Strawberry bread

The strawberries in Los Angeles used to be so fresh and yummy...living there virtually right by the strawberry farms about 40 miles away was great. We would great the freshest strawberries and they wouldn't rot as quickly. You would get enough time to enjoy a pint of berries.

But here in the South East, we are far from the strawberry fields and the freshest looking strawberries in the super market have barely any time before they rot.

Anyway...long story short I got a pint of strawberries from the super market and by the third day they started getting spoiled. So I have to use the left over 1/2 pint (and did I mention they cost 3 times of how much they costed in Los Angeles!!!) in a hurry. So I made this yummy strawberry bread. Its great...we had it for breakfast :) and the kids loved it

Strawberry Bread

Strawberry bread

Loaf of Strawberry bread

Ingredients:

1. 1.5 to 2 cups strawberries quartered
2. 2 cups all purpose flour
3. 3 oz cream cheese (softened)
4. 1/2 cup each of butter (softened), milk
5. 2 eggs
6. 1 cup sugar
7. 2 teaspoons baking powder
8. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
9. 1/2 teaspoon each of baking soda, salt

Cream together the cream cheese, butter sugar and vanilla. Add 1 egg at a time and continue to bead until the mixture becomes fluffy. Add milk to it and beat some more.

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift the flour with salt, baking powder and baking soda. 

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix together. Gently fold the strawberry pieces into the batter.

Grease a 9x5 loaf pan and add the batter. Bake for 50-60 minutes until a tooth pick comes out clean.

Let cool a bit and if desired serve with whipped cream

Waffles with Strawberry syrup

Sunday is always a special day. Either you spend the whole day lazying around home and go out and have fun. Whatever it may be, its a day to eat something special.
            Summer is finally here this year and this is one season I really love and really hate. I love it because of all the nature's bounty that is available and the days are so long and nice. You have more time to do things. And I hate it, because somedays become way too hot and you can't go out and sit inside with the AC on. Which makes my skin really dry and itchy. Anyway, I guess everthing has its own +ves and -ves.
           My daughter loooooooooves strawberries and I got a big box the other day and then she didn't want to eat them. KIDS!!! So that box was sitting there and the berries rotting. So I decided to make my own strawberry syrup for waffles and pancakes and icecream and shortcake and pastry and cheesecake and any other million things you can think of. I love this home made one because its low in sugar and its fresh

Strawberry Topping (Strawberries cooked in sugar)

Strawberry syrup

Ingredients:

1. 1 12 oz box of strawberries, washed and the top cut and sliced into 3-4 pieces each
2. 1/3-1/2 cup sugar
3. 1/4 cup water

How to wash strawberry: Take a bowl fill it with water. Add the strawberries to it (don't cut the tops yet) and give them a swirl for about a minute. Set the bowl aside for 5 minutes. Drain the strawberries and enjoy

After you have washed the strawberries slice them and add to a pot. add the water and sugar and stir to combine. Bring to a boil and simmer on low heat for 5 minutes. Refrigerate the syrup and enjoy on waffles, pancakes, ice cream etc

                I served with waffles made according to the directions on the box using Aunt Jemima pancake mix. And I served them topped with Whipped cream

Waffles with strawberries and cream