These are yummy and relatively easy to make! I’ll be honest — pie crust and I are not the best of friends. On this particular day I ruined my first batch. I thought I’d be clever and combine the shortening and flour in my electric mixer. It was fine until I turned the speed up to get that last little bit of shortening mixed in and melted the shortening. Oops! I just stuck (no pun intended) to the tried and true pastry cutter after that. Out of curiosity, we also tried them using sugar cookie dough instead of pie crust! My kids loved them! -Mellyn 
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Category Archives: Jam
Sweet ‘n Spicy Chicken
This is one of my all-time favorite chicken recipes. When I serve it to company, they never guess my “secret” ingredient — jelly! I especially like it served with rice and broccoli on the side. –Mellyn 
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Mini Raspberry Vanilla Cakes
My friend, Jane, made the most delicious cake that she would cut in half and fill with jam. This recipe was inspired by her! To me, the texture (due to the beans) is between regular cake and angel food cake. I think it’s especially delicious topped with a pudding-cream filling and fresh strawberries (in non-emergency times, of course) In emergencies we’ll just have to make due with jam and buttercream frosting! –Mellyn
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Apricot Beef
After tasting the Apricot Chicken at the Olive Garden, I had to have an apricot sauce of my own. The whole family enjoyed this sweet beef experiment. The leftover sauce was great on stir fried veggies, too! –Mellyn 
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My Favorite Muffins
Jams, jellies and preserves — I like them all! I especially like their versatility. This week I’ll share with you some of our favorite main dishes that sport jam as a main ingredient, along with some of our comfort-food favorites! –Mellyn
From Grace B.
When I was engaged, some friends threw a “Kitchen” Shower for me. Each person who came, brought an item to use in the kitchen, along with a favorite recipe. These recipes have been among my favorites over the years. Tried and true, they helped make my first attempts in the kitchen successful. My family loves Grace’s favorite muffins, and they’re just as good for dinner as they are for breakfast! Grace says you can make these muffins plain or hide jam in the middle for a sweet surprise. I often leave the jam on top because it looks so pretty…and because I’m lazy! Thanks for sharing your favorite muffins, Grace! –Mellyn
Yield: 12 muffins
- 2 tablespoons egg powder or 1 fresh egg
- 3 tablespoons water — omit if using fresh eggs
- 1/2 cup water — If using fresh milk, omit and use 1/2 cup milk instead
- 1/4 cup oil
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 1/2 tablespoons nonfat dry milk powder –omit if using fresh milk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 6-12 teaspoons jelly or jam
- Heat oven to 400 degrees.
- Prepare 12 medium muffin cups.
- Whisk egg powder into water or beat egg; stir in remaining liquid ingredients.
- Mix in dry ingredients just until flour is moistened. Batter should be lumpy.
- Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.
- Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from pan.
- For surprise muffins, drop 1 teaspoon of jelly or jam into each one before baking! (I use about 1/2 teaspoon.)
Don’t Forget Lunch!
Sometimes I get caught up in planning dinner and I overlook lunch. But when noon rolls around, lunch never seems to get overlooked by the toddlers in our house. They know before anyone that lunch must come and SOON. Planning a lunch recipe might seem silly when slapping PB&J on bread is a natural reaction to the toddler tug on the pant leg, but having the recipe in your plan ensures that you will have enough in your storage when the need is there.
