Jayson Tatum had 25 points and 10 rebounds, and the Boston Celtics beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 113-98 on Wednesday night to advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the third straight season.

Al Horford added 22 points, 15 rebounds and six of Boston’s 19 3-pointers to post their third consecutive win of the series and earn a 4-1 win. The Celtics will now await the winner of the matchup between the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers. New York leads that series 3-2.

The Cavaliers played extremely short-handed without All-Star Donovan Mitchell (calf), center Jarrett Allen (rib) and key reserve Caris LeVert (knee).

Cleveland stayed close through the first three quarters and pulled within 88-85 early in the fourth. Boston then went on a 13-2 run to take a 101-87 lead with 6:44 to play.

Evan Mobley scored a playoff career-high 33 points and had seven rebounds. Marcus Morris Sr. had five 3-pointers and finished with 25 points.

Cleveland now enters a summer of uncertainty with the futures of Mitchell and coach J.B. Bickerstaff squarely in the spotlight.

Mitchell has been everything for the Cavs in his second postseason for Cleveland. He earned his fifth All-Star appearance in the regular season. He averaged 29.6 points in these playoffs but didn’t play in either of the final two games.

The end of Mitchell’s tenure in Cleveland could potentially come in the same TD Garden arena where LeBron James played his last game with the Cavs before leaving for Miami in 2010.

Mitchell is eligible to sign a contract extension but has not given any indication he’s eager to stay or leave Cleveland.

Bickerstaff is completing his fourth full season as Cleveland’s coach. Including the 11 games he coached after taking over for John Beilein during the 2019-20 season, Bickerstaff is 170-159 with two playoff appearances.

Much like they did in Game 4 without Mitchell, the Cavs used the 3-point line to keep pace with the Celtics, making 8 of 19 in the opening 24 minutes.

Cleveland started the second quarter by connecting on 4 of 5 attempts from beyond the arc to nudge ahead 46-40. The Cavs also got solid minutes off the bench from Marcus Morris Sr., who scored 14 points in his first 12 minutes of action.

But Boston rallied and closed with an 18-6 run to take a 58-52 lead into halftime.

“We are delighted to see this valuable historic artifact and beautiful piece of art returned to its home here in Vermont,” Judith Ehrlich, the agency’s historic preservation officer said in a statement on Monday.

The 1910 weathervane is of a steam locomotive and coal tender and was made by W.A. Snow Iron Works Inc. It sat on top of the White River Junction station in Hartford before it was stolen Nov. 3, 1983, the transportation agency said Tuesday.

Nearly 40 years later, it was consigned to New York auction house Sotheby’s, officials said. The organization Arts Loss Register, which has a database of lost, stolen and looted art, antiques and collectibles, confirmed that the piece was the stolen weathervane, so the auction house pulled it from sale, the transportation agency said.

The state currently owns the White River Junction station. Arts Loss Register worked with the state to return the weathervane last week, the transportation agency said. Sotheby’s paid the $2,300 cost to ship it to Vermont, the state said.

Ehrlich said the transportation agency is working with the state curator to pick a great location for the weathervane “so that it may be enjoyed once more.”

Fico, 59, returned to power in Slovakia last year. Having previously served twice as prime minister, from 2006 to 2010 and again from 2012 to 2018, his third term made him the longest-serving head of government in Slovakia’s history.

He and his party Smer (Direction) have most often been described as left-populist, though he has also been compared to right-wing politicians like the nationalist prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán.

After five years in opposition, Fico’s party won parliamentary elections last year on a pro-Russian and anti-American platform. He vowed to bring an end to Slovakia providing Ukraine with military support as it battled Russia’s full-scale invasion, and has argued that NATO and the United States provoked Moscow into war.

After his election victory, the new government immediately halted arms deliveries to Ukraine. Thousands repeatedly took to the streets across Slovakia to rally against Fico’s pro-Russian and other policies, including plans to amend the penal code to eliminate a special anti-graft prosecutor and to take control of the public media.

Fico’s return to power caused concern among his critics that he and his party — which had long been tainted by scandal — would lead Slovakia away from its pro-Western course. He vowed to pursue a “sovereign” foreign policy, promised a tough stance against migration and non-governmental organizations, and campaigned against LGBTQ+ rights.

He earned a reputation for his tirades against journalists, and faced criminal charges in 2022 for allegedly creating a criminal group and misuse of power. In 2018, he and his government stepped down amid controversy after Slovakian investigative journalist Ján Kuciak was murdered along with his fiancée. Kuciak had been reporting on tax-related crimes implicating high-level Slovak politicians.

Caitlin Clark struggled early in her WNBA debut before finishing with 20 points and 10 turnovers as the Indiana Fever fell to the Connecticut Sun 92-71 on Tuesday night.

Alyssa Thomas led the Sun with 13 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds, registering the 12th triple-double of her career. DeWanna Bonner added 20 points and DiJonai Carrington had 16. Carrington also was a major reason for Clark’s early offensive struggles, hounding the guard.

“Disappointed and nobody likes to lose, that’s how it is,” Clark said. “Can’t beat yourself up too much about one game.”

The NCAA’s all-time Division I scoring leader, who finished the game 5 for 15 from the field, went scoreless in the first quarter. She missed her first four shots before finally getting on the board midway through the second period.

Clark stole the ball around the foul line and drove the length of the court before laying the ball in. She later added two free throws and hit a 3-pointer with 29.9 seconds left in the first half to finish the opening 20 minutes with seven points, hitting two of her seven shot attempts. The Fever trailed 49-39 at the break.

The Fever got within 63-57 late in the third quarter on two free throws by Clark, but couldn’t get closer the rest of the way.

Clark did start heating up from the field, hitting four 3-pointers, including one from long range.

“Caitlin was able to get her some looks, able to knock them down. our spacing was not great,” Indiana coach Christie Sides said. “Connecticut came in and punched us in the mouth tonight. We’ll be in the gym tomorrow watching a lot of video trying to figure out how not to turn the ball over 25 times.”

Clark broke the WNBA all-time record for turnovers in a debut game that was held by Cynthia Cooper-Dyke when she had nine.

MOVING ON UP

Bonner moved into fifth on the WNBA’s career scoring list, moving ahead of former Phoenix Mercury teammate Candice Dupree. who finished her career with 6,895 points. Bonner passed Dupree on a layup midway through the third quarter.

“To do it here on this night with this team and this group and this crowd made it more special,” Bonner said. “It was huge and goal of mine i can check off my list. to be in this league is hard, to stay in this league is harder. To be part of that list is amazing. pat myself on the back for that one.”

Bonner, who now has 6,901 points, raised her hands to the crowd after a timeout to acknowledge the accomplishment.

RETURN OF BRIONNA

Brionna Jones played for the first time since rupturing her right Achilles tendon last June. The Sun’s All-Star center had eight points while playing just under 20 minutes.

“We certainly missed her and it put a smile on my face to see her out there again,” Connecticut coach Stephanie White said.

UP NEXT:

Fever: Return to Indiana to play New York on Thursday in the team’s home opener

Sun: Host Washington on Friday.

The Hawks won the NBA draft lottery on Sunday, landing the No. 1 pick and a potential cornerstone player in a year where there’s no clear-cut choice.

“At least I can go home and tell my wife on Mother’s Day, ‘Hey, at least we won the lottery,'” general manager Landry Fields said. “That’s her present. Yeah, there we go.”

The Hawks hit the jackpot despite just 3% odds after finishing 10th in the Eastern Conference at 36-46. They dropped their final six regular-season games and lost to the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the play-in tournament.

“It was a shock,” said Fields, who grinned ear to ear when deputy commissioner Mark Tatum announced the Hawks as the winners. “When I first saw that it wasn’t us between 10 and 12, that launched us into the top four. I was like, all right, we’ve got a real shot at this thing. A bit of surprise, but a lot of excitement.”

The Hawks haven’t won a postseason series since a surprising run to the Eastern Conference finals in 2021. They got knocked out in the first round in 2022 and 2023.

Atlanta has some big decisions to make this offseason, including whether to break up its backcourt of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray. Fields can build with the No. 1 pick — assuming he keeps it — though it’s not clear who will be taken first after Victor Wembanyama was the obvious choice for San Antonio last year.

“Our group has been fantastic,” Fields said. “There’s a whole lot of trust. They’ve put in the work. We’ll kind of lean into our process and take it from there.”

Washington, Houston, San Antonio and Detroit rounded out the top five. The draft is June 26-27 in Brooklyn.

Houston coach Ime Udoka was thrilled to get the third pick after the Rockets went 41-41 and missed the playoffs for the fourth straight year.

“Pleasant surprise when you move up the way that we did,” he said. “I feel like there’s a lot of qualified candidates out there.”

Washington and Detroit had the best chances to land the top pick at 14%. Only four teams have won the lottery with slimmer odds than Atlanta, with the biggest longshot being Orlando at 1.52% in 1993. The Magic orchestrated a blockbuster draft night trade with Golden State, sending the rights to Chris Webber to the Warriors for the rights to Penny Hardaway along with three future first-round picks.

San Antonio landed a generational player last year in Wembanyama. The franchise that previously took David Robinson and Tim Duncan with the No. 1 overall pick got its next great big man, and all the Frenchman did was turn in one of the best rookie seasons in NBA history.

Fields disputed the idea that this year’s class is a weak one, saying there are future All-Stars.

“Every draft class has great players in it,” he said.

The No. 1 pick could once again come from France, whether it’s center Alex Sarr or sharp-shooting forward Zaccharie Risacher, but that’s far from a certainty. UConn guard Stephon Castle and Kentucky’s Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham are both expected to be off the board within the first few selections.

The 7-foot-1, 224-pound Sarr has the size and mobility that teams crave and can defend the perimeter when he’s not blocking shots down low. The 19-year-old from Toulouse is known for his explosiveness around the rim, though he could use some more muscle. It would help, too, if he developed into a more reliable 3-point shooter.

Sarr, whose brother Olivier plays for the Oklahoma City, spent this past season in Australia’s National Basketball League.

Risacher, who was born in Spain and grew up in France, is known as a dynamic, albeit streaky shooter for JL Bourg, whether he’s popping off screens or pulling up for 3-pointers. He often guards the other team’s best player.

Castle joined Andre Drummond in 2012 as UConn’s only one-and-done players when he declared for the draft in April after the Huskies’ latest NCAA championship run. The 6-foot-6 guard averaged 11.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists while often drawing the defensive assignment to shut down the opposition’s top perimeter player.

Sheppard and Dillingham both came off the bench in their lone college seasons.

Sheppard, who was voted the Southeastern Conference’s top freshman by coaches, was one of the league’s best playmakers and perimeter shooters. He was Kentucky’s No. 3 scorer at 12.5 points per contest and averaged an SEC-best 2.5 steals that ranked eighth nationally, despite starting just five of 33 games.

Dillingham was voted the SEC’s top sixth man after averaging 15.2 and 3.9 assists. Kentucky tied for second in the conference and earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, only to get knocked out by Oakland in the round of 64. Coach John Calipari then left after 15 years for Arkansas.

By Andrew Seligman

In line with Russian law, the entire Russian cabinet resigned Tuesday following Putin’s glittering inauguration in the Kremlin, and most members have been widely expected to keep their jobs, while Shoigu’s fate had appeared uncertain.

Putin signed a decree on Sunday appointing Shoigu as secretary of Russia’s Security Council, the Kremlin said. The appointment was announced shortly after Putin proposed Andrei Belousov to become the country’s defense minister in place of Shoigu.

The announcement of Shoigu’s new role came as 13 people were reported dead and 20 more wounded in Russia’s border city of Belgorod, where a section of a residential building collapsed after what Russian officials said was Ukrainian shelling.

Belousov’s candidacy will need to be approved by Russia’s upper house in parliament, the Federation Council. It reported Sunday that Putin introduced proposals for other cabinet positions as well but Shoigu is the only minister on that list who is being replaced. Several other new candidates for federal ministers were proposed Saturday by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, reappointed by Putin on Friday.

Shoigu’s deputy, Timur Ivanov, was arrested last month on bribery charges and was ordered to remain in custody pending an official investigation. The arrest of Ivanov was widely interpreted as an attack on Shoigu and a possible precursor of his dismissal, despite his close personal ties with Putin.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Sunday that Putin had decided to give the defense minister role to a civilian because the ministry should be “open to innovation and cutting-edge ideas.” He also said the increasing defense budget “must fit into the country’s wider economy,” and Belousov, who until recently served as the first deputy prime minister, is the right fit for the job.

Belousov, 65, held leading positions in the finances and economic department of the prime minister’s office and the Ministry of Economic Development. In 2013, he was appointed an adviser to Putin and seven years later, in January 2020, he became first deputy prime minister.

Peskov assured that the reshuffle will not affect “the military aspect,” which “has always been the prerogative of the chief of general staff,” and Gen. Valery Gerasimov, who currently serves in this position, will continue his work.

Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said in an online commentary that Shoigu’s new appointment to Russia’s Security Council showed that the Russian leader viewed the institution as “a reservoir” for his “‘former’ key figures — people who he can’t in any way let go, but doesn’t have a place for.”

Figures such as former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have also been appointed to the Security Council. Medvedev has served as the body’s deputy chairman since 2020.

Shoigu was appointed to the Security Council instead of Nikolai Patrushev, Putin’s long-term ally. Peskov said Sunday that Patrushev is taking on another role, and promised to reveal details in the coming days.

The 70-year-old New Jersey Democrat and his wife are accused of accepting bribes from three wealthy businessmen in his home state and performing a variety of favors in return, including meddling in criminal investigations and taking actions benefitting the governments of Egypt and Qatar.

Menendez’s lawyers say he stayed within the rules and did nothing illegal. He has optimistically spoken about mounting a reelection campaign the summer if he is acquitted.

But even if he escapes without a conviction, as he did in a previous corruption prosecution in 2017, the damage done to his reputation could make a political comeback next to impossible.

FBI agents who searched the senator’s New Jersey home found a stash of gold bars, worth more than $100,000, and more than $486,000 in cash, some of it stuffed into the pockets of clothing hanging in his closets.

His fellow Democrats in Washington, D.C., appear to have already written him off, encouraging him repeatedly to resign.

“The evidence against him is vivid,” said Dan Cassino, executive director of the Fairleigh Dickinson University poll. “This isn’t paperwork or checks: it’s gold bars. The images are powerful, and given that New Jersey voters typically don’t know a lot about the officials representing them, this might be the one thing they know about Menendez.”

“I am innocent and will prove it no matter how many charges they continue to pile on,” he said after the indictment against him was updated again in early March to add charges that he tried to obstruct the investigation.

Menendez was forced to relinquish his powerful position as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee soon after the revelation last fall of charges including bribery, fraud, extortion and acting as a foreign agent of Egypt.

It’s officially spring, and with that comes the urge to declutter and start fresh. While busy clearing out your closets, don’t forget to consider the pantry, where food often gets shoved to the back and forgotten.

Before your next grocery store visit, consider what you already have on hand in the pantry that needs to be used up before it expires. Then, read on for ideas for using up some of those pantry items to make simple, creative and delicious meals.

Meal ideas using pantry staples

Now that you have your list of pantry items that need to get used up before they go bad, simply find your item on the list below and give one of these easy meal ideas a shot.

1. Canned tomatoes

Canned tomatoes are a common ingredient in chili and soup like minestrone, but here’s something a little different to try. Toss a couple of chicken breasts in a pan, pour a can of diced tomatoes over them, put a lid on and simmer over medium-high heat for 10 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.

That’s it – dinner is ready. If you want some veggies, add a big handful of fresh baby spinach to the pan a couple of minutes before it’s ready to eat and it will wilt down beautifully. Serve atop rice or pasta or enjoy as is.

2. Rice

Did you know that rice is not only a delicious side dish, but also great on salad? Try topping your next salad with rice or another grain – barley and farro are both great options here.

Adding a grain on top of salad adds carbohydrates to the meal, which will keep you feeling full longer. If you often find yourself hungry again a mere hour after having a salad, adding a carbohydrate to the meal can make a big difference in satiety.

Or, for a fast and easy variation on fried rice, saute some frozen shelled edamame, cooked rice and frozen mixed veggies in a pan with olive oil and a splash of soy sauce. Stir in beaten eggs; cook until the egg is scrambled and cooked through.

3. Canned beans

Beans are packed with fiber and are a great, affordable source of vegetarian protein. They also happen to be a delicious addition to many different meals.

If you have black beans on hand, try making homemade vegetarian nachos by putting chips on a sheet pan and topping them with drained and rinsed canned black beans, any veggies you might have on hand like chopped bell peppers and cheese. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes at 375 F and you have yourself a meal.

Looking to use up chickpeas? Try making homemade hummus – beet hummus using canned beets is a unique option to try here – or toss drained and rinsed canned chickpeas on top of a salad to add texture and protein to the mix.

As for white beans, they are great in soups – especially anything with chicken in it, as the flavors go together beautifully.

4. Pasta

Pasta is a classic quick-cooking go-to dinner. For something a little unique that uses almost entirely pantry staples, follow these quick instructions.

Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain, then add the pasta back into the pot, along with drained and rinsed canned white beans and canned tuna. Add a splash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar and a squeeze of lemon and enjoy.

5. Canned seafood

Canned seafood like tuna and salmon is full of protein, vitamins, minerals and healthy fats, and is already prepared and ready to eat, making it a great time saver.

If you aren’t a fan of mayonnaise-packed tuna salad, try a variation made with plain Greek yogurt and a squirt of Dijon mustard. Or skip the dairy and mix the tuna with a mashed ripe avocado and a squirt of Dijon mustard. Both of these tuna salads are great served with crackers, as a sandwich or in a wrap.

6. Jarred salsa

Jarred salsa is, of course, a great dip option to devour a bag of chips, but it can also be used to make a really simple Mexican-themed shredded chicken.

Place chicken breasts in a slow cooker, pour a jar of salsa on top, and heat on low heat for six to eight hours or high heat for three to four hours. Once cooked, shred the chicken in the slow cooker so it absorbs even more of the sauce, then enjoy it in tacos or over rice.

7. Coconut milk

Coconut milk adds richness and creaminess to dishes while keeping them dairy free (and keeping you from ending up with spoiled dairy). If you’ve got a can of coconut milk in the pantry, Elle Penner, MPH, RD, a Registered Dietitian and creator of the blog Modern Minimalism, offers a great way to use it.

“Elevate your morning by swapping out half the water you typically use to cook oats with coconut milk instead for a creamy twist,” explains Penner. “Top your coconut oatmeal with sliced bananas, crunchy walnuts and a sprinkle of cinnamon for added flavor and nutritional goodness.”

You can also use coconut milk instead of regular milk to add a tropical flair to French toast.

8. Vinegar

If you haven’t tried making your own salad dressing, give it a shot – it’s quick and easy and much more flavorful than store-bought dressings.

To make a simple homemade vinaigrette, mix together equal parts olive oil and vinegar (balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar and apple cider vinegar are all great here), a spoonful of Dijon mustard and the juice from half a lemon. Whisk together and enjoy. Anne Mauney is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist with a Masters of Public Health in Nutrition, and lives in the Washington D.C. area with her husband and two children. She has been sharing simple and delicious healthy recipes on her blog fANNEtastic food since 2009, and her recipes and nutrition tips have been featured in numerous online and print publications.

Italian porchetta is a special dish of spit-roasted pork flavored with herbs, fennel and garlic. It’s delicious, but much too involved for a weeknight dinner. To give pork chops the same flavor profile with less work, we narrowed the ingredients to those best suited for searing on the stovetop.

In this recipe from our book “Tuesday Nights Mediterranean,” which features weeknight-friendly meals from the region, we blend together salt, black pepper, rosemary, fennel seeds and red pepper flakes in a spice grinder, then rub the seasoning blend on bone-in center cut pork chops before searing them until well browned.

Once the chops are cooked through, the pan is deglazed with a bit of water to release the flavorful browned bits. The liquid is enriched with butter and flavored with lemon juice to create a simple bright and rich pan sauce for finishing. A fresh fennel and herb salad balances the richness of the meat.

Don’t discard the fennel fronds if your bulb has them attached. Chop about ¼ cup and add them to the bowl with the fennel. When shopping, try to choose chops that are close in size so they cook at the same rate.

SEARED PORK CHOPS WITH FENNEL AND HERB SALAD

Start to finish: 35 minutes

Servings: 4

Kosher salt and ground black pepper

1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary

1 tablespoon fennel seeds

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

Four 8-ounce bone-in center cut pork chops, each about 1-inch thick, patted dry

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

2 tablespoons salted butter, cut into 2 pieces

3 tablespoons lemon juice, divided

1 large fennel bulb, halved lengthwise, cored and thinly sliced crosswise

3 scallions, thinly sliced on the diagonal

1 cup lightly packed fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

In a spice grinder, combine 1½ teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper, the rosemary, fennel seeds and pepper flakes. Process to a fine powder, about 10 seconds. Measure ½ teaspoon into a medium bowl and set aside. Sprinkle the remainder onto both sides of the pork chops, then rub the seasonings into the meat.

In a 12-inch skillet over medium-high, heat 2 tablespoons of oil until barely smoking. Add the chops and cook until well browned on the bottom, 3 to 5 minutes. Flip and cook until the centers reach 135°F, another 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a platter and tent with foil. With the pan still over medium-high, add ¼ cup water and scrape up any browned bits. Add the butter and whisk until incorporated, then stir in 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Taste and season with salt and black pepper. Remove from the heat and cover to keep warm.

To the bowl with the spice mix, whisk in the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and the remaining 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Add the fennel, scallions and parsley, then toss to combine. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Pour the sauce over the chops and serve with the fennel salad.

Mother’s Day always feels like a bit of a push-pull to me on many levels. Leaving the wide range of family dynamics aside (that’s another article, to be written by another writer!), the-stay-in-and-cook vs. going-out conundrum bubbles up every year.

Make mom a fabulous meal at home (with the ensuing clean up, and perhaps a bit of pressure)? Personal and thoughtful for sure. But maybe not in the cards for everyone. Take mom out for a lavish celebration? Lovely if you can swing it, but also with some downsides (cost, fighting for reservations, etc).

If you’re looking for something simple and doable, think about breakfast. Sure, maybe even call it brunch, but I can promise you as a mom, and the daughter of a mom, the best part about Mother’s Day is keeping it happy and uncomplicated.

And what’s more happy and uncomplicated than breakfast? Scrambled eggs. Homemade pancakes. Buttered toast. Fruit salad or a bowl of mixed berries. Maybe some muffins.

And homemade strawberry jam. From-scratch jam is one of the best simple pleasures in life. Fresh and sweet and the kind of red that just makes you feel happy. No one has to know how easy it is to make — seriously three ingredients and you’re done!

All you have to do is combine chopped strawberries and sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring often until the berries start to collapse. Add the lemon juice, and continue to simmer for about half an hour, stirring often, until the mixture looks like loose jam. You are looking for a temperature of 220 degrees F measured with a candy or instant-read thermometer ( Thermoworks is a great brand). If you don’t have a candy thermometer, that’s OK. You can just cook it until it starts to look like loose jam. It will thicken as it cools, even firm up even more once refrigerated.

Crush the berries as you stir and cook them. When it’s ready, spoon the jam into the clean jars and cool to room temperature. Then seal the jars and refrigerate.

And now Mom has lovely breakfasts ahead for weeks. She can spread the jam on toast, English muffins, crumpets, croissants, scones, muffins of any kind, bagels. But she also will want to stir some into plain yogurt, and spread some on warm pancakes or waffles. And it makes a lovely addition to a graze or cheese board (and then she can also tell her friends her kid made it, and believe me when I say that might be the best part).

This jam can certainly be canned using a water bath, and then it will be shelf stable for about a year. But for us non-canners, you can just spoon your strawberry jam into clean jars, and they can be stored in the refrigerator for about a month. Be diligent about using only clean utensils to scoop out the jam. Food starts to deteriorate more quickly if you get other foods mixed in – so avoid sticking a knife with bread crumbs or a smear of butter into the jar.Your jam will last longer!

If you are dropping off the jam rather than serving it up, you might also seek out a particularly cute vintage jelly jar and spoon to gift with the jam. There are some awfully cute and/or dishtowels out there, too. You could also bake up a batch of homemade scones or biscuits or muffins to go with.

Back to breakfast. It can be special even while staying simple. Buy good European style butter. Put some tulips in a vase. Use cloth napkins. And the tip I learned from my mom and stick to: no packages or containers on the table. Everything gets scooped out into a little bowl, no yogurt tubs or cream cheese wrappers allowed.

Except your homemade jam, which can be served right in the jar.

STRAWBERRY JAM

Serves: 16

Ingredients:

2 pounds strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped

1 1/2 cups sugar

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

Wash two 2-cup canning jars or other jars with tight fitting lids very well, and allow to dry completely.

Directions:

Combine the strawberries and sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently until the sugar has dissolved and the berries are starting to break down. Add the lemon juice, lower the heat to medium-low, and cook at a gentle simmer for about 25 to 30 minutes, stirring often, until the mixture looks like loose jam, and has reached a temperature of 220 degrees F measured with a candy or instant read thermometer. If you don’t have a candy thermometer just cook the strawberry mixture until it starts to look like loose jam. It will thicken upon cooling.

As the jam cooks you can crush the berries with a wooden spoon against the side of the pot as you go, or use a potato masher. Leave some chunks of berry in there for texture. Spoon the jam into the clean jars and allow to cool to room temperature.

Seal the jars and refrigerate.

—-

Katie Workman writes regularly about food for The Associated Press. She has written two cookbooks focused on family-friendly cooking, “Dinner Solved!” and “The Mom 100 Cookbook.” She blogs at https://themom100.com/. She can be reached at Katie@themom100.com.