Old Fashioned Strawberry Shortcake

Old Fashioned Strawberry Shortcake
8 servings
2 cups flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter, chilled
2/3 to 3/4 cup cream
1 quart strawberries
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups whipping cream

Rinse berries; drain well. Hull and slice the berries; place in a bowl. Sprinkle with sugar; cover and let stand for about 1 hour. Whip the cream until it holds a soft peak. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. In a food processor (you can use a pastry cutter or fingertips) combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar; mix. Cut butter into about 8 pieces and add to the mixture. Combine until mixture resembles coarse meal, but with a few pea-size chunks of butter left in the mixture. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and make a well in the center. With a fork stir in the cream, just until dough is moist. Be very careful not to overwork. The dough doesn't have to hold together well at this point. Let the dough stand for a minute. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough 2 or 3 times, until it is holding together and is less sticky. Gently pat the dough about 3/4-inch thick and cut into 8 (3-inch) biscuits with a floured round cutter. Transfer to a buttered foil-lined cookie sheet. Brush on a little cream and sprinkle tops with some sugar. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes at 425, until risen and golden brown. Split each biscuit horizontally. Butter the hot biscuits then top with about 1/3 cup of berry mixture. Replace the tops and top with more berries and whipped cream. Enjoy!

I had some leftover crushed strawberries from my jam making, but not enough for another batch. I just added some sugar to them and used them for the strawberries in this recipe.

Tip for making whip cream - keep everything cold! Chill your bowl and beaters in the freezer before starting. Start whipping as soon as you take the cream out of the fridge. Also, place your bowl in a large bowl of ice while whipping and use an aluminum bowl, instead of a glass or plastic one - it will hold the cold better.

Strawberry Freezer Jam

The fruits of my labor - haha! Pun intended. ;-)

Sure-Jell Strawberry Freezer Jam
makes 48 ounces

2 cups crushed fresh strawberries
4 cups sugar
1 (1.75 ounce) package dry pectin
¾ cup water

Mix crushed strawberries with sugar, and let stand for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, stir the pectin into the water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and boil for 1 minute. Stir the boiling water into the strawberries. Stir the berries and pectin until sugar has dissolved, about 3 minutes. Pour into glass jars to store in fridge or plastic jars for long term freezer storage. Place tops on the containers and leave on the counter for 24 hours to set up. Store in fridge for up to 3 weeks or in the freezer for up to a year.

I used two, 2 lb cartons of strawberries. After washing, hulling and crushing them, I had slightly less than 5 cups of crushed berries. I did two batches (you aren’t supposed to double the recipe or the jam might not set up right) and it made four 16 ounce jars and almost four 8 ounce jars.

Linked to Gooseberry Patch Recipe Roundup, Fun Summer Recipes.

Strawberry Moon

According to my Susan Branch calendar today is "Strawberry Moon" day. I have never heard of a strawberrry moon. I found out that -

"Full Moon names date back to Native Americans, of what is now the northern and eastern United States. The tribes kept track of the seasons by giving distinctive names to each recurring full Moon. Their names were applied to the entire month in which each occurred. There was some variation in the Moon names, but in general, the same ones were current throughout the Algonquin tribes from New England to Lake Superior. European settlers followed that custom and created some of their own names. Since the lunar month is only 29 days long on the average, the full Moon dates shift from year to year.

Full Strawberry Moon - June
This name was universal to every Algonquin tribe. However, in Europe they called it the Rose Moon. Because the relatively short season for harvesting strawberries comes each year during the month of June . . . the full Moon that occurs during that month was christened for the strawberry!"

~from www.thefarmersalmanac.com

Here are the traditional names given to each month's full moon from the "Farmer's Almanac" -

January Wolf Moon
February Snow Moon
March Worm Moon
April Pink Moon
May Flower Moon
June Strawberry Moon
July Buck Moon
August Sturgeon Moon
September Harvest Moon
October Hunter's Moon
November Beaver Moon
December Cold Moon

Sesame Ginger Chicken
4 servings

4 tablespoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
1 teaspoon ground ginger
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

Combine soy sauce, honey, sesame seeds and ginger in a shallow bowl. Dip chicken in sauce; covering both sides. Preheat broiler to 350°. Place chicken on broiler pan and broil 3 inches from heat for 20 minutes. Halfway through cooking time, turn chicken and coat with more sauce. Discard any remaining sauce. Serve with rice and chinese veggies. Enjoy!

To toast sesame seeds - place in sauce pan; cook and stir over medium heat until browned.

Supper Menus
June 17th-21st

Tuesday
sesame ginger chicken, rice, oriental stir fry veggies
Wednesday
chili dogs, home fries, baked beans, macaroni salad, strawberry shortcake
Thursday
homemade pizza, green salad, ice cream sundaes
Friday
chicken provolone, artichoke pasta, foccacia bread
Saturday
fajitas, spanish rice, pinto beans

Please visit Menu Plan Monday at www.orgjunkie.com for more menu plans. Also, please stop back by later in the week. I will be posting recipes and pictures as I prepare my menus. Happy cooking! :-)

Back from the beach...

sleepy children,
suntans,
sandy beach bags,
mountains of laundry,
my own bed!

It's good to be home. :-)

Happy Father's Day!

"My father used to play with
my brother and me in the yard.
Mother would come out and say,
'You're tearing up the grass.'
'We're not raising grass,'
Dad would reply.
'We're raising boys.'"

~Harmon Killebrew

illustration courtesy of www.allposters.com

"Fishing with Dad" by Ronald Lewis

At the Beach

"Why do we love the sea? It is because it has some potent power to make us think things we like to think."

~Robert Henri

Y'all have a great weekend!

Guess Who's Been to the Beauty Shop?

Miss Daisy!

"This is my new summer-time look!"

"Aren't I bea-u-tiful?!"

"Check out my mani-pedi!"

"My groomer said I was an angel! When do I go back Mommy?!"

"Flowers always make people better,
happier and more helpful;
they are sunshine, food
and medicine to the soul."

~ Luther Burbank

illustration courtsey of www.allposters.com
"Picking Summer Flowers"

No supper recipe this evening. On a busy night, you just can't beat a meal that takes 12 minutes from start to finish to prepare. ;-) Thank you Kroger frozen ravioli and frozen bread sticks!

Shortbread

Shortbread
2 dozen

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 ¼ cups flour

Cream butter. Gradually beat in sugar. Beat in flour a little at a time. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thickness. (I always roll out cookie dough on wax paper - easy clean up!) Cut in traditional shortbread rectangular pieces. You can use a pizza cutter for this - quick and easy. Use a fork to make traditional shortbread holes in each piece. Or you can cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 300° for 20 minutes. Enjoy!

Linked to Gooseberry Patch Recipe Roundup.

Perseverance

"Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves."

~Dale Carnegie

"I may not be there yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday."

~Author Unknown

"Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use."

~Earl Nightingale

"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Salsa Chicken

Salsa Chicken
4 servings

1 pound chicken tenders

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 green pepper, cut into strips

1/2 onion, cut into strips

1 cup salsa

Brown chicken, green pepper, and onion in oil. Stir in the salsa and bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, until chicken is cooked. Enjoy!

So quick, so easy and so good! This would be nice to make ahead and freeze for a busy evening. You could just heat it up and serve on flour tortillas when you don't have the time to fuss with fajitas.

Summer Beauty

~At Home Facial~

cleanse skin and remove all traces of makeup
apply toner and remove all traces of cleanser
exfoliate
rinse with warm water
apply facial mask
rinse with warm water
moisturize

"Cleopatra" Facial Mask

1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon milk
1 egg white

Combine ingredients and apply to face. Leave on at least 15 minutes - 30 minutes is ideal.

illustration courtesy of www.allposters.com
"A Summer Beauty, 1909" by Emile Vernon

Elegant Artichokes with Lemon Sauce

Elegant Artichokes with Lemon Sauce

4 servings

2 medium artichokes

1 medium lemon, sliced

1 garlic clove, minced

for sauce -

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 tablespoon spicy brown mustard

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Trim stems and cut 1 inch off the top of each artichoke. (I found it very hard to cut off the top, so I didn't.) Cut the tip end of each leaf with scissors. Rub artichokes with lemon (this prevents browning). In a large pot, combine artichokes, lemon slices, and garlic; cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 45-60 minutes or until tender. Drain and refrigerate for 1 hour. For sauce, whisk together oil, lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, garlic, salt and pepper.

To eat - pull leaves off and dip into lemon sauce (or melted butter). Pull the leaf through your teeth, scraping off the pulp. Cut the heart into chunks, and enjoy - it's the best part.

Tomato Rice Cups

Tomato Rice Cups

4 servings

4 medium tomatoes

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped onion

3 tablespoons butter, divided

1 1/2 cups cooked rice

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

2 teaspoons parsley

1 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

Cut a think slice off the top of each tomato. Scoop out pulp. Chop pulp and set aside. Sprinkle the insides of tomatoes with salt; invert onto paper towels to drain. Saute onion in 2 tablespoons butter until tender. Add reserved tomato pulp; cook until most of the liquid has evaporated. Remove from heat; sir in rice, cheese, parsley, basil and garlic salt. Stuff into tomato shells; dot with remaining butter. Place in baking dish. Bake uncovered, at 350° for 15-20 minutes. Enjoy!

I am participating in "The Simple Woman's Daybook" -
please visit The Simple Woman Blog to join in the fun!

~for today~

Monday, June 9th, 2008

Outside my window...

a little swimming pool is calling my name. :-)

I am thinking...

about going outside!

I am thankful for...

each new day.

From the kitchen...

we're having quesadillas for lunch.

I am creating...

a packing list.

I am going...

to the beach soon!

I am wearing...

a baby doll top, a denim skirt and flip flops.

I am reading...

the mail.

I am hoping...

to go to bed early tonight!

I am hearing...

the children chasing the dog.

Around the house...

I'm planning, organizing, cleaning, and playing.

One of my favorite things...

is iced tea with lemon in a big mason jar.

A few plans for the rest of the week...

finish up swimming lessons, do a little shopping.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing for you...

a rainbow from this weekend. :-)

" That it will never come again
Is what makes life so sweet. "

~Emily Dickinson

illustration courtesy of www.allposters.com
"Summer Morning" by Barbara Applegate