Whose Ready for Strawberries in YUMMY PRETTY jars???

Well, today its official! The first batch of this years Strawberry Jam Flavors are online via my Etsy Store!

Strawberry Jam
Sugar Free Strawberry Jam
Strawberry Lavender Jam
Strawberry Basil Jam
Red Wine Strawberry Syrup

All the berries are hand picked by yours truly! My my how it is by far my favorite thing to do in this world...

We will be producing Strawberries for about another month or so, and I will have a new batch available every week until the end of May (cross your fingers).

Then it's on to the Blues! We will be producing all the same flavors of Blueberries as we did last year, with the addition of Blueberry Lavender Jam.

Blueberry Basil Jam
Blueberry Lemon Jam
Blueberry Jam
Suger Free Blueberry Jam

One change in the labels, last year I had the state's abbreviation in the title of the jam from where the fruit was harvested from. Same concept, I have just moved it to where the ingredients are listed.
I feel its terribly important for you to know where your food comes from! And since we have many growers besides here in Louisiana- it may come from our farm in Mississippi, Alabama, or wherever we find ourselves traveling through.

Note from the fields: I have a lot of time to myself while I am picking. Everyone asks me why on earth do I insist on doing this myself, and why I hardly ever bring help. Well honestly its my quiet time! I can hear myself think so much more clearer out there. I also take the time to notice the snap of the stem when the strawberry is released from the plant. A sound that goes right up there with angels singing.

Thanks to everyone that made 2010 such a success and I am thrilled to be going full throttle into our 2nd season!

Here is the link to order yours today: http://www.etsy.com/shop/FeedMeEatPretty

PS: If you are thinking that you may want to give these early Spring flavors as gifts for Christmas please contact me asap to pre-order. I produce based on season and once a flavor is gone...well its gone. If you were one of my wonderful customers that ordered the Fall/Winter Citrus flavors in bulk for gifts you already know that we will sell out well before Christmas!

But, if you pre-order we can make sure its produced and tucked away safely JUST FOR YOU! I can even tie a card on with some rather adorable ribbon.

Thanks again, and I am looking forward to ensuring that you are Eating Pretty in 2011.

Hot.Buttered.Rum

For months I have been on a continuous quest to find that one hot beverage to warm up these cold winter nights. If you don’t live in New Orleans, I promise you- it has been jacket + scarf = COLD! Considering I am now sitting in the Café below my French Quarter pad with the doors wide open and flip flops in the middle of February you can imagine how having to put on a scarf is a rather disturbing process. Can we all take a moment to pray that this cold snap is over already? But just in case it’s not, this recipe may be a welcomed adventure!

A few weeks ago I was reminded of an old fashioned hot cocktail by a couple of friends on Facebook and I began to investigate. HUGE shout out to Sarah B & Kate S- you inspired me!

Hot.Buttered.Rum

OOOooooooHHHhhhhhhh yeeeeeeaH.
Yes, indeed, it truly is the perfect hot cocktail.

Now, these warm wonders aren’t tremendously popular on the restaurant specialty cocktail list, and I have never understood why.

Once I started to do a little research, I mentioned a few traditional hot cocktails like Hot Buttered Rum to some friends and they all had the same response. ‘What is that?’

So I put my guard down, broke out the food processor and went to town. This batter can be stored in the fridge or freezer which means you can keep it on hand.

We have mixed up to-go cups and made an otherwise boring trip to the dog park into a romantic stroll with a warm cocktail in hand. I also mixed up a couple in a matter of minutes when a girlfriend called to say she was having lunch at my place- which obviously calls for a mid-afternoon cocktail right?

Play with it. No one ever said you had to stick to the recipe. You can eliminate the spices if you want or change up the liquor. We smuggled Dominican Republic Vanilla Extract and Rum in our suitcase when we came back from our wedding- so naturally we used those. We also brought Dominican cocoa powder, but that is for another story...

Don’t forget to serve it in a cool cup! The drink has such a gorgeous color that it’s rather captivating. Guests will surely talk about it for weeks!

Recipe

Yields: 1 pint of batter
Time: 15 minutes

½ cup brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
½ # butter, softened
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground white cardamom (optional)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:
1. Blend all ingredients in a food processor or mixer and store in the fridge or freezer.
2. To make a drink add a shot of good dark rum along with 1 or 2 tablespoons of batter to a mug of VERY hot water.
3. Stir well to ensure that all the batter has dissolved into the water.

BIG & DELICIOUS in 2011!

Writing in 2010 quickly became firmly positioned on the back burner with all that has happened in my world, and unfortunately became an overwhelming task. I recently looked at the number of blog entries and only counted 8. EIGHT! I am speechless and disappointed in myself.

For that I apologize, and promise to make-up for it in 2011- BIG TIME!

A New Year, new beginnings, and LOTS of new food, travel, fun, and BIG experiences are in our future.

Recapturing fond memories of the last year will also be a new priority as renovating and selling a home, moving, starting the product line of Feed Me Eat Pretty and planning a destination wedding for 33 guests proved very exciting for us. And time consuming beyond imagination to say the least. I have taken the time to reflect a lot about 2010 and have come to the conclusion that there was just too much good stuff jammed in there to not go back and share it all with the world.

Writing is my home away from home and I cherish that my words give me the same amount of pleasure as looking through a photo album. So a reflection in words is definitely in order.

With 11 months left in this New Year, there has been one thing that my husband and I have committed to doing more of and think that we have made some good progress on our new project during the last month…and that is cooking more meals at HOME.

One meal particularly was breakfast (bfast) for lunch. A wedding present from Williams-Sonoma was my inspiration as it arrived just a few days before we left for the wedding. From the moment we returned home it was staring and screaming at me to take her out of the box and give her a go. Yes, she has been assigned a gender but we are still working on a name.

She, being the 4-square All-Clad Belgian Waffle Maker is my new favorite kitchen toy. Did you know you don’t have to use oil or a spray like Pam? And did you also know that it tells you when the waffles are done by a green light and a built in alarm? Ummmm….seriously??? This is amazing technology folks.

Strawberry season is only 4 weeks away and team FMEP is counting the seconds until we harvest this year’s crops.

Thankfully I had one jar left of last year’s Strawberry Red Wine Syrup in the refrigerator and broke it out for our little buttermilk waffle feast. BIG fluffy waffles and DELICIOUS Strawberry Red Wine Syrup, what more can you ask for on a quiet Saturday afternoon?

I did take a walk to the market before my other half arrived home from work and picked up a quart of local strawberries with heavy cream for added DELICIOUSNESS. We had a taste test of what’s to come and it was amazing! The flavor of the strawberries this year is going to be perfectly BIG & DELICIOUS.

Ps- Lots of changes are in store in the next few months. Look out for a new format of the Feed Me Eat Pretty blog and the official move to the www.feedmeeatpretty.com website!