Sprout

We are very excited to announce that Hannah is going to be a big sister! Sprout (as we are calling the new little one) is due to arrive next February!

Share me!

Just made some changes to the blog, and you can now share our posts on your facebook page and more! Just see the bottom of the post for the link to share.

Update from Sarah and David--heat is excruciating! Got to meet Paula Deen and eat Collard Greens and go on a haunted city tour. Oh, and they both mentioned they miss me very much--so sweet. ;)

Retail Innovators of the Year

We are VERY excited to announce that we have been selected as a Retail Innovator of the Year by the North American Retail Hardware Association! AND, we are thrilled to be the ONLY Canadian winner in this category!

The NRHA describes the awards thusly:

Each and every day, independent retailers are changing their playing fields—developing new ideas and blazing new trails along the retail landscape. The Retail Innovators of the Year awards program is dedicated to recognizing these retailers.

We won in the Store Operations category. Right now, Sarah and David are in Savannah, Georgia for the NRHA National Convention and All-Industry Conference to accept the award and participate on a panel of innovators. They are experiencing all that Savannah has to offer, such as the 114*F heat and humidity (that's 45* C folks, usually we only see a 45 with a minus in front of it) and eating fried alligator!


We're getting little updates here and there, maybe Sarah will even make a post on this (hint hint) but we will update you more as we hear it!

Garden Tips--Water Plants

Garden Tips--Weeds

Anna Olson's Peach Apricot Preserves

Peach Apricot Preserves

Makes about 10 cups (2.5 L) preserves

• 1 lb peeled and diced fresh 450 g peaches
• 1 lb pitted fresh apricots, sliced 450 g
• 1⁄2 cup lemon juice 125 mL
• 6 cups sugar 1.5 L
• 2 cups pasteurized honey 500 mL
• 3 tbsp freshly grated ginger 45 mL
• 3 tbsp finely grated lemon zest 45 mL
• 2 x pouch liquid pectin

1. Prepare jars for preserving by washing and air-drying. Wash Snap lids by hand and air-dry. Wash all utensils to be used in preserving (tongs, ladles, funnel, etc). Prepare a large pot of water, bringing up to a simmer while preparing preserves.
2. Bring peaches and apricots up to a simmer with lemon juice then cook for 10 minutes, stirring often, until fruit is soft. Stir in sugar, honey, ginger and zest and return to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring often. Stir in pectin and hold jam over low heat while packing jars.
3. To pack jars, warm Snap lids in hot tap water (not boiling water). Immerse jars to be filled into the large pot of water and simmer for three minutes. Remove and tip over on a clean tea towel to drain. Using a jam funnel, ladle preserves into jars, filling to 1⁄4" from the top. Wipe any preserves that dripped on the top of the jars and screw on Snap lids until "finger tight" (do not tightly fasten). With tongs, immerse filled jars into boiling water and boil for 15 minutes. Carefully remove jars from pot and let cool upright on a tea towel.
4. After jars have cooled to room temperature, check that the lids have sealed (the lids should appear concave, and should not move when the top is pressed). Any jars that have not sealed should be stored in the fridge and consumed. Label and date jars and store in a cool dry place for up to a year.

Gingersnaps Weekly Menu

Garden Tips--Ladybugs

The Liar in the Dairy Aisle...

Dear Friends;

Today I am on a mission to expose one of the biggest ripoffs and scams known to summer. It is robbing children and adults alike of one of the purest joys in life--the joy of an ice cream cone.

Visit your local grocer and you are sure to find almost an entire aisle of ice cream-type products. But a big sign saying "Edible Oil Products" doesn't really sound appealing on a hot summer day.

The next time you buy "ice cream" check to see if the words "ice cream" appear on the packaging--chances are they don't. Even popular brand names--names you would shout out if I asked you to name what kind is in your freezer--are likely "Frozen Desserts." A trip to one local grocery store found only one brand (Chapmans) that is indeed ice cream. The rest are all Frozen Desserts (check the lower right hand side of the package.)

What's the difference you ask? Well, if you have ever had Real Whipped Cream on your hot chocolate or Mocha (like at Starbucks or Gingersnaps) you will know it is light and fluffy and tastes like heaven and melts discreetly into your beverage. However, if you visit a local chain restaurant or coffeeshop, you may receive Whipped Topping which is described as an "edible oil product" and floats on your drink like a dense island of nastiness and when it eventually does disolve it leaves a thick grease slick on top of your latte. SICK. (You may also recognize it as the stuff that you scrape off your ice cream cake and which does not disolve in the sink. Yucky.)

If you visit the Dairy Goodness website you can see a lovely write-up on Frozen Desserts vs Ice Cream (I learned about it myself in the Nutrition Action newsletter from the Center for Science in the Public Interest--the same people who busted the coronary-inducing bucket that is movie popcorn (but at least that tastes good).) An excerpt:

If it looks like ice cream, it must be ice cream, right? There was a time when that was true. But these days, you can’t be so sure. Many of the products for sale in the ice cream aisle at your grocery store are ‘frozen desserts’ that are often made with edible oil products and don’t contain the nutrients naturally found in milk. Read the Nutrition Facts table on the label: frozen desserts are made with oils like palm kernel or coconut oil, ice cream is made from 100% milk (including ingredients derived from milk, e.g. cream, skim milk powder, whey powder).

Most manufacturers have simply removed the words ‘ice cream’ from their packaging and replaced them with the term ‘frozen dessert’. So be sure to read your labels and look for the 100% Canadian milk symbol. And remember: If it doesn’t say ice cream on the package, it’s not ice cream.

In addition to tasting like garbage and leaving a slick on your tongue, the frozen desserts are also frothy and foamy and not rich or creamy tasting (hence the lack of cream). And as a note--the desserts are often the same or MORE expensive than real ice cream!

So, if you look in your freezer and find you having been scammed into frozen garbage instead of real ice cream, pick some up next time (or come by Sweetpea's for some delicious Alberta Made Foothills Ice Cream). When you taste the deliciousness that is real ice cream, your neurons will fire and your synapses will alight and you will experience the true, real joy that is sweet, cold ice cream on a hot summer day.

Tea of the Month July