Dixie Cup Popsicles

After picking 8 lbs of strawberries last weekend, I needed to figure out how to use them all up. I made these along with Strawberry Cream Pie, Strawberry Bread, and Ice cream. These popsicles were the easiest of the four treats and the possibilities are endless. Oh, and they were a hit with Jack too! I know that there are tons of ideas for these out there, this is just what worked for me with what I had on hand.  I didn't measure anything out, so this recipe is a guesstimate. You really can't go wrong though.

2. Strawberry-Banana Popsicles

Here's what you need:

• The little 3 ounce size Dixie cups
• Popsicle sticks (I found these at Michael's. I might go for the longer ones next time. Might sound crazy, but these are so little, I am worried they could be swallowed.)
• About 1 lb strawberries, tops removed
• Just under 1/4 cup sugar - just add a little at a time until it's sweet enough (Mine were sweet since I wanted the popsicles to taste like a treat.)
• About 1/3 cup of milk
• Sliced frozen bananas that I already had in the freezer. (By the way, frozen bananas are my new favorite thing. When they are frozen they take on this creamy texture and they sometimes satisfy my ice cream craving, which happens a lot.)

Puree the strawberries. Add the milk (I think these would be just as good without the milk.) and mix in the sugar until it's dissolved.  Divide evenly among the cups, filling about 3/4 full. Place on a cookie sheet and put them into the freezer for about an hour until they are semi solid. Pull them out of the freezer and put a slice of banana into the almost frozen puree. Then stick a popsicle stick in. (They should be set up enough so the stick will stay where you put it. Put them back into the freezer until they are solid. Once they are solid you can put them in a freezer bag to save room. Also, I found that snipping the top of the cup with scissors makes it easy to peel the cup off. I guess this could be done ahead of time so you're not hunting down the scissors each time.

I can't wait to try making these with other berries or mangoes or mixed with yogurt or honey. The possibilities are endless! And I'll take it, if it means that Jack might get an extra serving of fruit!

Strawberry Cream Pie

The last time we went strawberry picking, Jack wasn't even walking yet. I remember plopping him down in between the rows and letting him explore while I did the picking. This year was a different story. He had his own basket and had no problem filling it up. He was the only strawberry picking kid in the world though that wasn't covered in pink juice by the time our basket was full. He tried one, but had no interest in eating them after that.

We picked about 8 lbs of super ripe, must use them now, berries. After I managed to fit them into our bursting at the seams refrigerator, I had to figure out what to do with them all. I managed to use each and every one of them in four ways. (okay five ways, if you count eating them just the way they are.) I was going to include all four recipes in this one post, but decided it would be easier to post one at a time...

Here's the first of four: 

1. The easiest No-Bake Strawberry Cream Pie ever 

I've made this recipe tons of times. It's from the June/July 2008 issue of Domino Magazine.

2 lbs fresh strawberries, tops removed

1 1/4 cups milk

3/4 cup sugar

5 tbsp. cornstarch

3 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice (from 1 lemon)

Home made or store bought graham cracker crust

Whipped Cream for serving

Puree the strawberries. (If you do this using an immersion blender like I do, then trust me  - wear an apron.)

Combine milk, sugar, and cornstarch in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, and whisk until dissolved. Add the strawberry puree and lemon juice. Cook on high heat, whisking frequently, until mixture is thick and bubbling (about 7 minutes.) Remove from heat. 

This is where you could make your own graham-cracker crust, or you could use store bought. I use store bought - the one with the two extra servings.

Pour the filling into the crust and let it cool for about 30 minutes. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Or make it in the morning and it'll be good by the evening. 

If I was serving this to a group, I would make my own whipped cream and spread it over the entire pie. But if the entire pie won't be eaten at once, I usually just top it with whipped cream in a can. Either way, it is so good. 

Stay tuned...

Recipes for Strawberry Bread, Strawberry-Banana Popsicles, and Strawberry Ice Cream are coming up!

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins

I seriously have a hard time not eating all of these up myself.  They are really delicious...Jack even agrees.

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins

Makes 12 muffins.

1/4 cup butter at room temperature

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup light brown sugar

1 1/2 cup flour (I used 3/4 cup AP flour and 3/4 cup whole wheat flour to up the healthy factor)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Pinch nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 cup finely shredded, unpeeled zucchini, squeezed and drained.

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin or use paper liners.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, oil and sugar. Cream mixture until smooth. Sift the flour, spices, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and set aside. Add the egg to the creamed mixture and mix until incorporated. Add the sifted flour, about 1/2 cup at a time until all is incorporated and the batter is smooth.

Fold the zucchini, chocolate chips, and lemon zest into the batter.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 22 to 25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. 

This can also be done as a bread, which I haven't tried yet. Just up the baking time to 55 to 60 minutes.

Also, the second time I made this, I didn't have a lemon on hand, and they came out just as good! 

19 - Sandies

This is my Nana's recipe for finger cookies, also known as Sandies. They are so simple and delicious!  

~19~

Sandies

Makes about 2 ½ dozen

1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened

1/3 cup sugar

2 tsp water

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)

Confectioners’ sugar to coat

Cream butter and sugar.  Add water and vanilla. Mix well. Mix in flour and nuts. Chill dough for 3 hours. Shape into desired shape (ball, crescent, log).  Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 325 degrees for 20 minutes.  Cool slightly.  While still a little warm, roll in powdered sugar.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

At our house, we always seem to have bananas at various stages of ripeness.  It's just one of those things that comes along with having a toddler.  Green, yellow, spotted, black...we've got them all, all the time.  A benefit to this is that we can have banana bread whenever the mood strikes.  I actually know the recipe by heart, since lately we always have super ripe bananas around...

I do want to write it out here though, so I know where to find it in case Mommy brain strikes and I need my fix!

Jack enjoying the results...

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

2 cups AP flour

3/4 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup canola oil

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 very ripe bananas, mashed

1 cup chocolate chips

Brown sugar (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 350. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the oil, eggs, vanilla and bananas. Combine with a spoon. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into loaf pan that has been greased with cooking spray. Sprinkle top with brown sugar if you want a sweet and crispy topping.

Cover loosely with a tent of foil.  Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 40 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

YUM!  

Homemade lemonade

I discovered homemade lemonade last week!  Where has this been all of my life? It is so refreshing...it was the perfect thing to sip while sitting in our new pool.  I actually tripled the recipe and filled a huge jug to keep in the fridge so we'd have an endless supply all week...It's really good with mashed up raspberries and I imagine that strawberries (or any berry) would be delicious in this. It's yummy with a little vodka or rum too!  ;)

Here is the recipe...

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups sugar

8 cups water

1 1/2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice ( from about 8 - 10 lemons)

Directions

1.  In a small saucepan, combine sugar and 1 cup water. Bring to boil and stir to dissolve sugar.  Allow to cool.

2. In pitcher, stir together chilled syrup, lemon juice and remaining 7 cups water.

YUM

California Salad

In the first few weeks of living in California, we pretty much lived on this salad...we could not get enough of the strawberries, they were always so good! Well last night, we had our favorite salad along with our last bottle of wine from our favorite California winery...If California had a taste, this would be it.  All that was missing was our warm, terra cotta tiled patio.

YUM.

California Salad

Organic baby spinach

Organic strawberries

Avocado

Candied pecans

Crumbled goat cheese

Poppyseed dressing

Chocolate chip cookies

Last night, after Jack went to bed, I got the urge to bake...so I decided on chocolate chip cookies (mainly because I had all of the ingredients!)  I usually use the Nestle Toll House recipe, but I am never happy with the results.  My cookies are always flat, crunchy and greasy looking.  So I did some research and got a few ideas to change it up a little.  My cookies came out so good!  I was shocked! They are soft in the middle and are chunky looking instead of flat...

My new baking revelations may not be news to some of you, but I just wanted to share and also keep a record, so I can do it again!

Here is the new and improved recipe my changes are in pink:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon real vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz. package) of Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Whisk together 2 1/4 cup flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat melted butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla in large bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Gradually beat in flour mixture.  (Because the butter was melted, the dough seemed to be too liquidy, so I added an extra 1/4 cup flour.)  Stir in chocolate.

Cover bowl and refrigerate until completely chilled. (I actually chilled it over night, because at this point it was late.)

Preheat oven to 375.  (I used convection bake at 350.)

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheet.  (I really need to get one of those little ice cream scoop thingys)

Bake for 9 - 11 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool on baking sheets for two minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

In between batches, I put the dough in the fridge and made sure that the baking sheets were cooled to room temperature by running under cool water before scooping the next batch. 

YUM! 

Does anyone else have any tips for baking chocolate chip cookies??? I'd love to hear!