Strawberry Freezer Jam and the Not So Bloomin' Onion

I got my hands on a flat of strawberries this week for only $6.00 at Pete's Fruit Market on 17th and

Freezer Jam

Greenfield. I was intent on canning jam this weekend however my hubby has misplaced all one dozen of my jars. I did have a pack of Mrs. Wages freezer jam though and tried it out for the first time. I ended up mashing the strawberries with my pastry cutter. Whatever works right? Then I added 1 1/2 cups of sugar and the Mrs. Wages pack. It's all mixed together and sits for 3 minutes. Then into plastic bags or sanitized jars. It will stay in the fridge for a week or up to 6 months in the freezer. We have enjoyed it with cream cheese on toast.

Let me add that not everything I make comes out right. I had always wanted to make a Bloomin' onion at home and got my hands on some delicious Vidalia onions. I started out wonderfully by making the perfect looking bloomed onion. I left the root end on and peeled the onion. I then made four cuts from the top to a few centimeters above the root. In those sections I made 2-3 more cuts. The onion should have a minimum of 16 cuts. Then I separated all of those sections.

The batter was good I thought. It had 2 TBSP paprika, 1 tsp of salt, cumin, cayenne, and was an egg batter. So two eggs to the 2 cups flour and then 1 cup milk or buttermilk . If the batter is too thick you can add water to it.

You could also sub out beer for the liquid and make a beer batter just omit the eggs.

Here  is where I think I went wrong. I really needed a basket fryer for this. I tried to do it on the stove top. the batter wasn't all in the grooves of the onion and stuck to the bottom of the pan. The heat also wasn't enough. The temp should have been around 400 degrees and then is lowered to around 350.

My onion came out a bit soggy. Oh well, there is always next time. I ended up using the batter for fried pickles. I have a recipe for that in the search.

not so Bloomin onion