Dark Cherry Jalapeno Jelly

This dark cherry jalapeno jelly is amazing.  Sweet/Spicy – so good!

My Aunt Bea made pepper jelly for Christmas gifts every year when I was growing up.  The popular thing to do was to pour some of the jelly over cream cheese and use it as a spread on crackers.  Back when I was a kid I was such a picky eater – the thought of eating cream cheese made me throw up in my mouth a little, and my Aunt Bea made the jelly green so you could see the red pepper flakes.  I never ate any of it growing up!

Since I was given my deluxe canner I realized there is no excuse not to make my own jelly.  But I wanted to do something a bit different.  I though of making a cranberry jalapeno jelly, but would you believe even after Thanksgiving I could not find frozen cranberries.  WTF?  But I did find frozen dark cherries.  Huh.  I figured, why not?

• 2 jalapenos with seeds
• 12 oz. package frozen dried cherries
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 8 cups sugar
• 2 packages pectin, cooked according to instructions

1. Prepare canner, jars and lids.
2. Place peppers and dark cherries in a food processor. Process until fairly well chopped.
3. Put mixture into a large pot and add the sugar, mix well.
4. Bring mixture to a roiling boil, stirring frequently.
5. Once roiling boil is reached, let boil for 1 minute.
6. Temporarily remove from heat and add the liquid pectin, stir.
7. Return to heat and bring back to a roiling boil, boil for 1 minute.
8. Stir in apple cider vinegar.
9. Remove from heat and skim off any foam.
10. Fill hot jars leaving 1/4 inch head space.
11. Remove air bubbles, wipe rims and affix lids.
12. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.  (or use my deluxe canner if you have it!)
13. Remove from canner and let sit undisturbed for 24 hours.

This dark cherry jalapeno jelly will be going into my out of town gift baskets.  It has the perfect balance of sweet and heat – you obviously taste the sweet first with 8 cups of sugar, but then the heat kind of creeps up on you.  I sent some to my cousin and his wife, and his wife sent me a message on Facebook saying that they ate almost one whole jar in the first sitting – winning!

I ended up getting a short walk in before work.  Even if it’s just 15 minutes, just being out in the fresh air puts such a positive spin on the day right off the bat.

My daughter in law Lizz loves snowmen as much as I do, so every day so far this December I’ve sent her a picture of a snowman, whether it’s one of my coffee mugs, etc.

Yep, holiday snowman earrings!  I actually love them and will probably wear them every other day until Christmas.

My leftover steak from the night before morphed into this delicious potato roll steak sammie – this whole plate is just under 400 calories! 

I ended up having to go to Mariano’s to pick up stuff to bake last night, so my only walking was around the store.  Once I had gotten all my ingredients though, I still got my walk on and walked up and down the aisles for about 10 minutes.  I am sure if there was surveillance cameras they would look and wonder what the hell I was doing.  Oh nothing – just getting my steps in is all!

So it was Day 2 of my Bizzy workout – holy balls that’s a lot of squats!  I did the lower number on this sheet – but still after doing four rounds of these exercises, my quads were on fire at the end.  This workout took me just over 50 minutes to complete.

As I was leaving to come home I kicked myself for not having my swim suit – I would have been the only one in the pool! 

So guess what I ate for dinner?

I had my baking pants on and had no time to make a proper meal, but this plate was delish.  I kept noshing on it in between baking my cookies. 

The last picture photo credit goes to Hannah.  She’s literally picked up my DSLR and takes better pics than me!  I need to take lessons from her.  Those cookies are for my office luncheon on Friday.  I’ll make more to send to the out of town boxes on Saturday so they can all be shipped off on Monday.  Here is the link to the second cookie – it uses cake mix in the dough!

And here is a cute pic of Roman – I swear he’s the cutest dog and I can’t get mad at him when he pees on the kitchen floor with this face!

That leaves me 20 minutes to shower, pack my gym bag, put my food together and make my coffee – no problem Make it a great day!

Let me know if you make this dark cherry jalapeno jelly!

p.s.  if you want a simple fruit sauce, try my Very Berry Sauce – ready in five minutes!