Many thanks to everyone who took the time to enter the Cuppow giveaway and share your morning beverage ritual. I loved hearing about all the different ways that you all start your mornings!

The winner of the Cuppow is commenter #917, also know as Annie S., who said, “I have only recently fell in love with Mason Jars. I now use them for anything I can think of. Storing leftovers, esp! Kids now drink from them-they think the small jelly jars are made just for them  Drinking coffee in one would be a dream come true! Great work on the Cuppow people for serving a need!”

Congratulations Annie! You’ve been notified by email.

For the rest of you, I’ll have another giveaway on Monday, so stay tuned!

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• Fresh Girl’s Guide Giveaway Winner
• Giveaway: The Fresh Girl’s Guide to Easy Canning and Preserving
• Cuppow Review and Giveaway

All good contests must come to end and this one wrapped up yesterday just before midnight. Our lucky winner is commenter #62, Michelle Wands, who said,

“My combination would be apple cranberry for this time of year. Strawberry Rhubarb would be refreshing in the spring.”

Sounds delicious, Michelle! And for the rest of you, I’ll have another fun giveaway coming up soon, so stay tuned!

Finally, in an attempt to make this post a little more interesting, I want to point your browsers in the direction of Pasplore. It’s this very cool website that creates photo mosaics out of the food photography of others. I submitted a couple of recipes, as did food bloggers from all across the internet. Click the screenshot below to check out the real thing.

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• Cuppow Winner
• Takeya Fruit Infusion Jug Giveaway
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And the winner of Karen Solmon’s fantastic new book Can It, Bottle It, Smoke It is commenter #681, JJ. She said, “I’ve made quick refrigerator pickles many times, and want to tackle fermented sour pickles this summer. Waiting semi-patiently for our cucumber vines to really get going…”

Congratulations JJ!

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• Chocolate for Breakfast Winner
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• Canning Kit, Book and Jar Lifter Giveaway Winner

As is my norm, it’s taken me a few days longer than it should have to get a giveaway winner posted (it’s amazing you all put up with me!). Happily, I’ve finally gotten myself together and with the help of random.com, have selected a winner of the Eat Boutique giveaway.

The lucky commenter is Claire, a world traveler who blogs at Spirit of Adventure. She said, “My favorite edible gift would have to be mustard – it stays for a while, so you don’t have to worry about sending it in the mail without refrigeration. It is a great festive holiday gift that can be made into so many flavors! Who doesn’t love mustard?”

Congratulations Claire. Good pick, mustard is awesome!

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• Cuppow Winner
• Eat Boutique Jam Box Winner
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So many thanks to all of you who entered the Cutco Santoku giveaway! I loved hearing the stories of your favorite pieces of kitchen cutlery. In addition to those of you who are already Cutco users, there were also a lot of Wusthof, Henckels, Chicago Cutlery and Global fans in the house. I was particularly delighted to hear from those of you have a story similar to that of my parents, with the beloved knife that’s been sharpened to just a nubbin of a blade.

There were 564 entries and random.org has selected #84 as the winner! That’s Emily Jenkins, of the blog Tanglewood Farm. She has a recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Biscuits up at the top of her site right now that sound so, so good (I bet they’re an amazing vehicle for the Strawberry Rhubarb Jam recipe I posted with the giveaway). Congratulations Emily!

And for those of you who didn’t win, sit tight. There will be another chance to win something equally delightful posted later today.

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• Cuppow Winner
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Goodness, you guys sure like your water. I was totally floored by how many of you were excited about the Elemaris giveaway! With the help of random.org, I’ve selected our five winners.

Congratulations to Traci, Emily, Jill, Dominique and Kari! I’ll be emailing soon.

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• Cuppow Winner
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Sad news, kids. I didn’t manage to complete a chile-based project for the October Can Jam. I had a plan and even the ingredients to carry it out, but alas, I couldn’t make the kitchen magic happen before the deadline. I’ve spent all week scrambling to get myself re-oriented to post-vacation life.

But since the ingredients are still languishing, I do hope that I will be able to make the Peach-Jalapeno Jelly I’ve been plotting (with leftover peach syrup from my final batch of canned peaches. Amazingly, it’s been in the fridge for nearly a month and hasn’t started to ferment yet. Here’s hoping it will last another few days).

However, did you know that you can bring limp carrots back from beyond the pale by submerging them in a jar of water and keeping said jar in the refrigerator? This act will make you a hero with your snack-craving, carb-avoiding husband (unless you happen to wedge the carrots too tightly into the jar in an attempt to be efficient, rendering it nearly impossible for the hungry husband to remove them. True story. Tongs had to be employed).

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how to make this website a fun place to visit, now that we’re heading into quieter canning times. In an attempt to keep things interesting, I’ve created a Flickr group called (wait for it) Food in Jars. I’m inviting everyone to join and add their favorite pictures of the jars in their lives and the way they’re employed in the kitchen and beyond.

Truly, it doesn’t just have to be home canned goods. It can also be photos of the jars you use for leftover storage, for dry goods or for your morning coffee. I’ll be picking a photo from the group pool once a week to share here on Food in Jars, in order to share the jar love. So let’s see those jars in action!

Finally, I have a giveaway I’ve been negligent in wrapping up. Several weeks ago now, I offered up a copy of the GrassRoutes Guide to Portland. Then I went to BlogHer Food and then onto a Portland vacation and totally dropped the ball. In an attempt to get back on top of things, I’ve selected a winner. It is lucky #22, Sandi Garcia. Congratulations Sandi, I’ll be in touch shortly.

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• Cuppow Winner
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Wow. Thank you all for all the gardening memories you shared. I loved how often the themes of discovery, sharing, multi-generational cooperation and delicious, fresh food came up as you all recounted your stories. I really wish that I had seeds for each and every one of you (and oh, how I wish I could see all the gardens you’ll be growing this summer).

But, as is the way with these giveaways, many will enter but only one will win. And today, our winner (thanks to random.org and their randomizer is the blogger behind Jimmy Cracked Corn (I’ll be in touch to get your contact info!). For all of you who didn’t win, but are still intrigued by these seeds, you can get them for $39.99 at Hometown Seeds.

Happy gardening!

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I’m just tickled that so many of you liked my canning gift guide (and the attached giveaway). Thanks for all the terrific comments! (There are a lot of Weck lovers in the crowd!)

The winner of the giveaway was Annie, who’s comment made me laugh when I went to match the random number up with the winning name. She said, “Great stuff, Marisa. Thank you! Can’t wait for the generator to spit out my number!” Well Annie, spit out your number it did. I’ll be emailing you shortly to get your details!

Still to come this week I’ll have at least two (if not three, depending on how demanding my day job is) more “Gift in a Jar” posts, as well as my local meal for the Dark Days Challenge. Meanwhile, I’d love to hear how your holiday preparations are going (I passed out jars of Apple-Cranberry Jam, Apple Butter and the Rosemary-Maple Nuts at my family’s Hanukkah party last night to a crowd of excited cousin)s.

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• Cuppow Winner
• Takeya Winner + Pasplore
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We’ve got a winner in the Chocolate for Breakfast giveaway. The randomizer selected #6, which is commenter Apple Tree, who’s husband has been inspired to can of late in part by this site (I do love hearing such things). I’ll be in touch and will ship the book out to you soon.

Coming later this week: homemade butter, pickled daikon and honey sweetened applesauce.

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