The strawberries are at Walmart....... Just kidding. But I have made two batches of freezer jam this week using those Walmart strawberries. The season here in the Ozarks is at least two weeks late and we did not have local strawberries for our canning club meeting this week to make surejel freezer jam. So we had to buy. Then I made a batch at home using Pomona pectin. Today, I bought more (from Walmart again) to make a batch using bulk pectin from a local Amish store as another experiment. The surejel jam did not set very well, but it was incredible over a bowl of german chocolate ice cream.

I've another new recipe that I made a couple of weeks ago. Adapted from allrecipes... Chinese Egg Rolls (w/o the eggs) 4 t. vegetable oil 1 medium head cabbage, finely shredded 1/2 carrot, grated 1 can bamboo shoots, cut into long thin strips 1 c. mushrooms 1 # freshly roasted pork, shredded 2 (or more) green onions, thinly sliced 1 T. (or more) soy sauce 1 t. sugar 1 14 oz. pkg egg roll wrappers 1 egg white, beaten 4 c. oil for frying Heat the oil in the wok. Add cabbage & carrot; cook 2 minutes over high heat to wilt. Add bamboo, mushrooms, pork, green onions, soy, sugar & addt'l salt to taste, if needed. Continue cooking until veggies soften, about 6 minutes. Spread mixture out into a shallow pan & refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour. Assembling the egg rolls. Place a wrapper on the counter w/ one corner pointing toward you. Place about 3 T. of cooked filling in a heap onto the bottom third of the wrapper. Brush a little beaten egg white onto the top two edges of the wrapper. Fold the bottom corner over the filling & roll firmly to the halfway point. Then fold the left & right sides snugly over the egg roll & continue rolling until the top corners seal the egg roll. Repeat--keeping assembled egg rolls covered to prevent them from drying out. Heat oil in wok or heavy saucepan to 350 degrees. Fry egg rolls 2-3 at a time until golden brown (about 5 minutes.) Drain on paper towels & serve. Notes: My egg rolls were a little on the loose side--work on getting a nice tight roll. For some reason?, I had some rolls break open in the hot oil on the second batch that I fried. Had leftover wrappers so I put a second wrap around the uncooked egg rolls & none of those split open. (Possibly I used too much filling or didn't get a tight enough wrap??) Makes a lot of egg rolls--14-16 large ones Enough for a main course for 4 people. (I was tired & that's all they got for dinner!) Anyway, if you're making them as an appetizer for a small group, would cut the recipe in half. This one was termed 'A keeper' by The Guys. DSII later referred to them as 'those awesome eggrolls'. Oh--& about the eggs. I've never eaten eggrolls that had egg in them & wondered why they were called 'eggrolls'. Just assumed that the wrapper must have egg in it. Anyway, the original recipe called for three beaten eggs fried into any egg pancake & cut into strips and added to the cooked cabbage mixture just before chilling. I skipped the egg just cause we aren't accustomed to having fried egg in our egg rolls. Will try it on a portion of the recipe some time in the future. Maybe what gets billed as 'eggroll' on the local Asian menus are, in reality, 'springrolls'? Truthfully, I suspect that they're frozen factory food because a lot of them just aren't very good--what led me on my quest for a tastier home-made version in the first place.

I made this last year and it was very good! Originally posted by Suzytwo STRAWBERRY RHUBARB COFFEE CAKE ** FILLING ** 3 cups sliced rhubarb, -- 1 inch pieces 1 quart fresh strawberries, -- diced/mashed 2 tablespoons lemon juice 1 cup sugar 1/3 cup cornstarch ** CAKE ** 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda ý teaspoon salt 1 cup butter or margarine, -- cut into pieces 1 ý cups milk (buttermilk is even better) 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ** TOPPING ** ü cup butter or margarine þ cup all-purpose flour þ cup sugar Preheat oven to 350. In a large saucepan, combine rhubarb, strawberries and lemon juice. Cover and cook over medium heat about 5 minutes. Combine sugar and cornstarch, stir into saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly until thickened; remove from heat and set aside. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. (I used my hands, pressing the butter into the flour. Use cool butter) Beat milk, eggs, and vanilla; stir into crumb mixture. Spread half the batter evenly into a greased 13x9x2-inch baking dish. Carefully spread filling on top. Drop remaining batter by tablespoonfuls over filling. For topping: melt butter in microwave over low heat, stir in flour and sugar until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over batter. Lay foil on lower rack to catch any juicy fruit spillovers. Place coffee cake on middle rack, bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes. Cool in pan. Cut into squares. Posted 6/10/08 by Susytwo Linda

Oh Sue--I was craving rhubarb yesterday. I wanted a rhubarb and strawberry pie!! Won't be long before it'll be ready to pick up there. I'm also wanting chocolate so I bought the stuff to make this sheet cake this week. It's more like a brownie, but whatever it is, it sure is good. My sister's MIL gave me the recipe years ago. Chocolate Sheet Cake 1 c. sugar 4 eggs 1/8 tsp. salt 1 c. + 1 Tbsp. flour 1/2 c. butter, softened 1-16 oz. can Hershey's syrup Cream sugar and butter until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time beating until smooth. Add salt and blend in flour and syrup. Pour into a greased 10x15" cookie pan. Bake 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Frosting: (the good part) 1-1/2 c. sugar 6 Tbsp. milk 6 Tbsp. butter 1/2 c. chocolate chps 1 c. nuts Bring sugar, butter and milk to a boil and boil for minute. Remove from heat and add chips and nuts. Stir until chips melt. Spread on cake while it's still warm. Work fast--it gets hard quickly. If that happens add a little milk.