Red, white and blue (pinterest challenge day 4)

  Today's challenge was fun and I can't wait to show it off in the future at a party or get together.  This challenge already had me reflecting on my future and how I can take a dish to another level.  I used to think (well still do) that it was hard to bring a dish to pass that was sophisticated and fancy but, now I know it may take a little practice and some time but it's absolutely possible!

  All you need are three items to pull this Pinterest idea off.

 Strawberries.

Blue sprinkles and white chocolate that didn't quite make the photo opportunity.

  Melt the chocolate dip your strawberries in the chocolate and then roll them into the sprinkles. Bam, that's it!

  I present to you red, white and blue.  My daughter wolfed them down as soon as they were done.  She does like strawberries and sugar so go figure.

  Well if this doesn't motivate you on how easy some neat food art can be I don't know what could.  This one was even easier than that hotdogopus (lol).  Making him was easy standing him up on the seaweed was the hard part.

Cookies Today with Strawberries

  Although this recipe uses a small amount of strawberries.  It also uses up the strawberries I had on hand.  So I need to go back and get more in order to finish out the month or else I will not be able to finish out the month.  I feel like I am running on fumes already but am not giving up.

  The recipe was for cookies today!  These strawberry cookies only asked for a few tablespoons of strawberries.  I had just enough.

  The rest of your ingredients are your basic requirements for a sugar cookie to include: flour, sugar, butter egg, baking powder and vanilla.

Blend that sugar and butter before you add anything else to make sure it will be incorporated.

I skipped the roll the cookies in a ball part and just plopped them on the cookie sheet but, I did add some sprinkles!

  My opinion of the cookies.  I would like to try them again with more strawberries.  I couldn't see them in any of the cookies, or taste it.  The recipe did say you could use strawberry extract in place of the strawberries.  The cookies however were good.  They didn't have that after taste that I get with some cookies!!  These were a good cookie that I could see making without the strawberries.

  Without the obvious appearance of strawberries the little man of the house nibbled on a couple and liked them too.  He had been avoiding all things strawberries for the last few weeks.

 Grab a glass of milk and make some of these they were a nice treat!
 
Check out the recipe here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/235942/chewy-strawberry-sugar-cookies/

Ice Cold Strawberries

  I have seen this treat using a variety of fruits and found one using strawberries and I wasn't even looking!  Today we made granita!

  In addition to again some simple staples you should have on hand; a blender is handy too.

Put all your ingredients into the blender and blend everything up!

  You get a beautiful smooth, red substance when it's mixed up!

Place it in the freezer for a few hours, scrape it around let it set again and your done.

  Delicious is one word that comes to mind and easy is another.  I will make more of this with different fruit because it was easy and tasty!

  Check the recipe out here: http://www.myrecipes.com/m/recipe/strawberry-granita-0

Hot Strawberry Dessert

  While I sit here and rummage through the Internet I always think to myself.  Is this a good recipe?  This recipe looks good! I hope this one is good.  We like strawberry shortcake so another strawberry dish with breading should be a hit so tonight we are eating Strawberry Cobbler!

  This was an easy recipe to make.  You should have all ingredients on hand.  Basic staples with an exception of the strawberries.  So put strawberries on your grocery list and make this for dessert!

  I didn't use as much sugar but I also didn't use as many strawberries.  Next time I will use more strawberries and double the recipe.  Start with your sugar and strawberries first to let the flavors blend together.

I did have my separate bowl of batter!

Then added the strawberries to the batter prior to baking!

  This was definitely a pretty dish.  My strawberries did fall under the crust.  I'm not sure if there were more strawberries if they would stay on the top more or not?  The crust was soft on the inside and a slight crunch to the sides.  The strawberries despite my reduction of sugar was just the right bit of sweetness.  This was delicious warm and I'm sure when I grab a piece in the morning it will taste just as good.

Check out the recipe here: http://divascancook.com/fresh-strawberry-cobbler-recipe-easy-dessert/

Sipping on Strawberries

  Today I took the easy way out.  A milkshake but with the use of strawberries of course!

  A couple scoops of chocolate peanut butter ice cream , some milk and fresh strawberries equals a chocolate covered strawberry milkshake!

  It doesn't get any easier then that.  The teen was gifted this tonight and was pleased with it.  She was impressed with how east it is to make a milkshake and may not the endless possibilities for future creations.

Cheers to the strawberries!

15 days of Strawberries

  So today I used up the strawberry mousse from yesterday in today's recipe.  See let me explain something real quick as with my pumpkin challenge in the fall when I have made enough recipes I start stepping out the box and getting a little creative.  Nothing to crazy just small simple recipes.

  So today I put the Strawberry Mousse in pie shells.  I placed a dollop of chocolate on each pie and splattered some of the leftover strawberry sauce on the top as well.

I can't say they were phenomenal as the major part of the pie was what we already ate yesterday but if we liked it yesterday it would mean we liked it today, lol.  

It was good.  That nice fluffy, creamy mousse in the graham cracker pie shell.  I would try to spread the chocolate on top more versus a dollop but it still was a nice treat.

No formal recipe today.  If your interested just use yesterday's and add it to the pie shell.

Strawberry Mousse

  Tonight's strawberries was a prep ahead.  I started it just before dinner and after dinner was done and dishes were taken care of the dessert was done.  Of course more organization would of had this dessert done in the morning but who needs all that organization.

  The recipe only requires a few ingredients and is really easy to make.  I did have to pick up heavy cream as that is not a staple in my house and I doubted myself in making it myself.  (I will be attempting to make my own heavy cream to see how easy it is, how it tastes and peaks up)

  For this delicious Strawberry Mousse you need strawberries, heavy cream, powdered sugar and vanilla.  In measuring equipment your only using a tablespoon, 1/2 teaspoon and 1 cup!   I did have to use the food processor and eventually the mixer so you did make a few more things dirty but it was well worth it in the end!

  Turn your heavy cream

into whipped cream by any means necessary!  I started by hand but needed to hurry up so pulled out the heavy machinery to speed up the process.

                     

Enter food processor to make strawberry puree!  I have had this food processor for years and just recently have built a good relationship with it.  I am slowly learning it's true capabilities and strengths.  It does make chopping some things easier.

  Add your powdered sugar and vanilla and mix again then fold in your strawberries!
            
Before                             After

The finished product was delicious!

I could see making this dish again as a quick dessert or even for a potluck.

I didn't think it was too sweet although I did have a complaint regarding that.  The strawberries were not sweetened so I think the little bit of sugar used just blended into to everything nicely.

Check here for the recipe: http://www.pumpkinnspice.com/2015/04/10/strawberry-mousse/

Chocolate and Strawberries in a Muffin

  It is with great pleasure that I can introduce to you recipe number 13! Chocolate covered strawberries in muffin form.

  Of course I am focusing on the red berry part of the deal but chocolate is a nice compliment to the berry so why not make a recipe with both of them.

  I had made a few things from Sallys Baking Addiction so she's got my seal of approval to try another recipe!

  Tonight with the help of the teen is Chocolate Covered Strawberry Muffins.  I followed the recipe except exchanged the sour cream for two flavors of yogurt. I wasn't instructed to flour the strawberries for the muffins either, yeah!  One less step in the way of snacking.

All ingredients are mixed together in one bowl for the most part.  All ingredients are items you should already have on hand anyways (except I didn't have sour cream because we have been eating a lot of Mexican theme food this week and it seems to make a great condiment for these dishes).

  These muffins were delicious.  The chocolate chips and strawberries are visible and in every bite.  They were moist and it was fun to drizzle the chocolate on top.  The teen was very amused at her muffins tonight!

Here's to my 13th strawberry item on my strawberry monthly challenge!

Check out the recipe here: http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2012/07/29/chocolate-covered-strawberry-muffins/

Strawberry Banana Bread (Day 12)

  Who doesn't like the smell of banana bread baking?  Probably only those that don't like bananas.  I waited ever so patiently for this tasty strawberry treat to be done!  The smell made it so agonizing.  However after tasting it; it was well worth it!

  Another recipe where I had the privilege of separating ingredients in order to make sure all components are mixed together accurately and coating the berries in flour.

  I had to cream my butter and sugar

Add my flour.

Fold the strawberries in.

Take note for two different cooking temperatures and times.

All I can hear when I can actually smell the food cooking is an endless Jeopardy theme song.

  I love some banana bread but have never added strawberries now I may always add strawberries.  I am not surprised at how delicious adding these to it really is.  The berries just take it to another level of tasty treat!

  Check out the recipe here: http://therecipecritic.com/2015/07/strawberry-banana-bread/

Strawberry Skillet Corn Cake

  Let's keep this strawberry challenge going. I made a breakfast/brunch type item today.  It had a nice complexity to it with its instructions of using a few bowls to mix my ingredients.

  I also utilized that good old skillet.

  Despite the dishes I utilized for this recipe, It was very complicated to make.  You do have to flour up your strawberries but that's the height of anything too fancy for this dish.

  I thought it was a little too sweet.  I didn't have the called for sugar so I used less of the regular sugar but may have to reduce it again next time.  The cake itself held nicely.  You could see as well as taste the cornmeal in it.  It also contained that cornmeal texture.

I can say I  have never eaten as many strawberries as I have in the last 11 days nor made as many new recipes with them.  That in itself is exciting!

Cheers to another strawberry recipe tomorrow!

Check out the recipe here: http://www.yummyhealthyeasy.com/2016/05/strawberry-skillet-corn-cake.html

A Granola Bar with Strawberries

  First time recipe today.  (A lot of my recipes are but sometimes I am a little more concerned with some then others).  A strawberry banana granola bar! Yes a homemade granola bar with fruit in it.  I will let you know that these little healthy bars are super easy to make and they taste good to.

  This recipe takes minimal ingredients and I think the cook time is longer then the prep time.  So if you need a snack for your child's lunch in a hurry this would absolutely work.

  Grab those strawberries because all the recipes I'm sharing this month involve those!

  Honey, coconut oil and a banana.

  Oatmeal.

  Blend all your items together with some milk (which you can easily substitute for a nondairy)

  Then add the beautiful berries!

  I cooked the granola for the minimum  time of 15 minutes and was easily able to cut them in squares.  This recipe produced a soft chewy granola bar.  You do taste the sweet, juicy bits of strawberries but cannot taste the coconut and I didn't taste the banana either.

Overall delicious granola bar with fruit in it.  Dare I try to get crazy and change the fruit to ahh peaches?  I make a few different granola bars and this will be added to those options.

Check out the recipe here:http://amyshealthybaking.com/blog/2014/01/20/strawberry-banana-granola-bars/