Is the Amish population growing?
Yes. The population has doubled over the past 20 years due to sizeable families (5 or more children on average) and high retention rates (on average about 85 percent of Amish youth eventually join the church).

When are Amish youth baptized?
Typically between the ages of 18 and 21. As Anabaptists, the Amish church emphasizes the importance of making a voluntary adult decision to become a Christian and join the church.

Where do Amish youth go to school?
About 90 percent attend one- or two-room private Amish schools; the others go to rural public schools. In Amish schools, an Amish teacher is typically responsible to teach all eight grades, or in the case of a two-room school, half of the grades. Amish children typically end their formal schooling at the end of eighth grade. 

I buy and use cans of Rotel by the dozen... so when blog reader, Kerry, shared a recipe for canning homemade Rotel, I had to do it... This delicious mixture of tomatoes, onions and peppers is so versatile, it'll be great to have on hand for adding to soups, mixing with cheese for dip, casseroles, tacos, and more...

Here's what I did...

I cored, peeled and chopped...

One gallon of tomatoes...


2 large bell peppers (I had some orange and yellow in my freezer, any color will work)

1 onion, diced

8 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped (if you desire a hotter mixture, leave the seeds and ribs in the jalapenos, or you can use a hotter pepper, if you want it milder, add fewer, or leave them out entirely)


I mixed all the chopped veggies in a large stainless steel saucepan and added...

3/4 cup vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar... white vinegar would work too)


1/4 cup sugar


And 1-1/2 Tablespoons canning salt


I brought the colorful mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduced the heat and simmered it for 45 minutes.

(Meanwhile, I washed, sterilized, and heated my pint canning jars and put my lids on to simmer)


To each hot pint jar, I added a teaspoon of lemon juice.


And filled the jars with the mixture, leaving a half-inch headspace.

I wiped the jar rims with a damp cloth and tightened the hot lids on to fingertip tightness.

Then I processed the pint jars in a boiling water bath (ensuring the jars were completely covered with water and bringing the water to a boil) for 15 minutes.

After processing, I removed the jars from the canner using my jar lifter, and set them on a folded dish towel on the counter to cool...

And to listen for the musical sound of the PING of each successfully sealed jar!


This recipe makes 8-10 pints of Rotel.

For a printable copy of the recipe, click here.

I have basil growing in my herb bed... and I received an abundance of banana peppers, so when I happened across this recipe for Basil Banana Pepper Jelly I had to try it... it's so pretty in the jars... and tasty!

Almost any variety of pepper will work in this jelly, but using both hot and mild peppers and a combination of colors creates the best flavor and appearance. Look for color... but don't be afraid to use peppers with lots of flavor and heat. Sugar and vinegar tame the heat, which is less noticeable when the jelly is used as a marinade or glaze.

Here's what I did...


After preparing my jars and lids... (I heated my jars in a flat pan of boiling water set across two stove eyes, and simmered my lids in hot water, keeping everything hot until I was ready for them)... I thinly sliced a half cup of seeded mild banana peppers

1/4 cup thinly sliced seeded green chili peppers (red chilis would be tasty too, I liked the green/yellow color combination)
1/4 cup finely chopped onion

3 or 4 large fresh basil leaves, cut into ribbons

1/4 tsp. dried basil

In a large, deep, stainless steel saucepan, I combined the banana peppers, chili peppers, onion, fresh and dried basil with 3/4 cup white vinegar


I stirred in 3 cups granulated sugar...


Over high heat, stirring constantly, I brought the mixture to a full rolling boil (that cannot be stirred down).


I stirred in 3 ounces of liquid pectin (I used pectin I had made from apple peelings a few weeks previously, liquid pectin can be found in the grocery store in the canning section)

I boiled the mixture hard, stirring constantly, for one minute. I removed from the heat and quickly skimmed off the foam.


I quickly began filling my hot half pint canning jars with the jelly, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.


I wiped the jar rims, tightened the lids on to fingertip tightness, and place the jars into the canner, ensuring they were completely covered with water. I brought it to a boil and processed in the boiling water bath for 10 minutes. After processing, I removed the jars using my jar lifter and set them on a folded dish towel on the counter to cool and to listen for the PING of each successfully sealed jar.


*This jelly is a particle suspension jelly... to enhance the suspension of these solids, it may be necessary to gently manipulate the jar after processing. This procedure can be used only with jellies prepared in 4 or 8 ounce jars that have been processed for 10 minutes in a boiling water canner. To enhance particle suspension, cool the processed jars upright for 15-30 minutes or just until the lids pop down but the jelly is not fully set. As soon as the lids are concave, carefully and gently twist and/or tilt - do not shake and do not invert - individual jars to distribute solids throughout the jelly. The sealed jar must not be inverted as this might prevent the formation of a vacuum seal. Repeat as needed during the cooling and setting time until solids are nicely suspended in the jelly. 




For a printable copy of this recipe... click here.

I was born and raised in Western North Carolina. I've eaten greens of every kind... mustard, turnip, spinach, kale... we generally only had collards on New Year's Day along with black-eyed peas for wealth during the coming year, hog jowl for health... Mama sometimes substituted ham for hog jowl and we had corn bread and usually sweet potatoes to round out our New Year's meal.

Then a few years ago I moved to the Midlands of South Carolina (new job and a wonderful new relationship)... where COLLARDS are practically a religion! Collards (around here, mostly pronounced without the "R" Collahds!) are eaten everywhere, and often... they are served alongside Shrimp 'n' Grits even in high end restaurants, as well as at Lizard's Thicket, the local country cooking restaurant. One of the gourmet food trucks in town even has a burger, served on hoecakes (cornbread) instead of a bun, topped with collards and black-eyed pea salsa... it's quite tasty. Collards were recently voted South Carolina's State Vegetable... they love their collards in South Carolina...

...and I've jumped on the bandwagon... I now have collards growing in my winter garden and cannot wait for them to grow... I have a plan to make Collard Kraut as soon as I can harvest my collard bounty... and I can't wait for fresh collards on New Year's Day... with the hot pepper vinegar that is served alongside them... In my NC mountain world, we always splashed a bit of vinegar on any greens (they were cooked with a little bacon grease)... but here in SC hot pepper vinegar sits proudly alongside ketchup, salt, and pepper in the condiment area of each and every restaurant table and in the refrigerator of a true South Carolina home.

I recently made my own version of hot pepper vinegar... here's what I did...

I sterilized my half pint canning jars by placing them in a flat pan of boiling water set on two stove eyes. I simmered my lids in hot water and kept everything hot until I was ready for them.

I washed a variety of hot peppers (green chiles, red chiles, hot banana peppers, jalapenos, etc.) and dropped them into the half pint jars... I tried to get pretty much the same amounts of each pepper I had on hand into each jar (any hot peppers will work, I had several varieties so went with that)... I filled the jars very loosely until they were about half filled with peppers.



Then I simply poured white vinegar into the jars, leaving about a 1/4 inch headspace (apple cider vinegar would be great too, I love the flavor it adds... in this instance, I wanted the clearness of white vinegar)

I tightened the lids on to fingertip tightness, then placed the jars in my canner, ensuring they were completely covered with water and brought it to a boil. I processed the jars in the boiling water bath for about 15 minutes, just to make sure everything was heated through.

After processing, I removed the jars using my jar lifter and set them on a folded dish towel on the counter to cool and to listen for the PING of each successfully sealed jar.


I will let these jars sit for several weeks before opening to let the vinegar and peppers blend and marry well... Then... watch out collards!!!

When I saw the recipe for this fiery golden, translucent jelly with colorful suspended fruit and vegetables... I had to make it... it was so pretty! It goes great with cheese, on a cracker with cream cheese, or melted onto grilled or sauteed dishes to add sparkling flavor highlights.

Here's what I did...


I started out finely slicing 1/3 cup dried apricots

I poured 3/4 cup white vinegar over the apricots...


...Covered it and let it stand at room temperature for at least four hours, or overnight...

Next morning...


I poured the vinegar/apricot mixture into a deep stainless steel saucepan and added

1/4 cup finely chopped onion


1/4 cup finely chopped seeded red bell pepper



1/4 cup finely chopped seeded habanero pepper (wear rubber gloves, habaneros are HOT!!! According to the Scoville scale of heat units that measure the hotness of peppers, jalapenos have a Scoville number of around 5,000... to me jalapenos are plenty hot... habaneros are at 100,000-350,000 on the Scoville scale... HOT!!!!)


3 cups granulated sugar


Over high heat, stirring constantly, I brought the mixture to a full rolling boil (one that cannot be stirred down). I stirred in...


1 pouch (3 oz.) liquid pectin (I used 3 ounces of my homemade pectin I had made previously from apple peelings)

I boiled the mixture hard, stirring constantly, for one minute. I removed it from the heat and quickly skimmed off any foam.


I poured the hot jelly into hot, sterilized half pint canning jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. I wiped the rim, and tightened the hot lids on to fingertip tightness.


I placed the jars in the canner, ensuring they were completely covered with water. I brought it to a boil and processed for 10 minutes. After processing, I removed the jars, placing them on a folded dish towel on the counter to cool, and to listen for the PING of each successfully sealed jar.

*This jelly is a particle suspension jelly... to enhance the suspension of these solids, it may be necessary to gently manipulate the jar after processing. This procedure can be used only with jellies prepared in 4 or 8 ounce jars that have been processed for 10 minutes in a boiling water canner. To enhance particle suspension, cool the processed jars upright for 15-30 minutes or just until the lids pop down but the jelly is not fully set. As soon as the lids are concave, carefully and gently twist and/or tilt - do not shake and do not invert - individual jars to distribute solids throughout the jelly. The sealed jar must not be inverted as this might prevent the formation of a vacuum seal. Repeat as needed during the cooling and setting time until solids are nicely suspended in the jelly. 


For a printable copy of this recipe, click here... Printable Recipe

The variety of hot peppers I had to work with... habaneros, hot bananas, red and green chiles, poblanos, Anaheims, cayenne, and of course jalapenos!

A lady from a local farm contacted me via Facebook (Yay for Facebook!) to tell me she had an abundance of peppers, both hot and sweet, was I interested? Well, yeah! I stopped by on my way home from work to pick up the peppers and to meet the owners of Crooked Cedar Farm, Edwina and Selvin Harrel. Super folks... took me on a tour of the farm and introduced me to their "ladies"... the hens. We chatted awhile and then I headed home to make my plans for all those colorful peppers.