Strawberry Daze

  This past weekend, my hometown had a strawberry festival.  Succulent, ripe rubies are in abundance in May around here, although with the mild winter, the berries have weighed down the vines earlier than usual.  Recently I blended up this recipe from Southern Living's Big Book of BBQ - Strawberry Tea Slush.  Cool strawberries hit the tongue, and background notes of tea and lemonade round out this slightly tart slush.  I believe this is what summertime tastes like.  Here's the beauty of this recipe, though; it uses frozen strawberries that can be found in your freezer section year-round.  Keep in mind this has just a little over of an hour of chill time before blending.

Strawberry Tea Slush

Yields 6 cups

Ingredients

2 cups water
4 tea bags, regular size
1 1/2 cups frozen strawberries
6 oz. frozen lemonade concentrate
1 cup ice cubes
1/4 cup powdered sugar (can add more to taste if you prefer a sweeter drink)

  Start by steeping the tea.  In a small saucepan, bring the water to a boil.  Take the pot off the heat and add in the tea bags.  Cover and let the tea steep for 5 minutes.  Remove the tea bags and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

  Add the chilled tea, frozen strawberries, lemonade concentrate, ice and powdered sugar to a blender and process until the mixture is slushy and smooth.  Serve right away and enjoy!

Note: Resist the urge to squeeze those tea bags when removing them.  Squeezing releases very bitter liquid into the tea.

  Now that you are sippin' on strawberry goodness, want something to nibble on?  One of my dear friends brought in this amazing salsa made with not tomatoes, but strawberries to work.  Heavenly!  This is another treat from Southern Living, found in the March 2012 issue.  She didn't have the avocado, but it was still fantastic.  The magazine suggests serving this with grilled or pan-fried meats, seafood or poultry aplenty, but it was very tasty on plain ol' tortilla chips.  Give it a try, you won't be disappointed.

Strawberry Salsa

Yields about 2 1/2 cups

Ingredients

1/2 cup red pepper jelly
1/3 cup chopped fresh chives
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon lime zest
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 cups fresh chopped strawberries
1/3 cup dried sweetened cranberries
1 small avocado

  In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the jelly, fresh herbs, lime zest and juice, and red pepper.  Gently fold in the strawberries and dried cranberries.  Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.  Right before serving, dice the avocado and add to the chilled salsa mixture.

Fresh Strawberry Bread

Mmmmm.  I love strawberries, yes indeedy.  This loverly recipe comes from Cooking With the Noonday Chef 3 by Walter Lambert.  Now those of you unfamiliar with Chef Lambert, he demonstrates recipes on a local TV station on the 12 o'clock news.  I was tickled to death when I ran across this cookbook at McKay, a local haunt for bibliophiles, college students, and interesting people in general.  But, I digress - this is one of my favorite recipes I've tried out of that book so far.  If you're looking to try it, too, keep in mind, you'll need to prep the strawberries the night before you bake.

Fresh Strawberry Bread 

Yields 1 loaf

Ingredients

1 cup strawberry slices
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, beaten


  Firstly, we're going to prep the strawberries.  Put the strawberry slices in a bowl and sprinkle with the 2 TBS of sugar.  Cover and put in the refrigerator overnight (or 8 hours).  This will create a nice syrup with the berries.

  After the strawberries have given up their sweet syrup, preheat the oven to 350°F.

  Blend together the flour, 1 cup sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl.

  In a medium mixing bowl, combine the oil, vanilla, eggs, strawberry slices and its syrup. Dump the strawberry mixture into the flour mixture, and mix just until blended.

  Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan (9 inches x 5 inches) and bake for approximately 50 minutes.

Notes:  Chef Walter suggests variations of adding 1 1/2 cup chopped pecans or a bit of cinnamon to the batter, if you like.  This bread is decadent served with a schmear of cream cheese.