The Magic Mason Jar

Our Sponsor Gray's General Store carries many useful home supplies, including the popular mason jar, Cuppow lids and cookbooks - here you'll find out just how useful these things can be!

When I first decided to open Gray's General Store, I knew one thing for sure... we would have mason jars. The almighty mason jar, with it's seemingly infinitely possible uses, is essential to my life in so many ways and I wanted to spread the word that the mason jar will make your life better!

Here are just a few reason why the mason jar (which I sometimes refer to as magic jars) is amazing:

1. The Mason Jar Turned Drinking Jar

With the invention of the Cuppow lid in 2011, the mason jar exploded onto the trendy scene! I had been drinking out of jars for years. Hot Chocolate. Lemonade. Margaritas. Coffee. Milk. You name it! The truth is, all delicious drinks taste even better out of a jar. Glass jars do not retain smells and stains so your drink is untainted. They are easy to clean, especially the wide mouth version, and they are practically unbreakable! Add the Cuppow lid ($10) to your jar ($1.50) and you have a fantastic travel mug that won't start smelling like mold after a few weeks of use! You know what I'm talking about...

2. The Outdoor Survival Jar

Heading out camping this weekend with a cooler full of cold goodies? Fill a few jars with water, freeze them then throw on the air tight lids for a easy ice pack for the road! They'll keep your snacks nice and cool all the way to the camp ground. When the ice melts, you can use the glasses for drinking out of and then when the temperatures start to dip down after dark, as they so often do around here, fill the glass with hot water, seal it tight with a canning lid and put it in your sleeping bag. It'll warm you right up! Just make sure you don't burn yourself when the glass heats up - a jar cozy is always a good idea.

3. The Essential Kitchen Jar

Not only are jars great for drinking out of, but you can store individual portioned leftovers in them and then pop them in the oven or microwave to reheat (without the lid, please). You can even bake cakes and pies in jars! Is your mind blown yet? Last summer I went to an outdoor music festival for the weekend and brought jar pies for my group. We were the hit of the lawn. Everyone wanted a pie! But seriously, how can you resist? And they travel so well.

Impress your friends with this jar pie recipe:

What you'll need:

• 4 Pint Size Wide-Mouth Canning Jars
• 1 package of pre-made pie crust
• Pie filling of your choice (we used 3 cans of blackberries and used the recipe on the can)

Directions:

• Use the jars to cut out 4 circles of dough. 
• Push the dough inside of the jars to the bottom. 
• Cut pieces of dough to wrap around the insides of the jar. No need to be too precise, just make sure the dough gets mushed together to create a cohesive pie crust. 
• Use your filling and fill the jars 3/4 of the way to the top of the crust. 
• If you want, you can use another circle cut of dough to seal the top, just make sure you cut slits in the dough so they don't explode!
• You can put on their lids and seal them at this point OR bake them right away. 
• Place the jars on a cookie sheet WITHOUT the lids on them. 
• Bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes. 
• Keep an eye on them to make sure nothing boils over or gets burned. 
• Let them cool before covering with a lid. 
• You can also freeze them before you bake them, for future spontaneous desserts!

Stop by Gray's General Store to grab a mason jar and Cuppow lid and tell us how you use your mason jar!