Home-made Mango Jam

mango jam

Its mango season in South Florida!  People who are blessed enough to have a tree in their back yard are eating them up and desperately trying to give them away to co-workers, neighbors and friends, lest they should rot on the ground or get eaten by squirrels, opossums… or the dog.  (My dog Charlie has eaten a few of my neighbor’s mangos and has come back into the house with quite the cute mango mustache on several occasions.)

Well, my caddy corner neighbor and my mother’s next door neighbor has the most gorgeous and fruit-filled mango tree in the neighborhood.  Luckily they believe that sharing is caring and gave us a few.  And this is what we came up with to use up that yummy goodness. Mango jam!!

Delicious on toast, on a ritz cracker with cream cheese, in the center of thumb print cookies or simply spooned right into your mouth!  Although the process is fun, its time consuming and messy.  All worth it in the end, though.  Check out the photos of our afternoon together.

6 more years ’till Guacamole!

guacamole

So, about a year ago, I made some guacamole with a few haas avocados from the grocery store.  One of them was so ripe that the seed had split and a little sprout was coming out of it.  I decided to place it in some potting soil in a planter in my screened porch…  low and behold, this is what has resulted one year later.

I was told by a friend that avocado trees do not give fruit until they are at least 7 years old so, unfortunately, I still have 6 years until I can make some more guacamole.  I don’t even mind, however, because I’m so proud and excited that its grown this much! She’s sprouted even more in the last two months since I’ve gotten back into the habit of sprinkling my used coffee grounds in her soil.

Considering how many grounds I’ve been feeding her… do you suspect her fruit will be caffeinated?  LOL 😉