Monica says:

One of our favorite summer pastimes when Daria and Claudia got out of school was to go picking our own strawberries at a nearby farm!

We made it an annual expedition and made sure that we had our containers ready, the correct clothing on, (including our hats), wore sunblock…the works!

It was so hard not to eat the berries while picking them! I remember when each of the girls had braces and I warned them that if they ate any while picking, the farmer would have to weigh them, too! Too funny!

Besides just stuffing our faces with fresh strawberries, our favorite thing to make with our “strawberry haul,” was strawberry pie! It became a birthday tradition for many years, as we three girls are Junebabies!

Picking these little powerhouses of Vitamin C was always so much fun! Since the girls have been living on their own for many years, we have not been able to resurrect this tradition!

That’s why I was so happy when my nieces, Dawn (mom) and Emily (daughter) expressed an interest in going to pick strawberries this year! I was ready to go!

We set out at 7:30 am ready to beat the heat and drove to a great little farm with our bowls and containers (I washed and saved all of my plastic containers from purchasing blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries in the supermarket). We were pumped and ready to get started!

The farmer pointed out a field (WAY across from the stand) that he claimed was ripe and ready to be picked…

we looked at each other and agreed to make the trek!

And boy, was it worth it!

Within 45 minutes, we had picked our little hands off!

 

And just in the right amount of time because it started to get super-hot and humid! Our trip home was sweet-smelling!

Now to decide what to make with all of this yummy goodness!

While pie was tempting, I decided to make strawberry shortcake. And I was thinking about using a prepared mix to hasten the baking process (since the strawberries were so ripe and needed to be eaten).

I also wanted to limit the sugar content in the shortcakes and let the strawberries shine! So here is what I came up with!

 

GF Strawberry Shortcakes

Ingredients

3 cups Pamela’s Gluten Free Baking & Pancake Mix (plus a little more if it’s too runny!)

¼ cup sugar

1/3 cup cold butter

¾ cup milk of your choice (we used Lactaid milk)

3 eggs, beaten

¾ teaspoon vanilla

4 cups (1 quart) fresh strawberries, sliced

¾ cup heavy whipping cream, whipped

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Prepare cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In medium bowl, combine Pamela’s Gluten Free Baking & Pancake Mix with ¼ cup of sugar. Cut in cold butter with pastry blender or fork.

Beat eggs. Add to mixture. Stir in milk and vanilla. Using an ice cream scoop, drop 2 scoops per shortcake onto cookie sheet.*

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown.

Cool 5 minutes.

With serrated knife, split the shortcakes and put whipped cream and a layer of strawberries on each stacked piece.

Yield: 8 shortcakes

* We made 5 large shortcakes (2 scoops) and 6 small  shortcakes (1 scoop).

NOTE: No sugar was added to the strawberries to enhance the flavor;

they were plenty sweet on their own!

© 2015, Monica & Daria of glutenfreedoubletalk

Strawberries have amazing health benefits! They contain wonderful antioxidants that boost your immunity and can aid in the prevention of cancer and cataracts. These little wonders also help reduce the appearance of wrinkles, as they help in the production of collagen!

For more information and reasons to eat strawberries, go to Best Health Magazine online.

My main reason for eating strawberries is the taste! And I am so grateful to have all of the great health benefits, too!

So if you are looking for a fun way to spend a morning, go strawberry picking!

And then have a very berry day!

 

© 2015, Monica of glutenfreedoubletalk