Or, what I did this weekend.

While we were in Vancouver I got a new canning book called Food in Jars by Marisa McClellan. It's full of lovely sounding recipes that don't make huge amounts of food; something I especially appreciate if I'm making something new and don't know for sure I'll like it. This weekend I tried my first recipe: Small Batch Mixed Stone Fruit Jam. It's one of those smart recipes that is meant to help you use up the fruit you bought to eat but won't finish before it goes bad, and it really is a small batch. The recipe only calls for three 250 ml (half pint) jars and I only got two when I was finished.

I just used peaches and I bought them just for making the jam. The recipe has you chop everything up (I also removed the skins) and mix it with the sugar and leave it in the fridge for up to two days. Breaking up the making time made it so much easier to do. I did all the peeling and chopping on Saturday morning and then didn't think about it again until Sunday when I was ready to do the cooking and canning. My kitchen smelled wonderful the whole time the jam was cooking. Peaches must be one of my favourite smells. I used a thermometer for the first time making this jam and it was really helpful when it came to reaching jell stage without over cooking my jam. One of my jars didn't seal after being processed but that's okay because I'd have opened one of them right away anyway; it just means it gets stored in the fridge instead of the cupboard.

I tried some of the jam this evening (I had nothing to eat it on at breakfast time). It's amazing. I thought at first it was going to be very sweet and syrupy tasting but it's perfect. It starts off sweet and peachy and finishes with a wonderful hint of bitter (I suspect from the lemon zest) that balances out the sweetness perfectly and gives it an almost marmalade like tang. Part of me thinks I should have used the little 125 ml jars so I could share it around but really I want to keep it all to myself. I can always make another batch.

My first attempt at kasespatzle did not go particularly well but the end result was so tasty I wanted give it another try. There were two big differences this time: first, I used an eggier batter recipe and made sure it was soft enough to actually obey the law of gravity, and second, I got myself a spatzle maker when we were in BC in October (with holes way bigger than the ones in my colander). The result was a pan a delicious, fluffy fried spatzle with caramelized onions and cheese. I let the cheese cook on the pan for a bit before transferring everything to a couple of plates too. I love those little bits of cooked cheese.
 
Seven eggs seemed like a lot to use on one meal but the batch of spatzle was enough for two meals for the two of us (three if we’d been willing to eat spatzle twice in one day) and when you compare that to any egg based meal that’s not so bad. We usually have two eggs each if I’m making eggs benny or scrambled eggs. In fact, cooked up with some cheese and herbs, spatzle tastes a lot like scrambled eggs.

Abby was on hand to ensure that no dropped cheese went to waste.

Inspired by Jen: rolled oats with brown sugar and raisins, juice, tea