Bread and Jelly Anyone?

I mentioned in my last post about logical planning. I have always thought I could eat a lot of homemade wheat bread or pancakes if I had to, but I would certainly prefer to have something good to go on them. I love jelly, jam and syrup. I confess to often eating the French toast or pancakes just for the jelly.

And...don't forget Peanut Butter and Jelly. Peanut Butter is obviously a great storage item but it goes down better with Jelly.

Sometimes making Jelly is a big production and can be a little time consuming - especially if you have to pick the fruit. Here are some quick Jelly recipes that you can make in a hurry that are great on fresh hot bread, pancakes, waffles, French toast or just a plain old PB&J.

The first two jellies are made with canned juice. And yes, I do have some red hots on hand to make the cinnamon-apple jelly. Canned juice stores for awhile too in a cool dry place.

I am including the recipe for Rhubarb Jelly just because it's my most favorite thing ever. If you have never tried it, you should. It is soooo good! It makes a great jelly or syrup.

Hopefully these recipes will inspire you to think about your food storage and what you can put together to make a quick and easy meal that even the kids like!

GRAPE JELLY
3 ½ c. Grape juice (canned)
2 ½ T. lemon juice
1 pkg. pectin
4 ½ c. sugar
Measure sugar and set aside. Combine juices in large heavy saucepan. Stir in pectin. Bring to full rolling boil which you cannot stir down. Add sugar and stir. Bring to a boil and boil hard exactly 2 minutes. Remove from heat and skim off foam. Pour into hot jars. Wipe top of jar. Seal and process in water bath for 10 minutes. Y: about 7 half pints

RED HOT APPLE CINNAMON JELLY
4 c. bottled apple juice
1 package pectin
4 c. sugar
¼ c. Red Hots Candies
Combine juice and pectin in heavy 6 quart saucepan. Bring to full rolling boil which you cannot stir down. Add sugar and red hots. Stir. Bring to a boil. Boil hard for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Skim foam. Pour jelly into hot jars. Wipe top of jar. Seal and process in hot water bath for 10 minutes.

RHUBARB JELLY
Cook rhubarb until it is mushy. Cover with just enough water to cover, the less water the stronger the flavor will be. Strain rhubarb extracting as much juice as possible.
3 c. rhubarb juice
1/3 c. liquid pectin (1 pouch or ½ bottle)
4 ½ c. sugar
Bring juice and pectin to a boil. Add sugar and bring to a boil for 1 minute. Pour into sterilized jars and put lids on. Water bath 15 minutes. This is a delicate, tangy jelly, especially good on thumbprint cookies or waffle or pancakes.