I have spent many a day up here in central PA at a local farmers' market. There are a lot of amazing choices close to me- my absolute favorite choice being the Lewisburg, PA market that is only open on Wednesdays. Even though it's a 30 minute drive from my house, it's definitely worth the drive. Plus hello gorgeous, scenic drives pretty much anywhere you go around here. The first time I went to the Lewisburg market, these beautiful strawberries caught my eye and I couldn't resist buying up a whole bunch of them, even though I didn't necessarily have a plan for what to do with them right away. Aside from just eating them as is, which is always a good idea. I sent this put this photo out on my IG and asked my lovely followers for their ideas- and I got some pretty awesome ideas! I absolutely love the foodie community that I have become a part of in the IG world and continue to be inspired by my followers and those I am following on a daily basis.
One of my followers suggested making a strawberry pizza, which I thought was a fabulous idea. And she even shared her recipe with me. This is an amazing dessert idea- with the crust being like a shortbread/sugar cookie, the sauce being a cool whip/cream cheese frosting, and then the toppings being sugar coated strawberries. There's something so classic about the flavors of a strawberry shortcake- and I never tire of them. You could replicate this in any fashion you choose- the size of this one was probably like a 10in diameter person pan pizza size, but you could make smaller sugar cookie ones, or even turn it into a sugar cookie bar type of thing. I'm a fan of not being restricted to a recipe and getting creative!
After making a sweet dessert type of pizza, it got me thinking about how I could make a savory dinner pizza using strawberries. I have learned over and over again that I absolutely love the combination of strawberries and goat cheese so I knew that I wanted to use this flavor combination for my pizza. I then added basil, parmesan cheese and a balsamic glaze on top to finish it off. The cheeses and strawberries were baked with the crust. The basil and glaze were added after just FYI. The flavor of the roasted strawberries was perfectly paired with the basil and balsamic glaze. My husband and I couldn't eat it fast enough! I have no used these same ingredients for bruschetta, salads, etc. Don't let the idea that strawberries are a fruit stop you from using them in savory dishes!
After using up all of my strawberries from the farmers' market, I got invited by a friend to go strawberry picking. I had never been strawberry picking, so I jumped at the chance. My son especially loved this outing and ate entire strawberries with the green leaves and everything! haha I couldn't keep up with him- he was loving it!
As I was picking the strawberries, I just knew that I wanted to make a strawberry cake. My grandmama had THE best strawberry cake and I used to always request it whenever I could. Unfortunately we misplaced her recipe and she has passed away so asking her about it isn't really an option. I was determined to make one similar to hers though, and fortunately pinterest didn't disappoint. I found a really great recipe here. It tasted similar to my grandmama's and I thought of her as I enjoyed it. I served this at a potluck dinner for my husband's coworkers and everyone loved it. It was super moist and the frosting was out of this world good. It was a fresh strawberry buttercream. One trick to make frosting the cake easier is to freeze the cake layers first so that they are stiff. Adding the fresh strawberries to this frosting makes it runnier than normal, so having your cake frozen makes it easier. And it defrosts very quickly, so you don't need to worry about serving frozen cake!
Strawberries are the perfect summer food- so I hope you have enjoyed reading about the recipes I have shared. Even though summer is almost over, it's not too late! Go to a farmer's market close to you soon!
