A Kaleidoscope of Butterflies

We love butterflies in our family. If there is a chance to go to a butterfly house at a zoo or museum, we will go in a heartbeat. Last year we found a fantastic looking caterpillar on a vine we had in a pot on the front porch. We watched as it got bigger and turned into a chrysalis, then finally, a butterfly. We looked up the caterpillar online and found that it was a gulf fritillary and that they feed exclusively on passion flower vines such as the one we had. Here is a picture of the butterfly that emerged last year:




When we decided to put up lattice with vines on it as a privacy barrier this year, we looked for passion flower vines to give the butterflies a habitat in the backyard. Now that the vines have started to take off, we have had butterflies around all summer long. They have been very active. Today, we went searching in the vines and found dozens of caterpillars in all different sizes, several chrysalises, and several butterflies. It is amazing to see all the butterfly activity in our backyard. The next thing we are going to try and identify are eggs. I know what they should look like, but we didn't see any today. I took some pictures of the different sizes of caterpillars, some of the chrysalises, and one of the butterflies.


A teeny, tiny caterpillar. I can't believe how small they start out!




This one was about half an inch long.




About one inch.




One of the biggest ones at about 1.5 inches when it is all stretched out.




A few of the different chrysalises.








Finally, the one decent picture I managed to get of a butterfly.

Caramelized Onion Jam

I decided to try a recipe a while ago that I got off the blog of someone on my list and she got it from Taste of Home. I wasn't quite sure what I would think about it, but I wanted to branch out a bit from fruit jams. It took a long time to make but it was worth it! It works very well as a marinade or glaze. I just scoop some out of the jar, melt it in the microwave and pour it over whatever meat I am using. The meat has fantastic flavor and the resulting sauce is excellent.

Caramelized Onion Jam

4 whole garlic bulbs
1 teaspoon canola oil
5 cups chopped sweet onions (1-1/2 pounds)
1/4 cup butter, cubed
3/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup bottled lemon juice
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1-1/2 teaspoons ground mustard
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
6 cups sugar
1 pouch (3 ounces) liquid fruit pectin

Remove papery outer skin from garlic (do not peel or separate cloves). Cut top off garlic bulbs; brush with oil. Wrap each bulb in heavy-duty foil. Bake at 425° for 30-35 minutes or until softened. Cool for 10-15 minutes.

In a Dutch oven, saute onions in butter for 30-40 minutes or until lightly browned. Squeeze softened garlic into pan. Stir in the cider vinegar, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper, ginger and cloves. Bring to a rolling boil. Gradually add sugar, stirring constantly. Return to a boil for 3 minutes.

Add pectin; bring to a full rolling boil. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat; let stand for 3 minutes. Skim off foam. Pour hot mixture into hot jars, leaving 1/4-in. headspace. Adjust caps. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling-water bath.





I don't have a dutch oven that I can use on the stovetop so I just used my regular stock pot. It did have a pretty firm set. I think I will use slightly less pectin the next time I make it as it is a little hard to scoop out of the jar once I have opened it the first time and put it in the fridge.


The house smelled amazing while this was cooking. Especially the four bulbs of roasted garlic. I love garlic!





I have a very hard time chopping onions by hand. My eyes are super sensitive to onion to the point that for years, I would only use frozen chopped onion. Now that I am trying to eat more local food, buying frozen onion at the store isn't an option. Using my food processor really helps though.





The onions cooked down and starting to caramelize.





I was worried this would be too sweet, but it really isn't once you cook with it. When I tasted it alone during the cooking, it was very sweet but it does mellow out when you use it.





The finished jars. I will definitely be making this again next year!