Welcome to flamingobear. We're the Martin family. Jenn cooks a lot. Tim eats it. And the trees are awesome.
Earlier this month in Nashville, the rains came down, the floods came up, and a building floated down the interstate. We were lucky and escaped with only a wet basement. However, many more were not so fortunate, including “our” farmers, the Delvins, who lost 70% of their crops, including about 90% of their strawberries.
Make these. Quick! Strawberry season is almost over. Come winter when you open your pantry looking for inspiration for breakfast or “breakfast for dinner” (my fave!), you’ll be glad you did.
*Note: After attending a canning class last Saturday at our local Ag Expo where I missed the hallway for the classroom and ended up being mesmerized by a calf-roping competition in the arena before remembering why I was there in the first place (much like this post!), I’m sure I’ll go to hell for sharing this unapproved canning method. But, hey, it works for me – as does this non-traditional jam-making technique. By macerating strawberries in sugar overnight and then cooking the syrup, not the berries, for the bulk of the time you get soft-set preserves with big berry chunks and distinct fresh-strawberry flavor. Delicious on toast, biscuits, pancakes, PBJ’s, yogurt, ice cream, or just straight off the spoon! It’s like summer in a jar.
If you’ve been reading our little blog for a while, you may have noticed that we’re slightly obsessed with strawberries right now. As far as obsessions go, it’s a pretty good one. Perhaps it’s hereditary – my maternal grandmother, who was affectionately known as Nana (but pronounced Nanny) had a strawberry fetish herself. Not only did she love to eat them but she was constantly stealing what she called “strawberry kisses” from her 5 adoring grandchildren. Her kitchen floor was covered with indoor/outdoor carpet with a loud strawberry print that I can still clearly picture 20 years later. The crown jewel in her kitchen was a large ceramic strawberry-shaped cookie jar. This very same cookie jar now graces a prominent spot in my kitchen and makes me smile each time I look at it. I’d like to think this classic version of strawberry shortcake would bring a smile to Nana’s face as well.
