Impulsive and overthinking: a lesson in extremes

I am a very reflective person. I like to think and reflect on things in my life and I am always on the lookout for ways to better myself. What this means is that I end up having a lot of little “A HA!!” moments.

These moments are fun (mostly) and they range from tiny insignificant nuggets to big life-changing revelations.

The caveat here is that I can also be a little impulsive when it comes to making decisions. But only sometimes.

Other times, when I’m not impulsive, then I overthink and overresearch. I’m a woman of extremes.

For example, I will stare at 1# of ground beef at the store and weigh the pros and cons of buying it (where the meat came from, where andhow it was processed, is it on sale, can I get it for 50 cents less somewhere else, etc.).

BUT, if a guy knocks on my door, selling 25# of steak for $150, I’ll write a check needing little convincing.

Nevermind the fact that I had never made steak in my life.

I’m not really a steak girl. (I don’t think I have even ordered it at a restaurant. Ever.) I have definitely never made any myself. But, with my family in town over the weekend, knowing everyone’s favorite dinner is tenderloin steak, I put on my girl pants and grilled up some steaks.

OH. MY. GOD. The steak dinner I made? Was the BEST meal we had all weekend. Reason #1038420 that I so rarely go out to eat. My cooking rules.*

Another example of my extreme nature: I generally refuse to buy tomatoes at the store because they taste like nothing.

But, when showing my peanut butter loving niece and mom the freshly ground peanut butter (which we all ate with fingers during the drive home afterwards, because that stuff is CRACK) at the coop, I saw this tomato and had. to. have. it.

That’s a ONE POUND tomato, kids. Which I’m going to take down later today for a snack. In one sitting. Believe it.

Last summer, my friend and I went strawberry picking and we got all extreme with the picking and jamming and canning. I had strawberry jam for over a year, after splitting everything and giving several of the jars away, I only finished my last jar of jam last month.

I don’t eat bread, so there isn’t much opportunity to use jam all that often.

But I love the process and I really do love the taste.

So this year, I took some of the raspberries from my backyard bush and made a much more modest 3 pint sized jars of Raspberry Jelly.

Sure, these jars will probably still last almost an entire year, but they didn’t take all day to make. And I picked the berries in my backyard.

Small batch canning is something I can get into. Of course, but “canning” I mean “putting the stuff I make in a glass jar and freezing them because I can’t be bothered to do the whole boil and pressure canning thing.”

Wanna hear a secret? I added a smidge of chocolate extract to this jelly.

Yes, kids. I made Chocolate Rasberry Jelly, and yes it is every bit as decadent as it sounds, and yes I would share with you if you were here.

How do you use jelly or jams? Do you bake with it? Do you use it in savory sauces? Link up recipes, if you have them!

I’m thinking about making some plain vanilla ice cream and smothering it in this sauce. And, clearly some kind of cookie with a jelly swirl is in order.

*Modesty is very becoming, I know.

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