Fruit On Tuesday ~ Week 1 {Strawberry Shortcake}

Today, I am beginning my new summer recipe series Fruit On Tuesday! 

My first recipe series was born after a post-holiday meltdown. After I pulled myself together that frenzied Tuesday afternoon, restoring a bit of order to my home and making a tried-and-true soup for dinner, I hatched a plan to make soup for dinner--a different soup for dinner--every Tuesday that winter, and share the recipes with you. Thus began Soup On Tuesday.

Last summer, we had Salad On Tuesday. (And you can bet I'll be pulling out some of those recipes again this summer too!)  

This past winter, I made Bread On Tuesday.  Nothing like the aroma and taste of hot-from-the-oven bread.

In this Fruit On Tuesday series, I am going to challenge myself to use fruits in creative ways. Again I'll be sharing some old favorites as well as some brand new (to me) recipes. We'll be  using fruit to make everything from pie to salad, from sauce to salsa, from cake to chutney.  

Today's recipe is of the tried-and-true variety. We were blessed with oodles of strawberries in our garden this year! Strawberry shortcake is just one of the ways we used some of our bounty.  

My shortcake is not really cake-y. There is no shortening (is it really "shortcake" then?) and no eggs. It is more like a slightly sweetened, buttery biscuit, and I make them in individual portions.  

Makes 8. Ingredients: 2 to 3 cups capped, sliced, and slightly sugared  (1/4 cup?) strawberries   ~ 2 cups all purpose flour  1/4 cup sugar 4 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar 1/2 teaspoon salt  1 stick butter 2/3 cup milk or half-and-half ~ 1 cup heavy cream 1 tablespoon confectioner's sugar Directions: Cap and slice strawberries.   Sprinkle a little sugar over them and stir.  Set aside while you prepare the shortcakes.   Preheat oven to 450° F.      For shortcakes, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt in medium bowl; mix well.   Cut cold butter into dry ingredients until mixture is crumbly.   Add milk; stir quickly with fork just until dough begins to hold together.  Turn onto floured surface, knead several times, and roll  to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut out 8 rounds with a large cutter (I use a drinking glass) and place on ungreased baking sheet.  Bake for 9 minutes. Meanwhile, whip heavy cream and confectioner's sugar together until stiff peaks form.   Slice warm shortcake in half.  Fill with berries and sweetened whipped cream.

Do you eat more fresh fruit during the summer months?  Do you find ways to use in-season fruits in your cooking?


(Links to all posts in Fruit on Tuesday can be found ~here~.)

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Linking to Finished Friday at All Our Days.

Sunday Snapshots: And Summer Begins

This weekend, we turned the calendar page over to June, hosted a baby shower, and had our first homemade ice cream party of the year.  That means it is officially summer in our world.  

~ ~ ~

Ice cream is served.  

One tub of chocolate, one of vanilla.  Choose your own toppings.

Bekah chose the perfect jewelry for the occasion!

The children always eat their ice cream on the trampoline!  

This little sweetheart was coming back for seconds.  (Her dress bears the evidence of the first bowl.)

We had hoped to enjoy the shade of the new umbrella this afternoon.  But the warm gusts toppled it a time or two, so it was folded down.  

Oh well, these girls knew what to do...pretend to be flowers with umbrella-petals! Gavin came along to join them, mistakenly assuming that they were just cranking the umbrella up and down. "You want to be a flower too?," ask the girls.  Nope.  He did not.  The end of that.   (Do you know any 10-year-old boys who would stoop to being a flower?)

We had some extra guests at our ice cream party this afternoon.  I am not referring to Ron's mom or his sister or his brother or their spouses.  

Pinky came outside and walked in and among us for a while, then settled down in the shade of the chairs.  Moses was on the back porch, keeping his eye on us from a safer distance.  Then a few guests of the insect variety joined the festivities...a Pennsylvania leather-wing and a lady bug.  

I wonder if you can judge the success of the party by the condition of the children's feet?  

If so, then our party was a rousing success!  

May

May was Maine and many miles and meals and meetings and memories.

May was strawberries and sweeties and spring blooms and simple pleasures.

May was spending time with every one of our 8 grandchildren.

And that's why May was a very special month.

Peter and the Lobster

On one evening of our visit, Ryan and Sarah treated us to a mouth watering Maine feast...the most delicious clam chowder, steamed lobsters, rolls, and corn-on-the-cob, with blueberry shortcake for dessert!  Oh my!

When the guys brought the bag of lobsters home, each was in its own bag and individually wrapped in newspaper.  Kati's curiosity got the best of her, and she decided to unwrap one and take a peek.  As soon as she started, all of the children gathered around.

(All of the children's expressions are priceless, but you must be sure to note Peter as you look through this series of pictures!) 

Peter is going...

...going...

...gone!

But wait...

...he's back for another peek!  :)

You eat that?

Need I tell you that Peter did NOT eat lobster?

Also overheard...
Nora (4):  I licked lobster one time, but I didn't care for it.

Good times in Maine!  

(Want to have a look at Kati's "Vacation Scrapbook"?)

The Hidden Art of Homemaking {Chapter 6: Gardens and Gardening}

What?  Chapter 6 already?

I have to confess that vacation waylaid me.  Not only the getting ready to go and the nine days away, but also coming home to a busy week.  And then trying to post all about our adventures. 

So...I am a post behind in the Hidden Art of Homemaking book club.  Although I have not yet written about Chapter 5 (I may do it later; I may not get back...), I am going to forge on ahead into Chapter 6.

 Chapter 6: Gardens and Gardening

I have never had a green thumb—not leafy green or grass green or even the palest shade of celadon. I am the "kiss of death" to houseplants. I forget to water the geraniums in my window boxes. And gardening? Well, consider my loathe of heat and snakes, and you might guess that I am a very reluctant gardener.  (And a wimp, you say?  Okay, that too.)

(As an aside...my father has a very green thumb. For years when I was growing up, he had a wonderfully diverse arrangement of plants in front of our dining room window—everything from several varieties of cacti to a miniature orange tree! And our yard...well, let's just say that it was one of the beautiful spots in our neighborhood.) 

But The Hidden Art of Homemaking is about inspiring creative ideas in the realm of the home.  In the first chapter, Mrs. Schaeffer acknowledges that we must make choices regarding our expression of creativity, as we humans are bound by limits of both talent and time.  So I was prepared to say that gardening is "not my thing."

Then I began to read Chapter 6, and I read this...

...one does not need to have a degree, nor even a tremendous talent, to enjoy and bring enjoyment to others through the medium of gardening.

Again, I am off the hook!  I don't have to have talent (or a green thumb?) to do some small thing to "enjoy" or "bring enjoyment to others" through gardening. 

And then I thought of the few realms of gardening in which I have found delight.

One is my herb garden.  

I love that herbs make such few demands.  They are friendly and forgiving...and quite useful!  I will often step outside my back door with a pair of shears and snip something green and fragrant to add to what I'm cooking...chives for the scrambled eggs, basil for tomato sauce or Caprese salad, rosemary for roasted potatoes or chicken, parsley for the soup, cilantro for the salsa.

The small area of gardening that I enjoy is the planting of annuals.

I say "small" because we have scaled down to a more manageable level in recent years.  With my not-green thumb and my scatterbrained ways, I need a limited number of things to water during the summer heat.  But in the spring...oh my...I can get excited about lovely pops of color on the patio or on the porches!  I also enjoy that it is a family affair.

It was a little chilly on planting day!  :)

This gorgeous pot is a gift from my green-thumbed parents.  Thank you, Daddy and Mom!

At that, I am off to pick the strawberries from the garden before the day gets any hotter...

If you're interested in this book discussion, you may read along as I usually do 

(click ~here~ for all the posts in the discussion), 

or join in the discussion yourself!

(Click ~here~ for details on how to participate.)

Sunday Snapshots: Strawberries and Pictures

Recipe

The theme this Sunday: STRAWBERRIES!

The girls and I picked oodles of strawberries from our garden this week, and I suppose we had strawberries on the brain.  

I put out the strawberry hand soap on the bathroom sink.

I made a spinach/strawberry salad to accompany our grilled burgers and hot dogs.  (Here it is sans the blue cheese, pecans, and raspberry vinaigrette.)

Kristin brought some chunks of fresh pineapple, and we added some strawberries, of course.

Kati made two strawberry pies yesterday.  One was for dessert this afternoon.  The other was to take to Ron's mom's house when we visited this evening.  Yum!

The other theme of the day: Pictures!

Kristin and Brian were subjected to all 1033 of our vacation pictures.  We spent so much time looking at pictures and telling our stories, that I didn't even take any pictures of the dear people in our house today.  I will have to record the moments in my mind instead...from the moment they all came in the back door for the first time in three weeks, to Alaine's sweet smile and enthusiastic wave as their van left our driveway.