Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Failed Strawberry Creations

So far the most successful thing I have done with those strawberries is put them in a big gallon size freezer bag and make a smoothie with some of them. Sunday I made the virgin strawberry bellinis. No one really liked them. I didn't think it tasted too bad, but the carbonation in the sparkling cider made me feel sick. (I don't drink carbonated drinks very often.) Even though I won't make it again maybe someone else will try it and like it. They were actually really easy to make!

Virgin Strawberry Bellinis
14 ounces fresh strawberries
6 ounces water
1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 ounces fresh lemon juice
3 ounces chilled sparkling apple cider

Directions
In a medium saucepan, bring to a boil 14 ounces of hulled fresh strawberries, 6 ounces of water and 1/2 cup of granulated sugar. Remove from the heat and let cool. Stir in 1 1/2 ounces of fresh lemon juice. Transfer the strawberry mixture to a food processor and blend until smooth; strain through a fine sieve. Pour 1 ounce of the strawberry puree into each of 5 flutes and top with 3 ounces of chilled sparkling apple cider.

We didn't use all the strawberry puree from the bellinis, so I decided to use it to try and make cookies. Instead of following the recipe for strawberry cookies that I had. Bad idea! I won't elaborate on that one.... I may try to make strawberry cookies some other day, following the recipe, if I do I'll post about it.

The next thing I have to do with the strawberries is try making jam with them! I need to borrow the canning equipment from my grandma.

Right now I'm just tired and hungry. One thing I know is I don't want strawberry anything. My mom is cooking Hamburger Helper- yum!

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Our Findings

I consider yesterday a very successful shopping trip! I found four shirts. The three in the first picture and the one I'm wearing in the second picture. I also found a black sweater that I didn't take a picture of. I found an awesome pair of cargo pants (I'm wearing them in the second picture) and six pairs of jeans. I bought all the jeans at the Salvation Army because I could not find any jeans at the mall. It was the most frustrating thing! I was not going to pay for jeans with giant rips in them just because they are "in style". I'm not very gentle with my jeans, so I need them to hold up. Then, some stores had weird sizes. One store would only have even numbers and another would only have odd numbers. I would always fall in between two numbers! I won't pay for pants that don't fit me right. Oh well. I saved money by going to the Salvation Army, and they already have that comfy feel to them.



I also found two books at the Salvation Army.


Then when we woke up this morning my mom and dad seemed to both be in bad moods so my mom and I went to a flea market to get out of the house. We found this! It holds our potatoes and onions. We were worried about finding a place for it, but it fits right next to the stove.


I also found this cool penny in a bottle.



Belated Happy 4th! Last night I made the non alcoholic version of Mrs. B's Sangria. It's good!