A great summer snack is beautiful, bright red strawberries. These sweet snack are best enjoyed cold while sitting on the beach, or out on the boat, or even just on the front porch. They make a great addition to a bowl of oatmeal, or a grazing board. They also are amazing in these recipes listed below, let's give them a try!
- Fresh Strawberries are very high in water which makes their carb content very low
- Strawberries are high in fiber, a 3.5-ounce serving provides 2 grams of fiber
- Strawberries are a great source of Vitamin C, helping with immunity and skin health
- Strawberries are also loaded with antioxidants and beneficial plant compounds
Recipes:
Strawberry Oatmeal Bars (wellplated.com)
- 1 cup Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats
- 3/4 cup White Whole Wheat Flour
- 1/3 cup light Brown Sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon ground Ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted Butter
- 2 cups small-diced Strawberries
- 1 teaspoon Cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed Lemon Juice
- 1 tablespoon granulated Sugar
For Vanilla Glaze:
- 1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
- 1 tablespoon Milk
Place a rack in the center of your oven and preheat to 375 degrees F. Line an 8×8-inch baking pan with parchment paper so that the paper overhangs two sides like handles.
In a medium bowl, combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, ginger, and salt. Pour in the melted butter and stir until it forms clumps and the dry ingredients are evenly moistened. Set aside 1/2 cup of the crumble mixture, then press the rest into an even layer in the bottom of the prepared pan.
Scatter half of the strawberries over the crust. Sprinkle the cornstarch evenly over the top, then sprinkle on the lemon juice and 1/2 tablespoon of the granulated sugar. Scatter on the remaining berries, then the remaining 1/2 tablespoon sugar. Sprinkle the reserved crumbs evenly over the top. You will have some fruit showing through.
Bake the bars for 35 to 40 minutes, until the fruit is bubbly and the crumb topping smells toasty and looks golden. Place the pan on a wire rack to cool completely (you can speed this process along in the refrigerator).
While the bars cool, prepare the glaze: In a medium bowl, briskly whisk together the powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk until smooth. Feel free to add more milk if a thinner consistency is desired. Using the parchment-paper handles, lift the bars from the pan. Drizzle with glaze, slice, and serve.
Strawberry Dump Cake (Sundaysuppermovement.com)
- 1 lb fresh Strawberries
- 2 medium Bananas
- 1 tablespoon Cornstarch
- 1/4 cup Sugar
For Cake Mix:
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 1 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/3 teaspoon Salt
- 2 teaspoons Sugar
- 1 stick cold Butter
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Dump the chopped fruits into a small rectangular baking dish (approximately 9 x 7 inch). Spoon on top sugar and cornstarch. Mix until the the fruits are evenly coated.
In a bowl combine sugar, flour, baking powder, salt and sugar and mix gently. Sprinkle the mixture evenly on top of the fruits. Use a spoon to make the top as even as possible.
Arrange the butter slices on top of the cake mixture.
Place the pan in the oven to bake. Make sure that the butter has covered completely the cake after melting. If this is not the case, add some more butter on the parts of the cake that are still dry. Bake the cake for 20-30 minutes or until the top becomes golden brown. Serve warm, preferably with an ice cream scoop on top, and store leftovers for 2-3 days in the refrigerator. Enjoy!
Healthy Strawberry Pretzel Salad (erinliveswhole.com)
- 5 cups salted Mini Pretzels
- 4 tablespoons Butter, melted
- 1/4 cup Maple Syrup
Creamy Filling:
- 1 block light Cream Cheese, softened
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla
- 1/4 cup Maple Syrup
- 1 container Light Cool Whip
Strawberry Compote:
- 5 cups Frozen Strawberries
- 1/4 cup Maple Syrup
- 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
- 2 tablespoons Arrowroot Powder (or cornstarch) with 2 tablespoons Water to make a slurry
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla
- Preheat oven to 375F and grease either a 9×9 baking dish or 8×11 baking dish.
- In a food processor, pulse pretzels until large crumbs. Add in melted butter and maple syrup and process until finely ground (but still some small chunks).
- Press into bottom of baking dish and bake for 10 minutes. Let cool completely.
- While baking, make creamy filling. In a food processor, blend together cream cheese, vanilla, and maple syrup until creamy. Pour into a bowl.
- Add defrosted cool whip to bowl, and fold into cream cheese mixture until fully combined.
- Once pretzels are cool, top with cream cheese mixture. Place in fridge for 45 minutes.
- While chilling, making strawberry compote by heating strawberries and maple syrup over medium-high heat in a pan with a lid. It will take about 15-20 minutes for strawberries to totally break down and thicken up. After about 10 minutes, use a potato masher or fork to smash strawberries into compote. Add in lemon juice and arrowroot slurry (arrowroot mixed with water to prevent clumping).
- Stir into strawberries and let continue to thicken until you’ve reached about 15-20 minutes and your compote seems thick enough. Turn off heat and add vanilla. Let cool while cream cheese continues to cool.
- Once jam has reached room temperature, pour over top of chilled pretzel and cream cheese mixture. Chill in fridge for 1.5 hours before serving. Keep in fridge.
