Berry Smash Muffins

The last thing I made with the berries were strawberry muffins, which just came out of the oven. Alex just tried one and said they're really good.

1 2/3 cups fresh strawberries
2/3 cups sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425F

Grease just the bottoms of 12 muffins tins (or put paper baking cups in them)

Slightly smash berries with a fork in a large bowl (I used my Tupperware Power Chef and almost pureed them)

Stir in sugar, oil and eggs until mixed

Stir in other ingredients just until moistened

Spoon batter into muffin cups

Bake 15-18 minutes or until light golden brown or toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (it took 18 minutes for my oven)

Cool 5 minutes

|Remove from pan to continue cooling on a cooling rack

This recipe is actually from The Rainbow Bakery Children's Cookbook by Gold Medal. I found it on www.food.com

Strawberry Lemonade Ice Pops

We haven't figured out how these are yet, because, well, they're still in the freezing process. Haha. But Charlie's always asking for popsicles, so I figured I'd make popsicles out of some of the berries we got.

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com using the same title I have for this post. :)

1 12oz can of frozen lemonade concentrate
3 cups cold water
16oz strawberries

In a large pitcher, stir together the lemonade concentrate and the water.

Place strawberries in a blender and puree until smooth (I used my Tupperware Power Chef because my blender isn't big enough to blend berries). Pour some of the lemonade in if necessary to facilitate blending.

Stir the puree into the lemonade.

Pour into molds and freeze until firm, about 4 hours.

Strawberry Jam

Do you know how hard it is to find a recipe for strawberry jam (or any jam, really) that doesn't include pectin? Or doesn't include huge amounts of berries? Ridiculously hard. However, I managed to find both!

16oz strawberries, hulled and coarsely chopped
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice

In a saucepan, mix berries, sugar and lemon juice.

Stir over med-low heat until sugar is dissolved.

Increase heat to med-high and bring mixture to a rolling boil.

Stir frequently, mashing the strawberries as you stir, continuing to boil, until jam is thickened and bubbles completely cover the surface of the jam (about 10 minutes).

Transfer jam to whatever container you're putting it in (I used a large Tupperware snack cup because I sell TW and have it everywhere) and let cool to room temperature.

Store in refrigerator for about 10 days (or freeze).

That's it! Seriously! So easy. I'd never made jam before, but this might be a yearly thing!

I got the recipe from http://scatteredthoughtsofacraftymom.com/quick-homemade-strawberry-jam/

It's Berry Season!

Charlie and I picked two pints of strawberries at the local U-Pick today. So of course, I had to use them. Because I know if I didn't, they'd end up being forgotten and going bad. Can't have that.

The next three recipes, which I will post tonight, are what I did with the strawberries today. I will post the link to where I got each recipe. And if I can manage it I'll post pictures. Haha.