Summer Strawberry Lovin’ (A post by Molly)

There is no food more tantamount with summer than strawberries. Every year when the rosy berries come into season my mom and I impulsively stop at every farmers stand in our sights and buy the best berries in the little green quarts. One year a persuasive peddler at the farmer’s market convinced my mother to buy a whole flat of strawberries. Unfortunately, strawberries have the shelf life of a micro-celebrity, so we had to creatively cook strawberries into every meal for a whole week. Strawberry lemonade, strawberry jam, strawberry muffins. Since then we’ve learned a bit more moderation, but we can’t help putting strawberries into our favorite foods when summer rolls around.

This summer is no different. Everything has strawberries, breakfast, lunch, drinks, and dessert. So much so, we thought it would be rude not to share it with the blogosphere. Please enjoy this complete ode to the strawberry.

Strawberry Biscotti

½ cup vegetable oil

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

3¼ cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

¾ cups strawberries chopped very small

1. Beat together oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla
2. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and slowly mix into wet ingredients
3. Add strawberries and separate into two dense balls
4. Place balls on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, flatten into rectangles that’s ½ in. thick
5. Bake at 375^o for about 30 min. until slightly puffed and golden
6. Cool and slice loaves into 1 in. thick pieces, lie the pieces flat on the cookie sheet
7. Set oven to broil. Cook each side about four minutes. Be careful not to burn them
8. Let cool and enjoy with coffee or tea

Berry Almond Chicken Salad

¼ cup sliced strawberries

¼ cup blueberries

¼ cup raspberries

¼ cup sliced mushrooms

¼ cup sliced chicken breast

Grated Havarti cheese, to taste

3 tbsp. chopped almonds

1 cup fresh arugula

1. Add all our ingredients in a large salad bowl. Dress in your favorite vinaigrette.
2. Show off your beautiful salad to everyone, before eating

Strawberry Lemonade

Strawberry Chocolate pudding

½ cup sugar

3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa

¼ cup cornstarch

1/8 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. cinnamon

2 ¾ cups milk

2 tbsp. butter

1 cup sliced strawberries

1. Mix all the ingredients, except the butter and strawberries, in a saucepan. Place over medium heat.
2. Bring to a bowl, stirring constantly. Continue stirring until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. Remove from heat, stir in butter until melted. Cool in refrigerator.
3. Stir in strawberries before stirring, enjoy