National Strawberry Day is February 27th, right before the end of the month. It’s been a while since we last suggested a delicious selection of recipes for our residents to try, so we thought we’d make the most of this National Strawberry Day with a few recipes, representing the best of both sweet and savory strawberry usage.
Strawberry Lemonade Smoothie
The essence of a strawberry lemonade smoothie is taking an already refreshing drink, and making it even more refreshing (and much more filling!) by turning it into a smoothie. This is a great accompaniment to brunch, a light morning breakfast, or a snack!
Ingredients:
-2 cups of lemonade
-2 cups of frozen strawberries, still frozen! Do not defrost or thaw.
-¾ cup of lemon yogurt
-½ teaspoon of vanilla extract
Directions:
Simply place all your ingredients in a blender together, and then cover it and blend for 15 seconds or until smoothly blended. Then you can serve, and drink! It’s a fairly simple recipe.
Spinach Strawberry Salad
This is a light, spring-style salad that showcases the savory potential of putting strawberries with the right other ingredients. It’s delicious, healthy, and works well with the food we crave when spring finally starts to wake up around us.
Ingredients:
-10 ounces of fresh baby spinach
-1 quart of strawberries, hulled and quartered
-¾ cup of crumbled feta cheese, you can either buy this block-style and crumble it or purchase it pre-crumbled
-¾ cup of raw pecans
-½ of a small red onion, thinly sliced
-A light dressing of your choice
Directions:
First, toast your raw pecans. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and spread the pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake your pecans in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, until the middle of the pecans are tan when you cut or break them in half. Keep a close eye on the oven while you do this: nuts often burn in the last few minutes! When your pecans are toasted, move them to a cutting board and roughly chop them.
Put your sliced onion into a bowl and cover it with cold water, letting it sit while you prepare the other aspects of the salad.
Time to put the salad together! First, put all your spinach in a big serving bowl, and add your hulled and quartered strawberries. If you want to have your salad dressed all throughout, now is a good time to add some of the dressing and toss it to coat the leaves; we suggest a light dressing, such as balsamic, poppy seed dressing, or a basic vinaigrette.
Add your feta and pecans to the other ingredients in the serving bowl, and toss the salad lightly to combine all the ingredients together. Serve right away, with dressing in the salad or on the side if desired!
Strawberry and Cream Crepes
Last, we wanted to bring up a recipe that makes use of the delicious natural sweetness of strawberries, combining them with some of the flavors that compliment it best!
Ingredients:
For the crepes:
-2 cups of all-purpose flour
-1 cup of milk
-1 cup of water
-4 large brown eggs
-2 tablespoons of melted butter
-¼ teaspoon of salt
For the filling:
-4 cups of sliced fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
-1 cup of heavy whipping cream, whipped
-8 ounces of softened cream cheese
-1 ¼ cups of confectioner’s sugar
-1 tablespoon of lemon juice
Directions:
First, whisk your eggs, milk, water, and butter together in a large bowl. In another bowl, mix your flower and salt together, and then add that resulting mixture to the bowl with the wet ingredients and mix them together well. Cover the bowl, and refrigerate it for one hour.
For your filling, beat together the cream cheese, confectioner’s sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla in a small bowl, until smooth and well combined. Fold in about two cups of your strawberries and the whipped cream.
When your batter has cooled for an hour, stir it, and then heat a lightly greased nonstick skillet over medium heat. Fill a ¼ measuring cup halfway with the batter, and pour the batter into the center of your skillet. Lift and tilt the skillet to coat the bottom evenly with batter, to make a thin, even crepe. Cook the crepe until the top looks dry, and then flip it over and cook until the bottom is also cooked, which should take 15-20 seconds. Remove the crepe, and repeat with the remaining batter, buttering or greasing pan as needed! When the crepes are finished and cool, stack them between paper towels.
Spoon about ⅓ of a cup of filling down the center of each crepe, and roll them up. Then, garnish your rolled crepes with the remaining berries, and additional confectioner’s sugar if desired. Then you can eat, or cover and refrigerate for later eating!
We hope you enjoy this sampling of some of the amazing recipes that have strawberries as the star, residents, and please let us know if you try any of them!
