Santa, according to the poem, had a belly that shook like a bowlful of jelly when he laughed. Whenever I hear or read that, it’s not regular jelly that comes to my mind any more.
It’s Texas Pepper Jelly.
My family have gotten into the habit of using pepper jelly on something at almost every meal now. So, I’ve gotten into the habit of putting a bowlful of pepper jelly on the table for all three meals.
I’ve caught them all licking the spoon, too.
We put pepper jelly in coffee, sangria, tea, cocoa, and water. We freeze pepper jelly in ice cube trays and drop ’em in lemonade and punch. We put pepper jelly on mashed potatoes, and toast, and biscuits. We use pepper jelly in baked beans, and salads of all kinds. We marinade chicken, and pork, and fish in pepper jelly. Pepper jelly has replaced butter on our table. My kids put pepper jelly on pancakes and waffles and French toast. My husband makes a peanut butter-and-pepper jelly sandwich when he gets home from school. We stir it into soup. We use it instead of salad dressing. We spread it on most sandwiches.
Really, I can’t think of a single pepper jelly “experiment” that flopped. The stuff is just so good.
About that sangria with pepper jelly. . . . I highly recommend that one. I mean, it’s fruit, right?
Be sure you set out a bowlful of pepper jelly on your holiday table. Santa’s watching you.
brick of cream cheese and dip crackers and/or raw vegetables in it. It looks and tastes like something you’ve worked on all day, but it takes about 30 seconds to prepare! While you’ve got the jar of pepper jelly out, spread some on your hot biscuits or rolls. You’ll never use anything else!
