Rhubarb can be fresh or frozen. Cut fresh rhubarb into one inch slices; frozen is usually already cut. Fresh strawberries can be washed, stemmed and cut in half; frozen just need the package opened and the amount measured. Let frozen fruit thaw somewhat so you aren’t starting with a solid chunk of ice. Using the microwave is fair, if needed, to de-ice quickly . Cook fruit until it is just tender, about 7 or 8 minutes. Then quickly stir in the sugar and cornstarch mixture and cook until thickened. It’ll take about a minute to return to a boil so stir gently until the mixture does boil. Then boil for another minute until the mixture thickens, stirring intermittently. When thickened, remove from the heat. If you are a learning cook, it is sometimes hard to see how you can make ... [Read More]
strawberries
Strawberries and Cream Scones
Strawberries and Cream scones are tender, golden and not too sweet, perfectly punctuated with ruby berries and a light glaze and will make any breakfast or brunch special. They look like you spent hours in the kitchen, but really are easy to make. Prepare the berries ahead of time and refrigerate until you need them. Pop off the green leaves, slice each berry into quarters until you have a full cup. I like to gather all ingredients before starting to mix. Get the egg from the refrigerator and grab the butter and cream and refrigerated strawberries at the same time. Set out the flour, baking powder, salt and both kinds of sugar. In my Ohio kitchen, they were all in the corner lazy susan and I just used them from there. Here I have to carry them to and from the pantry – I’m still ... [Read More]
Grilled Chicken and Strawberry Salad with red wine vinegar dressing
Grilled Chicken and Strawberry Salad is a springtime hit with berries fresh from the garden and fresh salad greens. Of course, you can make it any time of year with berries and greens from the grocery. Use your favorite salad greens. Leaf lettuce or Bibb lettuce from the garden, spring green mix, iceberg pieces, spinach, romaine. Or a mixture of any mild flavored green. Add a handful of chopped kale to each plate, if you like. Generally, a serving of salad is about one cup (pressed down) of fresh greens. Or, the number of servings in a 16 ounce bag of greens is often listed as six. This recipe will make 6 side salads or three generous dinner salads. The dinner salads are the choice at our house. The dressing is the star of the show. And I don’t eat dressing on my salads!!! I’ll have ... [Read More]
Strawberry Pina Colada Dessert
Strawberry Pina Colada Dessert is a quick and easy dessert that can be dressed up nicely. Though “getting fancy” can take it out of the quick category. There is a trick to making thick desserts look presentable in a clear glass container. Ideally, everything would go in without air bubbles and lay in beautiful layers with no blops, streaks or drips -- but little in life seems to go the ideal way. :-) I do like these clear glasses for individual servings, though. They are just about the right size for one so they work great for portion control or for buffet serving. Dollar store, folks. So the price is right too. To keep it quick and easy, you can skip the individual servings. Make a light layer of strawberries and toasted coconut in an 8x8 pan, spread the dessert ... [Read More]
Little Napoleon Sweethearts
I was curious how this delicious pastry filled with fruit and creamy pudding came by its name. Napoleons seem to be a Neopolitan invention as they originated in Naples, Italy. The French adopted the dessert, calling it "mille-feuille" or “ thousand leaves” for the many layers of pastry. As the dessert traveled from France the description of their place of origin, Neopolitan, became corrupted to the more familiar Napoleon associated with France, but there is no evidence that Emperor Napoleon had anything to do with these particular pastries. Napoleons traditionally have a confectioners sugar glaze on top (1 Tablespoon water to 1 cup of confectioners sugar) but I eliminated this to control the sweetness (and carb count). They are also typically larger in size and frequently have 3 ... [Read More]
