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Vanilla Rhubarb Jam with Earl Grey

Posted by Jenna @ O Hi, O Love on May 24, 2013 in What I'm Eating | 3 comments

Canning season is upon us folks!

That just made it sound like I am a serious canning enthusiast, which I am not. However, this year I am going to try to do a whole lot more.

And yesterday, I made my first ever jam. And I canned it all by myself!

This is a pretty big deal people. I have canned many things with my sister and mom in years past, but I have never canned anything on my own.

So I am pretty excited about it. And it turned out amazing!

Have you ever heard of this cookbook? Marisa McClellan is the author and she writes the blog Food in Jars. She has so many yummy sounding recipes on her blog and in the book. I particularly like that many of her recipes aren’t just your typical fruit jams. For example, the rhubarb jam I made yesterday includes a vanilla bean and earl grey tea. I have also made the Lemon Curd recipe in her book, and that turned out delicious as well. I also love that the recipes are for small batches, because frankly I don’t want 20 quarts of rhubarb jam (although this recipe is so good, I might just eat that many…).

If you are thinking about trying out some jam making this summer, I seriously urge you to start with this one. It is too early around Ohio yet for any other fruits, so why not put that rhubarb to use? Plus this will get you prepared for strawberry season right around the corner! :)

(I love the red and green color of rhubarb. Nature is so pretty.)

I can’t even begin to describe how delicious this jam turned out. When Adam tried it, his eyes got huge and I am pretty sure he would have sat down with an entire jar and ate it alone if I had let him. It is that good. And the smells that fill your house while it cooks are so so yummy.

The recipe can be found on the Food in Jars blog, but here it is below as well. The recipe in the book is slightly different with changes to the amount of rhubarb and sugar. I followed the recipe that was used in the book.

Vanilla Rhubarb Jam with Earl Grey

Yields 4 Pints (My batch made about 6 1/2 8 oz jars)

Ingredients

8 cups of chopped rhubarb
4 cups sugar
1 cup double strength brewed Earl Grey tea
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
Juice of 1 Lemon
pinch of salt
1 packet liquid pectin

Instructions

Sterilize your jars in a large pot of boiling water. If you’re making refrigerator jam (it will keep nicely unprocessed in the fridge for 2-3 months), skip this step.
In a 4-quart, non-reactive pot, bring the rhubarb, sugar and tea to a boil.
Add the vanilla bean, lemon and salt to the pot and let it bubble gently over medium-high heat for 15-20 minutes, stirring often until rhubarb has broken down.
Add the pectin, increase the heat to high and bring the jam up to a rolling boil. Let the jam boil vigorously for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent the bottom from burning.
At this point, dip a spoon in the jam and see how it coats the back of the spoon. If you get a nice, even sheet, the jam is done. You can also taste at this point, to see if you like the balance of flavors. Add a little more lemon juice if you feel it needs additional brightening.
Remove the rot from heat and ladle into prepared jars. Wipe the rims and apply the lids and rings.
Process in a hot water bath for ten minutes.
Remove from water and let cool.

And now enjoy with some homemade bread! Mmmmm….

Wishing and Dreaming…and a little campfire.

Posted by Jenna @ O Hi, O Love on May 22, 2013 in Uncategorized | 4 comments

It has been so beautiful here in Ohio the past week or so.

The last of the cold is gone (at least we hope, you truly never know about the weather in Ohio). And so comes the season of campfires and cookouts.

We had our first campfire of the season this past weekend over at my sister’s house.

Complete with roasted hotdogs, campfire pies, and garden tea (that tasted like lavender for some reason??)

The night ended with a serious game of Monopoly. I was the first one out.

My mom won and earned a new nickname, “Ruth”, because she is ruthless when it comes to Monopoly.

“Oh, you want this property that’s worth $100? I’ll sell it to you for $2000 plus every other property you own.”

The other evening, Adam and I worked on painting the upstairs of our house.

We are getting so close to being finished with all the projects we wanted to do before listing.

As we painted, we talked about our thoughts on our future.

Thoughts on whether we really want to buy into the American idea of working most of our lives away just to have a big house filled with lots of stuff.

Thoughts on whether it is worth working 40+ hours a week at a job that you find meaningless, just because it pays well.

Dreaming of ways to scale back and simplify. To make sacrifices for a bigger goal. Dreaming of what life could look like if we were satisfied with less.

I have been dreaming of things like this for a while now, and with selling our house getting closer to reality, these dreams are starting to look like real possibilities.

This has inspired me recently. Could we live in a tiny little home? How would life feel to have no debt, not even a mortgage?

The things we could do. We could travel the world and we could give so much. Oh, I would love to be able to help meet people’s needs.

And we could, if we were just satisfied with less.

Last night, we gathered at my parent’s house to plant our family garden.

My sister and I have always dreamed of buying land together and having a mini hobby farm. And we are starting to persuade my parents to join in.

We all talked about how good life could be. How simple. We would work together so there would be less work for everyone, but more results.

It is so easy to dream though. The hardest part is taking that next step. To actually do something. To jump in.

When I was little I was terrified of the water. I would never jump in to the pool. My mom used to try to force me in, so that I would have to learn to swim.

Eventually, they got me in the pool. And I loved it. I would swim every chance I got.

So maybe that is what I need now. Someone to pull me in. Give me a shove into the “pool”.

And maybe, just maybe, once I’m in, I would never want to come back out.

Part 3: 80 Summer Dresses Under $100

Posted by Jenna @ O Hi, O Love on May 21, 2013 in Design | 0 comments

So here it is. The final installment of my little summer dress roundup. (Here is part one and here is part two in case you missed it.)

I had a lot of fun putting this together, mostly because I got to look at a whole ton of dresses. As someone who does not spend a lot of money shopping for clothing, this just about gave me my fix for wanting to buy some dresses. I guess next time I want to go shopping, I can just go online and pick out a bunch of stuff, and it will almost feel like I bought it! haha I will definitely save money that way, although I’m sure eventually my brain will catch on that I am not actually getting to wear this stuff.

1. People Tree 2. Modcloth 3. Urban Outfitters 4. Pixie Market 5. Jasmine Splurge: Miu Miu

1. Yesstyle 2. Ruche 3. Yesstyle 4.Ruche 5. Dorothy Perkins Splurge: Ted Baker London

1. BB Dakota 2. ASOS 3. TopShop 4. ASOS 5. Zara Splurge: Kate Spade New York

1. Gap 2. TopShop 3. H&M 4. TopShop 5. Ruche Splurge: Alice + Olivia

1. H&M 2. C Wonder 3. Dorothy Perkins 4. Old Navy 5. Boden Splurge: Oscar De La Renta (Just in case you have a spare $8,000 laying around)

1. Noir Ohio 2. Malia Honolulu 3. RebelCloset 4. NiftyThrifty1 5. bombshellbettys Splurge: Gogo Vintage

Well, hope you loved all of these summer dresses! Don’t forget to check out Part 1 and Part 2!

Part 2: 80 Summer Dresses Under $100

Posted by Jenna @ O Hi, O Love on May 20, 2013 in Design | 2 comments

Friday I shared the first part of my little summer dress round up, and today I am showing part two. So without further ado, here are some more dresses! (Part 3 is now available here.)

1. Modcloth 2. ThreadSence 3. Ruche 4. Ruche 5. Lemniscate Addict Splurge: Trina Turk

1. Untold 2. Jarlo 3. Ruche 4. Little Mistress 5. Poems Splurge: Jigsaw

1. Zara 2. Ruche 3. Shabby Apple 4. Sunny and 74 5. Pim + Larkin Splurge: Anthropologie

1. Fleet Collection 2. GMNYC 3. Rustycuts 4. Jalouse 5. iheartnorwegianwood Splurge: Rusty Chic Originals

1. Urban Outfitters 2. TopShop 3. Shabby Apple 4. Modcloth 5. Modcloth Splurge: Chloe

Which is your favorite dress from today? Do you have a favorite trend for summer dresses? I would love to hear your thoughts! Come back tomorrow for Part 3 of my Summer Dress Roundup!

80 Summer Dresses Under $100

Posted by Jenna @ O Hi, O Love on May 17, 2013 in Design | 0 comments

So as it has started to get warmer here in Ohio, I have realized my summer wardrobe is pretty lacking.

Since I was pregnant last summer, I didn’t really purchase any summer dresses. And a lot of the dresses that I owned previously, no longer fit up top. Thank you post pregnancy body…But this gives me the perfect reason to shop for some cute summer dresses! Which are my favorite thing to wear, so I guess I do need to thank my post pregnancy body. So thank you, no sarcasm this time. :)

Anywho, I thought I would put together a fun little list of 80 cute sun dresses all under $100…along with one splurge dress in each category. Cause we all have to dream right? (Although I don’t think I could truly ever spend that much on a dress, but that’s a whole different topic.)

All of the dresses are ones that I would wear, so you will notice that they aren’t too tight, short, or naked. (Although I’m sure my grandma would beg to differ :)) Also I didn’t include any strapless dresses, just because I don’t like to wear strapless. Also I know maxis are all the rage, and I really wish I could pull them off, but I think that I am just too short. But I did include some because I am still hoping to find one that doesn’t make me look like one of Snow White’s dwarfs. And with that, here are the first 20! (I will post the rest in the next two posts!) (Part 2 and Part 3 are now available!)

1. Boden 2. Topshop 3. Shabby Apple 4. ModCloth 5. Banana Republic Splurge: Orla Kiely

1. Topshop 2. Topshop 3. Urban Outfitters 4. Asos 5. Target Splurge: MSGM

1. Yesstyle 2.ModCloth 3. Cutie 4. Topshop 5. Yumi Splurge: Marc by Marc Jacobs

1. Modcloth 2. Free People 3. JcPenny 4. Anthropologie 5. Loft Splurge: Roland Moulet

1. River Island 2. Armani Exchange 3. Zara 4. Ruche 5. Ruche Splurge: Alice & Olivia

Which is your favorite trend and dress?? Come back tomorrow to check out the next 20 dresses!

Throwing Out the List

Posted by Jenna @ O Hi, O Love on May 16, 2013 in Mommy Stuff, Uncategorized | 3 comments

Since the day I gave birth, I have heard one piece of advice over and over. So often have I heard it, that sometimes I think I don’t really take it to heart anymore.

And even though whenever someone says it I think, “yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ve heard that a million bazillion times” , I now find myself saying it to new moms as well.

”Enjoy it, because they grow. so. fast.”

I know it’s the truth, but sometimes I forget. Life gets busy, I will read that story to Seren tomorrow. There are errands to run, I will play with Seren later.

And this is coming from someone who will willingly claim that she probably already spends a few too many minutes a day holding that precious little girl.

But today it hit me. She is growing so fast. Ohmygoodness, so fast.

Yeah I know, I have been told this a million bazillion times before, remember?

But it didn’t really sink in, or maybe I just didn’t understand until today.

mommy at the zoo

When Seren was first born I had all kinds of things I wanted to make sure I did with her at each age, and yesterday all of a sudden I was overwhelmed with this thought that she is already 6 months old. Did I miss out on anything? Did I forget to do something that I once saw on Pinterest that looked great?

oh hey

Which of course lead to the realization that the rest of her childhood is going to go by even quicker. And there is no way I am going to be able to check off every single item on my “must do with Seren before age __” list.

Screen shot 2013-05-16 at 8.43.34 AM

But then I realized, that’s ok. (Ok, maybe I had a wee bit of a mental breakdown when I realized she will be graduating high school before I can even blink. But then I was ok. Sort of. No seriously, I am ok with that. :))

gadrening helper

Of course there are some things on my “must do during childhood” list that I definitely want to make sure Seren gets to experience. (Cue all of my greatest childhood memories that Seren is probably going to have to relive. Hello, camping and fishing, best friend games of “lava”, fair trips, and all good things that happen in summer.)

daddy at the zoo

But, does it really matter if I don’t fit in every single thing that may (or may not) be a “great” idea to do during that age?

Maybe it’s just me, but I think I am throwing out that mental list. And we are just going to live in the now.

Screen shot 2013-05-16 at 8.43.18 AM

Because I want to spend every day truly enjoying what she is doing at that moment. Soak it up.

So what if we forget a few items on that list. We will create a whole new list as we go. And you know what? I think that list will be so much better.

Seren Beatrix: 27 Weeks

Posted by Jenna @ O Hi, O Love on May 14, 2013 in Mommy Stuff | 0 comments

Seren Beatrix: 27 Weeks: Learned & Loved

Learned: Well since mom is WAY behind on these posts, there is a lot I have learned since the last time. I am eating solids now! Well sort of. I am still trying to figure the whole thing out, but I have tried avocado, sweet potato, carrots, mango, bananas, apples, and pears! And daddy snuck me a little bit of ice cream…that was so delicious! Oh and I can sit all by myself, and I am starting to crawl too! Mommy has to stay on her toes now because I am constantly moving!

Loved: I just love to play and laugh. I love when daddy gets home at night and lays on the ground with me to play. My current favorite toys are my nesting cups, stacking rings, and of course I still love my Sophie! Oh and I went on my very first trip to the zoo last week! I loved the fish tanks the most. Such pretty colors!

And cue the photo dump for this week: