I tinkered with the NCHFP recipe and it came out pretty good. I did a blog post about it in January with the basic recipe and my tweaks and tricks if you're interested. Here is a link that might be useful: Homemade Barbecue Sauce

Not low sugar, but I'd think someone here might be able to help with that. I like this jam from USApears.com . They have other pear recipes as well. I also like the pear butter in the Ball Blue Book. The nutmeg is distinctive. Bartlett Harlequin Jam - USAPears.com You wouldn't think that the addition of maraschino cherries could change the complex flavors of this very easy jam. From a base of Bartlett pears comes a jam as pretty as it is delicious. Ingredients 1 1/2 pounds Bartlett USA Pears 1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple 2 tablespoons lemon juice 1 package (2 ounces) powdered fruit pectin 5 1/2 cups sugar 1 jar (8 ounces) red maraschino cherries, drained and chopped Directions Peel, core, and finely chop pears. Measure 2 cups fruit into heavy kettle; add pineapple and lemon juice. Add pectin; stir well. Bring to boil; stir constantly. Add sugar; mix well. Cook and stir over high heat until mixture comes to full rolling boil. Boil 4 minutes. Remove from heat and skim. Carefully stir in cherries. Ladle into clean, hot half-pint canning jars to within ¨û-inch of tops. Seal according to jar manufacturer's directions. Place jars on rack in canner. Process 5 minutes in boiling water bath with boiling water 2 inches above jar tops. Remove jars from canner. Cool away from drafts. Remove rings from sealed jars after 12 hours. yield: Makes about 8 half pints PEAR BUTTER - Ball Blue Book 2 quarts pear pulp [about 20 medium] (my notes - about 12 large) 4 cups sugar 1/3 cup orange juice 1 tsp grated orange rind 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg To prepare pulp: Quarter and core pears. Cook until soft, adding only enough water to prevent sticking. Press through a sieve or food mill. Measure pulp. Add remaining ingredients; cook until thick, about 35 minutes. As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking. Pour hot into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch head space. Adjust caps. Process pints and quarts 10 minutes in boiling water bath. Yield: about 4 pints. Also try Bernardin, the Canadian "Ball" canning site. http://www.bernardin.ca/ I did a search for pears there and got quite a few hits, including an interesting sounding pear cinnamon jam I may have to try this year. Here is a link that might be useful: Bartlett Harlequin Jam

Laura and Others, Thanks for the help and the questions are not a problem. To start, the pot it is in, honestly I do not know gallon size but it is probaby a 8" dia. by 8"-10" deep. It is a white (maybe off white), because being a novice I didnt know how much bottom heat helped when I planted it (now I do from reading all the posts). As for the planting mix that I used, I am not 100% sure, it was quite a while ago. I do understand the need for fast draining soil, and I am pretty sure that I used a cactus mix for it as I knew when I planted it that it need to drain well. For the sun, being in SoCal we do get plenty of sun, and currently I would say that it probably gets sun from around 8-9 am till the sun goes down which is around 8 pm currently. Actually I start it off on a table in my back yard, then after my sprinklers are done at 9 am I have my wife move it to the edge of the patio so it will be in the sun till the end of the day and have the bottom heat from the concrete. In the feeding or fertilizer dept, I actually have never feeded it till last weekend. Again being new at this, I just didnt know. After reading as much as I have though, I did get a fertilizer last weekend that I believe is 7-55-17(or 12 cant remember off the top of my head). And I do plan on using it possibly every other week? Well I think that answered all of your questions to give you a better idea. I have thought of a couple more though. I was looking to possibly purchase a couple more, but is it to late in the season to start rooting them? Where I am in CA it seems to be in the high 80s- mid 90s during the day till at least Oct. Also for fertilizer, I have seen that some people suggest also using a micronutrient, which I do have for other plants. Would this be reccommended? Last thing, Laura, you mentioned that it sounds as if it should be well rooted. Personally I hope so, but is there a chance that it isnt? I mean would it have survived this long otherwise? It has had leaves come and go for probably a year and a half now. With that though is there a way that I could check to see how the roots are doing? Problem is I do not want to damage them or shock the plumeria if they are doing fine. Again thanks for all the help. Everyone has always said I have a green thumb, I dont want my green thumb to fail me on this plumeria. Also I will try to post a picture tonight. Andrew

Kate, here is another recipe I can highly recommend. Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table Cream Cheese filled White Chocolate Muffins =========================================== Adapted from Couture Cupcakes- ecupcake.blogspot.com The original recipe called for 4 ounces of white chocolate. I only had two. And like most cupcakes the original one was frosted. Instead I drizzled an icing sugar glaze flavoured with butter and vanilla over the warm cupcake. I also placed a large spoonful of the cream cheese filling in the centre. Definitely a keeper. 2 cups all purpose flour 1 2/3 cups of white sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 ounces quality white chocolate 1/2 butter 1/2 cup water 1 cup of sour cream 2 teaspoons vanilla 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 2 eggs Oven preheated to 350°F Melt chocolate with butter. Stir until smooth. Add water. Mix together flour,sugar, salt and baking soda. Mix together sour cream, vanilla and eggs, add butter chocolate mixture and flour. Beat with either a machine or hand mixer. Pour into muffin tin lined with paper cupcake liners. Option: 1 package cream cheese (8 ounces) 1/2 cup sugar 1 egg vanilla pinch of salt Beat together cream cheese, egg, sugar, salt and vanilla. Fill muffin cups half full with muffin batter, top with a spoon of cream cheese and then cover with more muffin batter. When muffins come out of the oven drizzle with glaze made with one tablespoon melted butter, one cup of powdered sugar, vanilla and a little cream or milk.