Strawberries are available year-round but are at their peak from April to June (and at great prices.) When choosing strawberries, choose plump, uniform in size, and brightly colored ones. And don’t wash them till you’re ready to use. The baby blue salad with balsamic vinaigrette and pecans is one of my favorites and the vinaigrette is so good, once you make it, you’ll be making it all the time!
If you have leftover strawberries but won’t get around to using them before they go bad, toss them in the freezer. You can easily add frozen berries to protein shakes or milkshakes.
DOUBLE-BERRY MILK SHAKE –
Prep: 5 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
- 1 pint fresh strawberry halves, frozen
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 pint strawberry ice cream
Garnishes: whipped cream, fresh strawberries
Directions:
Process frozen berries, milk, sugar and vanilla extract in a blender until smooth. Add ice cream; process until blended. Garnish if desired.
Baking is not my forte but this strawberry custard pie is so easy, even I can do it. You can of course make your own pie shell but I just bought mine. Take a tip from me and let the lemon juice mixture cool before you put it in the pastry shell and don’t put too much filling in the pie because it will ooze out and make a mess! Be patient when thickening and make sure it does for best results. If your filling isn’t cool and you do add too much…..this is what happens……
STRAWBERRY CUSTARD PIE –
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Chill: 4 hours
Makes 1 9-inch pie
Ingredients:
- 1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
- 7 tablespoons cornstarch, divided
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups milk
- 2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 baked 9-inch pastry shell
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon liquid red food coloring
- 6 cups fresh strawberries, halved
- Garnishes: whipped cream and fresh strawberries
Directions:
Combine 2/3 cup sugar, 4 tablespoons cornstarch, and salt in a saucepan; stir in milk. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
Cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute.
Whisk milk mixture gradually into egg yolks until blended. Return mixture to saucepan.
Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, 1 minute or until thickened. Remove from heat.
Stir in butter and vanilla. Spoon hot filling into pastry shell.
Stir together remaining 2/3 cups sugar, remaining 3 tablespoons cornstarch, and 2 tablespoons water.
Bring remaining water to a boil in a medium saucepan.
Whisk in sugar mixture; cook, whisking constantly, 2 to 3 minutes or until thickened and clear. Remove from heat.
Stir in lemon juice and food coloring; cool. Fold strawberries into syrup mixture. Spoon over custard mixture; chill 4 hours. Garnish if desired.
This salad is one of my all-time favorites! Perfect for a family dinner, ladies luncheon or wedding shower. It’s fresh, the flavors are incredibly good and it just looks pretty. And like I said earlier, the balsamic vinaigrette is fabulous!!
BABY BLUE SALAD –
Prep: 10 minutes
Serves: 6
Ingredients:
- 3/4 pound mixed salad greens
- Balsamic Vinaigrette
- 4 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
- 2 oranges, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 pint fresh strawberries, quartered
- Sweet-and-Spicy Pecans
Directions:
Toss greens with Balsamic Vinaigrette and blue cheese. Place on 6 plates. Sprinkle with berries; top with Sweet-and-Spicy Pecans.
BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE –
Prep: 5 minutes
Makes: 1 2/3 cups
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
- 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 small shallots, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup olive oil
Directions:
Whisk together first 7 ingredients until blended. Gradually whisk in olive oil.
SWEET-AND-SPICY PECANS –
Prep: 5 minutes
Bake: 10 minutes
Makes: 1 cup
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 cup pecan halves
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
Directions:
Stir together 1/4 cup sugar and warm water until sugar dissolves. Add pecans; soak 10 minutes. Drain, discarding syrup.
Combine 2 tablespoons sugar, chili powder, and pepper. Add pecans, tossing to coat. Place pecans on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, stirring once.