Dinner plans changed - Raspberry goodies

Cassie and I had our eye appointments this morning, and we followed them up with a grocery shopping spree;  we were turning into Old Mother Hubbard around here :\

And then the 2nd day of the raspberry jelly process began.  The whole family picked two 5-quart pails full yesterday afternoon from the bushes.  Rather than smashing them and straining them through cheesecloth this time, I pulled out our foodmill/sauce-maker that we use to make our tomato juices every year.  The standard strainer allowed a few seeds to pass through, but when I measured out my 4-cups worth for each batch, I simply had the juice strain through another mesh sieve we have in the cupboard.  

In the end, I made three batches today;  each resulting in 7 half-pints of raspberry jelly.  And I STILL had juice left over for one more batch!

Me:  Um. Hun?  Do we really want...need... this much jelly?  Should I really make up another batch?  I have enough juice, but don't really want to use up any more half-pint jars.

Paul: 21 half-pints, huh?  Plus the 7 from the batch the other day?  I think that's enough, don't you?

Me: Yes dear.  But what else can we use the juice in?  Maybe I could look up a raspberry sherbet recipe since I have the ice cream maker in the freezer. ?

Paul:  Or how about syrup?

Me: OMGoodness! Yes!  I LOVE the berry syrups at Perkins!  

So, I put Cassie on the task of finding a recipe online for a syrup.  And in the end, I found out (with a little bit of math conversion)... If I boil my 4 cups of juice and then add 5 1/2 cups of sugar, bring to boil again and boil for a minute.  That's it!  EASY PEASY!    I then hot-water bathed it for 10 minutes in pint jars. EASY PEASY RASPBERRY SYRUP DELICIOUSNESS!

All the while, a chocolate cake was getting mixed and baking in the oven for Paul's 42nd birthday! :)

Sadly, he needs to work tonight.

Then, around 4:00, dinner plans were altered after today's syrup making.....

...and we had some Brupper (breakfast/supper).

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMO! Delicious!  Those eggrolls will simply wait until tomorrow night.

And, of COURSE, after dropping a few bills at the grocery store this morning, you'd think we'd be stocked full of everything, right?  LOL.  

NO pancake mix.  

However, bless the Internet.  We will probably never have commercial pancake mix in the house again after finding and making this recipe (Basic Pancake recipe)

Alright, I'll give you THREE guesses as to what Candace has balled up here in her hand.  

One hint:  It IS part of a dessert. (This is from the other night, though.  I had forgotten about this picture)

Speaking of dessert... that Chocolate cake is calling my name.

Happy Monday!