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Easy Strawberry Jam

I will admit it. At this point I have had my fill of strawberries. I walk right by them in the grocery store and don’t buy any. After picking twelve pounds at my local strawberry farm and using them in everything I am done with strawberries for a bit.

This is after I enjoyed this easy strawberry jam, icebox pie, and fresh strawberry ice cream.

The jam seems to be foolproof. I found this recipe for Easy Strawberry Jam from Ina Garten at the Food Network. I have never canned anything before. The whole process intimidates me. So this jam that comes together quickly and lasts for a few weeks in the fridge was right up my alley. I’ve enjoyed it simply with my morning toast while imagining that I am with Ina hanging out in the Hamptons. A girl can dream.

You clean and quarter the berries, and toss them with sugar and orange-flavored liqueur in a Dutch oven (I did not splurge on the Grand Marnier. Did that make a difference? I doubt it). This mixture is brought to a boil. A few blueberries and 1/2 of a diced Granny Smith apple is added. Don’t skip the apple! It has the natural pectin you need to thicken this mixture into jam.

I kept this at a rolling boil until the jam reached 220 degrees F. on a candy thermometer, about a half-hour. Last it is cooled and stored covered in the fridge. Easy peasy.

Strawberry Icebox Pie

While not fancy, the strawberry icebox pie is hands down my favorite strawberry creation. You can find the recipe for Strawberry Icebox Pie from Martha Stewart. It has a simple graham cracker crust and fresh tasting strawberry filling.

Two cups of strawberries are combined with some sugar, cranberry juice, cornstarch and salt in a Dutch oven.

These are brought to a boil and cooked for a minute. More sliced strawberries are added (the fact that these are not cooked contributes to the fresh tasting filling) and it is cooled slightly before pouring the filling into the crust and refrigerating until set after a few hours.

After making the fancy pants French strawberry cake I was not in the mood for any elaborate finish for this pie. I really just wanted to eat it! So I grabbed a can of whipped cream and topped it without flair. Not that it mattered. My family was fighting over who could help themselves to seconds and thirds of this one.

Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream

The rest of my strawberry haul went into two batches of this Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream recipe from Cuisinart. I just bought the ice cream maker on sale at a local store. I figured it would be a fun gadget to use with my kids this summer. So I haven’t really had time to venture too far away from the basic recipes yet. Although simple, this fresh strawberry ice cream is definitely a winner! I opted to keep the natural look but you could add some food coloring to achieve a more pink look here.

So that’s what I did with all those strawberries! The worst part is all the slicing and prepping. I have my eye on this little strawberry knife from Kuhn. Do I really need another gadget? Probably not. But if I run across it in a store I won’t be able to resist.