Printable Duck Photo Box

It's been a long time since I've done a photo box, but this duck photo that I took this afternoon seemed like a good one for a printable gift box.

Click the image for a larger version, print on card stock, cut out, score fold lines, fold and glue!

Book Review- Put 'Em Up! Fruit

If there is a book out there that has made me more eager for farmer's markets and for my own berry patches and rhubarb to be ready to harvest, I don't remember it. Put 'Em Up Fruit- A Preserving Guide & Cookbook. Creative Ways to Put 'em Up, Tasty Ways to Use 'em Up is by Sherri Brooks Vinton who also wrote Put 'Em Up.

Enthusiastic, knowledgeable and creative, this collection of techniques and recipes for preservation and recipes for using what you've preserved will inspire anyone. It's presented in a great way that can be understood by absolute beginners to canning, dehydration, and other preserving methods. There are great photos throughout the book as inspiration, illustration and instruction.

So what makes this book so great? The variety of fruits and methods is certainly one thing. She explains different methods for preserving everything from every day apples to things like quince. Berries, rhubarb, pears, citrus and my favorite stone fruits are all included. The methods covered create jellies, jams, sauces, gastriques, infusions,homemade vinegar, cordials, fruit leathers and compotes.

The recipes for using up your preserves are also a great reason to enjoy this book. You'd expect a lot of desserts, and you'd be right of course. Fruit lends itself well to desserts, but there are also a lot of savory recipes. Not just for cooking with your preserves, but also one for blueberry ketchup my daughter wants to make after we go blueberry picking later this year. There are main courses and side dishes included in the recipes. The recipes are good for entertaining and family dinners, mostly simple enough to make with great flavor and texture combinations.

The information is fantastic, the author explains the methods step by step in a clear and concise way. She also includes cutting instructions so people can learn the basic knife skills to really make things beautiful. The instructions include great, full color photographs for visual learners.

The book starts with a table of contents of course, but at the end also includes a resources guide and a very complete index.

Absolutely recommended to anyone interested in food preservation and canning. This is one that will be used extensively throughout summer as more things ripen and become available in both my garden and at local farmer's markets.

You can watch videos by the author right here- Put 'Em Up! Fruit - You will learn how to make a blackberry gastrique, how to can using the water bath method and a recipe for using the gastrique with downloadable PDFs of the recipes shown.
The author is also going on tour to promote her book and you can catch her all over the country at farmer's markets and book stores. Check out the schedule HERE.

U.S.A. U.K.


Amazon.com affiliate links don't affect your cost, and provide extra income to me personally, which helps support this site.

I received a complimentary copy of this book to review, I received no other compensation, and my review is my honest opinion of the book. You can read more about my review policy here.

Printable quote- You're all beautiful

You're all geniuses and you're all beautiful. You don't need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are. -John Lennon

I hope you all enjoy this quote as much as I do. It will print to 8x10 inches, and because it's black and white it looks fantastic on colored paper. I do these using Astrobrights paper.

Click the image below for a large version to print. The version above is small and shareable from my Facebook page.

Don't forget my owl tape giveaway!

Bears at the zoo (photo post)

For Mother's Day, we have a family tradition of going to the zoo. We went on the 13th this year and I had all sorts of plans to get the photos TG and my husband took to include in this post. But since they both keep forgetting, you get to see my bears instead. I really love the brown bears. So I hope you enjoy these photos. Click to see larger versions, but they are resized so they aren't as big as the originals.

This one almost looks like they are cuddling doesn't it?

And just for Rosemary, something that's not a bear.