Blueberry Jelly

This is my first "blog". I've never blogged before, and I don't know why. I'm constantly monologue-ing in my head, and I can get on a soapbox and talk for hours, so it only makes sense. I really need a better camera. I have browsed a lot of blogs and found myself green with envy over their beautiful pictures of food creations. Perhaps I'm just not great at photographing food, but I'm just going to blame the camera for now ;o)
So most of the time jam is naturally gluten free, so this isn't going to be overly exciting, but I made jam for the first time 2 days ago. I had a boatload of blueberries and felt inspired. I'm rather phase-y, so right now I am in a jam and canning phase. I made blueberry jam, blueberry peach jam, and blueberry plum. The plum didn't set up as well as the other 2, so I am going to go ahead and call it ice cream topping, or maybe even syrup. It's all good! I have only canned salsa and stewed tomatoes before, so this was a new experience for me. So here's my directions for jam!
Heres what I did for jam. I don't have the patience for canners/pressure coolers, and you really don't need one for jams or sauces if you do it right.

This makes about 6 pints

Put your clean canning jars in the dishwasher and do a sanitizing rinse and heated dry to sterilize them. Put your rings and lids in a small pan and heat them to a low boil to sterilize and soften the seals on them. I just leave them on low on the stove till I am going to use them. I don't have a canning funnel, so I cut the bottom off of a disposable cup to use as a funnel to pour the jelly in the jars. You don't have to funnel it, just be sure the wipe the mouth of the jar with a clean paper towel if you get jelly on it so it seals well.

10 cups blueberries (I think about 4lbs, you end up with about 6-6.5 cups after they are mashed)
5 c sugar
1 1/2 boxes of pectin
1/4 c lemon juice
1/2 c water

I puree my blueberries in a blender. You can hand mash them for more texture if you want. Either way, mash or puree the blueberries, and put them in a large sauce pan. It should be a very large pan because when it boils, it raises way up. Add lemon juice and water. Take 1/4 c of your sugar (save the rest for later step) and mix it with your pectin. Pour into pan and stir till dissolved. Once it comes to a roaring boil (stirring wont make it go down in the pan, takes 5-10 minutes to reach this stage). At this point add the remaining sugar and bring it up to a hard boil again. Once its at a hard boil, set the timer for one minute (this really isn't that important in the 3 batches I have made. I boiled the daylights out of one batch and it was no different, just make it at least one minute). Turn it down to low so its still lightly boiling while you are putting it in jars, this eliminates the need for a pressure cooker because it makes sure it stays sterile and will create the seal in the jar. Have the jars and lids ready. Start ladling the boiling jam into jars, and quickly, using tongs, take the lids from the hot water and put them on the jars and screw on the rings. Let the jars sit undisturbed overnight. You will hear the jars making popping sounds as they cool and seal. Thats my favorite part, lol.

I added peaches to one batch. I cut out 4 cups of the blueberries and cut up 6-7 peaches and threw them in the blender with the blueberries. The next batch I did the same thing, only with plums. I think I will do strawberries next since I have a ton in the freezer.