GOOSEBERRY JAM

      A few weeks ago, by my husband's request, I made some gooseberry jam. It was my very first time making any kind of jam. The whole process of canning and all that jazz always intimidated me, but lately I have been becoming more and more brave in that department. And since my in laws have a big garden and offered to us lots of gooseberries, I thought why not. 

      Well... the whole jam making process was lots of fun. And the jam came out to be very yummy! I mean it has been only 2 weeks since I made it, and its already almost gone. So right after I am done sharing the recipe with you all, I will go and make some more (thank God for grandma's garden). 

      So here is the super easy, step by step recipe:

Ingredients: 

2 lbs gooseberries

2 lbs granulated sugar

You will also need: clean sterilized glass jars and tops, large sauce pan or dutch oven, wooden spoon. 

1. Clean your gooseberries by cutting off the stalk at one end of each berry and the remains of the flower at the other. Then wash all the berries and let them dry in colander.

2. Meanwhile wash your jars in warm water and place them into the oven and turn the oven on to 290F. Make sure you DO NOT preheat the oven, but turn it on as soon as you put your jars and metal tops in.  Bake your jars for about 20-30 minutes. 

3. Put the gooseberries into a large sauce pan or dutch oven. Cook over gentle heat until the juice starts to run. Then simmer for 15-20 minutes until the fruit is soft enough to mash with a spoon. If you like to have a whole fruit jam, prick each berry with a needle before starting the cooking process.

4. Add the sugar and stir until it has dissolved (a minute or so).

5. Bring the jam to full boil, this means lots of bubbles across the whole surface of the liquid in the pan. Be careful, don't lean over the pan.

6. Boil until the setting point is reached. To test for setting point, scoop out a teaspoonful of jam and drip it onto a cold plate. After few seconds touch the jam gently with your finger, it if "wrinkles" that means your jam has reached the setting point and is done cooking. 

7. Remove it from the heat and pour into clean glass jars. Seal the jars immediately. Store it in a cupboard until you are ready to eat. 

Of course in our house the jam didn't get to enjoy any time in the cupboard... because my sweet husband couldn't resist to have some right away. 

I hope you enjoy it as much as my hubby did! 

                                                                                                                       love, Lesya

3.

KLISHCH FAMILY

      Last week I had a privilege of taking pictures of one of my closest friend and her beautiful family. It was such a fun filled photoshoot. There was lots of jokes and laughter, and just overall an easy comfortable atmosphere.

      Even though our families spend a lot of time together, it was so awesome to see my friends' marriage and parenting through a lens. The love they have for each other, the kindness to their son, the anticipation of their little princess' arrival...

      Now I can not wait for their little girl's birth. Oh the pictures we can take and all that cuddle time...

      

CREAM PUFFS

      I always wanted to make homemade cream puffs, because lets me honest those little balls filled with whipped cream are just so delicious. However, every single recipe I found required the cooking for the dough, and that just intimidated me so much. Well today on this very rainy day, I have overcome my fear of boiling dough and decided to give the cream puffs a try. The results are pretty delicious! To my surprise, this is probably the easiest dessert I have made! It would be a shame not to share this amazing recipes with all of you. I hope you enjoy it just as much as we did.
   

                                                                         CREAM PUFFS
Ingredients:

For the shells
1 cup of water
1 stick of unsalted butter
large pinch of kosher salt
2 Tbsp granulated sugar (I used raw cane sugar)
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 large eggs

For the cream
1 1/2 cups of heavy cream
3 Tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Instructions:

1. Place water, butter, salt and sugar into a medium sauce pot over medium high heat. Stir until butter is melted and everything comes to a boil.
2. Reduce heat to medium. Add all the flour at once into the boiling mix, while quickly stirring. Continue to stir and cook off the moisture in the dough until it pulls away from the walls of the pot. This should take about a minute.
3. Place dough into a bowl of stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes.
4. With mixer on medium-low speed, add eggs in one at a time. Do not add another egg until the one before has been completely absorbed into the batter. The batter will look smooth and glossy when ready.
5. Place batter into pastry bag fitted with a large round tip.
6. Preheat over to 425F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat.
7. Hold pastry bag over the baking sheet and squeeze over one area until you have about 2 inch round. You will have a little peak on each which can be smoothed out with a wet fingertip. Keep the mounds about 2 inches apart.
8. Place the baking sheet in the oven and turn up to 450F. Bake for 10 min (without opening the oven) then drop the heat to 350F and bake for another 13-15 minutes.
9. Fill cooled pastries with cream and dust with powdered sugar.

Cream:
1. Whip cream in stand mixer with whisk attachment.
2. Add sugar and vanilla and continue until soft to medium peaks form.
3. Fill pastry bag with the cream, and pipe into the bottom of the puffs until filled.

 I had a little helper, helping me clean the whisk attachment very well... he cleaned it spotless :)

 And of course I had another helper, helping me fill the puffs.

Enjoy! 

                                                                                                            love, Lesya

FAMILY GETAWAY TO ADIRONDACK

     Last year at the end of September, our family took a trip to Adirondacks. We rented a beautiful house on a lake, with beautiful views and a mountain in a backyard. The weather happened to be absolutely gorgeous! Very warm for end of September.

    We took turns making delicious meals. Our kids got spend much needed quality time with their cousins and grandparents. This trip was a perfect getaway right before cold winter!