Dr. Pepper And Orange Crush Jelly?



Vintage Dr. Pepper Sign



So...

A few years back I was at a craft show in Corsicana, TX.

(When am I not at a craft show)?

Anyway....

There was a lady selling all kinds of jams and jellies,

but the ones that caught my eye were made with sodas/colas.

She had Dr. Pepper, Coke, Big Red, A & W Root Beer, Orange Crush

and probably a few more that I can't remember.

These varieties were just flying off her table.

I called the hubby to see if he wanted the Dr. Pepper one,

he's from Texas and is a big fan of the Dr.

He said fore sure, but, by the time I got back with the cash....

Not a Pepper in sight.

Flash forward...

I was trolling the net and remembered about the soda/cola jellies.

I did a google search and found this recipe for

The Pepper and another one for A&W.

Thinking to self, these would make

awesome Christmas gifts.



Yes, I make notes on my recipes, this should say, went horribly wrong.



I followed the directions,

(this ain't my first jelly making RO-DA-O)

but it just wouldn't set.

Expecting some awesome jelly.

Ok...

Google search again.

Why, and how to fix?

Apparently the recipe didn't have enough sugar.

The fix was pretty standard from all sources.

Un-cap, pour into pot, add more sugar, lemon juice and pectin.

Re-boil, re-cap and re-process.

OR...

Just go with it and call it syrup.

Guess what route I took?

YEP!

I think I'm going to call them,

Gourmet Smoothie Starters, or, Specialty Pancake Toppings,

or, Terry's Awesome Milk Shake Blends...

Terry's Awesome, Orange Crush and Dr. Pepper Gourmet Syrups.

The jar with the white lid is the leftovers from each batch.

Didn't get processed and went straight to the fridge.

I will try again!

If you're on my Christmas list.....

Till next time, happy canning.

Bonjour

Grill Up Bonanza



Market goodies

So...

This is the some of the produce I bought

yesterday at the market.

We did a grill up today with a sirloin steak, ribs, a small pork loin,

dogs, (no, not the pet kind) those beauties, Ý cantaloupe and bananas.

Here's the run down/method.

Hubby marinated the steak and pork loin in olive oil.

He also pre-cooked the ribs in the slow cooker with French's
Worcestershire sauce, (try to spell that without the bottle in front of you)

soy sauce, Louisiana hot sauce and some water.

When they were ready to grill he took them out of the cooking liquid
and put hickory smoked b-b-q sauce on them.

(I saved the cooking liquid in freezer containers for later use

in soups and stews this winter).

 

Dogs and cantaloupe

He cut and peeled the cantaloupe, cut into crescents and marinated 

one half (about 6 slices) in some juice from our canned jalapeños.
The other half of the melon, (also about 6 slices) 

were sprinkled with lemon pepper and chili powder.

I decided to cut the bananas length wise and douse them with maple syrup.

Maple syrup bananas

A couple packages of the dogs were coated in hickory smoked b-b-q sauce,

the others were left plain.

The tomato and colored bell peppers were sliced and grilled plain.

The critique...

Meat....
The steak, ribs and loin were good,
although,
 if I would have been grilling them,
I would have taken them off sooner.
I'm more of a medium rare to medium person.
Dogs were perfect!

Cantaloupe...
EXCELLENT!!!
I liked the jalapeño ones best!
You'll just have give them a go, they won't disappoint.
Easy to grill in the fish griller with no sticking.

Veggies...
Veggies were perfect, slightly crisp and sweet tasting.
No sticking in the fish griller.

Bananas...
OMG, so good you just can't imagine.
When I do bananas again I'll buy them a little more greener/firmer.
It was tricky getting them out of the fish griller whole.
Maybe oil the fish griller also?

The hubby did most of the work and I was so appreciative.
He's a pretty good cook.
The "pet" dogs were also appreciative for the rib bones :-)

I was otherwise occupied with making jelly.
I'll let you know how that turned out.

Till next time, grill,

it'll keep your house cooler/ save electricity.

Bonjour

P.S.

Twice, during this post when I clicked enter

to go to the next line, blogger posted instead of

moving to the next line.

I've been having nothing but problems

since they updated.

How about you?