Home Sweet Home #378

Hello and welcome to Home Sweet Home! This week I was on break so I will get right to the party and features.
There are so many good posts each week at the Home Sweet Home party! Here are a few that caught my eye. Lots of inspiration in this week's posts! 

4 Myths You Should Know About God-Part 1 by Women Abiding.

Old Screen Doors Get New Life by Clover House.

Sipping on Berry Infused Frozen Lemonade for Summer by Jodie Fitz.

Sherry

Follow me on Twitter 

Follow me on Facebook

Follow me on Pinterest

Follow me on Instagram

Party Guidelines

Would you please share anything related to your home in the spirit of Proverbs 31 (such as recipes, Christian encouragement, DIY's, gardening, home decoration, sewing, crafts, etc.)
Please don't link up giveaways and advertisements.

Follow and or subscribe to The Charm of Home.

Please include a link in your post back to my blog.

By linking up, you are giving The Charm of Home permission to use any picture  or content to share as a feature on The Charm of Home social media outlets.
If anything doesn't fit the theme of the party I will delete it.

*If you are pinning a post submitted here, please pin from the original source.

* Please note that posts on this party come from other blogs also and that they may not agree with my own personal faith.  Take this into consideration when viewing links and use your own discernment using the Holy Scriptures as your guide.

An InLinkz Link-up

Blackberry Season

Blackberry season is winding down but, I still had a generous amount of them in the fridge and I just went out tonight and picked even more.  They are so huge with all of the rain we have had.  What to do with all those blackberries?  There was only one choice...blackberry cobbler.

Mmmm! There is a reason I always braved the briers as a kid and would come home with a bowlful of wild blackberries. This is it! The recipe was for blueberries but, I just made it for blackberries.  I also added about 1/2 cup more sugar to the berries because I had probably 8 cups of berries in this cast iron skillet.

I also made blackberry syrup (find recipe at Victory Cottage Cookbook-top of page) with Ball Can-It Forward day.

One of my sons came up with an idea for the blackberry syrup. He suggested we used it in tea to make blackberry flavored iced tea.  It was a great idea.  I used 1-2 tablespoons of blackberry syrup to a 8 ounce glass of iced tea.  

Sherry

Making Blackberry Syrup

It is time for Ball's 6th International Can-It Forward Day!  I am participating this year.  They so kindly supplied me with these blue glass mason jars and a copy of The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving.  

I took my blackberry harvest and made Blackberry Syrup.

The recipe was right out their new cookbook!  It was an instant winner for the family!  Waffles are always welcome and the children loved them with the blackberry syrup.

Blackberry Syrup  

Ingredients:

3 lb. (1.5 kg) blackberries
2 cups (500 ml) water
Cheesecloth
2 3/4 cups (675 ml) sugar
1/4 cup (60 ml) light corn syrup
2 Tbsp. (30 ml) bottled lemon juice

1. Place blackberries and water in a 6-qt. (6-L) stainless steel or enameled Dutch oven.  Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat.  Cook, uncovered, 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. (Do not boil.)
2. Remove from heat. Line a wire mesh strainer with 2 layers of dampened cheesecloth or a jelly bag.  Place over a bowl.  Pour berry mixture into strainer, and let drain 2 hours or as needed to extract 4 1/2 cups (1.13 L) juice. (Do not press or squeeze mixture.) Discard solids.  Rinse Dutch oven.
3. Combine blackberry juice, sugar, and next 2 ingredients in Dutch oven, stirring until sugar dissolves.  Bring mixture to a full rolling boil over medium-high heat; boil 1 minute.
4. Ladle hot syrup into a hot jar, leaving 1/2-inch (1-cm) headspace.  Remove air bubbles.  Wipe jar rim.  Center lid on jar.  Apply band, and adjust to finger-tip tight.  Place jar in boiling-water canner.  Repeat until all jars are filled.
5. Process jars 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude.  Turn off heat; remove lid, and let jars stand 5 minutes. Remove jars and cool.

Makes: about 3 (1-pint/500-ml) jars
Recipe from: The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving
The recipe was wonderful; pleasing me with 3 of these beautiful blue jars full of blackberry syrup!

The blue mason jars are another new favorite of mine!  They have a wide mouth and are easy to wash.  The blue glass makes them oh, so, pretty to look at on the table.

The recipe book is full of over 350 of the best canned, pickled, and preserved recipes.  This year's copy had chapters on fermenting, dehydrating, curing, and smoking.  I found those especially interesting because I was going to get the dehydrator out and try some vegetables in it anyway, so now I have this to turn to.
Thank you to Ball for sponsoring the Can-It Forward Day by supplying me with the canning jars and the cookbook.  

Sherry

Tea in the Garden

Fellow bloggers have inspired my tea this week.  I saw a few outdoor teas that were so beautiful I just had to take tea outside this weekend.  The garden is always at it's peak at this time of year.

The strawberries have just started turning ripe in the garden, so there is no better cake to serve than strawberry shortcake.

I'll share how easy this shortcake is tomorrow.  The tea cup and mug are by Roy Kirkham the pattern is Alpine Strawberry.

The roses are just putting on a show.  They are gorgeous.
Lace table topper in the Floret pattern provided by Heritage Lace.

"And the LORD will continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in scorched places, And give strength to your bones; And you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail." ~Isaiah 58:11

Sherry

My Winter Mix Ambrosia

Ambrosia is a favorite fruit salad of mine.  It is often seen made with whip cream and marshmallows, but I grew up with my Grandmother's version which was just a mix of fruit without the fluff.  I normally make this every year at Christmas and I wanted to make it for a winter salad not just the holidays.  I sliced the fruit different and added kiwi and that really made it pretty.

Winter Mix Ambrosia

Ingredients:

1 grapefruit, sliced with rind removed

1 orange, sliced with rind removed

1 kiwi, sliced and peeled

6 seedless grapes, sliced in half

honey

Arrange fruit on the plate and drizzle honey as desired; I only drizzled honey on the grapefruit.  Single serving only.  You could add any fruit in season to it.

Are you eating healthy for 2015?  I have a lot of allergies and I always eat like this.  One day soon I will have to write a post on the allergies I have and all I have learned from the experience.  Meanwhile, I will be sharing more of my healthy food this year. 

Sherry