What We Did with Our Strawberries

Last Monday Lisa, Ryan and I took the kids to a strawberry farm for some good 'ol pickin' fun.  While many berries went directly from farm to stomach, Ryan and I got what amounts to about 16 cups of strawberries and I thought I'd share with you the wonderful things we've made with them. 

So, what have I been doing with 16 cups of strawberries?  Hulling, hulling and hulling!

And that's only 4 cups worth

                                          
Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam
From Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
Makes about six 8-oz jars

I make this every year (I've been strawberry picking 4 years now) and it never seems to last us the whole year.  It's so good that we are upset when we run out and have to buy stuff from the store.  This year I made a triple batch (18 jars!) and we are hoping that after we give away a few to our families, we'll still have enough left to get us through until next strawberry season comes around.

2 cups crushed hulled strawberries
2 cups chopped rhubarb
4 T lemon juice (about 1/4 cup)
1 package regular powdered fruit pectin
5 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1.  Prepare canner, jars and lids.  (I'm not going into how to can these here, but you can find more information about canning from this website or send me a message.)
2.  In a large, deep stainless steel saucepan, combine berries, rhubarb and lemon juice.  Whisk in pectin until dissolved.  Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently.  Add sugar all at once and return to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly.  Boil hard, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.  Remove from heat and skim off foam.
3.  Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4" headspace.  Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot jam.  Wipe rim.  Center lid on jar.  Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to finger-tip tight.
4.  Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water.  Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes.  Remove canner lid.  Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.

Yum!

                                         

Other things we've made from my two favorite food blogs:
Strawberry Clafouti - This was a delicious dessert for us two nights.  Very simple to make, but takes a little bit of time in the oven.  We recommend that you eat warm - it wasn't as good the next day when we had it cold.  And I learned how to say clafouti (clah - foo - tee).

Strawberries & Dumplings - I made this for breakfast yesterday morning.  Although I didn't exactly follow the directions (I left out lemon juice because I didn't have any and cooked it over too high of heat on accident), we decided we will still try this again.

Strawberry-Infused Vodka - While I'm a much bigger fan of gin and bourbon than vodka, once I thought of this with some fresh lemonade, I couldn't pass it up.  The strawberries are infusing right now and I can't wait to try this.  The blogger recommends not eating the strawberries after they are infused, but I think I might freeze them to add as ice cubes in the drinks (as suggested in the comments).  Sorry preggos - I can make this again next year when prohibition is over.

Mexican Monday: Chipotle-Style Burritos

Yes, today is Wednesday and I did actually make these burritos on Tuesday.  The Memorial Day holiday threw me off a day and with the heat on Monday I didn't really feel like cooking anything.  So, Mexican Monday happened on Tuesday and I'm posting the meal on Wednesday. 

Since we've been limiting our amount of eating out lately, I've reinstituted a way we used to do meals when we were paying off our credit card debt and saving for a house - make what you would have gotten at a restaurant.  Thanks to Dave's Chipotle-Style Rice and Food Networks Magazine's recipe for Chipotle's Corn Salsa, I am now able to make Chipotle Burritos at home.  And it's become a regular for our spring/summer menu rotation.  We feel like burritos are an all-inclusive food, so we don't even have any side dish with them.  There are hundreds of possible combinations you can put on your burrito at Chipotle; here's what we make at home.

Chipotle-Style Burritos

My burrito - before rolling

Makes 4 or more burritos, depending on how much you like to fill it

4 Flour tortillas, burrito sized

1 recipe Chipotle rice a la Dave

1 can Black beans

1 Green pepper, sliced

1/4 Red onion, sliced

1 recipe Almost-Famous Corn Salsa (below)

Monterrey Jack cheese, finely shredded

Avocado, cubed OR Guacamole

Sour cream

Hot Sauce

1.  Open can of black beans, place in sauce pan, warm on low, stirring occasionally until warmed through.

2.  Prepare Almost-Famous Corn Salsa recipe.

3.  To make your burrito fajitas style, cook the sliced green pepper and red onion over medium heat until hot, but still crunchy, about 5 minutes, stirring often.  I didn't even put any oil in the pan to do this.

4.  Warm your tortilla according to package directions.  Lacking the neat tortilla press that Chipotle has, I warmed my tortillas over the open flame of my stove, flipping after about 10 seconds. 

5.  Assemble burrito.  First lay down your rice, then beans, then pepper/onion mixture.  Then add your toppings:  corn salsa, cheese, sour cream, hot sauce, avocados. 

6.  Roll your burrito (good luck) and enjoy!

Almost-Famous Corn Salsa

Serves 4

Directly from Food Network Magazine, June 2011

1/2 small poblano chile pepper, seeded
3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
1 cup fresh corn kernels (from 2 ears), or 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons chopped red onion
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon sugar
 
1.  Preheat a grill to medium high. Brush the poblano with 1 teaspoon olive oil and grill, skin-side down, until charred but still firm, about 5 minutes. Cool slightly; peel and finely chop.

2.  If using fresh corn, bring a small pot of salted water to a boil. Add the corn and cook until tender, 2 to 3 minutes; drain.
3.  Mix the corn (if using frozen, add it here), poblano, jalapeno, cilantro and red onion in a bowl. Stir in the remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil, the lime juice, sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt.