A Week of Strawberries - Part III

Frozen berries for cakes are one thing, and preserves and jellies are another, but strawberry pie? It's probably the first thing that pops into your head when strawberry season rolls around. And honestly? It was my first thought, too, but it's so much nicer to have a strawberry pie that your mom makes while you watch and take notes on the process. Then you eat. With Cool Whip. (Though vanilla ice cream is a perfectly acceptable accompaniment, too, of course!)

We're at the beach celebrating Memorial Day until next Friday (!), and homebaked goodies are always at the top of the list. There are blackberries in the fridge waiting to be turned into cobbler tomorrow - and there was MORE strawberry preserves made tonight - the freezer kind. Ever made those? We have strawberries coming out of our ears! Hence, you get a bonus recipe today - Strawberry Pecan Bread.

I can't say that this bread was my favorite thing ever. If I was to make it again I'd only use two pans (I'm wondering if that was a mistake in the recipe), and I'd double the berries and leave out the pineapple. It's a really pretty bread, however, and it would be wonderful with some tea or coffee for breakfast. Perhaps some of you will try it and let me know what you think.

For those of you who celebrate it, Happy Memorial Day! Enjoy those last strawberries, and bake a pie for the Veterans in your life. I know my grandfather is going to enjoy this one tomorrow!

Mama's Strawberry Pie

Makes 1 double-crust pie

(This is a very forgiving recipe. Have fun with it!)

Ingredients:

1 quart strawberries

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons flour

6 tablespoons butter

2 pie crusts

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Mix strawberries and sugar.

3. Bake first pie shell, empty, about 15 minutes or until dough bubbles. (Doing so will help keep crust crisper, or prevent sogginess. Time depends on your dough - fresh or frozen? - and hotness of your oven.)

4. Sprinkle flour over baked shell.

5. Pour strawberry mixture over flour.

6. Cut butter into pieces and arrange over strawberries.

7. Use second pie shell to cover pie completely (with holes to vent), or cut into strips to make lattice crust. Or get creative! It's up to you. ;)

8. Bake pie about 30 minutes or until brown and bubbly. (You may have to protect outer crust with a shield after first 20 minutes or so.)

Bonus recipe: Visit this Web site for Strawberry Pecan Bread recipe, and for other recipes made with fresh strawberries! (Scroll past article.)

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A Week of Strawberries - Part II

When it comes to jelly, the store-bought stuff just will not do. I mean, sure, I eat it, and I don't necessarily hate it, but when you were raised on jelly like this - the manufactured kind just doesn't cut it. So of course when strawberries started coming in - and looking so fat, juicy and delicious - the first thing that popped into my head was preserves! I wanted homemade, sweet preserves, however, with bits of strawberry floating around, to slather on biscuits, toast and maybe even waffles for the months ahead.

And considering I made a dozen jars of this strawberry preserves - I'd say I'm set!



Just as last time, with the grape jelly, I have my Great Aunt Maggie for lending me the use of her kitchen - and her recipes - for my strawberry preserves. I won't lie - making preserves is a hot job; it's not necessarily a hard job, but all of that boiling and standing and wax-melting ... well, it can get to you. (It sure got to my feet that night, but I might have a little baby boy to blame for that!)

This recipe can be used for any type of berry preserves - I plan to try it next with blackberries (but I'll be straining it to remove the seeds, which will really make it jelly and not preserves.) I recommend you try it - you'll be pleasantly surprised with the results! And when it comes time for holiday gift-giving you'll have a ready-made, hand-made present: strawberry preserves (and perhaps a loaf of freshly baked bread to go along with it!)



Abby's Strawberry Preserves

Ingredients:
1 gallon strawberries
3 cups sugar
1 bar wax for sealing jars

Instructions:
1. Wash, cap and slice berries.
2. Measure out one quart berries, pour into large, heavy-bottomed pot. (This is important to keep the sugar from burning.) Pour in 1.5 cups sugar and bring mixture to a hard boil. Cook for 5 minutes.
3. After five minutes, add remaining 1.5 cups of sugar and cook until thick - 12 to 15 minutes. (This may vary on the heat of your stove. When you lift the spoon to let the preserves fall, or if you spoon some onto a plate, the mixture should "pull" for you, which will let you know that it's ready to be jarred.)
4. Put in washed, pint-sized jars. CAREFUL! Jars will be H-O-T!
5. Immediately melt wax (which will only take a few seconds) and spoon over preserves until they are completely covered. (I used about two tablespoon fulls per jar.) Then, immediately cap and place screw lid on jars. Voila! You've got preserves.

Quantities that I got: 1 gallon of strawberries made 2 quarts of sliced berries. That is two recipes, and I got six jars of preserves out of each recipe.



This recipe for Strawberry Preserves is my submission to Putting Up, by You Say Tomahto, I say Tomayto and Rosie Bakes a Peace of Cake! Thanks, ladies, for such a fun event!

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A Week of Strawberries - Part I

My dad says that he almost hates to see us do anything to fresh strawberries - it's almost a waste, he says. He just loves fresh, sweet berries. And who doesn't? (Granted, I like a bit of sugar and milk on mine, but still.) He's lucky we're in North Carolina - where it's strawberry season - and farms abound with fresh, juicy berries this time of year and he can afford to buy gallon after gallon. (I think we've probably bought, what, 20 gallons so far?)

Yes. Twenty gallons. I can hear you asking - what did you do with all those berries? Well, several things, and I'm going to share with you this week, in three parts, exactly what we've done.



If you want strawberries year-round, you have to freeze them. Yes, jam is good (more on that later). And yes, frozen whole berries from the store are available, but if you want sweet local berries in October for pies and cakes, you have to do a little bit of work in May when they're filling local farmland. And that's exactly what we did. It's simple, really. To freeze berries all you have to do is:

1. Wash, cap and slice fresh berries.
2. Measure out one quart, pour into large bowl.
3. Add one cup of sugar (or splenda, we do some that way, too.) Add to berries and stir.
4. Put in pint to pint-and-a-half containers and deep freeze until you're ready to use them.

See? Four steps! And you're ready to bake pies (all you have to add is the crust and some butter) and cakes and anything else you can think of. It couldn't be easier.

How do you save fresh strawberries? Tell us all!



Try this cake with your frozen berries: Strawberry Cake from Scratch

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Teach Me

Everybody has an opinion about Mark Bittman. You may like him, you may hate him, you may not dig his style of cooking and eating because you're not sure you should dig him because, as far as you know, he has no formal training. Well, neither do I, and that makes me like him even more. He knows so much! And he's so willing to share what he knows! And he makes it so simple! So maybe I'm a cheering a bit too loudly for him, but I can't help it. He's really helped me learn things with his bible, How to Cook Everything. Love. This. Cookbook.

But wait, you're saying. Isn't that salsa and chips up there? How much help do you need with salsa and chips?! Well, okay, maybe not much help, but when it comes to cooking I think you need the basics and from there you can expound. And Bittman taught me the basics of salsa. Sure, you can add cilantro (ew), corn, chunkier bits of tomato - you name it - but my salsa was bare bones because I was learning how to make it and how to make it right. And it was gooood, too.

And, of course, those semi-homemade tortilla chips helped it go down even easier, but that's really beside the point today. I mean seriously, warm, golden, crispy tortilla chips would make any day brighter, wouldn't they?

Want to bake fish but aren't sure on the temperature? Check Bittman. Curious how to slice and serve a mango? Check Bittman. Trying to make seven-minute frosting for the first time? Check Bittman. It's all there - from the most simple things to some of the most difficult. It's a modern Joy of Cooking, I guess (but I love that book, too, trust me.) Regardless of what you want to try today, just try this salsa tonight (with some fresh chips, of course). I mean, it's Friday, right?

Isn't it time for salsa and margaritas?

Tomato-Onion Salsa
Mark Bittman - How to Cook Everything

1 medium onion, peeled
2 medium tomatoes, cored, peeled and seeded
1 teaspoon paprika or 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 tablespoon any good vinegar, plus more to taste
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, or to taste

1. Quarter the onion and tomatoes and whiz them in a food processor or blender with all the other ingredients except the lemon juice.

2. Taste and add more salt and paprika or cayenne if needed along with the lemon juice or vinegar to taste. Serve or refrigerate for up to a day or two before serving.

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Calories, Calories

Yes, I know. This isn't the most appetizing photo. I've always been a true believer, however, in the fact that sometimes the best desserts aren't the most photogenic. I'm sure I'm not the only person who thinks this way, and I'm sure we've all made something that we wish looked a bit more ... gourmet ... but tasted fantastic nonetheless!

This (almost) sugar-free (almost) fat-free cheesecake was one of our Mother's Day desserts last Sunday. My mom can't eat sugar (or she shouldn't be eating much of it), my middle sister is watching her waistline (watching it shrink, that is), and my youngest sister is trying to get rid of 15 more pounds of baby weight brought by little Lyla a few months ago. So low-calorie it was for us!

This is not, in fact, gourmet. It's a cobbled-together recipe on my part that was quick to make but didn't quite set up as I had wanted. I figured out late in the game that it should have gone in the freezer before slicing and serving to get crisper edges, but what the hey? My mom took the last few pieces home, and there were no complaints when it was brought to each guest. That's all that matters in the long run, right?

*Almost* Fat-Free, *Almost* Sugar-Free Cheesecake

Ingredients

1.5 Cups graham-cracker crumbs
1/2 Cup butter (or binder of your choice for the crust)
1 package sugar-free lemon pudding
1 8 oz. container sugar-free whipped topping (softened)
2 8 oz. packages fat-free cream cheese (or reduced-fat) softened

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350*.

2. Melt butter, add to measured graham cracker crumbs. Press crumbs into bottom of baking dish. (I used a square glass one.) Bake at 350* for about 10 minutes.

3. In large bowl, mix pudding and milk according to directions. Stir until combined. Add cream cheese and whipped topping. Stir until combined. (One note here: Next time I might use half of the whipped topping - I'm wondering if this is what prevented the cake from setting up.)

4. Pour into crust, refrigerate at least overnight. (You may want to even stick it in the freezer up to an hour before you serve to help with serving.)

5. Top with fresh strawberries or other fruit of your choice, if desired! Enjoy!

This lemon dessert is my submission to Sugar High Friday #43, Citrus, hosted by Helen of Tartelette. (SHFs were started by the lovely Jennifer of The Domestic Goddess.)

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