Swimming in Strawberries

Right about now I'm wondering if I'm up for another round with the berries. I've safely processed, prepared or consumed the entire 18 quarts our family picked on Canada Day. I absolutely adore strawberries, and nothing can compare to the taste of a freshly picked, sun-warmed berry; however, any sort of serious berry picking effort means a large commitment in the days afterwards since berries will only last a couple of days in the fridge. We may go back and pick another 24 quarts if we can squeeze it in by the end of the week. Our local farm offers a deal that if you pick six 6 quart baskets over the course of the picking season, you get the seventh free, and the frugal part of me doesn't want to miss out on getting $10 worth of free berries!

Here are some of my favourite ways to enjoy one of the great tastes of summer:

Jam - I made 3 batches this year. Once you have some experience, you can whip up a batch in about an hour. I use the standard Certo recipe; for some reason everyone tells me my jam is fabulous and wants to know my "secret". I just follow the directions, LOL!

Muffins - Strawberries are a great substitute for rhubarb in these muffins! If you are lucky enough to have both strawberries and rhubarb handy, use half and half for a scrumptious strawberry-rhubarb muffin.

Spinach-Strawberry Salad - always a hit for a potluck dinner

Strawberry Shortcake - I bake the old-fashioned kind, in one large pan, rather than individual biscuits. I prefer to add very little sugar to the strawberries themselves - just a sprinkle to draw out the natural juices.

Once I've got the jam all safely tucked away, and we've all eaten our fill of fresh berries, I freeze the rest on cookie sheets overnight, then transfer them to plastic freezer bags for long-term storage. Frozen berries are perfect for a fresh-tasting smoothie all winter long!

A Quick Picnic

Summer is picnic season and we had our first family picnic last night (at It's Your Festival, a weekend-long Canada Day celebration).

Many of our picnics are spur-of-the-moment affairs, so I like to be able to pull some inexpensive yet tasty treats on short notice.

Here's what was in our cooler yesterday:

Lime and Garlic Chicken

Potato Salad with Bacon and Garlic Scapes (recipe below)

Tossed Green Salad (veggies from our CSA share)

We didn't pack any dessert, since we planned to enjoy our traditional festival chocolate-soft-serve cones. Otherwise, I would have packed some quick homemade bars or cookies. I'm planning to try these Lemon-Cornmeal Cookies from Cooking Light magazine soon; Gingersnaps are another picnic-perfect family favourite (no chocolate chips to melt all over the place on a hot day!)

We usually bring a family-sized thermos jug of lemonade along, but yesterday we just had ice water as the kids had already polished off our lemonade (which reminds me, I need to stock up on lemonade again when it's on sale).

Potato Salad with Bacon and Garlic Scapes
I decided to toss the garlic scapes from this week's CSA share into my potato salad, with delicious results. You could substitute fresh green beans for a similar texture and flavour.
[Sorry no photo - still no digital camera!]

Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 6 as a side dish

Ingredients:
6-8 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2" chunks
1 medium onion, chopped
4 strips regular or turkey bacon
1 bunch garlic scapes, chopped into 1" pieces
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 green onions, sliced
3/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp honey mustard
1/4 tsp each salt and pepper

Preparation:

1. Cook potatoes and onion together in boiling water until potatoes are tender. Drain potatoes; refill pot with cold water and set aside to let potatoes cool.

2. While potatoes are cooking, cook bacon until crisp; cool and crumble.

3. In same pan used to cook bacon, saute garlic scapes in olive oil until tender-crisp (if you used regular bacon, you may have enough bacon drippings to skip the olive oil).

4. In large mixing bowl, combine bacon, garlic scapes, garlic, green onions, mayonnaise, mustard, salt and pepper.

5. Drain potatoes thoroughly and add to dressing mixture; stir well to combine. Serve warm or chilled.

RECIPE: Hummus & Veggie Wraps

These wraps appear regularly on our warm-weather menus. They are much heartier tasting than you might expect. My favourite vegetable combination is included in the recipe, but you can use any seasonal veggies you have on hand. A hearty tossed salad rounds out this meal very nicely!

Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
19 oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 cloves garlic, rough chopped
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp salt
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced (optional)
2-4 tbsp olive oil

1 medium sized zucchini, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced into thin strips
1 onion, sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Four 10" flour tortillas (we like whole wheat)

Preparation:

1. In food processor, combine chickpeas, garlic, peanut butter, cumin, lemon juice and parsley. Process until mixture is semi-smooth. With food processor running, slowly drizzle in olive oil until hummus is desired consistency.

2. In medium frying pan, saute vegetables in olive oil until tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

3. While vegetables are cooking, warm flour tortillas in oven or microwave.

To assemble:
For each wrap, spread 1/3 - 1/2 cup hummus on flour tortilla, then top with sauteed vegetables. Fold in ends and roll together tightly. Slice in half and serve.

Farm Share Friday #3

This week's share of the harvest included asparagus, zucchini, mushrooms, spinach, lettuce, salad mix, radishes and potatoes.

We had quite the early summer feast for dinner last night:

Turkey Burgers
Baked Potatoes
Sauteed *mushrooms and onions
Moroccan-Inspired *Carrot and *Parsnip Salad (recipe below)

*from our CSA share

Local strawberries with vanilla ice cream
(I was dismayed to see that the local strawberries were priced $1.00 higher than the U.S. imports!! Please buy them anyway!)

I will use the spinach to making more Lemony Chicken and Spinach Pasta - for which my husband will thank me profusely! I think the zucchini may become zucchini bread - or possibly chocolate zucchini cake, depending on how ambitious I feel on the weekend.

Moroccan-Inspired Carrot and Parsnip Salad
This is mildly spiced - if you like it hot, add more paprika and cumin. I used green onions in this dish because I still had plenty on hand from last week's CSA share, but you could use 1/4 of chopped fresh parsley instead.

Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4-6 as a side dish

5 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into coins
2 parsnips, peeled and sliced into coins
3 green onions (scallions), chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp orange juice
1-2 cloves garlic
1 tsp honey mustard
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp each salt and pepper

Preparation:

1. Cook carrots and parsnips in boiling water until carrots are tender-crisp (don't overcook the carrots - they should still have a bit of "crunch" to them; the parsnips will be a bit softer). Drain.

2. While carrots and parsnips are cooking, combine remaining ingredients. Pour dressing over cooked vegetables and mix well.

3. Chill before serving (tastes best if refrigerated overnight to allow flavours to blend).

RECIPE: Freeform Supper Salad

We had this for dinner last night. This is the perfect summer meal for times when you want to pull together a quick dish that's cool and refreshing (yet still satisfying). There are endless variations on this - use whatever you have on hand!

Time: 20 minutes (quicker if you're using leftover meat)
Serves: variable

Lime and garlic chicken, sliced (or use any cubed/sliced leftover meat)
Salad greens (lettuce, spinach, salad mix)
chopped/sliced vegetables (cucumbers, sweet peppers, carrots, broccoli, etc)
crumbled bacon (about 1 slice per person)
cubed cheese
parmesan cheese
salad dressing of choice

For each serving, arrange salad greens on plate. Sprinkle chopped vegetables, bacon, and cheese cubes over greens. Arrange chicken slices on top. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Drizzle with dressing of choice.

Cooking to Beat the Summer Heat!

An early heat wave has me shifted right into summer cooking mode (40-degrees-Celsius-with-the-Humidex will do that!)

We cook and eat much differently in the hot summer months than we do the rest of the year, for a few reasons:
-we plan our meals based on locally available produce like our CSA share
-we generally prefer to eat much "lighter" meals in warm weather
-we're too busy enjoying the great weather to come inside and cook
-we desperately want to avoid heating up the kitchen!

The result of all of the above is that we don't eat as many cooked/hot foods as we do the rest of the year. Obviously, barbecuing is a favourite summer cooking method, but tossing steaks (or even burgers) on the BBQ a few nights a week can increase your food bill in a hurry!

My basic strategy is to keep a variety of different salads on hand in the refrigerator, which when served together with a small portion of meat from the BBQ and some homemade bread, will make a satisfying summer meal.

I try to keep the fridge stocked with at least one of each of the following:

-starchy salad (potato, pasta, or rice based)
-green salad (self explanatory I hope!)
-high protein salad (bean, tuna, tofu, egg - although no one likes egg salad around here!)

Many salads fall into more than one category - pasta salad with a peanut sauce dressing or bean and rice salad are both high protein and starchy. There are no hard and fast rules (of course - you know I have no rules, right?) but thinking in these terms helps keep a balanced variety of salads on hand so that it's easy to create a quick meal with a variety of textures and flavours.

Since most of these foods are served cold, it also allows me to do the food preparation during the cooler parts of the day (early morning or late evening) and avoid cooking during the intense afternoon heat.

This basic strategy has worked very well for our family for several years. I will be sharing all my favourite summer salad recipes over the next few weeks!