Delicious Summertime Strawberry Recipes

  I LOVE SUMMER!

I love everything that's associated with it!! 

I love grilling on the grill.

I love garden fresh salads.

I love homemade Popsicles, homemade milk shakes and cold refreshing drinks.

I love flying the flag, fireworks, sunrises and sunsets. 

I love wearing sandals and the long summer days 

where it's still light at 10:00 at night.

I love all of the beautiful flowers in my yard.

I love backpacking and hiking!!

and  
I LOVE STRAWBERRIES!   

I thought I would share 
some of my strawberry favorites...
Strawberry Pie
Strawberry Lemonade
Strawberry Banana Milkshake
Strawberry Salad Dressing 
Strawberry Topped Summer-Time Salad 

From Scratch Strawberry Pie 

(in a heavy sauce pan mix the following)
1 cup water
2/3 cup OR 3/4 cup sugar (depending how sweet your strawberries are)
1/4 cup Corn Starch
1/4 tsp salt
(whisk together to make sure there are no lumps)

Bring above ingredients to boil and then add in:
1 cup crushed strawberries
2 Tbsp butter
Continue cooking until heated through...

Remove from heat and add in:
2 tsp. vanilla
Let cool slightly 

Prepare pie crust (here for my favorite pie crust recipe)

Cover the bottom of cooked crust with a little bit of glaze.

Fill baked pie crust with fresh strawberries
Pour glaze over the top of strawberries (add a few more strawberries to the top 
and chill 2-3 hours.

Serve with whipped cream.

Enjoy Strawberry Pie

without using a box of "Junket" for the glaze!
You'll be amazed at how yummy and how easy it is.

 Strawberry Lemonade
(The perfect amount for a family of four...
Double the batch, to make a gallon for more people.)

2 quarts water
3/4 cup sugar
1-1/2 tsp. Citric Acid
2 capfuls of Lemon Extract
1 large lemon sliced
1 cup fresh sliced strawberries
Stir together well.
Let chill for at least one to two hours and then pull out the lemons
(if the lemons are in the drink for longer than 2 hours, they will make it bitter).

Strawberry Banana Milkshake
1 cup milk
4 cups strawberries (leave the tops on as the green tops provide some great Chlorophyll)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 to 2 bananas
2 cups of ice
Blend together in your Vita-Mix until thick and smooth. 
Pour into glasses, add a straw and sip away!

Enjoy!  

It's amazing how yummy this tastes, it's healthy as well and the most amazing thing, is that it doesn't have any ice cream in it.

Strawberry Dressing 
1/2 cup strawberries

1/3 cup olive oil

1/4 cup red wine vinegar, (OR, Raspberry Vinegar)  

1-2 Tbsp. white sugar 

1 Tbsp Poppy Seeds 

Put in blender and blend until smooth. Chill.

Enjoy! 

Summer Salads are SO great! 

You can add whatever garden produce you have to them and they always taste delicious!
This time of the year, spinach is VERY abundant and so that is the base of our salads.
Add in fresh fruit, 

some kind of meat (salmon and chicken are always a hit) 

Toss in whatever other veggies you like,
Sprinkle on some chopped nuts and or sliced cheese
(you can even form the salad into a cute heart shape)

Drizzle with some homemade Strawberry Dressing
and wow!   

You have a delicious salad that is filling and really hits the spot!

Whether you are swimming in an abundance of strawberries from your garden, OR, you are taking advantage of the sales at the store on strawberries this time of the year,  
STRAWBERRIES 
bring joy, taste delicious and can be enjoyed for each meal from breakfast to dinner!

Asian Chicken Salad = Happiness!

 I LOVE summer salads! 

So yummy, light and perfect 

 to enjoy during the hot summer months when you don't always want a heavy meal, or hot soup. 

This salad is great because it is versatile 

 and you can add in whatever ingredients you have on hand. 

The Sesame Chicken makes it SO yummy topped with homemade Asian Dressing.

Definitely a HIT at our house!

Asian Chicken Salad

(Green Salad)

2 cups spinach leaves

1 large bunch Romaine lettuce chopped

2-3 large slices of onion finely diced

1 cup grapes cut in half

2 tomatoes chopped

2 Tbsp. Sunflower Seeds roasted

1/4 cup sliced OR slivered almonds roasted

(I put the almonds/sunflower seeds on a small baking sheet in my toaster oven for 10 minutes at 350 degrees and stirred after 5 minutes)

(can also add in a can of Mandarin oranges, or whatever other fruits/veggies you would like)

(Sesame Chicken)

2 Chicken Breasts (cut into thin strips)

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup Sesame Seeds

2 Tbsp. butter

1 egg beaten

1 Tbsp. water

1 Tbsp. soy sauce

Mix together well, egg, water and soy sauce

Dip chicken in flour, then egg mixture and then sesame seeds. 

Put butter in glass baking dish and melt in oven.   

Arrange chicken in baking dish and coat well with butter. 

Bake 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes until chicken is no longer pink. 

(Sesame Dressing)

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

2 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 squirt yellow mustard

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1 Tbsp. sesame seeds

Put ingredients in pint sized jar and shake well.    Refrigerate until ready to use.

Mix all salad ingredients together and put in large bowl.   

Make Sesame Chicken and Sesame Dressing.

Divide salad onto plates, top with Sesame Chicken and homemade dressing!

Enjoy!!

A complete meal in one that is sure to 

bring happiness to anyone that tries it!

Poppy Seed Dressing!

I'm sure I sound like a broken record,
but, making the majority of the things that my family eats from scratch has been and always will be a passion of mine.

It brings the greatest satisfaction
to sit down down and eat dinner as a family and to know that my own two hands and ingredients I took from my pantry and food storage created the yummy things we are eating.

I have been making Poppy Seed Dressing for years. Anytime we are having a party of any kind I make up some kind of yummy spinach/green salad and this dressing to go with it.

It is as easy as...
putting ingredients in a blender and blending until smooth,
putting it in the fridge to chill and
"Voila"
you have homemade dressing that really tastes so much more yummy than anything you buy in the store and it doesn't have any "High Fructose Corn Syrup" or other ingredients I don't want to feed my family.

BTW...
you can get this great salad dressing bottle in almost any store including grocery stores. You will find it in the aisle that sells salad dressing mixes...it is used to make oil/vinegar salad dressing.
It's perfect for putting your homemade Poppy Seed Dressing in!

Poppy Seed Dressing
3/4 cup sugar (I used 2/3 cup sugar)
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp onion flakes
1 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp poppy seeds
Blend everything but oil and poppy seeds.
When smooth slowly add oil—stir in poppy seeds.
Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

BTW...
this stores for weeks in the fridge and so pull it out of the fridge about 30 minutes before you want to use it, as the oil solidifies a bit....shake well and then enjoy on your yummy salads.

"Happy Salad Eating"!