Stomach v. Heart

This happens every year. I either plant way too many everything in the garden (I never thought there could be too many tomatoes) or I fall in love with everything at the farmer's market, so naturally I have to buy it, and then I get it home, and now what? I have a quart and a half of local strawberries (one of the best reasons to live in Oregon, by the way), 3 pounds of rhubarb, and a bunch of beets plus an extra helping of beet greens the woman in front of me didn't want. I have no specific plans for these things, and the berries aren't going to last for long. Yes, I will eat about a pint of them right off the bat, but really what I meant was that they are fragile specimens that go bad quickly, even under refrigeration.
Thinking quickly, or at least within 24 hours, I decided to make proper freezer jam. Not the kind where I make up a recipe and proportions, and use bottled lemon juice and no pectin whatever (ahem. not that I've ever done that...) and ended up with something like a sweet and sour fruit soup. No, this time I researched recipes online, went to the store (the Fred Meyer that turns me into a stressed out, evil bitch) to buy pectin and nice GladWare containers for the freezer, and ended up making a delicious batch of strawberry-rhubarb freezer jam and a mediocre batch of simple strawberry freezer jam. It was mediocre because it's a touch sweeter than I like it and it tastes almost like artificial strawberry flavor.

:::sidenote: as I was researching recipes for freezer jam, I had a very difficult time finding recipes that didn't use strawberry-flavored Jell-o as the strawberry component. It freaked me out a little, but The Husband reminded me these were probably Midwesterners who also often use condensed soups as a principle ingredient in their recipes:::

As for the beets, I cubed and cooked them, then tossed them with one batch of the greens I had chopped, and tossed it all with a French Vinaigrette. The other batch of greens is waiting to be steamed for a side dish. The Husband mentioned he's glad I like beets as much as he does.