Showing posts with label strawberries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label strawberries. Show all posts

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Strawberry Scones



I made these scones last weekend and they turned out to be delicious! I ran across this recipe online when I was searching for new things that I could make with some leftover buttermilk. I rarely buy buttermilk, so when I have it around I want to use it!

To make 6 large strawberry scones (or probably 8-10 medium sized scones) you will need:
  • 3/4 cup (FROZEN or FRESHSTRAWBERRIES, chopped
  • 2 & 1/4 cup FLOUR
  • 1/2 Tbs BAKING POWDER
  • 1/2 tsp BAKING SODA
  • 1/4 cup GRANULATED SUGAR
  • 1/2 tsp SALT
  • 1 stick very cold UNSALTED BUTTER, cubed
  • 3/4 cup BUTTERMILK
  • 1/2 tsp LEMON JUICE
  • 1 tsp VANILLA EXTRACT
For topping:
  • 1 & 1/2 Tbs UNSALTED BUTTER, melted
  • 2 Tbs LARGE CRYSTAL SUGAR or GRANULATED SUGAR

Start off by chopping the strawberries into bite sized pieces. Then stick them in the freezer while you prepare the dough. Freezing the strawberries will prevent the juices from oozing when you mix them into the dough making the dough too wet. (If you use pre-frozen strawberries you obviously don't have to wait around for the strawberries to freeze which makes the process go faster!)

Cut the stick of butter into cubes and then put it in the freezer with the strawberries to allow the butter to get very cold! When your strawberries are pretty frozen (this could take about an hour if you use fresh strawberries) preheat your oven to 400 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.


Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt into a large bowl. Mix well to make sure all of the ingredients are equally dispersed. Next cut the cold butter into the flour using either a pastry cutter or two knives. You want to end up with pea sized balls of butter in a coarse flour mixture.


In a small bowl, mix the buttermilk, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. Pour the buttermilk mixture and frozen strawberries over the flour mixture.


Gently mix together the wet ingredients and dry ingredients with a spatula until the dough just starts to form. (I had to add a few extra tablespoons of buttermilk to get the dough to come together. If you need to add more liquid be careful to not add too much, add it one tablespoon at a time!)


Once the dough will just hold together, (I should still be kind of crumbly!) form it into a rectangle on a floured surface. Press the dough out to be about 1 & 1/2 inches thick.


Next, brush the melted butter onto the dough and sprinkle the sugar on top. The sugar will almost create a crust on top of the scones once baked.


Cut the large rectangle into 6 pieces and then transfer them to the baking sheet. You could cut the scones into smaller pieces if you don't want such large scones.


Then bake for 25-30 minutes! Look how much they grew!


 Don't they look yummy!







Strawberry Scones
Ingredients:
To make 6 large strawberry scones you will need:
  • 3/4 cup (FROZEN or FRESHSTRAWBERRIES, chopped
  • 2 & 1/4 cup FLOUR
  • 1/2 Tbs BAKING POWDER
  • 1/2 tsp BAKING SODA
  • 1/4 cup GRANULATED SUGAR
  • 1/2 tsp SALT
  • 1 stick very cold UNSALTED BUTTER, cubed
  • 3/4 cup BUTTERMILK
  • 1/2 tsp LEMON JUICE
  • 1 tsp VANILLA EXTRACT
For topping:
  • 1 & 1/2 Tbs UNSALTED BUTTER, melted
  • 2 Tbs LARGE CRYSTAL SUGAR or GRANULATED SUGAR
    Directions:
    1. Chop the strawberries into bite sized pieces. Then stick them in the freezer while you prepare the dough. 
    2. Cut the stick of butter into cubes and then put it in the freezer with the strawberries to allow the butter to get very cold! 
    3. When your strawberries are pretty frozen (this could take about an hour if you use fresh strawberries) preheat your oven to 400 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
    4. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt into a large bowl. Mix well to make sure all of the ingredients are equally dispersed. 
    5. Cut the cold butter into the flour using either a pastry cutter or two knives. You want to end up with pea sized balls of butter in a coarse flour mixture.
    6. In a small bowl, mix the buttermilk, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. Pour the buttermilk mixture and frozen strawberries over the flour mixture. Gently mix together the wet ingredients and dry ingredients with a spatula until the dough just starts to form. (I had to add a few extra tablespoons of buttermilk to get the dough to come together. If you need to add more liquid be careful to not add too much, add it one tablespoon at a time!)
    7. Once the dough will just hold together, (I should still be kind of crumbly!) form it into a rectangle on a floured surface. Press the dough out to be about 1 & 1/2 inches thick. 
    8. Next, brush the melted butter onto the dough and sprinkle the sugar on top. The sugar will almost create a crust on top of the scones once baked.
    9. Cut the large rectangle into 6 pieces and then transfer them to the baking sheet. You could cut the scones into smaller pieces if you don't want such large scones. Then bake for 25-30 minutes



      I adapted this recipe from a recipe I found on the following site: http://www.breadtastic.com/quick-breads/tartines-strawberry-buttermilk-scones/

      Wednesday, March 5, 2014

      Crepes


      I have been wanting to try to make crepes for awhile now, and it turned out to be pretty easy to do! You just have to pay attention to what you are doing and not walk away from the stove! Once you have made your crepes you can top them with just about anything! I topped mine with Nutella and strawberries, yum!

      I didn't actually use all of the batter that I made, but I think I probably would have gotten about 20 8 inch crepes out of this batter. 

      To make these simple crepes you will need:
      • 2 cups MILK
      • 1 & 1/3 cup FLOUR
      • 1 EGG
      • 1 Tbs VEGETABLE OIL
      • 1/2 tsp BAKING POWDER
      • 2 Tbs SUGAR
      Throw all of the above ingredients into a medium sized bowl and whisk until smooth.


      The batter should resemble a thin pancake batter.


      Next, heat a small skillet over medium-high heat. Once the skillet is hot, spray the pan with nonstick spray (Be careful doing this if you have a gas stove! You may want to move the pan off the stove to spray if you have gas just to be safe.) and then use a ladle to pour a small amount of batter into the skillet.


      As you pour the batter into the skillet roll the pan from side to side to get a thin coating of batter all over the bottom of the pan.


      After a few minutes of cooking all of the liquid should evaporate and you should see little bubbles all over the crepe. Use a spatula to carefully flip the crepe over at this point. (See picture below.)


      The picture below shows what the bottom should look like once flipped! Cook the crepe for another minute or two and then transfer it to a plate.


      Then start cooking the next crepe!


      Once I was ready to eat, I spread on a nice layer of Nutella, and then laid on a few cut up strawberries.


      Roll it up, and vuala!


      That wasn't that hard, was it?


      They look so fancy!






      Crepes
      Ingredients:
      • 2 cups MILK
      • 1 & 1/3 cup FLOUR
      • EGG
      • 1 Tbs VEGETABLE OIL
      • 1/2 tsp BAKING POWDER
      • 2 Tbs SUGAR
        Directions:
        1. Throw all of the above ingredients into a medium sized bowl and whisk until smooth. The batter should resemble a thin pancake batter.
        2. Next, heat a small skillet over medium-high heat. Once the skillet is hot, spray the pan with nonstick spray (Be careful doing this if you have a gas stove! You may want to move the pan off the stove to spray if you have gas just to be safe.) and then use a ladle to pour a small amount of batter into the skillet.
        3. As you pour the batter into the skillet roll the pan from side to side to get a thin coating of batter all over the bottom of the pan.
        4. After a few minutes of cooking all of the liquid should evaporate and you should see little bubbles all over the crepe. Use a spatula to carefully flip the crepe over at this point. 
        5. Cook the crepe for another minute or two and then transfer it to a plate. Then start cooking the next crepe!




          I found this recipe on the following website: http://juliasalbum.com/2012/11/how-to-make-crepes-from-scratch-in-a-regular-frying-pan-recipe/

          Saturday, February 1, 2014

          Jamba Juice Copycat: Strawberry Surf Rider (Strawberry Tsunami)



          My favorite Jamba Juice smoothie is the Strawberry Surf Rider, formerly known as the Strawberry Tsunami. It is sweet and tart and creamy and wonderful! I had trouble getting my smoothie as tart as Jamba Juice's so after everything was blended together, I spiked it with a little bit of lime juice to kick it up a notch!

          To make this delicious smooth you will need:
          • 1/4 cup FROZEN PEACHES (about 3 slices)
          • 1/2 cup FROZEN STRAWBERRIES (about 5-6 berries)
          • 1/2 to 3/4 cup LEMONADE
          • 1/4 cup LIME SHERBET
          • 1/2 cup ICE (about 6-8 cubes)
          • LIME JUICE, to taste

          Start off by measuring out your ingredients... or just eye ball it! It's kind of difficult to measure frozen fruit in a 1/4 cup measuring cup. Below you can see my attempt measure how much I was using....


          Throw ALL of the ingredients into a blender. I started by only adding 1/2 cup of the lemonade, but then added an extra 1/4 cup to get it to the consistency I wanted. Just keep adding thing until it tastes good!


          Blend until smooth! This is where I added some lime juice. I added about 2-3 tsp, but if you like it the way it is, then skip the lime juice!


          Once you are happy with the consistency and flavor, serve it up in a glass with a straw! I ended up with about a glass and a half of smoothie. That was probably about 3 cups or 24 oz. of smoothie...






          Jamba Juice Copycat: Strawberry Surf Rider (Strawberry Tsunami)

          Ingredients:
          • 1/4 cup FROZEN PEACHES (about 3 slices)
          • 1/2 cup FROZEN STRAWBERRIES (about 5-6 berries)
          • 1/2 to 3/4 cup LEMONADE
          • 1/4 cup LIME SHERBET
          • 1/2 cup ICE (about 6-8 cubes)
          • LIME JUICE, to taste

              Directions:
              1. Start off by measuring out your ingredients... or just eye ball it! It's kind of difficult to measure frozen fruit in a 1/4 cup measuring cup. 
              2. Throw ALL of the ingredients into a blenderNote: I started by only adding 1/2 cup of the lemonade, but then added an extra 1/4 cup to get it to the consistency I wanted. Just keep adding thing until it tastes good!
              3. Blend until smooth! I then added about 2-3 tsp of lime juice, but if you like it the way it is, then skip the lime juice!
              4. Once you are happy with the consistency and flavor, serve it up in a glass with a straw
              5. I ended up with about a glass and a half of smoothie. (That was probably about 3 cups or 24 oz. of smoothie...)




                To find this recipe and other Jamba Juice copycats follow this link: http://www.makedrinks.org/jamba-juice-recipes/ 

                Saturday, January 4, 2014

                Strawberry Parfait


                Just looking at the pictures of this strawberry parfait makes me want to go make myself another one! It is sweet from the strawberries, a little tart from the Greek yogurt, and has a nice crunch from the granola. It is pure perfection! By the way, did you know that 'parfait' literally means 'perfect' in French?! 

                To make this 'perfect' treat you will need:
                • 5-6 oz. VANILLA GREEK YOGURT
                • 5-7 STRAWBERRIES, diced
                • 6-8 Tbs GRANOLA

                I started off by making some of my favorite granola and then diced up some strawberries.


                I then layered them into a small glass with the vanilla Greek yogurt. I added about half of the yogurt to the bottom of the glass, then put in about 3 tablespoons of granola, and lastly about 3 diced strawberries. I then repeated this process with the rest of the yogurt, granola, and strawberries.


                That's all there is to it! Now dig in and enjoy!



                Friday, October 4, 2013

                Strawberry Smoothie


                Here is a strawberry smooth recipe that is quick and easy! In college I would make them in the mornings for breakfast and drink them on the way to class.

                All you need is:
                • 5-7 FROZEN STRAWBERRIES
                • 5-6 oz. STRAWBERRY YOGURT (aka 1 individual sized yogurt cup)
                • a splash of MILK
                All you need to do is throw all of of the ingredients into a blender (or Ninja food processor in my case) and blend until smooth! You may need to add more milk along the way to make the smoothie thinner and more drinkable. Once the smoothie is at the desired consistency pour it into your favorite glass (or travel cup) and go!

                You could easily make this your own by using different frozen fruit or yogurt flavors. There are so many options!





                Strawberry Smoothie

                Ingredients:
                • 5-7 FROZEN STRAWBERRIES
                • 5-6 oz. STRAWBERRY YOGURT (aka 1 individual sized yogurt cup)
                • a splash of MILK

                    Directions:
                    1. All you need to do is throw all of of the ingredients into a blender (or Ninja food processor in my case) and blend until smooth! You may need to add more milk along the way to make the smoothie thinner and more drinkable. Once the smoothie is at the desired consistency pour it into your favorite glass (or travel cup) and go!
                    2. You could easily make this your own by using different frozen fruit or yogurt flavors. There are so many options!



                    Monday, September 23, 2013

                    Berry Salad with Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette


                    I love fruit! Not usually on salads, but this salad just sounded so good! It is a perfect summer salad to have when all of the berries are in season!

                    In order to make it you will need:
                    • 3-4 cups of ROMAINE LETTUCE 
                    • 1/2 cup fresh BLUEBERRIES
                    • 1/2 cup fresh STRAWBERRIES, sliced
                    • 1 oz. crumbled FETA CHEESE
                    • 1 Tbs SALAD DRESSING
                    Make sure to rinse all of the ingredients to remove any dirt, toss together in a bowl, add the dressing, and serve! I made a strawberry balsamic vinaigrette, but a poppy seed dressing, or simply a balsamic vinaigrette would also be good!

                    To make the Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette you will need:
                    • 1 cup fresh STRAWBERRIES
                    • 2 Tbs OLIVE OIL
                    • 2 Tbs BALSAMIC VINEGAR
                    • 1/2 tsp SALT
                    • 1/4 tsp PEPPER
                    • 1 tsp HONEY
                    I simply threw all of the ingredients into my food processor and blended until smooth! Simple as that!





                    Berry Salad with Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette

                    Ingredients:

                    Berry Salad:
                    • 3-4 cups of ROMAINE LETTUCE 
                    • 1/2 cup fresh BLUEBERRIES
                    • 1/2 cup fresh STRAWBERRIES, sliced
                    • 1 oz. crumbled FETA CHEESE
                    • 1 Tbs SALAD DRESSING
                    Strawberry Balsamic Dressing:
                    • 1 cup fresh STRAWBERRIES
                    • 2 Tbs OLIVE OIL
                    • 2 Tbs BALSAMIC VINEGAR
                    • 1/2 tsp SALT
                    • 1/4 tsp PEPPER
                    • 1 tsp HONEY
                    Directions:

                    Berry Salad:
                    1. Make sure to rinse all of the ingredients to remove any dirt, toss together in a bowl, add the dressing, and serve! 
                    2. I made a strawberry balsamic vinaigrette, but a poppy seed dressing, or simply a balsamic vinaigrette would also be good!
                      Strawberry Balsamic Dressing:
                      1. I simply threw all of the ingredients into my food processor and blended until smooth! Simple as that!




                      The recipe that I based the dressing off of can be found at this website:
                      http://www.fitsugar.com/Healthy-Recipe-Strawberry-Balsamic-Vinaigrette-3368831

                      Friday, September 13, 2013

                      Hippie Juice

                      I found this cocktail on Pinterest where I find most of my yummy recipes. It is fruity and sweet and will knock your socks off if you aren't careful! With all of the flavors you can barely taste the alcohol so make sure you are with friends you trust!

                      First off you need a SIMPLY ORANGE CONTAINER (the Great Value version will work too! Really, you just need a container that holds 59 fl. oz. or 1.85 qt.) A FUNNEL would also be useful. Into the container pour:
                      • 4 scoops of COUNTRY TIME PINK LEMONADE (2/3 cup)
                      • 1 cup of WATERMELON VODKA
                      • 1/3 cup of MALIBU COCONUT RUM
                      • 1/3 cup of TRIPLE SEC
                      Once you have added all of the above ingredients fill the rest of the bottle with COLD WATER, shake, and enjoy!

                      You can garnish the cocktails with STRAWBERRIES if you are feeling extra ambitious!