Strawberry Recipes

For awhile there, we had strawberries coming out of our ears!

Not a bad way to live if you ask us. :)

This was just the first ~11# batch from Whittaker's. The day we picked, I came home and sorted through all the berries while the kids napped. The ones with intact stems will keep longer and it's best NOT to wash them until just before you plan to use/eat them. Strawberries are best preserved when stored in the refrigerator in a shallow container. So I had a couple 13x9 Pyrex dishes with lids and stemmed berries layered no more than two high. I also immediately made about four different recipes that day with the stemless berries and still had a small container in our fridge just for regular eating. :) If you're wondering how we made it through all these berries, here is one reason:

NOBODY could keep their hands off of them!

We ate them for at least two of the three meals every day for two weeks, not to mention all the recipes the berries went into.
So! First things first... recipe #1 is Craig's favorite: strawberry pie.
I know I've said this before, but I am seriously in love with my food processor for making pastry. You cannot get any easier than dumping flour, shortening and salt in the bowl and letting the blades cut it in. No fancy recipe - just the tried and true.

Then, incorporating the cold water to form the pastry dough is even easier when poured through the lid while the machine is running. It binds quicker and uses just the right amount of liquid so that you're not adding more flour later.

See the ball of dough? Just stop the machine when it binds like that.

Voila!

Berries halved or quartered. Crust baked and cooling. Filling cooked and cooling.

The first pie I made was just ours to eat for dessert that week. But I made another for Father's Day a week later. Total berries used: ~9 cups for two pies. Though they tasted very good, I just wished I could figure out a way to avoid using Jell-O for the filling. Then last week, I read a recipe from a fellow blog friend of mine that I haven't tried yet, but uses pureed berries and more cornstarch as the binder in place of boxed Jell-O. Hooray! I'm definitely trying that next time.

Recipe #2: Weelicious Strawberry Popsicles!

Two ingredients: strawberries and lemon juice. So simple!

Blended in the food processor and poured into molds.

I made two batches of these totaling 4.5 cups of berries used. One batch went to the babysitter's one day to share with the other kids. Another just stayed with us for the kids to eat for "dessert" (Ha!)

Recipe #3: Weelicious Strawberry Muffins.

Three batches made totaling 4.5 cups of berries. I've been on a muffin kick the past month or so! More on that later. Oh, and aren't deep, red berries gorgeous in my aqua, melamine colander? Red and aqua is one of my favorite color combos. Love this thing! It's constantly in our fridge filled with washed-and-ready fruit... usually grapes.

I have two batches of these muffins frozen in our freezer. I also sent some to the babysitter's again and the kids have been eating them with meals.

Ooh, this next one was so fun.

Recipe #4: Strawberry, Lemon & Basil Soda from Bon Appetit magazine in an article called "Fizz Ed". Isn't that a cute title? It was written as an alternative to drinking soda (which I am forever working on with Craig) and it was SO GOOD! I even got to use basil from my herb garden for the first time. And if you're thinking: "Basil? In a drink?" My answer is: "YES! You haven't lived till you've tasted homemade lemonade and my very favorite recipe uses basil to create a simple syrup as a sweetener. Lemon and basil go together like pb&j in my opinion!" :) So I knew I'd like this new version that includes strawberries. Berries, lemon juice and basil get "muddled" together with a small amount of sugar. I don't have a "muddler" (whatever that is) so I just used the deep cup that comes with my immersion blender and the wooden tool from Pampered Chef that creates a "well" in a mini muffin pan, i.e. for mini cheesecakes or cookie crusts or pies, etc. Smash, smash, smash... and a little swirling in between. :)

Pour in soda water... ...and then strain into glasses filled with ice to chill.

I'm not sure why, but my drink looks much more like Kool-Aid than the one on the website. Their's looks more like iced tea. But let me tell you: it was so yummy and refreshing! I garnished with half a strawberry and a basil leave and Craig and I enjoyed these with a movie after the kids went to bed.

Okay, batch #2 of strawberries was the ~4# we picked from Polter's. The majority of these got eaten plain with our meals but I did try a homemade drop biscuit recipe for Strawberry Shortcake and this was by far my favorite "strawberry recipe" of all. It comes from that "Last Call for Corn" blog I linked to in one of my recent dinner posts. I am such a lover of Strawberry Shortcake and these were the best I've ever had... EVER. The tops got brushed with cream and sprinkled with sugar before baking. Yuuuummmmm!!!!Bisquick... eat my flour dust! I'm never going back to you!

Feast your eyes on these!

Oh, I want another! I want another!
Somehow, this dessert always gets bigger than I originally intend and then our bellies are on the brink of explosion after. But in a good way. And it's totally worth it.

Other recipes that I bookmarked and never got around to making:

Smitten Kitchen's Strawberry Summer Cake

Smitten Kitchen's Almond Cake with Strawberry-Rhubarb Compote

Weelicious's Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

And my cousin Brittany's Strawberry, Peach & Kiwi Fruit Salsa served with Baked Cinnamon & Sugar Tortilla Chips

You can only have so many "desserts" in your house at one time. And I tried to choose recipes I could freeze and save a little longer. But I really should have done the fruit salsa. That is so delish. I am definitely bookmarking these recipes for next year!

The kids and I went cherry picking on Sunday and stopped by Polter's again on the way home. I was hoping to just pick up some already-picked strawberries in their little market but the lady told me the season is basically over and they are only offering U-Pick for 3 or 4 more days. No more already-picked berries were available. :( Boo hoo. (I didn't have time to U-Pick that day and it takes me 40 minutes to drive there.) I hate how short the seasons are for so many foods. But I guess that gives them all the more allure and entices us to "go overboard" when we can. I may try to get to a Farmer's Market this week/weekend and see if any other local farms might have some strawberries left for sale.