I loved reading all the ideas! you folks are very creative. Not exactly jam or jelly, but in that class of foods we make: Loquat preserves with spices (like a jam but with loquat chunks). No longer have loquat tree so my last two jars are precious. This is great on hot oatmeal or waffles. Peach nectarine butter - we got no peaches last year, but still have a jar or two. I like that one mixed with plain yogurt. I have not figured out another way to eat it, but with yogurt it is great. Marmalade, mixed citrus or Meyers lemon. They go well with toast or crackers and goat cheese. One of my favorite sandwiches is a 'grown up' PBJ version: Real peanut butter with marmalade and sliced fresh jalapeno slices. Trust me, it is good. I bring a couple of these to work every week. The reason I posted is that our most popular item in this category is our 'citrus glaze' which is in effect failed marmalade. Marmalade that did not set and remained liquid. This happened two years ago before we had the hang of making 'solid' marmalade. We gave away our 'good' marmalade, but kept the liquid stuff, since you cannot give away 'failed' stuff, right? We had made a very large batch, something like 15 quarts. In any case, two years later, I am out and I want to make more! This is by far the item that has been used the most. I use it in my zucchini muffins, in my fig bread, in many stir fry dishes, in all sorts of marinades for grilling, all sorts of sauces. The 'regular' marmalade also gets used but much less, so we still have a lot of jars from last year. I already have a huge basket of citrus and it is only January, so my next preservation project will be 'failed' marmalade. Maybe I should call it something else?

Well, since we're eating healthier, here's one of my favorite muffin recipes. These muffins rock, and not just your colon! They actually taste really good. They stay moist for days, they're incredibly healthy, and they're a cinch to make. Banana-Cranberry Spice Muffins Recipe Source: Fiber One website 1 cup Fiber One� original bran cereal 1 egg 3/4 cup fat-free (skim) milk 3 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 medium) 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup sugar 3 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries Heat oven to 350�F (the original recipe stated 400�, but I found that to be too hot and would burn the muffins). Grease bottoms only of 12 regular-size muffin cups with shortening or cooking spray, or use paper baking cups. Place cereal in resealable food-storage plastic bag; seal bag and crush with rolling pin or meat mallet (or crush in food processor). In medium bowl, beat egg, milk and oil with fork or wire whisk until well mixed; beat in bananas. Stir in cereal; let stand 5 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients except cranberries until blended. Stir in cranberries. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until light golden brown. Immediately remove from pan to cooling rack

1. They are all quick breads which require low-gluten flour/s and little mixing. They all depend on the fat to shorten the gluten strands. 2. Scones vary widely in texture, shape, size, and flavor. They can vary from (soft) cookielike to cakelike in texture and from savory to sweet in flavor. Making them is similar to making biscuits. Scones can be rolled, shaped, or dropped, but the mixing method is about the same. Scones contain eggs as well as milk or cream, which makes them richer than biscuits. They may also contain pieces of dried fruits, unlike biscuits. a. Mix the dry ingredients together. b. Cut the chilled butter into the dry ingredients - this is done to shorten the gluten in the flour. Everywhere the butter coats the flour, the liquid will not be able to be absorbed by the flour, thus making short, or shortening, the strands of gluten. If the fat is cold and the mixture resembles a coarse meal, this will contribute to a flaky texture. c. Mix the liquid ingredients together (beat the egg lightly and add the milk/cream) and any other liquid ingredients, and add all at once to the dry ingredients, then stir to combine. Some recipes call for a little kneading to help develop the gluten, but avoid overkneading the dough because this will produce a tough scone. d. Judge the recipe... A high butter or sugar content in the dough will help inhibit the formation of gluten and produce a more tender product. 3. BISCUITS also rely on the fat for shortening the gluten formation. The method of mixing is similar to scones. There is less liquid in biscuits than most scones and biscuit dough usually requires a little kneading to develop the gluten because of the lack of liquid. a. The dough is then rolled. A thickness of 1/4-inch for plain biscuits, 1/2 inch or less for tea biscuits, and 1 inch or more for shortcake. Then it is cut into rounds or squares. b. Drop biscuits have more liquid than cut biscuits. 4. MUFFINS - The ratio of liquid to flour is higher than either scones or biscuits. The batter needs to be placed in a pan that forms the muffin, unlike scones/biscuits which will hold their shape once free formed or cut to form. a. There are two types of mixing methods for muffins. b. Traditional muffin-making: all the steps are geared to minimize mixing, and therefore gluten formation in the flour. The fat is most often in liquid form, either melted shortening or an oil. It's usually mixed with eggs and the liquids, then added all at once to the dry ingredients. Since fat affects tenderness, muffins with a high fat content not only taste rich, they also have a soft crumb. c. Stir muffin batter only until the dry ingredients are lightly moistened (NO ELECTRIC MIXERS PLEASE, or you'll end up with tunnels inside from overmixing). The batter SHOULD be lumpy as it's spooned into the muffin pans - even to the point some bits of dry ingredients are still remaining in the batter. d. Muffins made by creaming fat and sugar will be more tender, but they are also more cakelike. This is the second mixing method. -Grainlady

I've converted my favorite English muffin recipe to the bread machine. Let it do the work. Going back in time a few years ago... Hubby, who thinks food appears by magic around here (well, almost), helped me make English muffins one Christmas Eve morning - by hand, from scratch. We delivered them, freshly made, to friends/neighbors/family. When his much impressed sister asked how they were made, he said "Don't ask. You're not equiped for the job." hehehe If you like English muffins, you may also like crumpets. Yet one more use for those English muffin/crumpet rings. Crumpets are a cross between English muffins and pancakes. Cooked more like a formed pancake, but you need to toast it before eating it. The easiest ones I make are a King Arthur recipe for sourdough crumpets. Take 1 c. sourdough starter. Put it in a 4-cup measuring cup (for easy pouring) and add 1 t. sugar and 1/2 t. each salt and baking soda. Whisk these in thoroughly. Watch the chemistry... the baking soda "explodes" forming millions of carbon dioxide bubbles to leaven the crumpets (which is why you need a 4-cup measuring cup). Spray your crumpet rings with Pam. Set them on a preheated griddle. Fill the rings with about 1/4-inch of batter and cook it over low heat until the tops are set and full of holes. The tops will also lose their glossy wet look. Remove the rings and flip the crumpets over for a minute or two. When they are done, place on a rack to cool. DO NOT stack them like pancakes because they tend to stick together. This recipe makes 8 crumpets. To serve, pop the crumpets into a toaster or toaster oven to brown and get slightly crisp. Serve with butter and jam. You can also add flavorings to give the crumpets a different flavor. I also add finely chopped deli ham to the crumpet batter for brunch crumpets. Never toss another cup of sourdough starter.... -Grainlady