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.

Spicy Potatoes & Yogurt with Bananas

Last week I made some Indian food for dinner - three quick and easy dishes and some of the "Chipotle" rice that was leftover from our homemade "Chipotle" burritos from Mexican Monday.  While the main dish that I made is not blog worthy yet, we feel like the side dishes are good enough to be eaten anytime.   

Aloo Chaat (Spicy Boiled Potatoes)

Makes 4 - 6 servings

Adapted from Easy Indian Cooking by Suneeta Vaswani

1 lb potatoes (about 3), peeled and cut in to 1/2" cubes

1 T cumin powder

1/2 t coriander powder

1 T fresh squeezed lemon juice

1/4 t cayenne powder

1 t salt or to taste

1 lime or lemon

2 - 3 T cilantro, chopped

1.  Add potatoes to saucepan and cover with water by about an inch.  Bring water to a boil and cook until tender, probably about 20 minutes.  Drain and set aside.

2.  Mix the cumin, coriander, lemon juice, cayenne and salt in a small bowl.
3.  Pour spice mixture over potatoes and stir gently. 
4.  Right before serving, squeeze the lime or lemon over potatoes, sprinkle with cilantro and give it one last stir.

I thought the potatoes had a little too much cumin powder and Ryan thought they had too much lemon juice.  The original recipe calls for 1/2 t of amchur (mango) powder with 1 T lemon juice being the substitute (or half lemon that I put in).  I am going to buy some amchur powder for the next time we make this recipe and see if it makes much difference.  We think these potatoes could really be a side dish for any type of meal, not just Indian food.


Keleka Raita (Yogurt with Bananas)

Makes 2 servings

Adapted from New Indian Home Cooking

1 c plain nonfat yogurt

1 T sugar

1 ripe banana

1.  Mix the yogurt and sugar together.

2.  Peel and slice banana into circles.  Add to yogurt and gently stir.

3.  Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

This could not be any easier or tastier.  I've had yogurt with bananas many times, but once we started adding that little bit of magical sugar it really pumped up the taste.  I've made this many times, as an accompaniment to spicy Indian food and as a simple, somewhat healthy dessert.  And let's not forget the baby bonus - Oliver pretty much only ate this for his dinner that night.  Enjoy!

Chocolate Milk

Alex is a milk monster. He would drink milk and only milk if it were his choice. I actually have to limit his milk consumption, but he has never had chocolate milk to my knowledge until today. He got it in his head that he HAD to have chocolate milk. I try not to make it a habit to have hersheys syrup in my fridge so we had nothing so we made our own chocolate syrup today and it was good. This is how we made it:

Heat equal parts unsweetened cocoa and water - I used about 3/4 cup (maybe sweetened cocoa could have been slightly better) on the stove. Add enough Agave syrup until it tastes sweet enough (i think I used about 2-3 tbs). Put it in one of those cool squeeze bottles Amy introduced me to and let your preschooler squeeze it in his milk.

I think it turned out really good. I must have a strange boy because he claims it is "too sugary." hmmm....

You may notice that I don't really use measurements in many of my recipes. I'm a "whimsical" cook as Joe likes to say. This is why baking isn't always so much my thang.