Chocolate Strawberry Shortcakes

There is a whole lot of NOPE going on in my house today. I am an extremely lazy bum who hasn't found any other motivation than to make dessert. There is always tomorrow to create a fantastic, multi-course meal. Today it's all about laying out, getting a little sun, and relaxing with a good book.

Strawberry Lemonade Bars

After a long hot day there is nothing as comforting as sitting down with a tall glass of ice cold lemonade. This is a tradition I remember from my childhood summers spent at my grandparents. Afternoons were always spent on the back porch, sipping lemonade, snacking on a cookie or two, waiting on dinner to cook.

Now as a busy adult living in the 21st century, I rarely get the chance to sit down on the back porch and sip lemonade, but I still have time to grab a quick snack in the afternoons.

Since I cannot always squeeze in time for a relaxing few moments on the porch, I decided to incorporate my childhood memories into this simple to make bar. I also had a few strawberries on hand and decided to add them in too.

What a weekend!

90 degree weather, good friends, lots of food, and a nice relaxing day at the pool. What more could a girl want?

No rain! That's what.

And some good snacking bread to munch on while I don't clean up from the cookout.

I made this early this morning to share with some great friends. They loved it.

Now as I procrastinate in my cleaning up, I am watching it rain sideways across my porch. Stupid storm is ruining my night time plans of watching fireworks and eating funnel cakes.

I doubled the recipe to accommodate for the 8 other people who would be snacking on my bread. The bread is delicious!

Strawberry Banana Bread

By Sarah the Food Addict
Published: July 4, 2011
Adapted from: Joy the Baker


Prep time: 20
Cook time: 50-60
Total time: 1 hr 20 min
Yield: 1 loaf

Serving size: 1 slice
Calories per serving: 364
Fat per serving: 19.1g


Ingredients:

6 oz Unsalted Butter, browned
1 C All-Purpose Flour
1 C Whole Wheat Flour
3/4 C Light Brown Sugar
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Cinnamon
2 Large Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
3/4 C Buttermilk
3/4 C Diced Strawberries
3/4 C Mashed, Ripe Bananas
1 SlicedStrawberry



Procedure:


Brown the butter and allow it to cool.

In a mixing bowl, combine flours, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

Stir in browned butter, eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk.

Fold in mashed bananas and diced strawberries. 

Pour into prepared pan.

Top with strawberry slices.

Bake at 350 for approximately 50-60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool completely before slicing.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pancakes

A quick trip to the grocery to return a RedBox movie rental and pick up some lettuce for a salad, I came across rhubarb. The first signs that summer is almost here!

The possibilities are almost endless on what to do with it. But I like to be different. Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie. Raspberry Rhubarb Muffins. Dessert Bars. Oatmeal-Rhubarb Squares. The list goes on...

When in doubt, turn to Google. I love Google. Everything you want in a few simple clicks. Well almost everything. Breakfast dishes using this wonderful vegetable are extremely limited.

I found lot of recipes for rhubarb syrups to pour over my beloved breakfast dish. Is it because vegetables in a breakfast pancake just sounds weird? Is that why nobody has done this? I was greatly disappointed at the lack of results Google showed me.

I found Allotment 2 Kitchen's Recipe but didn't want to mess with cooking the rhubarb first. I'm a simple kind of girl. I don't like a lot of steps. Especially first thing in the morning. It's simply not possible to follow a recipe with multiple steps before my coffee has taken effect. I'm a throw it in a bowl and stir type of breakfast person. Save the detailed things for brunch.

Further searching resulted in flavorless a baked pancake with chunks of rhubarb. It didn't impress me.

This brought me to my question, how can there be almost no recipes for a rhubarb pancake? I decided I needed to correct this problem. So here it is....

Strawberry Rhubarb Pancakes
1/2 C Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 C All Purpose Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
Dash Salt
2 Tbs  Sugar
2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
3/4 C Milk
1 Egg
2 Tbs Unsalted Butter, melted
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 C Strawberries, diced
1/2 C Rhubarb, finely diced-saves you from cooking it first to make it tender

In a medium bowl, combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, and cinnamon. Whisk in milk, egg, butter, and vanilla. Fold in strawberries and rhubarb.

Cook over medium heat in a lightly greased skillet or griddle. When bubbles begin to form one the surface and bottom is golden brown. Turn and cook on second side until golden.

**If your rhubarb is exceptionally tough, use the butter and sugar from the recipe to first saute it until tender. Allow to cool to room temperature and then stir into the batter before adding the strawberries. **

Serves 2. 

Fresh Strawberry Pie

I went away for the weekend, completely neglecting the fact that I had a one pound package of strawberries still hiding in the fridge. How could I forget about such a wonderful little delicious treat?

I was very disappointed in myself.

I came home to find still edible, but very soft, not so pretty berries waiting on me. I had two choices toss them or figure out what to do with them that would accept their not-so-perfect condition.

I had to make a trip to the store for the basics anyways and they happened to have strawberries on sale, so I picked up another one pound container of *fresh* berries that were still pretty and decided I needed a strawberry pie.

Yummy! Half of it disappeared within 12 hours of making it. I live alone. Oops, maybe I pigged out just a bit.


Fresh Strawberry Pie
2 lbs fresh strawberries (or more for a 10inch pie pan)
3/4 C Water (divided)
3/4 C Sugar (or more if your berries are tart)
3 Tbs Cornstarch
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 pre-baked 9inch pie crust

Arrange your best looking berries in your pre-baked crust.

Cut up remaining strawberries. (I just cut most of mine in half.) Add to a medium sauce pan, along with sugar, and 1/2 cup of water.

Bring to a boil over medium heat. Smashing berries as you go. Simmer for 15 minutes or until berries are easily smashed and sugar is dissolved.

Dissolve cornstarch in remaining 1/4 cup of water. Stir into smashed strawberry mixture. Cook until thickened, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Immediately stir in vanilla extract.

Pour over the berries in the pie crust. The hot mixture will soften the other berries. Allow to cool to room temperature before refrigerating. Serve chilled with whipped cream.