Raspberry jam, yum!

Our raspberries this year went crazy! I think all that rain we got in June helped us get a bumper crop. So far we have done 6 batches of freezer jam and there will probably be one or two more, based on how many berries I still see out there. And we get to eat fresh berries on ice cream and cereal, what a treat!

I love that Kimee likes to come out and help me pick. Audrey keeps us company and tries to help. Usually that includes holding and possibly spilling the bucket of picked berries. They both keep me company and I love working out in the yard in the morning before it gets hot. Picking enough berries for one batch of jam (about 6 cups) takes almost an hour, although I have never timed it.

There is nothing better with homemade raspberry jam than freshly baked homemade bread. I haven't done this in awhile. Actually, I think it may have been 3 years since I made homemade bread. SO, that may be the reason I did something really dumb. I shouldn't advertise my stupidity, but I think it's good to know that everyone does dumb things now and then. And it's good for me to laugh at myself.

So, I was making bread and my "dough hook" broke. The next day, I did it again with the other "dough hook" and it broke too. (The bread still turned out really yummy!) I asked Dave if he could stop by the Bosch store sometime to get me a new dough hook. Well, the wonderful husband that he is, went out of his way the very next day to get me a new dough hook. He calls me from the store and asks if it was the cookie paddles that I was using to make bread. DUH! Yes, it was. So I guess I needed knew cookie paddles. Then he asks if I need a dough hook too. Yes. He buys both and brings them home. As soon as I see the bag I recognize the dough hook. DUH! I have one of those, I just have no idea where it is! Wow, I can't believe I used cookies paddles to make bread dough, and had no recollection of owning a real dough hook. I guess I can blame it on losing too many brain cells from pregnancy/child birth/new baby AND/OR I have just made so many batches of cookie dough I thought that was the only attachment I had for the Bosch. I can't wait to make another batch of bread with the real dough hook.