Strawberry Muffins

So April was a really busy month for us here.

We had a 5K run that both the girls did...

We had BMX races...

Friends that we visited...

We went fishing...

And finally we went strawberry picking and that's what this post is about!  Strawberries...

And we picked a lot of strawberries.  I made cake (post to come on that one), strawberry puree for ice cream and finally I made strawberry muffins.

I made strawberry muffins many, many times.  You know why?  The recipe that I found was awesome.  Simple, no mixer and all ingredients that you have on hand...

Strawberry Muffins (Taste of Home)

preheat oven to 375°

Ingredients

• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup fat-free plain yogurt (I used papaya flavored yogurt because that's what I had on hand and it was delicious so use what you have...)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-1/4 cups coarsely chopped fresh or frozen unsweetened strawberries

Directions

• In a small bowl, combine the first four ingredients. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, yogurt, butter and vanilla. Stir into the dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in strawberries.
• Fill muffin cups coated with cooking spray or lined with paper liners two-thirds full. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Serve warm. Yield: 1 dozen.

These were good.  I mean really, really good.  So good that I made them for a friends birthday and I frosted them with cream cheese frosting.  Everyone liked them...

Strawberry Lemon Quick Bread

I’ve said it before a million times that I am so blessed to live in Florida in the winter time…summer time not so much, and this year doubly so.  With our mild temperatures all of our food crops did amazingly well.  I found that I had an abundance of things that I love.  Two of them being lemons and strawberries.
This year the strawberry and lemon crops have been so plentiful that I had so many lemons and strawberries that I just had no way of getting them used up unless I made something with them.  I searched high and low for a recipe for that used both strawberries and lemons. Weird huh?  Not many out there.  So I adapted a strawberry bread recipe from Union Street Eats and it turned out perfect!

Strawberry and Lemon Quick Bread (adapted from Union Street Eats)
Preheat oven to 375F

Grease and flour a 9X5 inch bread pan

Ingredients:
2 Cups fresh strawberries, roughly chopped
1 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
zest of one lemon
3/4 Cup granulated sugar
1/4 Cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 Cup vegetable oil
1/4 Cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

• Place chopped strawberries in a large strainer or colander and sprinkle with a couple of Tbsp of sugar.  Let sit for about 15 minutes
• In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, lemon zest, both sugars, cinnamon, baking soda and salt
• In a separate bowl whisk together eggs, vanilla, oil and lemon juice.
• Stir in the strawberries.
• Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until combined.  Do not over-mix.
• Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.  Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean.
• Remove from oven and let cool before removing from pan.

**This is a moist and delicious bread.  It was gone in no time and I’m looking for another sale on strawberries to make it again!
I also want to give a quick shout out to the folks at The Food Channel.  They featured my blog in “Thing We Love”  So honored…Head on over and check them out.  They have some great stuff on their site (besides me!! LOL)

Finally my computer is back to normal and “healthy” banana bread!

I have had some major issues going on with my computer and the bank for the past week.  My computer was attacked by a virus and then my bank account was compromised so they cancelled my access…been a fun week trying to get everything back to normal but at least my computer is up and working!!! 

Most of you know that I have been trying to eat healthier and lose some pounds that have been steadily creeping up. Well, I am proud to say that I am now down almost 20 lbs from what I was at the beginning of the year!!!  Feeling much better and liking the way that my body feels and looks!  One of the things I have been doing is not baking so much but when I do to substitute some of the fat for apple sauce, bananas or pumpkin puree.  So the other day when I had some oldish bananas I set to work…

Banana, Strawberry and Chocolate Chip Quick Bread

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 cup turbinado sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup banana, mashed (about 2 medium sized bananas)
1/4 cup milk
2 cups all purpose flour (next time I will try 1/2 of it whole wheat flour)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup strawberries, hulled and diced
1/2 cup chocolate chips or chunks (I used semi-sweet but you can use what you like)

Directions: Preheat oven to 350F

• In a mixing bowl mix the apple sauce and sugar.
• Add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each one.
• Add the banana and the milk.
• In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking soda and salt and add to the wet mixture until just blended.
• Using a spoon mix in the strawberries and chocolate chips
• Pour into a greased 9X5X3 inch loaf pan and bake in your preheated 350 degree over for about 1 hr and 10 minutes or until tester comes out clean.
• cool for 10 minutes in pan then remove to cool completely on a wire rack.

***Based on 16 slices from the loaf of quick bread this is 3 WW Points

Ricotta Pancakes with Strawberries and Syrup

So I woke up bright and early this morning as seems to be my M.O. lately and pulled some bacon out of the freezer.  My thought was that I would make breakfast sandwiches when everyone woke up.  This was one of those lazy Sunday mornings that I NEVER seem to get and I was just planning on enjoying it.  The girl’s woke up and crawled into bed with us (I was reading and Tony was still sleeping).  Dogs climbed in and it got way too crowded for me so I got up to tackle breakfast…

That’s when the plans all changed.  I wanted something fresh and light.  After the requisite 5 minutes of standing in front of my fridge wondering what to do (I know you do it too…), my plan came to me!

Light and Fluffy Ricotta Pancakes with Strawberries and Strawberry Syrup (adapted recipe from the kitchn)

Fluffy Ricotta Pancakes
makes 8

1 cup ricotta cheese
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
pinch salt
3/4 cup milk
3 eggs, divided
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Set ricotta in a fine mesh strainer about 30 minutes before you start cooking, to drain off excess liquid. We used fresh ricotta from Whole Foods that was pretty dry. If you are using a commercial brand that's runny, you may want to drain it longer (or make your own).

Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Combine ricotta, milk, egg yolks, and vanilla in a separate bowl.
Beat the egg whites in an electric mixer until stiff. Add the dry ingredients to the ricotta and milk mixture, stirring gently until just combined. Whisk in a small amount of the egg whites to lighten the batter, then fold in the remaining whites.

Heat a griddle over medium-high heat, and brush the surface with butter. Use a ladle or measuring scoop (we used a 1/3 cup measure) to pour batter onto the griddle. Cook pancakes for about 3 or 4 minutes, then flip, cooking until both sides are golden brown.

Changes I made: 

Less sugar. I was making syrup and strawberries for these so I reduced the sugar to 1 1/2 tsp.

Did not brush the griddle with butter.  I cooked them without any oil or fat and they turned out beautifully.

For the topping all I did was slice up some strawberries and add some sugar to them and let them sit.  How much sugar?  Not sure so just do it to taste (if you want them sweeter add more…).

The syrup I “made” was just a jar of Smucker’s Simply Fruit Seedless Strawberry micro waved for about 40 seconds until it was a syrup like consistency!

***The pancakes on their own are 6 Weight Watchers points add your topping to it and total it out for a total point value.

You may have noticed that it’s been a long while since I last posted.  I am really working hard to change this!  I spent an incredibly busy month doing things for BMX.  We travelled one weekend out of the past month but had another weekend of clinics and then the State Championship in which Kyra is now ranked 8th for 9 year old rookies in the state of FL.  I was just totally uninspired in my cooking through all of this and really didn’t think you would want to see the sandwiches that we were sometimes forced to eat for dinner!  Hopefully I am now back and feeling the inspiration!

You make your own birthday cake, right???

It was my birthday last weekend and I made a birthday cake for myself.  Never really thought about it but from the reaction I got from everyone who knew I was doing this, not everyone does it!  Control issues?  Maybe, but I know what I like and how to get it!  Do it myself.

My birthday always comes when strawberries are plentiful so naturally most of the cakes I have baked have strawberries involved.  This year they took center stage…along with some Limoncello of course!

I first made this cake almost 2 years ago, here, and absolutely fell in love with it.  It is a beautiful dense cake and the mascarpone whipped cream was the perfect compliment but I was not really keen on the sherry macerated berries so this year I decided to macerate the berries in Limoncello…good move too!

Mascarpone-Filled Cake with Limoncello Strawberries – adapted from Gourmet, July 2008

Ingredients:

For cake:
2 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon extract
2 large eggs
1 cup well-shaken buttermilk

For berries:
1/2 cup Limoncello
1/2 cup sugar
4 cups strawberries, quartered

For cream:
8 ounces mascarpone cheese (1 cup)
1 cup chilled heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar

Directions:

Make cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Butter a 9-inch round cake pan (2 inches deep). Line bottom with a round of parchment paper, then butter parchment.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. With mixer at low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined. Add flour mixture in 3 batches, mixing after each addition until just combined.

Spread batter in cake pan, smoothing top. Rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles.

Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes. Run a knife around edge of cake to loosen, then invert onto a plate. Discard paper and reinvert cake onto rack to cool completely.

Macerate berries:

Pour the limoncello and the sugar over the berries and toss gently ( allow to satnd for about 30 minutes mixing periodically - or you can do it the real way and bring Limoncello and sugar to a boil in a small heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Put berries in a bowl and pour hot syrup over them, gently tossing to coat. Let stand 15 minutes. make cream and assemble cake.

Beat mascarpone and cream with sugar in a large bowl using cleaned beaters until mixture just holds stiff peaks.

Halve cake horizontally with a long serrated knife. Carefully remove top half and reserve. Put bottom half on a plate, then spread evenly with half of the cream and replace top half. Use the rest of the cream on the top and serve with berries.

Cooks notes:
•Cake, without cream, can be baked 1 day ahead. Wrap in plastic wrap once cool and keep at room temperature.
•Berries can macerate at room temperature up to 2 hours.

The best frozen yogurt, EVER…

The girls have been on Spring Break for the past week and then some. I can honestly say that I have had the best time with them and am looking forward to a whole summer with them and it can’t come soon enough. We’ve been to the beach, the pool, the park and Busch Gardens and with still plenty of down time for us to just relax.

On one of those relaxing days I decided that I would make some ice cream but after going through the fridge I realized that I had no cream to make it with, but I did find a container of plain yogurt and some beautiful, ripe strawberries…

Frozen Strawberry Yogurt

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of whole fat plain yogurt
1 cup of pureed strawberries (cut up and pureed in your blender or food processor)
1/3 cup of local honey

Directions:

• Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
• Pour into ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturers directions until frozen. (Mine took about 20 minutes)
• Scrape into a sealable container and freeze for about 2 hrs or until firm enough to scoop.
• Serve with berries, granola or even chocolate syrup or chips!

***This could easily be adapted to any fruit you have and can make into a puree...think raspberry, blackberry, cherry or even banana!!!

Lots of berries? Make Shortcake!

Florida is having a tough time of it strawberry wise this year.  Somehow the market has dropped and the farmers are selling berries at ridiculously low prices to just get rid of them.  Last weekend there was even a UPick in Plant City that was GIVING them away!!!

Needless to say we have lots of berries right now.  And that, my friends, is a very, very good thing…    
Strawberry Shortcake (Better Homes & Gardens)

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2  cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4  cup sugar
• 1  teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4  teaspoon salt
• 1/4  teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3  cup cold butter
• 1  egg, slightly beaten
• 1/2  cup dairy sour cream
• 2  tablespoons milk
• 5  cups sliced strawberries
• 3  tablespoons sugar
• 1  recipe Whipped Cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease a baking sheet; set aside. In a medium bowl combine flour, the 1/4 cup sugar, the baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a small bowl combine egg, sour cream, and milk. Add to flour mixture, stirring with a fork just until moistened.

2. Drop dough into 8 mounds onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

3. Meanwhile, combine 4 cups of the strawberries and the 3 tablespoons sugar. Using a potato masher, mash berries slightly; set aside. To serve, split shortcakes in half; fill with strawberry mixture and whipped cream. Top with remaining sliced strawberries.

4. Makes 8 shortcakes

Strawberry Scones

This isn't the first time I have made these scones and it will certainly not be my last. I love this recipe and cannot thank Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict enough!!! She came to my rescue one day when I tweeted looking for a good scone recipe for a school project that my daughter was working on.

Turns out to be the easiest and most forgiving recipe I have come across in a long, long time!

Scones – from "Tamasin's Kitchen Bible" by Tamasin Day-Lewis (converted to imperial measures)

Yield 12-24 (depending on how you shape them)

Ingredients:

3 1/4 cup (450g) All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup (50g) sugar (+ more for sprinkling)

6 Tbsp (85g) butter (cold)

and either

2 tsp baking soda + 2 tsp cream of tartar + 1-1/4 cup (300ml) buttermilk, sour milk, yoghurt or sour cream (mixed together)

or

2 tsp baking soda + 4.5 tsp cream of tartar + 1-1/4 cup (300ml) homo milk (full fat) (mixed together)

1/2 – 3/4 cup strawberries(100g) or other fruit or dried fruit

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425F/220C and line a baking tray with parchment
• Sift together flour, salt and sugar. Grate/rub in butter and quickly mix in liquid until spongy.
• Lightly knead until smooth and roll to about 1/2" – 3/4" (1-2 cm) thickness.
• Cut out scones with a 2" cutter...or whatever size you want, set on prepared tray for 10 minutes. Lightly brush with egg/milk wash and sprinkle with sugar.
• Bake for 15 minutes or until a nice golden brown. Cool for about 5 minutes on sheet pan then move to rack to cool.

***I have made these with blueberries and also dried cranberries with some lemon zest added in. Truly a wonderfully versatile recipe!

****For anyone following Weight Watchers this is a 4 Point item based on the 15 that I made using non-fat plain yogurt.

Strawberry Quinoa with Basil Lime Syrup

Strawberry Quinoa with Basil and Lime Syrup!

It has been a long, long time since I last participated in the Royal Foodie Joust which is held each month by my very dear friend Jenn, The Leftover Queen! Way too long!

The Royal Foodie Joust is a monthly challenge that is hosted by Jenn-The Left-over Queen. Every month the winner from the previous month is allowed to choose the 3 ingredients that must be used in the up coming challenge. She also gives out prizes for the best overall winner, best photograph, and the most unique interpretation of the ingredients! Sounds like fun huh? Click here to join in on the fun, you have until tomorrow at noon, plenty of time!!!

The ingredients this month were chosen by LK from Healthy Delicious and they were:

Strawberry
Whole Grains
Basil

I immediately knew what I was going to do but I needed to have all of the ingredients on hand and the time to do it. In other words that stars had to be perfectly aligned for me to pull this off!!! And the other day they were!!!

I have made the cereal part of this many times and usually top it with honey but the basil and lime syrup paired perfectly. Lori used the basil lime syrup with a fruit salad and that is exactly what I am doing with the extra syrup that I made. Check out her post here!

basil and lime infused simple syrup!

Strawberries Quinoa with Basil and Lime Syrup (Quinoa from Heidi of 101 Cookbooks and Basil and Lime Syrup from Lori of The Recipe Girl)

Strawberry Quinoa Cereal:

1 cup low fat milk
1 cup water
1 cup quinoa, rinsed
2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced
1/3 cup chopped pecans, toasted*
4 teaspoons Basil and Lime Syrup

Combine milk, water and quinoa in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer 15 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Turn off heat; let stand covered 5 minutes. Stir in strawberries, transfer to four bowls and top with pecans. Drizzle with 1 teaspoon Basil and Lime Syrup.

Basil and Lime Syrup:

½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup water
½ cup (packed) basil leaves
1 Tbs grated lime rind

Combine sugar and ½ cup water in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute or until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat; stir in basil and rind. Cool. Strain sugar mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl; discard solids & keep syrup.

As Always…

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com