Canning Herb Syrup - Mint, Spearmint, Chocolate Mint, Lavendar, Basil

I have several varieties of mint growing like crazy in the garden so I decided it would be fun to make up some mint simple syrup to can for winter! I love to add mint simple syrup to my tea as well as with some club soda and ice for a "soda like" beverage. I'm also excited to try some lemonade sweetened with mint syrup :) I think I am going to do this syrup idea with some basil and lavender as well!!

 Start by removing and cleaning all your mint leaves. Then place them in water (proportions per batch are found at the end of this post). Bring them to a boil then reduce heat to low and simmer for about 30 minutes...or longer if you get distracted! Stirring occasionally to help keep the leaves working and oils extracting! (during this time make sure your jars are getting sterilized and placed in a warm oven as well as getting your water bath canner boiling and ready for the full jars of syrup)

Once the leaves have simmered you will want to strain out all the leaves to only have the delicious juice. I like to use a small hand strainer over a 1 gallon glass jar. Then pour the juice back into the pot. You can see how dark and rich the liquid is from the essential oils in the leaves! Press out as much liquid as you can from the leaves...the last few drops are the best!!

Add the desired lemon or lime juice and then bring the liquid to a boil and add the sugar, stirring constantly once the sugar is added. You only need to heat the syrup until the sugar is dissolved, which could be as little as a minute, but may take a few minutes.

 With your hot sterilized jars ready to go as well as your lids and water bath canner, you are ready to fill your jars.

Fill your jars to within 1/4 inch from the top...be careful not to make a big mess...this is syrup remember and is very sticky!

Clean off the rims and place on your sterilized lids and rings and process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes.

I did several batches and made 11 quarts of mint syrup (7 chocolate mint, 3 spearmint, and 1 that is a combo).

These are the quantities I used (per batch): This batch will make about 3 quarts of syrup

• 
  
  6 cups Herb leaves (loosely packed) You can use any herb you have: Any Mint, Lavender, Basil, etc.
• 
  
  10 cups Water
• 
  
  This made about 8 cups of liquids after simmering and so I added 8 cups of sugar
• 
  
  1/3 cup lemon juice

Addie loves these Goats

Does it get any cuter than a little girl with her two precious goats :)

 

Audio books from Audible.com

Audio books are so fun for kids and adults! My kids love watching cartoons and I wish I could say we were a TV free house, but we are not...I'll admit it, my kids watch TV. One thing we have been doing to try and cut out the TV (but still have some "listening time") is snuggling up on the couch and listening to audio books. We still love to sit and read our own books, but audio books offer a whole new adventure to books!! The most fun is when we find an audio book to listen to that we actually have the hard copy book at home already and we can follow along!

You can always purchase hard copies of a book and CD combination, but those tend to be quite expensive. Audible.com offers downloadable audio books and have over 75,000 titles to browse through and purchase and you get a discount for monthly subscriptions Limited Time Offer - Get Your First 3 Months at Audible.com for $7.49/month!

My kids love listening to collections from Beatrix Potter (Peter Rabbit), Cat in the Hat, Curious George, Winnie the Pooh, and others. I personally have too many favorites. All of the titles have a small preview available to listen to, some are short (only about a minute) and some are longer (10+ minutes). I encourage you to browse their titles and listen to a few previews! Snuggle up on the couch with your kids and experience the wonderful children's stories with them. Some titles are animated with music (some classical composers) and sound effects to make them all the more enjoyable. I appreciate that the stories are read by adults with proper English and are not high pitched, fast paced, squeaky characters which is typical for modern cartoons. Also take some time by yourself to listen to a few titles. I feel this is the perfect way to relax after a long day...with a cup of hot tea of course :)

Canning Grape Jam

I used the juice we crushed from the Marachel Foch grapes to make this jam. I made 2 different kinds of jams and just followed the directions listed on the packet provided with my powdered pectin. This is by far the easiest! I have searched far and wide for a good jam recipe but it always seems that the directions given with the pectin packet will contradict a good recipe. So trust the packet! I did 1 batch of jam with "No sugar added" and 1 batch of jam with "minimal sugar added".

The recipe will be similar to this. Measure out your juice and heat to a boil adding sugar if necessary (the recipe may or may not call for extended boiling times).

Have your jars sterilized and in a 200 degree oven to keep warm and sterilized.

 Add the powdered pectin and stir.

Fill your jars and clean the rims with a damp cloth.

 Process in a water bath canner for the time designated on your canning directions. My directions called for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath canner.