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A Strawberry A Day - June 14 - Strawberry Tarts, er Cupcakes

Happy Flag Day!

On this day for the month of June Strawberryfest that is the A Strawberry A Day challenge I've given for myself, I was supposed to make Strawberry Tarts and present them in the shape of a flag for Flag Day. But for some reason that just wasn't doing it for me. Strawberry Cupcakes sounded much tastier. So that's what I made (and I made them Flag Dayish buy using patriotic cupcake wrappers-there is a flag on the bottom-and sticking a little flag on top). Yes, that is Tiggher deciding she needed to be involved in the taste testing of the cupcakes. I think she thought that since I had the camera in my hand and was playing cupcake paparazzi, that I wouldn't notice if she snuck a taste!

FOOD NETWORK INSTRUCTIONS:

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Arrange berry tartlets into an American Flag for Flag Day. For instructions, go to foodnetwork.com/flagtarts.

 After fourteen days of making and eating strawberries, I admit to a bit of Strawberry overload. Someone brought a strawberry pie into work today and I had to pass on it. Even Mr. L stated that we were barely a third of the way through all these strawberry days and he was getting sick of strawberries.

That was until I made these cupcakes. It's a recipe from the Martha Stewart Cupcake Book. I'll post the recipe in the next day or two. They were very light, not overpowered by the strawberry flavor and even with strawberry overload, it was hard to not eat more than one a day!

A Strawberry A Day - June 13 - Strawberry Yogurt Snack

For breakfast a couple of times a week, and especially in the spring and summer when fresh fruit is in abundance, my breakfast of choice is some nonfat Fage yogurt, a handfull of fresh fruit and some sliced almonds (or some Trader Joes granola because this is just a variation of my Mrs. L's Starbucks Yogurt Parfait). It makes a low cal yet tasty way to start my day. This "snack" is basically the same thing.

FOOD NETWORK INSTRUCTIONS:

Monday June 113, 2011

Pack a mid-morning snack: Stir strawberry jam and chopped fresh berries into plain Greek yogurt.

This was a bit too sweet for me, probably because I'm used to eating the berries with the yogurt and no additional sweetener. It did make a nice little afternoon snack and was simple to throw together (especially if like me, you have some chopped up strawberries already in your fridge). The addition of the strawberry jam (I used my favorite preserves) can make it a bit sweet so I would start out with a small amount. I added about a tablespoon of the  preserves and about a cup of diced strawberries. You could certainly add some toasted almond slices to make an even nicer presentation. Who cares if it's only a snack, it can still look good! (But be warned, adding jam and almonds does kick up the calories and start to take this out of sensible mid-morning snack range).

A Strawberry A Day - June 12 - Freezing Strawberries

Though I've bought many a bag or box of frozen strawberries before, I've never actually frozen them myself. Simple enough to do.

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Sunday June 12, 2011

Save some of yesterday's strawberry loot for winter: Freeze hulled berries on a baking sheet until firm, then bag.

So, I froze some strawberries. But I have a feeling they won't last until winter. I have a feeling they're going to be used sometime this summer in a nice fruity alcoholic drink. Or dropped into some strawberry lemonade. I may need to go freeze more berries!

A Strawberry A Day - June 11 - Pick Your Own Strawberries

FOOD NETWORK INSTRUCTIONS

June 11, 2011

Head to a pick-your-own strawberry farm for some exercise. An hour of picking burns about 200 calories

I honestly couldn't make it to any pick your own strawberry places nearby so I figured going and buying fresh strawberries at the local market would do. I don't know about burning any calories at the Farmers Market...I'd say I probably gained 200 calories taking samples of everyone wares!

The first time I went to the Farmers Market I tasted a strawberry from every single place that was selling them in boxes (i.e. 6 pints). Most didn't seem to be sweet at all. Except for this one, usually very busy, stand towards the back. It's a fruit stand where I tend to buy most of my fresh raspberries in the summer so I figured it was a good place to start. Their sample was the sweetest strawberry I had tried all day so I bought a box and thought I scored.

Until I got home. Most of the strawberries weren't as sweet as the sample. No worries, that's why God created sugar. The strawberries were in great shape and lasted quite a few days.

Fast forward to the next weekend. I decided to try a different stand selling strawberries. After a quick walk around (I didn't bother with the samples because it's obvious they're rigged :) I decided to try the strawberries from a stand that seemed to have a lot of business. Both the first group of strawberries and this new stand were selling the boxes for $10 (6 pints, and healthy pints, there were many more in each basket that you typically get in a grocery store). The nice market guy picked a basket and asked if it was okay for me to buy the one he was holding. It looked okay on the top so I said sure.

I was soooo disappointed in the new box of strawberries. There were berries rotting on the bottom and the entire box barely lasted 24 hours from when I got them. I ended up tossing pretty much the entire batch. And they still weren't as sweet as the strawberries I've gotten from the local gourmet grocery store.

Though I will still buy from the Farmers Market (when I'm home on a Sunday) for several of the recipes I'm doing for A Strawberry A Day, I'm having to buy strawberries from the supermarket. Expensive? Yes, but honestly, they taste better! So that really is the conundrum...Do I buy cheap tasteless strawberries from the Farmers Market to support local business? Do I spend the extra money and buy Strawberries from the upscale market that may or may not be really local but at least taste good? Or do I just not eat strawberries? Sigh. What would you do???

A Strawberry A Day - June 10 - Strawberry Pancakes

Don't hate me but I honestly don't think I've ever made pancakes from scratch. I've used Bisquick, Aunt Jemima and even pancakes from a can, but from scratch? This was a first.

But I do know that if I had thought about making Strawberry Pancakes, I would have either added the strawberries to the batter before ladling into the griddle, or put them on top of the pancakes after they were cooked. With this recipe you ladle the batter into the pan, put some strawberries on top, and then flip the pancake over and cook the strawberries. Unconventional I think, but it worked.

The recipe suggested by the Food Network Magazine article was was by Gina Neely. And, to my ultimate surprise, it was actually quite good. Not sure that there was any big difference in the pancake batter, but incorporating the strawberries on top of the batter actually gave them a little caramelization and it just added to the dish. I warmed up a couple of pancakes for breakfast the next day, sans any syrup and they were awesome.

FOOD NETWORK INSTRUCTIONS:

Friday June 10, 2011

Happy Birthday Gina Neely! Celebrate with her strawberry pancakes (foodnetwork.com/berrypancakes)

I figured it was best to just use the recipe they cited:

STRAWBERRY PANCAKES

 2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus more for greasing
Vegetable oil, for greasing
1 cup sliced strawberries

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Whisk the flour, granulated sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl. In a second bowl add the buttermilk, eggs and cooled melted butter and whisk to combine.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the wet mixture. Stir with a rubber spatula until just combined. Do not overmix or you'll end up with tough and chewy pancakes!

Heat a large electric griddle or nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Add a few drops of vegetable oil and a pat of butter. Once the butter melts, wipe the skillet with a paper towel. Ladle about 1/4 cup batter onto the griddle for each pancake. Place a small handful of sliced strawberries on top of the pancakes. Cook until the bubbles begin to burst on the surface, about 3 minutes, then flip and cook until the second side is a nice golden brown, about 2 more minutes. Repeat with the remaining batter; put the finished pancakes on a sheet tray and keep warm in the oven as you finish.

Arrange the pancakes on individual plates and serve with the syrup. Makes 12 pancakes.

Note: The original recipe online came with a special syrup to make. I just used my standard pancake syrup.

Note: It says not to overmix. I still had quite a few lumps in the batter after mixing but that seemed to be okay. It didn't matter once the pancakes were cooked. I'd mix just until combined and not worry about it being a "thin" smooth batter.

Note: I used a cast iron skillet to cook the pancakes. The first four or five pancakes looked like crap. After that the pancakes came out somewhat decent (please note that after the first several pancakes I handed over the flipping duties to Mr. L...not sure if there was any correlation to the fact the pancakes looked better).

Note: Three minutes on the first side was way too much time. It took barely a minute and a half for mine to cook.

These actually were very good and had a much more complex taste than simply adding the strawberries after the pancakes were already cooked. I'll definitely make this again.

A Strawberry A Day - June 8 - Stuffed Strawberries

First, I did this backwards. This is actually for the 9th. I honestly thought today was the 9th when I scheduled to make this. So just pretend today is the 9th and tomorrow is the 8th and then Friday we put you right back on regular calendar time. Got that?

Again, another super simple idea to use up strawberries. You just stuff them with cream cheese. You can actually stuff strawberries with all manner of things. Some tiny chocolate chips, melted chocolate (be it white or dark or milk or your favorite type), I've seen strawberries stuffed with whipped cream and topped with a blueberry, I have some leftover strawberry cream cheese from the bagels that could be used. I expect you could even stuff these with, oh, vodka and it would work LOL.

FOOD NETWORK INSTRUCTIONS

Wednesday June 8, 2011

Stuff strawberries for a snack: Beat 8 ounces cream cheese and 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar. Pipe into hulled berries.

Didn't bother to really measure to make this. I had some leftover cream cheese, I added some powedered sugar to taste, mixed it with a fork, stuck it in a ziploc bag and stuffed the berries.

These did make a nice little snack and they also worked after dinner as dessert, something light and simple. I did have to laugh because I overfilled some of the strawberries and the filling sort of, ahem, drooped. Didn't look very appetizing.

A Strawberry A Day - June 7 - Salmon with Fruit Salsa

If you follow my blog, you know I'm not a big fan of cooked salmon. Yes. I love salmon raw. Salmon sashimi. Nothing better. But cooked. Not such a fan.

I do like, or at least will eat, salmon when it's covered in a nice creamy sauce that disguises that it is any way related to fish. So I wasn't prepared to like this dish. After all, it's just salmon with some fruit on top. But Mr. L pan seared the salmon fillet in a hot cast iron skillet to perfection. Even without the strawberry fruit salsa I had no problem eating the salmon as it was fork tender, had no fishy taste and, more importantly, didn't contain a single bone.

And surprise, the fruit salsa actually went really well with the pan fried salmon! Who knew?! The salsa wasn't overpowering and the salmon held up well to the fruit flavors. Not that I'll be making this dish on a regular basis, but at least if it's served to me I won't turn up my nose at it!

FOOD NETWORK INSTRUCTIONS:

Tuesday June 7, 2011

Give dinner a tropical twist: Toss diced strawberries and pineapple with lime juice and cilantro, serve over salmon.

Couldn't be simpler to make. Have your husband cook the salmon while you chop up the fruit, add some lime juice and a bit of cilantro and you have dinner.

Note: I used about a cup of strawberries and maybe half a cup of diced pineapple. I used the juice from one lime and probably a tablespoon of cilantro.

Note: I added half a diced jalapeno to this but it must have been a mild pepper as there was no heat and no real flavor transfer. I like the idea of adding a bit of heat to the salsa so next time I'll add more jalapeno to taste.

Note: The only downside to the Salmon with Fruit Salsa was in the presentation. The pineapple sort of took on a red hue from the strawberry juices which made the salsa look a bit muddy. Maybe if I use bigger chunks of fruit next time, the end result will leave the vibrant colors of the strawberries and pineapple.

A Strawberry a Day - June 6 - Strawberries and Brown Sugar

Obviously most of the Strawberry a Day recipes or "suggestions" have been pretty simple to put together. This was no exception. Super simple to make and the strawberries tasted pretty good too. Alas, it wasn't the most appealing looking dish. Once the brown sugar hits the yogurt it starts to melt. Which makes the strawberries look a bit muddled. We ate these pretty quickly after making so I'm not sure how bad they would get if they sat longer.

FOOD NETWORK INSTRUCTIONS

Monday June 6, 2011

Try a new take on dipped strawberries: Dunk them in sour cream, then roll in brown sugar.

Note: I used low-fat sour cream. I think full fat would stick to the strawberries better and give this a richer flavor

Note: I tried rolling the strawberries in the brown sugar but it just clumped on. Picking the sugar up and sort of drizzling it over the yogurt covered strawberries was better.

These are like candy. Which many not be a good thing. Because we always have sour cream in the fridge. And brown sugar. And strawberries. Strawberry Candy Crack. Damn there goes the not having dessert every day......

A Strawberry A Day - June 5 - Bagels and Strawberry Cream Cheese

I needed much more cream cheese than I had in this. Or at least used half of the strawberries. Though this was tasty, there was actually too much of a strawberry flavor and not enough of the cream cheese. I threw a bunch of strawberries into the food processor and then added the 8 ounces of cream cheese I had. It was then that I realized the over abundance of strawberries to cream cheese. It also made the cream cheese a bit runny which didn't really make it a "spread" for the bagels.

Making this again, I would start with the cream cheese in the processor first and then slowly add in the pureed strawberries until I had some pink. I also needed more than a "dash" of sugar (like several teaspoons) so you made need to just keep adding sugar to taste.

FOOD NETWORK INSTRUCTIONS

Sunday June 5, 2011

Whip up a summery spread for bagels: Beat cream cheese, pureed berries and a dash of sugar.

This worked fine on the bagels though Greg found it a bit sweet (he's more of a standard lox and bagel kinda guy). I liked the taste, the extra strawberryness didn't bother me, though it was a bit runnier than regular flavored cream cheese. It did have nice color and really made the bagel stand out on the breakfast tray.

I read up on a bunch of things I could do with strawberry cream cheese (since I had a ton leftover). Spread it on apples or celery, use it in a frosting recipe for a cake, mix with marshmallow cream for a fruit dip, layer with strawberry jello, use as a stuffing for french toast (it would probably work in the Lemon Cream Cheese French Toast I made) spread it on graham crackers (which I have leftover from day 3), use it in the middle of a Nilla Vanilla wafer sandwich, use it as the cream cheese in cream cheese brownies, use it in home made ice cream, or use it in cheese blintzes. I used it as a dip for Triscuits to snack on this afternoon.

I'm usually a plain cream cheese kinda person when it comes to bagels, but I could see making this for a special occasion.

A Strawberry A Day - June 4 - Strawberry Soup

I was very surprised that something this simple could taste so good. A lot of recipes I've come across for Strawberry Soup seem to ask for either orange juice, heavy cream or sour cream as an ingredient. I think that actually takes away from the wonderful flavors of fresh ripe strawberries. I liked the idea that this was so simple.This is just fresh strawberries, yogurt and some honey. A perfect way to start or end a spring meal in my book.

FOOD NETWORK INSTRUCTIONS

Saturday June 4, 2011

Serve fruit soup for dessert: Blend 4 cups strawberries, 1 cup vanilla yogurt and some honey. Ladle into bowls.

Since my blender is still on the fritz, I used my food processor to make the soup. Probably not the best tool to mix it together. There were lots of bubbles. Lots of bubbles. I tried stirring the soup and that got rid of some of the bubbles but there were still way to many left. Any suggestions on how to get rid of the bubbles? Would using a blender have helped?

Note: I used 12 ounces of vanilla yogurt because the two containers I had came in 6oz cups. Of course I'd say maybe a tablespoon or two went directly in my mouth. I used Clover Organic Farms Organic Vanilla Bean Lowfat Yogurt.

Note: It took two full overflowing baskets of large strawberries to make four cups. Though the instructions didn't say, I cut the strawberries up to measure them.

Note: I used Agave Nectar in place of honey. I started off with a generous two tablespoons of the stuff but added probably a tablespoon or so more after tasting. My strawberries needed that extra sweetening as they were from the grocery store and not the Farmers Market.

I really enjoyed this. Simple  and quick to make, it made an awesome dessert. I might add a dab of sour cream/creme fraiche or whipped cream as a garnish next time. It's very thin, Mr. L drank it in a glass but it really wasn't a milkshake. I tried to put a nice fanned strawberry on top, but it just fell to the bottom of the soup. I can see serving this in cups after a nice barbecue. Or, maybe making Strawberry Soup Shots (oh yes we did!).