As you saw in a recent Project Monday Snapshot, we went strawberry picking at a local organic farm. We showed a bit of restraint and only brought home 16 pounds of strawberries.
Yes, 16 pounds.
We knew we could freeze them, but wanted to enjoy as many fresh as we could, so I set about searching for some great strawberry recipes and spent the next few days cooking and baking...
Some recipes were winners, some weren't all that amazing. None of them tasted bad, but there were a few that just seemed like a waste of some yummy berries and I probably wouldn't make them again.
Why share them all here? Well, you might like trying a variety of recipes yourself or you might have access to strawberries more often and so some of these recipes might not seem like a "waste" of strawberries to you.
Most of my strawberry recipe searches turned up only sweet dishes, but we generally prefer savory foods, so I was excited to come up with 5 of them to try! Here you have it, 10 sweet and savory things to make with a bajillion pounds of scrumptious strawberries:
1. Strawberry Salad with Sesame-Poppy-Seed Dressing - I've made this for years and each time I have, I've wondered whether I wouldn't just prefer to throw some greens, strawberries, blue cheese and walnuts into a bowl and eat that instead. The dressing is nice, though, and it gives us a little variety in our salad-every-night-for-dinner routine, so I continue to occasionally fix it when we're in the mood for something a bit different.
2. Strawberry-Lime-Poppy-Seed Whole-Wheat Pancakes - Inspired by my recent lime-poppy-seed cupcakes, I tried a twist on this already twisted pancake recipe. I'm not a huge fan of pancakes, but these were really good. I loved the strawberry syrup, but I think it overshadowed the pancakes (which were a lot of work). I tried the pancakes by themselves and they were definitely tasty, but I think in the future I might just make regular whole-wheat pancakes and the strawberry syrup and save the other ingredients for muffins or cupcakes.
3. Strawberry Salsa - G thought this was too hot (he wasn't expecting the jalapeno), but I liked the touch of fire. We just ate this with chips, but it would probably be good over a meat dish - it reminded me a bit of mango salsa. However, I'm not sure I'd make this again unless I was looking for something unique, because I think I still like regular salsa just as much and it's so much easier/cheaper to prepare.
4. Strawberry Risotto - Oh, my! This was a huge winner and so unexpected! Click to read the recipe and then go make some right away!
5. Strawberry Salmon - I tend to be "salmoned-out" most of the time, since we have so much of it and G kept
6. Strawberry Cinnamon Rolls - If you like strawberries and you like cinnamon, you'll probably like this tasty mash-up of the two! Make everything the night before for an easy special-morning breakfast that you just have to pop into the oven to bake when you get up!
7. Strawberry Snack Pockets - Of course I had to try a strawberry version of my snack pockets and these were a sweet treat!
8. Strawberry Hummus - This was another savory strawberry recipe G and I were skeptical about, but we both agreed it was a refreshing take on hummus and would be great for a summer picnic or potluck dish!
9. Strawberry Shortcake Cookies - The flavor of strawberry shortcake in a bite-sized cookie? Yes, please! This fast and easy recipe is sure to satisfy your strawberry shortcake craving!
10. Strawberry Shortcake - A must-make recipe when it's strawberry season in your neck of the woods and a bit healthier take on a classic!
Also, this low‐sugar strawberry cheesecake recipe is to die for, so it deserved a post all its own!
Whew! Would you believe we STILL had strawberries left after all this? I was a bit strawberried-out by that point (and we felt we needed a break from all the sweets), so I just put the rest of the berries on a baking sheet in the freezer and then tossed them all into a bag for later... Do you think you'll try any of these recipes yourself? I'd love to hear about it - leave a comment or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.
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