Peach Freezer Jam (quick & easy!)

Peach Freezer Jam

(quick and easy!)

Official Post № 8:

We hope all of you have had some good peaches lately, they're definitely getting in season! Back home in Brigham City, Utah, this weekend is the annual Peach Days celebration. It's a fun weekend celebrating the "abundance of the best peaches in Utah" that has been going on since 1904.

Some of you may be thinking that making jam is way too hard to make on your own, and that's what I thought until I tried it out! By the way, I made this one day without Mami's help, and I still can't believe nothing went horribly wrong! This is definitely the most complicated recipe we've posted yet, because it's not as simple as "throw stuff in a blender" or "mix this stuff together then throw it in the oven." But don't worry, it's still not very hard!

So, why peach jam on a yogurt blog? If you head on over and check out our Basic Flavoring post (one of our first!) from a few months ago, you will notice that adding a spoonful of jam to homemade yogurt is our favorite way to eat yogurt when fresh fruit is not handy, or when we're simply feeling lazy! :)

This is what you will need:

2 lbs peaches (about 3 cups finely chopped)
4 1/2 cups sugar
2 T lemon juice
1 packet Sure-Jell (NOT the sugar free kind)
3/4 cup water
Enough containers to hold 6 cups of fantastic peach jam.

Directions:

Skin and chop up peaches, then mix with lemon juice and sugar. Set aside for 10 minutes, stirring often to thoroughly dissolve the sugar. Whisk together water and Sure-Jell packet, bring to a rolling boil. Let boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add to peach/sugar mixture, and stir for 3 minutes constantly. Pour in prepared containers, leaving an inch at the top to freeze. Let sit at room temperature for 24 hours before freezing or refrigerating. Makes 6 cups.

Expert tip:
Prepare your containers before doing anything else. Wash them, dry them, open the lids... whatever you need. Once you get to that point, you're not going to want to wait to wash jars. No need for any fancy canning jars and lids for this one. We ended up using 2 mismatched jars, miscellaneous Tupperware, and a Ziploc bag.

After chopping peaches nice and small (this is the most time consuming part), mix with sugar and lemon juice. Stir it up well, and let sit for a few minutes while the sugar brings out a lot of juices from the peaches.

Now, set the peach and sugar mixture aside. Whisk together water and Sure-Jell packet. Bring to a boil, and let boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add this mixture to the peach/sugar mixture and stir constantly for 3 minutes.

Pour into individual jars or freezer bags. If freezing, make sure to leave about an inch of space in each jar.

Now, if you can't wait to try some, it won't hurt to take a spoonful out and put it in some yogurt or on a slice of toast. And make sure to lick the bowl!

Let sit at room temperature for 24 hours, then refrigerate or freeze. Keep in refrigerator for 3-4 weeks.

Makes 6 cups of fantastic jam.



Thanks for tuning in! Please let us know how the recipes turned out! Happy yogurting!

~Jeff & Mami

Did you miss the delectable Blueberry Buckle from a couple weeks ago? Or maybe some refreshing Orange Drinkable Yogurt?
Still curious how to make your own yogurt? It's easy!

Yogurt Lover Mixed Berry Pancakes

 Yogurt Lover Mixed Berry Pancakes

No butter, no oil!

Official Post № 5:

Over the past year or so, Mami and I have tried a number of pancake recipes that include yogurt. Most were decent. Some were, well, meh. But, just the other day we found a recipe that has made our top list! They turned out so well, that we've eaten them for four days in a row!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup plain yogurt*
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup sugar*
• 1 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/4 t baking soda
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 t vanilla
• 1/2 cup or so fresh or frozen berries**

*You don't have to use plain yogurt for this recipe - you can add your favorite fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt instead. Depending on the sweetness of the yogurt you use, alter the amount of sugar in the recipe.
**We recommend blueberries, raspberries, or strawberries. The last couple times we used a combination of blueberries and raspberries.

Directions: Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, beat together the yogurt, egg, vanilla, and milk. Add the yogurt mixture to the dry ingredients. Right before frying gently fold in the berries. Fry like you would any other pancake. Eat. Enjoy! Be happy! Makes about 14-16 pancakes.

Expert tip: Add white chocolate chips! :)

Your batter should turn out about the consistency of the following picture. We used some really thick yogurt our first time around, and it turned out too thick. So, we added a couple tablespoons of milk at a time until the batter reached the desired consistency.

If you are using berries (they're also great berry-less!), add them right before you fry your pancakes, and only gently fold them into the batter. As with our recipe for our Blueberry Yogurt Muffin-top Cookies (check 'em out, they're super good!), we microwaved our frozen berries for a few seconds to allow the juices to seep out, which then color the batter. If you don't like it that way, just mix them in still frozen, or use fresh berries!

Gently fold in berries. Most of the purple streaks disappear as the pancakes are fried, but some coloration remains.

While visiting Mami's family in Japan last summer, we picked up a handful of these heart shaped silicon molds from a Japanese dollar store (well, actually a 100 yen store). They're meant for eggs, but work great for pancakes!

And, they turned out great!

The recipe posted above is a modified (and better!) version of a recipe from the Chobani website. Thanks to them for the idea!


Enjoy! Let us know how they turned out! Did you try anything different?

Thanks for checking it out!

~Jeff & Mami

Did you miss the fantastic Yogurty Orange Julius recipe from a couple weeks ago?
Still curious how to make yogurt? It's easy!

Basic Flavoring

Fresh blackberries

Fresh strawberries

Official Post № 2:

"Holy cow, I just made a half gallon of yogurt, now what?!?"

I'm sure this is the situation that many of you currently face. :) Rest assured, this is the best part! We will offer some suggestions below, but post us a comment with your favorite too!

Fresh Fruit

By far, this is our favorite way to eat our yogurt. Slice up your favorite fresh fruit, add a little sweetener (honey or sugar), add a few drops of vanilla, stir it up, and eat it!

The tried and true:

• Strawberries (our favorite!)
• Raspberries
• Banana (easy and cheap)
• Blackberries
• Kiwi (this one was surprisingly fantastic!)
• Apple (we will add a special recipe for this one later on)
• Pear
• Peach
• Grapes
• Pineapple (not our favorite...)
• Blueberries

Frozen Fruit

When fresh fruit isn't handy, frozen fruit is a good substitute. Just thaw it out a little (zap it in the microwave for a few seconds or run it under hot water), add a little sugar and vanilla to taste.

Jam

No fresh or frozen fruit? Too lazy? Stir in a spoonful or so of jam, and add a couple drops of vanilla. Quick. Easy. Done.

Our homemade strawberry jam. Thanks for the recipe Mom!

Canned Fruit

Canned pears and peaches are our favorites of the canned varieties.

Our personal favorites

Out of all of the above, we do have a few favorites:

• Fresh strawberries
• Strawberry jam
• Canned pear

 Sweetening

This part depends on how sweet you like your yogurt. Some like it unsweetened, just with fruit added. Others like it sweetened. Others like it really sweet. We like it slightly sweet.

Honey is probably the best sweetener, but we often go with just a little bit of sugar.

Vanilla is key

Don't forget the vanilla! Add a drop or two or three when you mix in your fruit. Viola! Delectable yogurt!

Future posts for simple flavorings:

Mock apple pie yogurt

Granola

Future blog posts (include, but not limited to):

Smoothies!

Strawberry yogurt pancakes

Strawberry yogurt banana bread

Lemon poppy seed yogurt muffins (the yogurt makes these so soft and moist!)

et cetera, et cetera, et cetera...

Thanks! Please share with us some of your favorite flavorings - I'm sure we've been missing out on some!

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