Sensational Strawberry Recipes

Summer fruits are juicy, sweet, fresh, and delicious. The one fruit that totally embodies this time of the year is the strawberry. The image of a basket filled with strawberries brings us memories of family picnics, pies, and delicious smoothies to cool our bodies off. Go to your local farmers market, or to the produce section of your grocery store, and treat yourself to these juicy goodies.

Check out these six amazing recipes that you can make with just a few ingredients. All that you need are fresh strawberries, cheeses, other local fruits, and just enough time to get your creativity together.

Strawberry Cranberry Savory Sandwiches

These sandwiches are perfect for tea time, or for any time you wish to sit back, cool off, and relax.

Ingredients
• 12-15 sliced strawberries
• 3 tablespoons cream cheese
• ½ cup dry cranberries
• ½ squeezed lemon juice
• 4 slices whole grain sliced bread, cut into fours.

Instructions
1. Set the sliced strawberries aside.
2.In a separate bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients until they are well-incorporated.
3. Make pairs with the bread segments. You will add a scoop of the cream cheese/cranberry mix to one of the bread segments.
4. Add the strawberry slice to the top of the cream mix, then close up the sandwich with the second bread segment. Continue the same process until you have enough sandwiches to satisfy you.

Strawberry, Kale and Avocado Smoothie

Smoothies are all the rage now because they allow you to get a lot of nutrient-dense foods together in an easy-to-make drink. Add more to this recipe, as you see fit. You can include yogurt, ice cream, or milk.

Ingredients
• 4 sliced strawberries
• 1 avocado slice, about half of an inch wide
• 1 cup, chopped kale
• ½ cup fruit juice

Instructions
1.Mix all the ingredients together, and add ice to your smoothie as an option if your blender can handle it.
2.You may also add mango, blueberries, and coconut milk to make it even smoother.

Strawberry Blue Cheese Fat Bombs

Whether you are on a keto diet or not, fat bombs are a great way to add healthy fats to your diet, with less calories and less sugar. They work as tiny, delicious versions of a big dessert. Once you get the idea of a fat bomb, your imagination can run wild with many different alternatives.

Ingredients
• ½ cup crushed walnuts or almonds (peanuts are OK, just make sure they are not flavored)
• 1 cup cream cheese
• 1 cup sliced strawberries
• 1 TBSP lemon juice
• 1 dash sea salt
• ½ crumbled blue cheese
• Parchment paper

Instructions
1. Set the crumbled blue cheese aside.
2. Mix all the ingredients at low speed using your blender. Do not let it become liquid. Just mix them enough to form a dough.
3. Add the blue cheese crumbles to the dough. Pour the mix in a container. Scoop out balls of the mix and place them on parchment paper. Make enough “dough” balls to refrigerate together.
4. Put the balls in your refrigerator for at least 1.5 hours.
5. Eat at room temperature. These strawberry blue cheese balls will taste and feel like eating a sweet and savory slice of cheesecake- without the guilt.

Strawberry Kabobs

These fruit and cheese kabobs make awesome appetizers, desserts, or snacks. The acidity and sweetness of the fruits encounter the butter cheese makes a perfect pairing.

Ingredients
• 4-6 Kabob skewer sticks
• 2 cups cubed cheddar cheese
• 2 cups green grapes- not seeded
• 2 cups strawberries, cut in thirds (thicker slice)
• 2 cups pineapple, chunked in cubes
• 2 cups cubed Swiss cheese

Instructions
1. Assemble the ingredients in a way that flavors do not repeat. An example would be: strawberry, Swiss cheese, grape, cheddar cheese, and finish off with the pineapple as your final, “palate cleansing” acidic fruit.
2. Skew these ingredients, in the order that you prefer, using the kabob sticks. Refrigerate before serving.

Strawberry Burgers

These may not be hamburgers, but fruit burgers. The bigger the strawberries, the better. You will slice a strawberry in half and make those two halves work as “buns” to a deliciously food combo.

Ingredients
• 5 slices turkey ham, cubed
• 3 TBSP strawberry jam
• 2 oz cubed mozzarella
• 6-8 big strawberries, cut in half

Instructions
1. What you will do, is slice the ham and cheese in a way that it matches the girth of the strawberry that is cut in half.
2. Add strawberry jam to each half of the strawberry.
3. Add the ham, then top with the cheese
4. “Close up” the strawberry burger by putting the top part of the strawberry on top of the ham and cheese you just added to the other half.
5. Pin the strawberry with a toothpick to keep all the ingredients together. Refrigerate for at least 2- minutes and then serve with a cold drink to beat up the summer heat.

Strawberry Toppings

There are two ways to make toppings, made entirely out of strawberries, to add to salads, cakes, ice cream, and other desserts.

Dried Strawberry Chips

Ingredients
• 6-8 sliced strawberries
• Sugar, or sugar substitute
• Parchment paper
• Oven or food dehydrator

Instructions
1. Slice the strawberries in very even slices, at around ⅙ to ⅛ thick
2. Sprinkle the sugar or sugar substitute
3. Place on parchment paper in the oven, or go straight to food dehydrator
4. Bake for 2 hours, at very low heat (200 degrees maximum)
6. Place on drying rack, and then refrigerate. These will feel like chips, but will retain the powerful sweetness and natural sour notes of the fruit. They make amazing snacks, especially for people with low sugar diets.

Strawberry Chutney

The second way to make a great strawberry topping is with strawberry chutney.

Ingredients
• 6-8 chopped strawberries
• 6-8 chopped, pitted cherries
• ½ kiwi, chopped
• 1 plum, pitted, chopped
• 1 apricot, pitted, skinned, chopped

Instructions
1. Mix all of these ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Add sugar, or sugar substitute, and refrigerate for an hour or more prior to serving it.
2. This “chutney” is meant to be used as topping for salads, ice cream, and other desserts. It is the best way to get your daily fruit intake in just one delicious meal.