It’s that time of year again when the strawberries are ready to be picked. With the pandemic going on, it was a perfect way to get out into the fresh air. Here in NY, strawberries are ready to be picked somewhere in mid to late June, one of the first fruits to ripen.
Now riddle me this, berries have their seeds on the inside, but strawberries are not even berries. So if you bury a fresh strawberry, it will grow into a plant. We did our picking at Hand Melon in Schuylerville. This is great for little kids because the bushes are down low by your ankles. I did it with my dad’s side of the family when I was a kid when they came up for the weekend.
I came to this farm once or twice to go picking too! It’s sort of a family tradition of ours to go fruit picking at least once a year.
Needless to say crouching, stooping and picking was quite the workout for me, especially in the hot sun that day. It makes me want to join one of Annette Funicello’s beach parties. We need to turn these strawberries into something like jam, cake filling, smoothies, or pies. The possibilities are endless. We decided to make 2 frozen treats.
Firstly, we both love cheesecake. It’s practically a requirement for her family. We saw this recipe on Tasty and thought that we should give it a try. The name is “frozen strawberry cream cheese bits.”, a nice and simple recipe that requires very little ingredients we happened to have lying around the house: cream cheese, coconut oil, vanilla extract, and of course strawberries.
We threw the ingredients into a blender. It turned a lovely pink color. Muffin tins with parchment paper worked okay, but cupcake wrappers would’ve held a better shape. Lastly, they need to freeze for an hour, but we had a little help from Elsa. They came out absolutely delicious. Even my father had a few of them. The only issue was that the coconut oil really packed a punch. I would quicker call these frozen blintze bites than frozen cheesecakes. Still, they came out very delicious.
It is super hot out. Today alone set a lot of records. What better way to cool off than some nice ice cream.
Jeremy, You know you’re trying to lose weight.
You’re right. I’ve got to work on that. How about we cut out the cream and have sorbet?
Okay, but not too much.
This recipe was a breeze and a great way to incorporate fruit into your diet for those that 
struggle with that. All you need is some strawberries, chia seeds, and honey. Like with the first recipe, we threw them into a blender and made a puree. Then you freeze and enjoy. This was one of those things I found hard to put down. It was delectable! And the best part was it took care of the strawberries (they don’t last long) and it was perfect way to cool down.
Well, we still have a lot of strawberries left, Lauren.
I know, we kind of went COWABUNGA on picking. I froze the rest for safe keeping. If any of you know of something else summer themed, let us know in the comments! Next up is blueberry season!
