SMS - Strawberry Preserves & Grilled Nutella & Strawberry Sandwiches

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Preserves. Jam. Jelly. I'm not really sure what defines each. Technical differences? Regional differences? Textural differences?

This was my first time making strawberry preserves, or jam, or jelly. The fantastic Tracey of Tracey's Culinary Adventures chose Strawberry Rhubarb Preserves for this installment of Sweet Melissa Sundays. I was a bit apprehensive because I had always known the making of preserves to involve lots of special equipment, and boiling of jars and lids, and pectin and other things I'm not familiar, nor comfortable, with. This recipe didn't involve anything more than fruit and sugar. I still haven't worked up the nerve to try rhubarb and went for plain ol' strawberry preserves. After slicing and dicing the strawberries, an apple is added to provide natural pectin and create the gel. Sugar, orange juice and orange zest round out of the list of ingredients. From there it's as simple as boiling the mixture until the right consistency is achieved. I don't think I let my preserves cook long enough as they were very loose. Although not called for in the recipe, I strained the mixture and this may have resulted in thinner product. No worries though, the preserves were still delicious. The epitome of strawberry. Strawberries for me always conjure of visions of chocolate covered berries. I took the preserves and a healthy dollop of Nutella between some beautiful bread and grilled the sandwich in butter. OMG! So simple, so decadent, so delicious. This will be a go to dessert for me from now one. The sweet tang of the strawberry preserves was perfect with the Nutella.

To find the recipe for the preserves, check out Tracey's blog. She is one of my favorite bloggers with her incredible photos and perfect end results. To top it all off, she is one of the sweetest bloggers out there.