Strawberries All the Way



Stawberry Preserves Cooking on the Stovetop



I made another batch of my most favorite berry preserves.  It is quick and easy to do on the stove top and this recipe does not need any boxed pectin.

Just Enough Strawberry Preserves

1 pound fresh strawberries

2 1/2 cups white sugar

1 Tablespoon white vinegar

less than a pinch of salt

Hull, then slice or chop the strawberries.  In a saucepot, combine the strawberries, sugar, vinegar, and salt.  Bring to a rolling boil and cook, stirring frequently for 15 - 20 minutes.  Cool and refrigerate.  Keeps 1 week in the refrigerator, if it lasts that long!  I like to spread it on one side of a bagel and put cream cheese on the other, then sandwich it together for a breakfast treat.  It is also delicious when served over vanilla ice cream.

I worked on making a set of freezer jams too. That recipe is just about as easy as this, but I don't know if it set up as well.  It seemed a little thin when I poured it into the freezer jars. 

 

All Things Strawberry

Personalize a photo album

I have wonderful goodies to share with you today. Here are some items that I received in the strawberry swap.



Look at the DARLING pillow created especially for me by Michele of MamaBug's Musings.

Update: This crafty trim does unpin from the pillow and it does double duty as a pin for a sweater, hat, or in this case my purse! Thank you Michele.

I really love how she embellished it in the center with the loose and layered flower petals.

There were many fine items in the package. I love the fact that Michele included vintage items like a cute juice glass with red green and white painted strawberries. The tall mug will be great for my coffee and tea that I like to drink everyday!

The pillow looks right at home in my kitchen sitting on a fruity chair that I painted a while ago.

Delicious Strawberries and the Strawberry Swap

I've been collecting some things Pixie Dust's upcoming strawberry swap. But I can't show them yet. I have been matched up with a very nice blogger in a North Eastern state. I've been busy stalking her blog and trying to understand what she may like! I already picked out a few strawberry items and have a few things set aside for a project which I will reveal later. Perhaps she may like some recipes that call for strawberries.

This photo is just a shot I took this afternoon after my trip to the Food CoOp. The berries are freshly picked from the area. They are the juiciest and sweetest I've had in a long time.

Now, to decide what I need to make with these... I've been thinking of either a frozen ice cream style torte, or some meringues with a strawberry sauce.

More Signs of Spring

I have seen some signs of spring today in my yard! On the way into the house today this is the first day that my crocuses have bloomed.

I took some more views of the strawberries I started making over the weekend.

Strawberry Fun

Today to celebrate National Quilting Day my friend and I got together to make emery filled strawberries. It was super fun!

Here's a little photo essay on the steps:

I had done a little research on the Internet about how to make cute strawberries filled with the metal emery, so we basically followed the steps I found on several different websites. However after making just the first one, we developed some of our own modifications. I hope to make another post soon to tell more about our excellent learning experience.