Lunch with jam, jam and bread

Disclaimer: there are no actual cookies, bars, or cakes of any kind here, but I figured today's get-together had enough sweet indulgence to qualify for this post!

Today Amy and I both needed to make bread, so we teamed up at her place, and made the delicious whole wheat bread that has become a staple at both our houses. We made some of the dough into rolls, and topped them with butter and strawberry freezer jam:

Strawberry Jam:
4 lbs strawberries
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 packet Ball Freezer Jam Pectin
Just mash or blend the strawberries, stir together with pectin, and let set (official directions are on the pectin packet).

For the other part of our lunch, we had yummy spinach salad with Craisins, candied pecans, and Honey Celery Seed dressing.

Candied Pecans:
1 tsp cold water
1 egg white
4 cups pecan halves
1 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp salt
Whisk water and egg white together. Add pecans and coat. Add rest of ingredients and coat well.
Spread onto sprayed jelly roll sheet.
Bake at 225 for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Then increase oven to 275 and bake for a final 15 minutes (if the nuts don't come out crispy enough, increase final temp to 300). Cool.

Honey Celery Seed Dressing: (from The Essential Mormon Cookbook)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp mustard
1/2 tsp finely grated onion
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 tsp celery seed
Mix all ingredients except oil and celery seed in a blender. Gradually add oil and celery seed, and blend until incorporated.
*This is a very sweet dressing, which is also delicious on a strawberry spinach salad with almonds.