Enough about me.. let's talk food! One great thing about being done with classes is having more time to cook and experiment with new foods. And what better time than right now when the seasons are changing and copious amounts of gorgeous, fresh fruits and vegetables are available at the farmers' markets?! Strawberries, in particular, are booming right now and I couldn't be happier! Not only are strawberries so sweet and succulent (who doesn't LOVE strawberries??), but they are also packed with tons of health-promoting nutrients. Buy them from your local farmers' market while they are still in season to taste the deliciousness of freshly picked, local berries. Yum! Below are two very season-appropriate recipes using strawberries that I think you'll love!
RED WINE SANGRIA WITH STRAWBERRIES, APPLES, AND ORANGES
What better way to celebrate Memorial Day than to make a fresh batch of sangria to cool you down after a hot day or to wash down all those grill foods? Sangria is one of my favorite drinks, especially during this time of year, and I love how forgiving, flexible and delicious this recipe is. Just use what you have and adjust the tastes to your liking! I personally don't like my sangria too sweet (most recipes call for some kind of fruit juice or sprite), so I just use a splash of triple sec to sweeten it up and add club soda for that extra spritz. You can also make it a few hours ahead of time and keep it chilled to let all the fruit soak into the wine for even more flavor.
Ingredients:
Red or white wine
Few splashes of brandy
Few splashes of triple sec
Club soda to make it spritzy
Chopped fruit: Apples, oranges, and strawberries!
Directions:
1. Mix all ingredients in a large punch bowl or pitcher.
2. Pour over a glass of ice and enjoy! Eating the wine-soaked fruit out of the glass is my favorite part!
STRAWBERRY RHUBARB APPLESAUCE
This is another one of my favorite recipes to make once strawberries and rhubarb hit the farmers' market. The strawberries add great sweetness and flavor to the applesauce, while the rhubarb adds just a bit of tartness.. it's a really yummy combination. Rhubarb is a really fun, unique plant that grows in stalks and almost looks like pink celery. It's traditionally used in pies and other sweet desserts because of it's great tangy and tart flavor. You just chop it the stalks into thin pieces and add it to the pot.
You can refer to my recipe for plain applesauce here. This one is pretty much the same but with strawberries and rhubarb added. Again, the proportions are totally up to you; you really can't go wrong with making applesauce.. it's all just about how you like it! Just chop up all the ingredients, throw them in a pot with some citrus (lemon or orange juice), cook until soft and mushy, then blend. I like to leave the skins on the apples for extra texture and nutrients, but you can choose to peel the apples beforehand if you'd like. And depending on how chunky you like you applesauce, you can decide how much to blend. Also feel free to experiment with adding spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, etc), different kinds of citrus (lemon, orange, etc), and different kinds of sweetners (agave, honey, maple, etc). The possibilities are endless!
Throw everything in a pot and cook for about 20-30 min stirring every few minutes until it look something like this...
Then use an immersion blender or processor to blend the applesauce to your desired consistency.
Serve warm or refrigerate and serve cold. Great snack by itself or with yogurt. Enjoy!
