Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia Strawberry Jam

I just couldn’t help myself. 

I’ve been on vacation this week, enjoying my time off in the garden and getting some odds and ends done at home.  The weather has been overcast and or rainy all week, but I’m good with that.  I’m not a lover of the heat so this weather works for me, and it makes it easier to deal with the overgrown mess that is the flower beds around here.  The wet ground makes it much easier to pull out those pesky weeds. 

The veggie garden is coming along nicely.  I thought I was going to lose a lot when hurricane Arthur visited a couple weeks ago, but everything survived and has for the most part recovered nicely.  So far I’ve harvested, bok choy, mixed greens, kale, early turnip, radish, and garlic scapes. Still waiting on the tomatoes, cukes, cabbage, brussel sprouts, onions, peppers, potatoes and zucchini.  I didn’t want to let those garden spaces sit empty so I just planted some more radish, mixed greens, and peas a couple of days ago for a second harvest, and they have sprouted already.

One of the the yummy things I wait all year for is our amazing Valley Strawberries.  These little red bundles of deliciousness just can’t be beat.  If only they were around longer. 

There were a couple of boxes hanging out in the fridge that seemed to be destined for some jam.  Since I can’t make traditional jam to save my life Chia jam is a perfect solution.

Strawberry Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia Jam

1 pound fresh strawberries

2 –3 tbsp local honey or maple syrup

2 tbsp chia seeds

1/2  tsp vanilla

squeeze of lemon (optional)

Wash, hull and chop strawberries. I pulse mine in the blender or food processor a few times to speed the process up since strawberries take a little longer to break down than other berries, but you can skip that step if you like.

Place chopped berries, and sweetener of choice in a pot over medium heat.  Mash with potato masher once they start to heat up (if you didn’t blend first) to get desired consistency. Bring to a boil add chia seeds, turn heat down to a simmer.  Continue to cook for another 5 – 7 minutes,  stirring frequently.  you can cook a little longer if the mixture still seems very liquid.  Remove from heat, add vanilla and squeeze of lemon if using.  While it’s cooling the magical chia seeds will do their job and thicken it nicely.

Store in fridge to use right away or freeze for later use.

Enjoy, have a qreat day!

~~ Jackie

Digging In The Dirt

Hi bloggies... Last night's post was preempted by cooking class and a sick fur kid.  I tried posting but fell asleep with the laptop on my lap in bed... oops.


Let's talk gardening 


Flowers make me happy.  I love picking them out, strolling the garden centers and greenhouses, trading with friends,then creating pretty container gardens and flower beds.  Sadly I left most of my plants behind when I got divorced and then left the rest at my house when I sold it. I used to spend hours dead heading them, trimming them and yes I even talked to them.. lol (please don't judge). I could just tune out the world and relax.


Last summer I thought I'd like to give growing my own veggies a try, so I asked hubby to build me a raised bed at the side of the house. So off I went shopping for some transplants and came home with some purple kale (can you say kale chips), English cucumbers, tomatoes, cauliflower, and peppers. The kale, tomatoes and cucumbers were a huge success, the cauliflower and peppers, not so much.  The little critters, bugs or what have you decided they were pretty tasty and ate them all before they had a chance to grow into anything :(


This year I wanted to expand and try something different. I started growing some things from seed.

Fernando supervising.

I planted some carrots, arugula, 2 kinds of beets, mesclun mix, spinach and some other lettuce.  So far so good, they're actually growing, I just need to get them in the ground.

Aren't they cute??  

Of course this wasn't enough, so on the way by Farmer Clem's and the Superstore last weekend I stopped in just to see what they had.  I'm sure you know how that turned out.

There's going to be a whole lot of cooking with fresh herbs this year.  Parsley, Cilantro, Thyme, Oregano, Rosemary, Dill, 2 kinds of Basil and Curry.  There are a few lettuce plants thrown in there too along with some hot peppers (here's hoping the bugs don't like hot peppers).  I also had some garlic growing in the pantry so I threw that in the ground and it's coming along nicely.

If that's not enough I still have more seeds I need to get in and mom has a bunch of different kinds of Tomato plants.

The only negative to growing you're own, is you have to wait way too long for everything to grow.  Patience is not one of my strong suits. It'll be worth it though, and if everything grows I'll be eating LOTS of veggies and spreading some veggie love around to whoever I can.

Well, that's all I have for you tonight. 

~~Jackie