I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

Strawberry

Thirsty Thursday: Strawberry Daiquiri

Strawberry Daiquiri

I really love the heat of summer but this summer is kinda getting to me. Really, I hate to say that since summer is my favorite season. But this summer has been intense from chilly weeks of rain in June to the hot soupy humid weather now. But I’m gonna plan on blaming my distaste for this summer on The Bean. For example, I just feel extra gross and I can’t stay hydrated no mater how much water I drink (easily averaging 100+ ounces a day). Plus I can’t enjoy the fun drinks that are fantastic to sip on in the summer.

Case in point, the Strawberry Daiquiri!!! When we decided on our Frozen Drinks theme for our weekly Thirsty Thursday posts I thought of this since we enjoyed so many of them on our cruise last year.

I think I need to mix up a virgin (womp whomp) batch since Price had to do the dirty job of drinking up the half batch I made one morning. Such is the life. ha! But I really need to make these again since the sweet smell of strawberries filling our kitchen was intense and lovely. I used fresh strawberries that I cut up and froze since when I first read the recipe I quickly mixed up frozen with fresh so I just needed to give my berries a bit of a deep freeze before getting to making this frozen drink.

Amanda has made a Skinny Frozen Pina Colada that I wish I could dive into. It looks awesome plus it is a skinny version. The best for the summer… a refreshing pool side drink that doesn’t make you regret sipping on it in your bathing suit.

Strawberry Daiquiri_01

Strawberry Daiquiri

Makes 4 glasses

Ingredients

  • 1 cup light rum
  • 1/2 cup fresh lime juice
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup sprite or 7-up
  • 1 (16 ounce) package frozen whole strawberries

Process

  1. Pour rum, lime juice, sugar, and Sprite into blender container. Briefly blend to combine and dissolve the sugar.
  2. Add the frozen strawberries into blender, a few at a time, blending until smooth. Pour into chilled glasses.

Slightly adapted from Empty Nest, Two Full Plates

Thirsty Thursday: Strawberry Fizz

strawberry fizz

It’s spring so it should be warm, right? Well, here in spring in Boston is confused. It has been all over the place with day time temps in the high 50’s and then right back down to the low 30’s with even colder wind chills. It’s a never ending roller coaster. I’d like it to just settle out but it’s New England … who am I kidding!?!?

I’d like it to get warm ASAP so we can continue to work in our little yard in back. Price kicked some major as back there this past weekend attacking a very invasive weed we have and I’d like to keep things going on the clean up and set up work. I just can’t wait to get some flowers and plants! I am looking forward to getting another blueberry bush this year and trying out some strawberry plants for the first time. Thinking all about these berries has resulted in me making this whole month’s Thirsty Thursday posts all about berries. First up… strawberries!

I was trying to come up with a drink that uses strawberries and that would be great to enjoy while gardening. I love Strawberry Daiquiri but they are not really great for sipping while pulling weeds. They are better suited for lazy beach days. I wanted something that would be really refreshing. Well, when I saw this Strawberry Fizz when I was browsing around Pinterest and I was smitten. check the site… get it? okay, good. 

This is so refreshing that I just loved it so much. I love mojitos so it reminded me of a jazzed up mojito. Except virgin. Well you can fix that situation yourself with some vodka or light rum. Spiked or not you’ll be reaching for Strawberry Fizz.

Strawberry Fizz

Makes 4 drinks

Ingredients

  • 1 liter sparkling seltzer water
  • 1 pint strawberries, sliced
  • 16 mint leaves
  • 1 lemon, cut into 8 wedges
  • 1 cup simple syrup

Process

  1. Put 1/4 cup of simple syrup in each glass and 4 mint leaves, muddle the leaves. 
  2. Add 1/4 of the strawberries to each glass and muddle as well.
  3. Squeeze the juice of 2 lemon wedges and then toss the lemon into the glass as well.
  4. Add ice and about 8 ounces of seltzer to each glass. Stir and enjoy!

Adapted from Smitten Foodie

Strawberry Almond Stuffed French Toast

One of my favorite things is when I discover a new to me blog and I did that recently when I came across Alice’s Savory Sweet Life. Once I stumbled over there I was hooked. I spent a solid hour flipping around the recipes. And then I bought her cookbook. I could not wait to try something so I picked something that jumped out to me which was Alice’s  Strawberry Almond Stuffed French Toast. How could I pass that up?!?!

 

 

It is no secret that I prefer a savory breakfast/brunch more than a sweet one. But… when I have something sweet I go all out. Syrup is my downfall at breakfast. I love it all over pancakes, french toast, and oatmeal so it is no surprise that when I saw this recipe I just knew I would have to make it. It reminded me of a stuffed french toast I had at Stephanie’s  On Newbury when I first moved up to Boston. Nice reminder what a great brunch I had years and years ago when the city was so new to me.

 

 

I made some changes to the original recipe based upon what I had on hand and my on preferences. I swapped out the sour cream for greek yogurt, upped the amount of almond extract, and used a mixture of egg whites and whole eggs instead of using just whole eggs. Also, I mixed the strawberries right into the cream so it would be a consistent flavor and texture throughout the piece of french toast.

This stuffed French toast is so amazing. It is soft, fluffy, sweet, and so delightful. It is very easy to prepare and will satisfy everyone! Now don’t fret if you don’t have a crowd to serve if you are craving it. I individulally wrapped slices of cooked french toast and then froze them. Since then, I have brought slices out to enjoy at a later day and I have just had to let them thaw and have them warmed them in a skillet or toaster oven. yum!!

 

 

Strawberry Almond Stuffed French Toast

*Serves 6-8*

Ingredients

  • 6 oz cream cheese, softened
  • 6 oz greek yogurt
  • 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
  • 1 tablespoon almond extract
  • 8 oz chopped strawberries
  • 2 eggs, 3 egg whites
  • 1 1/2 cups milk
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1 loaf Italian Bread
  • Garnish – 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar and 1/3 cup slivered almonds

Process

  1. Using an electric hand or stand mixer, combine the cream cheese, yogurt, confectioner’s sugar, and almond extract until light and creamy. Fold the strawberries into the mixture. Transfer the cream mixture to a bowl or to a large piping bag.
  2. In a shallow bowl, like a casserole dish, beat the eggs, milk and almond extract together.
  3. Slice the bread into 1″ thick slices. Lay each piece down on a cutting board. While holding each piece down, create a pocket in the slices of bread by almost cutting it in half. (Placing your hand on top of the piece of bread will help keep the bread in place and help you monitor creating a pocket.)
  4. Spoon or pipe out 2 generous tablespoons of the filling inside the pocket of each slice. Gently close each slice of bread to help the filling stay inside.
  5. Over  medium high heat, heat a non-stick skillet to prepare it for the french toast. Immediately prior to putting pieces on the skillet, spray the pan with non-stick cooking spray or put a pat of butter on it.
  6. Once the pan is heated up, dip slices of bread in the egg mixture to coat both sides. Cook each side of the stuffed french toast is golden brown. Repeat this process until all slices are cooked.
  7. To garnish the dish, dust with confectioner’s sugar and slivered almonds or spoon any left over strawberries cream mixture on top of each slice. Serve with maple syrup, if desired.

Strawberry Mint Ice Cream

I have to admit that I used to hate Strawberry Ice Cream. I think it always tasted so fake to me so I avoid it. I would eat it in a Napoleon ice cream bar or something but it was only because it was only 1/3 of it.

 

Since I had a massive load of strawberries I decided I should try making strawberry ice cream and see if I like it better when I control the quality of the ingredients. Since I also had a huge bunch of mint I decided I would add that to the ice cream as well. Why not? I can do whatever I want. (I also made mint chocolate chip ice cream which was a total failure, but that’s another story)

 

The ice cream is sweet, creamy, and flavorful with the strawberries and the mint. I really enjoyed this ice cream since i love the fresh flavors in sorbet so the addition of cream didn’t seem that different to me. The mint adds a nice touch to the strawberries. If you don’t like mint that much than you could cut back and use less. Or pull some out before blending. I just love the flavor of mint and strawberry and I loved the specks of green in it so I kept it in there prior to blending.

 

Strawberry Mint Ice Cream

1 lb of strawberries
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup mint leaves
1 vanilla pod, split for the beans
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk

Wash, destem, and slice strawberries.

In a medium pot, combine the strawberries, sugar, whole milk, mint, and vanilla beans. Simmer for 5 minutes. Blend mixture in blender until completely smooth. Strain blended mixture.

Chill blended mixture until completely cold, at least 2 hours, but preferably over night.

Measure 2 1/2 cups of the blended mixture*, add the heavy cream and remaining whole milk to mixture.

Prepare ice cream according to manufacture’s instructions. For a soft serve consistency, serve immediately or freeze for a harder consistency.

*Instead of discarding the extra strawberry mixtures, you could add a bit of it to milk for flavored milk.