Outside around our place we have beautiful blue wildflowers;
nesting supplies for the birds;
a fine feathered rooster;
and tiny toad tadpoles. (To name just a few interesting outdoorsy sort of things.)
Guess what, my friends? I made homemade jam this weekend (in a bit of time between ball games). Oh, it was very rewarding and such an easy recipe. I found the recipe (and the muffin one, too) in a cookbook that I borrowed from the library.
Apricot-Pineapple Jam, makes 4 cups
1 box dried apricots
1 20 oz. can crushed pineapple
6 cups sugar
12 maraschino cherries, coarsely chopped
1 package Certo pectin
1 T. butter
Cut the apricots into small pieces with scissors, removing any hard stems, and place in a bowl. Add two cups of water and let stand for at least 4 hours. Place softened apricots in large, heavy pot and add the other ingredients. Mix well. Place over high heat and bring to a full rolling boil stirring constantly. Boil 10 minutes to prevent floating fruit. Ladle into sterilized jars and seal.
It’s a bright, delicious jam. The boys came home from their Saturday job as I was stirring it on the stove top. They said it smelled so good. “Mom’s making jam again!” After I was done with it, I made some biscuits and we enjoyed the jam on our biscuits. It was a lovely late-afternoon snack.
Rich was busy working on yet another landscaping project here at home–a walkway from the house to the garage–so I served him his biscuit with jam outside and he enjoyed every morsel. Funny story: He asked for a second biscuit and as I skipped proudly back inside through the front door, I told the children (who were munching on their snack) happily, “Dad wants another one!” THEY THOUGHT I MEANT ANOTHER BABY! Ethan even said, “If it’s a boy we could name him Joshua, we’ve always liked that name but haven’t used it yet”. 
Talk about misunderstanding!
This was the weekend project. Actually not only a walkway, but also a patio between the house and the garage. Rich and the boys (and Grace, too) worked on it all weekend long. Six year old Caleb even has a black eye from his “helping” (he was fooling around and ran into one of his brothers, who was carrying some pavers).
The pavers are all in place now, and we are just waiting for them to dry (it has since rained) before Rich finishes it off. We plan on putting a grill down there and planting some perennial beds around the outside of the patio. I am proud of their hard work. In fact, it is one of the ways Rich likes to show me his love, by his hard work around the house and at the office. *swoon* 
He gets rewarded for his hard work in many ways, one of which is GOOD EATS. Yesterday morning he was working outside and I served him “breakfast on a bulldozer”. I made homemade baked oatmeal and orange muffins and took them outside to him as he was working on the bulldozer with Seth on his lap.
The muffins were so perfectly yummy, you must try:
Orange Buttermilk Muffins, makes 12
6 T. butter
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 orange
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
dash salt
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Melt the butter, set aside to cool. Put the buttermilk and half a sweet orange, seeds removed, into a blender and puree. Add the egg and butter and blend well. In a separate bowl combine all the dry ingredients. Mix the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients until just mixed. Do not overbeat. Spoon into greased muffin tins and bake at 400 for 20 minutes.
Serve with butter and homemade apricot pineapple jam.
Good to be Home 
I’ll have to try that last recipe. The jam sounds good too! Such a shame that I have the time to cook during the summers, but then it’s too hot!
I want to know how to make the baked oatmeal! and do you serve it with anything special?
So reading Jamberry put you in the mood to make jam 🙂 I tried a week ago but in my haste I grabbed the cornstarch instead of clear jel 😦 My kids were just asking this morning for baked oatmeal! A favorite around here but a bit too sweet with all that brown sugar. You take very good care of your family. What a thoughtful wife and mamma you are!!
So yummy! Can you share the Oatmeal recipe? Thanks for the muffin recipe..so looking forward to trying it.
I read the “jam” part of your title and then saw your first picture. I actually laughed and thought “oh, I’ll bet she makes jam out of those flowers”…LOL. So, your husband “wants another one, eh?” Your baked oatmeal looks yummy along side those muffins. I am so not a morning person. We do cereal from a box. It I fix big breakfasts, they are for dinner 😉
Love all the outdoorsy things. Your new patio looks a treat. So fun to fuel your workers with all your recipes!Your “Dad wants another one” story made us laugh so hard. That is cute. I love apricots, so the jam sounds delish!I like the little face popping up in the sand pile.
Your patio looks so nice. You have such a beautiful home and a hard working husband.I will for sure be trying that recipe…maybe even tomorrow morning! Thanks for sharing it.Loved all of your photos.Happy Tuesday to you. =)
Oh, what a wonderful post!
@fwren – @buana – 1/4 cup butter, melted1/2 cup brown sugar1 egg1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats1 tsp. baking powder1/2 tsp. salt1/2 cup milkMix all together in a loaf pan.Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. If you double it, you bake it in a 9 by 13. You can serve it with yogurt or fruit. We just eat it plain. You can adjust the sugar according to your tastes.
Shanda, That jam looks delicious. I am going to have to try that. What a nice husband building and fixing and making everything look so pretty. I love the photo of all the kids out there helping.Oh and we love the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang too!~Cinnamon
That jam recipe sounds so good — do you drain the pineapple? Is this freezer jam or can it be left out on the shelf? Your patio looks so nice and you have all those great workers!
so good to be on your blog again Shanda after being MIA here for a bit! the misunderstanding is so funny!!! i made jam today too. with strawberries the kiddos and i picked. i was much too tired to make biscuits to go with the fresh jam tonight, but hopefully sometime this week i can pull that off. there is NOTHING better than homemade biscuits with butter and jam!! happy tuesday to you sweet friend!
Your muffins look so yummy. I really enjoyed your pictures: wild flowers look extremely beautiful and the tadpoles are interesting. I don’t really see them around here where I live. Thanks for sharing.
@purpleamethyst76 – I have that same recipe, but I also add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon (I always make the double batch, so it is a teaspoon of cinnamon). This is a family staple at our house, and when we have family brunch when all the adult kids are in, BAKED OATMEAL is the most requested thing. And so I make a batch using six cups of oatmeal, put it into a lasagna pan, and they snack on it until it is finished.
You are soooo blessed!! I don’t know if you realize just how blessed you truly are!! ❤ <3The patio is beautiful and the muffins look scrumptious! I’m going to write that recipe down. 🙂
Thank you so much for the recipe. I am going to make it this weekend. Would it be okay to use quick cooking oats, as this is what I have. Thank you.
These recipes look so so good!! I want to make both of them! I’m curious about your baked oatmeal, though. Did you do something differently to make it “baked”? We do the traditional oatmeal on the stove. Thanks for the recipes!
OK…I just saw the recipe for the baked oatmeal! I will have to try it.
Yesterday I made our first apricot cobbler of the season with the fruit the children brought in. I am going to try that jam. Yummy!
@buanasue – Yes, you can use the quick oats. It will be a different texture, but still yummy! The next time you get the rolled oats, try the recipe again and see which version you like best! 🙂
@myhopeisinjesus – It is a cooked jam….after it’s boiled for 10 minutes you ladle it in the jars, screw on the rims and lids and then invert them. That should seal the lids. I didn’t drain the pineapple. My question w/the recipe was “how much is 1 box of dried apricots” ….. I had to guess on the amount but the recipe still turned out just fine (and I ended up with 6 cups of jam, instead of 4).
What a tribute to you and Rich that the children think a proudly skipping momma and “Daddy wants another one” adds up to another baby! That’s the attitude toward God’s gifts that I want to have, but don’t all the time.Sarah
I love the picture of Rich seated with his biscuit. It seems to be a defensible position, sheltering his scrumptious goodie from covetous birds. God is so good to have brought you together.
Oh my goodness shanda I love this real life post!!! First off the delicious recipes are a must try…I will let you know as I try them! Second I have never seen the section between your house and garage before…how fun to see another corner of your world…would love to see the finished project and the flower beds you are making when it is done. LOVE how you show off to rich when he is home making yummy things:) AND seriously the baby comment made me laugh out loud!! Good thing I am up early with noone around…they would all be wondering why mom is laughing at the computer:):) You totally should have another boy and name him Joshua!! Great idea Ethan!! Loved this post!
Shanda this is such a lovely post! Those Muffins look amazing! I’m absolutely going to try that recipe 🙂 Have a great weekend friend 🙂
Made the muffins today for breakfast! Yummy:)