My only complaint about having fresh fruits and veggies a plenty is that sometimes I don’t have a chance to eat them before they go bad.  So my goal is always to come up with a list of recipes and search for those items that are involved.  But if you do decide to randomly grab some produce, coming up with your own recipes can be fun too!  And if worse comes to worst… just throw everything into a salad!

One thing I knew I had to make with the strawberries I picked at Duffield’s was…

Strawberry Shortcakes – Recipe from Mary Nolan of Chic & Easy

Preheat oven to 400

You will need:

• 1 1/2 pounds strawberries, stemmed and quartered

• 5 tablespoons sugar

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• 3/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream

For whipped cream:

• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, chilled

• 3 tablespoons sugar

• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest

1.) Mix strawberries and 3 TBS sugar and refrigerate for at least a half hour.  This will get everything nice and sweet and create juices from the berries.

2.) Combine ingredients for whipped cream in a mixer and beat until soft peaks form.  I suggest refrigerating for a bit to make sure it is cold and more firm.

3.) Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and 2 TBS sugar and salt in a bowl.  Add heavy cream and mix well.  Place mixture in a greased pan and bake 18-20 minutes until golden.  I actually used a larger pan than suggested (8  inch) because I wanted to make thinner shortcakes so I could make smaller pieces.

4.) Remove pan from oven and allow to cool.  If you are making regular sized shortcakes you will slice the shortcake in 6 pieces and slice in half.  I searched for something small enough to make mini shortcakes  and wound up using a champagne glass!  It was perfect and the right size I was looking for.  But a cookie cutter would work just as well

5.) Assemble!  Top one piece of shortcake with the berries, then the cream and then the other shortcake piece.

I loved the mini version because it was a just right bite!  Also, knowing that I picked these berries and actually worked for them, made them taste that much better.  Strawberries are one fruit that I know will never go to waste, especially with recipes such as this one.  And the flavors – the warm, cake-like shortcake, the creamy, sweet, whipped cream and the melt-in-your-mouth strawberries – well I just don’t think anything screams summer more than that!