Strawberries | I Can Cook That

Christmas Trifle

Each year, my mom makes a beautiful trifle for Christmas. I’m pretty sure at one point, she was only making one, but as the popularity of her trifle grew, she is now up to making 6+ for different holiday events, friends, and family. My sister and I grew up begrudgingly helping my mom make these trifles but we both have grown to love them and look forward to a bite of trifle every December.

A trifle is just a layered dessert that is usually made with cake pieces, cream, pudding, and fruit. My mom tops her with a beautiful design of fruit: kiwi, peaches and raspberries. I wanted to make some trifle to share with this blog but a normal trifle can serve a whole family, so I made a mini version! To prepare a regular trifle, the process is just the same.

I highlighted Driscoll’s Berries in my trifle. I absolutely love their raspberries and blackberries so I wanted to have a higher ratio of berries in my trifle than may normally be used. Driscoll’s also sells really beautiful Strawberries and Blueberries that I have used in many many of my previous posts. Berries always add such beautiful color and flavor to a dish!

Note: Driscoll’s sent me coupons for free berries to make this recipe; my opinions are my own.

Ingredients:

Egg custard mix
Chocolate pudding mix
Milk (to make the pudding/custard)
Pound cake
A very small amount of white rum (optional)
Berry jam, jelly, or preserves
Whipped topping
Canned sliced peaches, drained and rinsed
Kiwifruit, peeled and sliced
Fresh Driscoll’s raspberries and blackberries

Continue reading Christmas Trifle

Strawberry-Mint Sparkling Limeade

I have a confession. I honestly don’t get the brunch obsession with mimosas. Every time I order one, I end up drinking maybe half of it. It just doesn’t do it for me. I love the general idea of them though: sparkling wine with fruit juice. So I was really excited to find this drink recipe in Cooking Light. It sounds right up my alley!

Ingredients (makes 6 servings):

1 container of strawberries, sliced
1/2 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves
the juice of 4 limes
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 (750-milliliter) bottle sparkling wine, chilled

To make, place the strawberries, mint leaves, limes, water, and agave nectar in a blender.

Blend until smooth, about 1 minute.

Pour enough of the mixture into a glass to fill the glass half way.

Carefully fill with the sparkling wine and gently mix to combine.

Serve garnished with mint leaves and a whole strawberry, if desired.

So as you can see from my ingredients photo, you do not need to buy an expensive sparkling wine for this. I used a rose to give it a little extra flavor, but a normal white sparkling wine will do just fine.

This is one of the most refreshing drinks I’ve ever had! The lime and agave completely balance each other out, so it’s not to sweet or too sour.

The mint-strawberry-lime flavor can be tasted in every sip, it’s just perfect!

Note: you can substitute in 3 cups club soda for the wine if you’d like an alcohol-free version. I personally would add another maybe teaspoon of agave to account for the lack of sweetness in the club soda.

Berries and Cream in Vanilla Dessert Cups

Berries and Cream in Vanilla Dessert Cups is the perfect quick dessert for guests, or just to fulfill a sweet tooth in a pinch. I found the vanilla dessert cups in Whole Foods and immediately knew I was going to fill them with fresh berries and homemade whipped cream. This recipe for Berries and Cream in Vanilla Dessert Cups is easily adaptable to account for what is on sale or what looks freshest, any berry or fruit will do.

Ingredients:

4 vanilla dessert cups
1/2 pint blackberries
1/2 pint raspberries
2 strawberries, halved
1/2 cup whipping cream/heavy cream
The juice and zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon sugar

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Strawberry Banana Stuffed French Toast

It’s spring! And spring means (among other things) that strawberries are back in season. So what better way to use them than for a delicious weekend brunch? This Strawberry Banana Stuffed French Toast uses strawberries three ways: fresh, in a strawberry sauce, and for an extra touch of strawberry goodness, in a strawberry jam. And because I love bananas, I threw in a couple slices of that as well. I found the strawberry sauce recipe here and my French toast recipe is based off of this post.

Ingredients:

4 challah rolls

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup vanilla almond milk (unsweeted)

2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/4 cup sliced strawberries, divided

3 tablespoons honey

the juice and zest of one lemon

4 ounces low fat cream cheese

1 tablespoon strawberry jam

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 banana, sliced

1 tablespoon butter

Begin by slicing the challah rolls in half. In a large bowl, add the eggs, almond milk and 2 tablespoons sugar.

Add the roll halves and mix to coat.

Cover and refrigerate for one hour.

one hour later

Add 1 cup sliced strawberries, 3 tablespoons honey, and the lemon juice and zest to a bowl and mix to combine.

Allow to stand for 1 hour. (I actually ended up leaving both for over an hour. Whoops.)

one hour later

Combine the cream cheese, vanilla extract and strawberry jam.

Slice the rest of your strawberries and your banana.

Heat a saute pan over medium high heat and add 1 teaspoon butter. Add 1 set of challah rolls to the saute pan and cook for three minutes.

Flip and cook for three more minutes.

While waiting for the side to cook, add 1 tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture to one piece of roll.

Add slices of strawberry and banana.

When the bread is done cooking, assemble the pieces of bread. Add one to two tablespoons of the strawberry sauce and a few more slices of banana.

Repeat with remaining rolls. How good does that look?

The challah rolls were crispy while the cream cheese mixture was nice and creamy.

The strawberry sauce was tangy, just enough to complement the sweetness of the rest of the French toast.

And as usual, I am a big fan of the already portioned serving. It gives me a better chance of not being a piggy. 🙂

I loved this! I wish I could eat this every spring day. Except I think people would begin to judge me…

Strawberries with Chocolate Cream

Valentines Day has come early to I Can Cook That! Ok, not really. I made them for a party recently, but they would be perfect for a Valentines Day dessert, or with your coffee in the morning! I found this recipe on Taste of Home. After reading the reviews, a few people suggested adding some powdered sugar to sweeten up the chocolate cream. I love anything sweet, so I took their suggestion!

Ingredients:

1-1/2 ounces dark chocolate, grated, divided

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup whipped topping

2 containers of fresh strawberries, halved

I used dark chocolate bars from Trader Joe’s. They come in 1.75 oz little bars so I used two of those 1.75 oz bars. Take the first bar and melt over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

In a small bowl, add the cream cheese, vanilla, powdered sugar and whipped topping. Beat with a hand mixer until smooth.

Add the melted chocolate and beat until combined. Add the mixture to a plastic zip lock bag.

Cut off the lower corner and pipe onto the strawberries, with the cut side up.

Using a grater, grate the remaining chocolate over the strawberries.

These are really simple, and really tasty too!

I think the addition of the powdered sugar was a good idea. Fresh strawberries can be a bit tart, so it was nice to add some extra sweetness within the chocolate cream.

The cream cheese adds a nice smoothness to the chocolate cream. They are so pretty too, aren’t they?

You can make these ahead of time and then pop them in the refrigerator until needed.

Lemon Pound Cake with Mint Berries and Cream

I thought I’d step away from cookies and cupcakes for the moment to make… pound cake. I don’t know why I am on such a baking kick, but at least I have the chance to try a bunch of different new recipes! I found this recipe through MyRecipes.com, originally from Southern Living. The recipe sounded absolutely fantastic so I stuck to it for the most part, but I added blueberries because, well, I like blueberries!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup loosely packed mint leaves
3/4 cup butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar, divided
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups whipping cream, divided
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 (12-ounce) jar lemon curd
1 quart fresh strawberries, sliced
1 pint fresh blueberries