Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam

Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam (about 6 half-pints)
2 c strawberries, roughly chopped
2 c rhubarb, chopped
1/4 c lemon juice
5 1/2 c sugar
1 c homemade pectin (recipe here)

Combine berries, rhubarb, pectin and lemon juice in a large sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Bring to a boil. Boil hard for 1 minute stirring constantly. Skim foam if necessary. Ladle into hot sterilized canning jars leaving 1/4 inch head space. Adjust two-piece canning lids. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner. Enjoy

Strawberry Jam

Strawberry Jam (about 8 half-pints)
2 qts strawberries, roughly chopped
1/4 c lemon juice
7 c sugar
1 c homemade pectin (recipe here)

Crush chopped strawberries. Combine berries, pectin and lemon juice in a large sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Bring to a boil. Boil hard for 1 minute stirring constantly. Skim foam if necessary. Ladle into hot sterilized canning jars leaving 1/4 inch head space. Adjust  two-piece canning lids. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner. Enjoy!

TTFN
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Strawberry Swirl Cream Cheese Pound Cake

  We are always on the lookout for food related ideas and recipes. A few weeks ago we found this recipe in Southern Living magazine. Strawberry season had just started and this recipe was the perfect excuse to use some of the local berries that we were starting to see at all the Amish stands

Strawberry Swirl Cream Cheese Pound Cake

1 1/2 c butter, softened

3 c sugar

1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, softened

6 large eggs

3 c all-purpose flour

1 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2/3 c strawberry glaze

1 (6-inch) wooden skewer

Strawberry Glaze

1 c ripe strawberries, finely chopped

1/2 c sugar

4 1/2 tsp corn starch

1/4 c cool water

1 tbsp butter

2 tsp lemon juice

Prepare glaze. We chopped our berries very fine in a food processor. Dissolve corn starch in water. Combine chopped strawberries, sugar and corn starch mixture in a medium sauce pan. Cook over medium heat until the mixture boils and thickens somewhat. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and butter. Cool in fridge for 15-20 minutes. While the glaze is cooling, move on to the cake batter.

(Southern Living Recipe)

Preheat oven to 350°. Beat butter at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add cream cheese, beating until creamy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

Gradually add flour to butter mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition, stopping to scrape bowl as needed. Stir in almond and vanilla extracts. Pour one-third of batter into a greased and floured 10-inch (14-cup) tube pan (about 2 2/3 cups batter). Dollop 8 rounded teaspoonfuls strawberry glaze over batter, and swirl with wooden skewer. Repeat procedure once, and top with remaining third of batter.

Bake at 350° for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 to 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack, and cool completely (about 1 hour).

We enjoyed the cake and of course we made some extra glaze to serve on top with whipped cream. Enjoy!

TTFN

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Greek Yogurt With Macerated Blueberries and Strawberries

  This simple and appropriately colored dish is a refreshing and somewhat healthy snack or dessert. By the way, happy Memorial Day to everyone and a great big Thank You to our veterans and soldiers both living and deceased!

Greek Yogurt With Macerated Blueberries and Strawberries
1/2 c Greek yogurt
3 tbsp sugar
1/4 c strawberries, sliced
1/4 c blueberries

  Macerate the berries by adding 2 of the tbsp of sugar to the berries, mix well and let sit for 20 minutes. Mix the remaining tbsp of sugar into the yogurt. Once the berries are nice and juicy, put half the berry mixture in the bottom of your bowl, cover with yogurt and put the remaining berry mixture on top. Enjoy! :-)

  A quick word about Greek yogurt. Unless you get the yogurt from Greece, it won't really be much different than regular yogurt except the majority of the whey will have been removed to get the thicker consistency associated with Greek style yogurt. With that said, if you take regular yogurt and drain the whey out by using a coffee filter and a colander, you will get a very similar result. Simply put a coffee filter in a colander and put the yogurt in the coffee filter. Put a bowl under the whole contraption to catch the whey. You can use the whey for other recipes if you like. The process takes a few hours and I typically do it overnight in the fridge. I have been using this technique for years for baked potato topping, sauces, dips and dressings. It really is a great substitute for sour cream.

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Quinoa Pudding with Macerated Strawberries and Pistachios

Ok, so I am going through my weekly routine of substituting quinoa for rice in all the recipes I like and I come up with this brilliant idea ... quinoa pudding! A very good friend of the family has this awesome rice pudding recipe and I thought I might try my hand at converting it. Well, I didn't exactly have the recipe for this awesome rice pudding, but I thought I new the secret and I could make my way through it. So, I get on the internet like I normally do and start studying other people's rice pudding recipes and the thought came to me to search for quinoa pudding and see what comes up. I got several hits on Google and I felt a little deflated because my idea wasn't so original after all. So anyway, I am making my way through the results and I hit the Quinoa Pudding Mother Ship! Canelle et Vanille is a blog by Aran Goyoaga who is a pastry chef and photographer. What a great food blog with excellent photos. If you are food lover you have to check it out. I immediately switched gears and started adapting Aran's recipe for the stuff I have around the house.

Quinoa Pudding with Macerated Strawberries and Pistachios

2 1/2 c regular milk

1 c vanilla coffee creamer

1 c quinoa (uncooked)

1 tbsp vanilla

1/4 c sugar

1 tbsp sugar

1 pinch of salt

1/2 c sliced strawberries
1/4 c chopped pistachios

Get the sliced strawberries going in a bowl with the tbsp of sugar on top and let it sit while everything else comes together. Rinse the quinoa good. I do this like sushi rice and put the quinoa in the pot I am going to cook it in and just run lots of water on it to get the bitter dust off the grains. Drain the quinoa as best you can. Combine the quinoa, milk, creamer, vanilla, 1/4 c sugar and salt in a pot. Mix well and bring to a boil while stirring often. Immediately turn the heat down to medium low. Stir every minute or two for about 30 minutes. The mixture will thicken. Serve in an appropriate container topped with strawberries and pistachios. Makes about four servings.

This recipe, done well, will knock your socks off. :-) Enjoy

TTFN

BTR

Awesome Strawberry Daiquiri

I threw some of my favorite things into a blender and this came out. WOW! This was very tasty and refreshing.

Awesome Strawberry Daiquiri

1 c vodka (or rum)

1 c frozen cranberries

1 1/2 c frozen strawberries

1/2 c sugar

1 shot of lime juice

1/2 c grape juice

ice

In a 5 cup blender pitcher add vodka, cranberries, strawberries, sugar, lime juice and grape juice. Blend well. Add ice to fill the remainder of the pitcher. Blend until smooth. Serve in a glass with a shot of whipped cream.

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