Lighten Up and Laugh!

Have you ever been unbelievably embarrassed?  Have you ever known someone who was so embarrassed, they never returned to a location or faced certain people again?  It is sad when one incident becomes debilitating.  I determined early on that I might as well laugh at myself because eventually (or daily), I will surely do something stupid and embarrassing.

As we had children, I wanted them to be able to recover quickly from errors and blunders.  In our family, we love to tell and retell stories, often the storyteller recounting his or her OWN embarrassing moments.  What has this got to do with canning?  Hang in there with me...I'll get there.

One family favorite involves my daughter, Jessica.  Amber and Jessica determined to make the treasured family dessert, pineapple upside down cake.  All of the ingredients were not in the house, so Amber volunteered to run to the store (and boy were her legs tired...).  When she returned with everything, Jessica announced that to speed up the process, she had baked the cake in Amber's absence.  "Now how do we make that topping?" she asked.  Yeah.  They had to bake a second cake.  Of course, this story comes up almost every time we have pineapple upside down cake.

So Amber's birthday is this week and we had the family dinner tonight.  For my girls, they usually prefer pineapple upside down cake to a frosted cake, so I baked one this morning.  I accidentally opened 2 cans of crushed pineapple and set the extra aside.  Once I had the cake in the oven, I surfed the internet for "pineapple jam," hoping to find a use for the opened pineapple.  Thank you, ColeensRecipes.blogspot.com,  for a simple recipe using canned pineapple (crushed), sugar, and powdered pectin.  In her blog, she casually mentions that she might add a few maraschino next time.

Hmmm, having just put the cake in the oven, the flavor pallet was running through my head.  What would it take to create a pineapple upside down jam?  So I added a few cherries, some brown sugar, and butter extract to the recipe.  YES!  It smelled just like the cake when it was cooking and I think tastes like it, too.  Jessica says that the best part is - if she bakes the cake first again, she can just grab a jar of this to "frost" it!  Ha, ha, ha - I just love that girl!

Here's the recipe from Coleen and then my modified recipe...

Coleen's Crushed Pineapple Jam

 (1) 20 oz can of crushed pineapple
unsweetened pineapple juice
3 cups white sugar
(1) box Sure Jell pectin powder

1. Wash your jam jars and keep jars hot.
2. Place your 2 piece jar lids in boiling water, then turn the heat to low.
3. Measure 3 cups of sugar and set it aside.
4. Add enough pineapple juice to the crushed pineapple, to equal 3¼ cups. One 20 ounce can of un-drained crushed pineapple and one six ounce can of unsweetened pineapple juice equals 3¼ cups.
5. Place the fruit + juice + pectin in a six quart, heavy bottomed saucepan and bring the mixture to a rolling boil over high heat.
6. Add the sugar, all at once, and bring back to a full rolling boil (one that can not be stirred down) stirring constantly. Boil for one minute. Remove from heat and skim off (and discard) any foam that is on the surface of the hot jam.  
7. Ladle hot jam into jars, filling to within ¼" of the top.
8. With a clean, warm, damp cloth, quickly wipe off the rims of the full jars and put the two piece lids on.
9. Process the jars in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. Remove and cool in draft-free location on the counter.


Granny's Pineapple Upside Down Jam

 (1) 20 oz can of crushed pineapple
unsweetened pineapple juice
6 maraschino cherries
1/2 tsp imitation butter extract
2 cups white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
(1) box Sure Jell pectin powder

1. Wash your jam jars and keep jars hot.
2. Place your 2 piece jar lids in boiling water, then turn the heat to low.
3. Measure sugar and brown sugar; set it aside.
4. Add enough pineapple juice to the crushed pineapple, to equal 3¼ cups. One 20 ounce can of undrained crushed pineapple and one six ounce can of unsweetened pineapple juice equals 3¼ cups.
5. Place the fruit, juice, and cherries in blender and pulse to chop cherries and ensure no large bits of pineapple. Pour blender contents, butter extract, and pectin in a six quart, heavy bottomed saucepan and bring the mixture to a rolling boil over high heat.
6. Add the sugar, all at once, and bring back to a full rolling boil (one that can not be stirred down) stirring constantly. Boil for one minute. Remove from heat and skim off (and discard) any foam that is on the surface of the hot jam.  
7. Ladle hot jam into jars, filling to within 1/2" of the top.
8. With a clean, warm, damp cloth, quickly wipe off the rims of the full jars and put the two piece lids on.
9. Process the jars in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. Remove and cool in draft-free location on the counter.


So make a batch of yummy jam
and even if you make a mistake,
Lighten Up - Just Laugh.