mouth so I don't have to jam them down his throat. He only spit it out once.

I have been wanting BBQ ribs for a while so stopped at Dickie's BBQ and picked up a rib dinner to go. This morning I had put some chicken thighs in the crockpot with the cranberries and Catalina salad dressing so I didn't really need to pick up a dinner.

I set my alarm for 6:00 in the morning. Tomorrow is the electric co-op annual meeting in Lafayette. They give away a lot of prizes to get people to attend. We'll see if I feel like going in the morning. The meeting is held in the Cajun Dome Coliseum. To keep from having to climb up to the rafters, I usually go to the building where you can give blood. I have been trying to take my iron pills everyday so I can donate. You can watch the meeting on TV from there.

Martha