Stawberrry Jam (No Pectin)

There is always a bottle of strawberry / grape jam in my refrigerator since they happen to be my favorites to pair with my toast though husband votes for orange marmalade. I thought of therefore including a jam recipe this week as part of my 'spreads' theme in the blogging marathon. I had tried preparing jams a few times before and decided to do a version without pectin this time. I saved a pack of strawberries for this purpose though I had a bottle of strawberry spread in the refrigerator staring at me. It would have given me an evil eye if it could emote. That's how ridiculous I become when it comes to blogging and luckily, my husband didn't notice that I spent time on cooking something, which is already lying in the refrigerator. 

This is one of the recipes to try when one has a bounty of berries or berries are selling cheaper. This home version jam contains only three ingredients and contains no pectin. Pectin is added in jam preparation for thickening and without pectin, this jam is slightly on the softer side. Sweet ripened berries, sugar and lemon juice are the only ingredients that went into this jam preparation. I didn't add the quantity of sugar mentioned in the recipe on purpose and made somewhat sweet - tart tasting jam. This makes a small quantity of jam and mine was gone in less than a week. 

Ingredients:
2 cups strawberries (roughly a pound)
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar (or adjust to the desired sweetness)

Directions:
* Freeze a couple of metal spoons.
* Wash the berries and chop the stems. Chop / blend the strawberries to your desired consistency. I pulsed them in a food processor to a coarse mush along with sugar.
* Add all the ingredients to a medium sized pan and stir to combine. Cook on medium flame until mixture comes to a boil. Lower the heat and continue cooking for another 15 to 20 minutes, stirring frequently.
* To know whether the jam is done, dribble some hot jam onto a frozen spoon and wait for a few seconds for it to cool. If you run a finger through the jam and if it makes a clear path through the jam and doesn't fill in, it means the jam is set. Continue to cook if the jam is not yet set.
* Remove the jam from the heat when it is set and transfer to a clean jar. Refrigerate it when it completely cools down. 


This post is an entry for Blogging Marathon #102 under 'Spreads' theme. Check what other marathoners are cooking, clicking at the link.

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Greek Yogurt and Raspberry Parfait

My final post of this week is going to be this quick and delicious parfait which needs only three ingredients. This is one of those recipes which needs no recipe as such since anyone can blindly layer the ingredients. This recipe is child's play if one is using store bought ingredients.

The ingredients needed for this parfait are granola, yogurt and berries. The granola can be either a homemade batch of one's preference or store bought one. One can use either a single kind or a combo of berries they have on hand or even other fruit pieces. The yogurt can be a flavored or plain one. Even non fat yogurt will do.

I used store bought low fat granola and paired it with raspberries. The yogurt was a homemade low fat one with the consistency of a Greek yogurt kind. I am not mentioning the quantities here since one can use them as needed.

This makes a quick fix, wholesome breakfast during morning rush hours or when one is not in a mood to cook. Or when fixing breakfast for just one.

Pour yogurt into the bottom of a couple of tall glasses. Then granola and fruit. Alternate layers of granola and fruit with yogurt until glasses are full. One can sprinkle some slivered almonds or nuts over the top if preferred. Serve parfaits immediately to keep granola crunchy.

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