Fresh Food Friday: Strawberries

Hi! It's week 3 for Fresh Food Friday.

Remember when we made the strawberry net? Well, it's working! Instead of getting a small handful of berries for the year, we are getting a small handful every day. Not exactly more than we know what to do with, but maybe your yard is overflowing with strawberries, or maybe you are going to a strawberry patch and will pick more than you think you can eat. Here's a few of our favorite ways to eat strawberries:

Crêpes

Let's start with breakfast. Of course you can just eat strawberries on your cereal, but if you want something a little different how about strawberry crêpes? Crêpes sound fancy, but are actually really easy to make. My sister introduced us to the world of crêpe-making, and we are so glad she did.

Here's a link to an easy crêpes recipe:

Basic Crêpes

We like to fill them with chopped strawberries and whipped cream, and top with more berries and cream and a dusting of powdered sugar.

Smoothies 

We love making smoothies with strawberries. Here's three strawberry smoothies we like to make. You can use fresh berries or cut them up and freeze them. We usually freeze them, which is a great way to make sure you never let any go to waste. If they start to get a little squishy, cut and freeze them, don't let them go bad!

I shared our spinach-berry smoothie recipe earlier this year.

I also shared this recipe for Sparkling Peach (& strawberry) Smoothies a while back.

This last one might be my new favorite: pineapple, strawberry and coconut. 

1 cup sliced frozen pineapple

1 cup sliced frozen strawberries

1 cup canned coconut milk

(apple juice or any flavor- if needed)

Blend all ingredients. If it's too thick add 1/4 - 1/2 cup of juice. Blend until smooth. I know not everyone likes coconut milk, but I think smoothies made with it just taste so...tropical. This also does not taste bad with a little bit of rum, if you really want to go tropical : )

Jam

Finally, I've seen a few recipes for this Chia jam on Pinterest. This appealed to me because there's no cooking or freezing and thawing, and only a few ingredients. I found a recipe at a blog called Eating Bird Food.  She has some great info on chia seeds in case you, like I, din't know anything about them (besides the popular Christmas gifting options of course..Ch, Ch, Ch, Chia!). I found them in the bulk foods section of the grocery store. 

Chia Strawberry Jam

1 cup strawberries

1 tbsp chia seeds

1 tbsp water

1 tbsp sugar

Mash berries well by hand or blend the strawberries and water in a food processor or small blender (I like a smoother texture, so we blend). Pour into an air tight container.

 Add chia seeds and sugar and mix well.

Cover and place in the fridge for 30-60 minutes. Spread on toast or spoon over ice cream. Keeps in the fridge for a couple of days, but is best used within a day. It's a small batch so that's not hard to do.

 I love strawberries and they are probably Thing Two's most favorite food. I hope these recipes help you enjoy strawberries all summer long!

Thanks for reading!

- Haley