Strawberry Oatmeal Bars

My grandson loves strawberry jam! If I need to get him to eat a sandwich I know if I make it with strawberry jam he'll eat it all, except for the crusts. 
I guess that's something about little children - they don't like chewing the crispy crusts. However, if I give him something home baked, he eats the lot, crunchy or not.
Cute!
These are seriously the most delicious crumbly fruit bars ever. 

They have so much flavour packed in but they only have 4 main ingredients. 

You can also use any jam you have on hand.

Ingredients:
1 (525g) pkg yellow cake mix
625ml oats
190ml melted butter
250ml seedless strawberry jam
15ml water

Method:
Preheat oven to 190ºC. Spray a 9x13-inch pan with cooking spray. 

In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, oats and coconut oil so that it's clumpy.

Press ½ of the oats mixture evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan.

In a separate bowl, mix the jam and water and spread over the crust.

Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture evenly over the top.

Bake in preheated oven for 18-23 minutes or until top is lightly browned. 

Cool before cutting into squares to serve.

Enjoy!

Fresh Strawberry and White Chocolate Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

10ml baking powder

2.5ml salt

2 eggs

1 cup yoghurt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

5ml vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups fresh strawberries, chopped

½ to ¾ cup white chocolate chips or 100g white chocolate, chopped

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200 ° C. Line your muffin pan with paper cups or muffin liners.

In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together and set aside.

In another bowl whisk the eggs together until combined. Add the rest of the wet ingredients (yoghurt, oil and vanilla) and mix together.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Mix. I use a spatula to fold in the flour and mix everything together but you can also use a whisk. The batter would be thick.

Fold in the berries and the chocolate chips.

Divide evenly among the 12 muffin cups.

Bake for about 18-20 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and after about 5-8 minutes (when they’re cool enough to handle) transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Sweet Summer Smoothies

For the bottom layer, blend:

2 bananas
2 nectarines
1 mango 

Add water and ice as needed and toss in some hulled and sliced strawberries for added sweetness.

For the top layer, blend:
250ml Cherries
250ml Blackberries  

Pour the top layer over the back of a teaspoon onto the bottom layer. Top with a couple of whole blackberries and a sprig of mint.

YUM!

Strawberry and Redcurrant Jam

Makes about 1.4kg

Ingredients:
700g granulated or preserving sugar
1kg strawberries, hulled and halved if large
225g redcurrants, stripped from their stalks
Juice of 1 lemon

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Put the sugar in a roasting tin and warm in the oven for 10 minutes. Put half the strawberries and all the redcurrants in a preserving pan over a low heat and cook until soft and the juices run.
Add the remaining strawberries to the pan and bring to the boil. Add the lemon juice and warmed sugar to the pan, bring to the boil, then simmer until the sugar dissolves. Bubble for 25 minutes or until set.
Pour the hot preserve into warm sterilised jam jars, then cover and label.

July Fruit and Vegetables

Summer is now well entrenched and, as far as fruit and vegetables are concerned, we are in our seventh heaven; Nature truly spoils us this month with a luscious array of colourful produce. Whole ranges of tomatoes, courgettes, sweetcorn and other quintessential summer vegetables are available in copious quantities.

July sees a glut of tomatoes, which although they are not one of the UK's great crops as we don't get enough sun for them under normal conditions, those grown under' plastic' give the Mediterranean tomatoes a run for their money while the weather is good. All sorts of tomatoes are available: the beef tomato, which is great for salads and cooking, cherry tomatoes, wonderful in salads and pastas, and plum tomatoes, too tough for eating raw, but with solid flesh and good flavour that make them perfect for curries and sauces are the best to look for.

Summer is also salad season, and July is one of the peak months for salad ingredients: lettuces, cucumbers and spring onions as well as the ubiquitous tomato. To complete any salad, a dressing made with the new season garlic, which should now be available from France and Italy, puts the finishing touch.

The two other vegetable stars of July are sweetcorn and peas, a couple of vegetables that are not worth buying fresh any time other than now. I can't think of any vegetable more delicious than peas straight out of the pod or a mealie cob picked from the maize field, boiled and served with butter soon after picking! Both of these vegetables, when picked, are packed full of sugar that can make them additively sweet. But that sugar doesn't last very long. These vegetables continue to act as if they were still 'alive' after picking, using their sugar as food or converting it into starch. Sugar loss can be as high as 40% in 6 hours, which leads to a drastic drop in sweetness. The solution is to buy directly from a farm where they are picked daily, or even more frequently, or to pick them yourself and cook them immediately, where possible. If you can't cook them on the same day as picking, refrigeration storage will slow the rate of sugar loss.

Summer fruits are at their best in July, with mountains of berries and stone fruits just begging to be used. With the wonderful weather to begin the month, the English strawberries are ripening under the warm sunshine and the first raspberries are appearing with their succulent combination of acidity and sweetness. This is the time to use these berry fruits, for jam-making, baking, fruit salads or just enjoying them one berry at a time straight from the bush if you should be so lucky. July is probably the best month for making jams and preserves. The cheapest way to buy, which is important for jam makers, is by going to a 'Pick Your Own Farm', or if you don't have one in your area, is to find a farmer's market, where the quality will be good and the prices reasonable.

Cherries, peaches and nectarines should also be making a good showing this month, but choose these fruit carefully as they are picked while under-ripe to help them withstand the long journey they make to grace the shelves of our stores. sometimes they don't ripen; a trick to get them to ripen is to store them in the fridge in a paper bag. Some supermarkets sell ripe-picked stone fruit at a premium price; they may deserve the premium, but sometimes not. Less than perfect fruit can be used for puddings and preserves.

Of the fruit that is available in July, apart from our own previously mentioned berries and stone-fruit, much of the best fruit comes from more southerly climes. Melons are in good supply, succulent and sweet, making them suitable for fruit salads and for serving with cold meats, hams and spicy sausages.

A fruit that is available most of the year, but at it's best in summer is the mango, which come from Pakistan and India. If you are lucky enough to live near an Asian food store, they may have boxes of this delicious fruit from a source of their own at a more reasonable price than you may find in your local supermarket.

Strawberry Jam

When thinking of strawberries, you are bound to think of strawberry jam. No country larder would be complete without it - come to think of it; no city larder worth speaking of would not have this wonderful preserve in it either. Everybody loves strawberry jam!

Sweet preserves or jams are common and traditional all over Europe. Before sugar became more readily available, in the 18th century, honey would have been used to preserve fruits. Normally jams would have been made when there was a glut of fruit so as to make the fruit last, hopefully, until the fruit season came around again. Although there is not this necessity nowadays, I still make this delicious preserve when there is a glut of strawberries and the prices are amenable. It's just such fun to make.

Even though strawberry jam is perhaps the most popular jam of all, of all fruits that are used to make preserves, strawberries are the most difficult to turn into jam as they lack the natural pectin vital for a good set. To get this jam to set it is essential to use lemon juice to supply the pectin. Redcurrant juice may also be used, as it is in this recipe - it adds a wonderful flavour over the top of the strawberries making this jam so absolutely delicious.

Ingredients:
1.1 kg strawberries
1.3 kg unrefined granulated sugar
150ml redcurrant juice
juice of 1 lemon
15g unsalted butter

Method:
Put the strawberries into a large heavy bottomed pan and heat gently. As the juice starts to come out of the berries, add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Add the redcurrant juice and the lemon juice. Bring the mixture to the boil and remove any scum that rises to the surface. Boil rapidly, testing for setting point every 15 minutes. Take the pan off the heat to do this.

To test with a sugar thermometer: dip the thermometer in hot water, then sink the bulb end into the jam. If the temperature is around 105C, the jam has reached setting point.

To test with the saucer test: keep several small saucers in the fridge. When you think the jam has reached setting point, take the pan off the heat and put a teaspoon of jam on a cold saucer. Let it cool for a few seconds - count to ten - then push the surface at the side with your finger. If the surface wrinkles, the jam is ready, but if the jam moves loosely, it needs to be boiled for a few minutes more and tested again.

When setting point has been reached, add the butter. Allow the jam to cool slightly. Give the jam a stir to evenly distribute the fruit before putting into prepared sterilised jars. Seal and store in your larder for at least 3-4 days before using.

Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry shortcake is one of America's favourite desserts. the name derives from being made 'short', a word dating back to the 15th century, which means 'crisp form the use of fat'. In England it is synonymous with Scottish shortbread, a crisp butter-rich biscuit like pastry, but in America it is a rich pastry enclosing fruit, which became popular in the mid 1800s. The traditional shortcake is usually made with a sweetened biscuit pastry, plenty of sliced strawberries and a generous dollop of whipped cream.

Ingredients:
For the Shortcake:
500ml flour
60ml sugar
20ml baking powder
2ml salt
a small grating of nutmeg
1 egg, well beaten
90ml cold water
80-85ml milk

For the strawberries:
1 litre fresh strawberries
200ml brown sugar

To Assemble and Serve:
500ml single cream, whipped to soft peaks

Method:
Preheat the oven to 200C.

To prepare the strawberries, wash and hull the fruit. Slice most of the berries, leaving 8-12 whole for garnishing. Place the sliced berries in a bowl and cover with the sugar. Allow the berries to macerate for at least an hour at room temperature.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg and sift into a mixing bowl. Work in the butter with the fingertips, then add the milk and egg. Mix just until the dry ingredients are all Incorporated and the dough is moist. Turn the dough into a buttered and floured 8-9 inch round cake pan and pat into a flat disc. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. To test if it is done, insert a toothpick in the centre; if it comes out with dough attached, lower the heat to 180C and bake for another 5 minutes or so.

Remove from the pan and split horizontally with a serrated knife. Butter the cut side of both layers. Place a layer of half the prepared strawberries on one layer and drizzle over some of the fruit juices. Cover this layer with a layer of cream and add another layer of the rest of the prepared strawberries and the rest of the strawberry juices. Place the second layer of shortcake on top. Garnish with several whole berries and serve with the remaining whipped cream.

Strawberry Yogullies

Yogullies are what I call jellies that have been made with yoghurt. These jellies are wonderful to finish off a summer evening meal or for the kids when out of school for the summer break. What a wonderful way to get them to have at least one of their '5 a day'. Make them a day in advance so they have plenty of time to set.

Ingredients:
6 sheets of gelatine
600ml strawberry and apple juice
250g strawberries
15ml icing sugar
150g Greek yoghurt

Method:
Soak the gelatine in 60ml of cold water for 10 minutes. Heat 150ml of the strawberry and apple juice in a small pan. When hot, remove from the heat and add the gelatine, squeezing out the excess water from the gelatinous mass. Stir until all the gelatine has dissolved. Add the remaining juice and stir well.

Pour 200ml of the juice into a bowl and leave to set in the fridge. Divide the rest of the mixture between 6 small glasses and leave to chill in the fridge for about an hour and a half until almost set.

Keeping 3 small strawberries intact, hull the remaining fruit. Place the hulled fruit in a mini-blender with the icing sugar and most of the yoghurt, reserving about 6 teaspoonfuls for garnish. Pulse until the strawberries are roughly chopped. Stir this yoghurt mixture into the bowl of set jelly and divide between the glasses. Leave to set for a further half an hour.

Serve topped with the reserved yoghurt and half a strawberry each.

Angels and Demons Strawberry Love Pie

This is a recipe that came to me through my mother-in-law. The angels refer to the meringue with its crisp crust and gooey centre; the demons are represented by the wickedly alcoholic chocolate sauce laced through it. It's a wonderful representation of human nature; we all wish to be good like angels, but even angels can fall. There is a little wickedness in all of us, no matter how good we think we are, but love is what matters; represented by the strawberry, love conquers all.

Ingredients:
For the Meringue:
6 egg whites
a pinch of salt
500ml caster sugar
10ml vanilla extract
10ml lemon juice

For the strawberry filling:
150g strawberries, hulled and thinly sliced
30ml caster sugar
a pinch of salt

For the Cream Filling:
250ml double cream
2ml vanilla extract
15ml caster sugar

For the Chocolate Sauce:
300g dark chocolate, at least 70-75% cocoa solids, broken into small pieces
150ml double cream
30ml Bramley and Gage Strawberry Liqueur or other strawberry liqueur you may have available

Method:
Preheat the oven to 120C. Grease a 10 inch pie plate.
Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff, but not dry. Very gradually add 250ml of sugar, beating well after each addition. Now add the vanilla and lemon juice and finish beating in the rest of the sugar until all the sugar is dissolved and the meringue is very stiff.
Place the meringue in the pie plate, making it higher in the middle in a dome shape. Bake for 90 minutes in the prepared slow oven, then increase the oven heat to 150C for 30 minutes. The meringue will puff up, then when taken out of the oven it will crack as it cools and the centre will sink. Cool thoroughly.

Meanwhile macerate the strawberries in the sugar and a pinch of salt until required.

When the meringue is completely cooled, whip the cream with vanilla and sugar until the stiff peak stage.

To make the chocolate sauce, place the chocolate, cream and liqueur in a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure the bowl is not in contact with the water. Stir continuously until all the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth and glossy.

To assemble the pie, put a layer of a third of the cream into the meringue shell, then a layer of half the strawberries, drizzle over the chocolate sauce, then repeat the layer - cream, strawberries, chocolate sauce - and finish with the remaining cream.

Serve the pie with any remaining chocolate sauce - over each serving dribble it, pour it, drench it, depending on how wicked you like it!

Strawberry and Elderflower Cheesecake

If you are looking for a taste of summer, this is it! The combination of strawberries with elderflower is a seasonal classic - The strawberries ripen at the same time as the elderflowers come into bloom, making them nature's companions. To top it all, the flavours blend so well, I use them together often. Home-made elderflower cordial is the best to use, but there is one available made by Bottle Green, which I use when my personal stock is depleted. They also make a strawberry and elderflower cordial, which you could also use in this recipe.

Ingredients:
For the Base:
75g butter, melted - plus a little for greasing
300g ginger nut biscuits - or chocolate digestive biscuits

For the Strawberry Filling:
300g strawberries, thinly sliced
30ml elderflower cordial
30ml icing sugar

For the Cream Cheese Filling:
15ml gelatine (powdered)
250g smooth cream cheese (room temperature)
300ml double cream
5ml elderflower cordial
3 egg yolks
45g caster sugar

To Decorate:
150-200g strawberries, thinly sliced
A few sprigs of mint

Method:
Preheat the oven to 170C. Grease the sides and base of a round springform tin, 8-9 inch diameter x 3-4 inch deep.

In a blender, pulse the biscuits to a rough crumb, not too fine. In a bowl, mix them with the melted butter. Lightly press into the base of the prepared pan, making the base as smooth as possible. I find using the flat base of a glass handy to compress the base smoothly. Bake for 10-15 minutes and leave to cool.

For the strawberry filling, mix the ingredients together gently and leave for the strawberries to absorb the flavours for 1-2 hours. Drain the strawberries, reserving all the juices.

For the cream cheese filling, place 50ml cold water into a small, wide bottomed heatproof bowl and sprinkle over the gelatine, making sure it is all wet. Set the bowl over a pan of hot water - not boiling water - and allow the gelatine to melt. It should not get too hot or the gelatine looses its setting ability.

In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese to make sure it is all smooth. In another bowl, lightly whip the cream and elderflower cordial. Using an electric mixer or whisk, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until pale, thick and double in volume. Carefully fold in the cream cheese, followed by the cream. Mix the reserved strawberry juices into the dissolved gelatine, sieve to remove any lumps. Fold a spoonful of the cream mixture into the gelatine mixture. When this is well blended, gently fold in the remaining cream mixture.

Spread the prepared strawberries over the middle of the biscuit base, leaving a small edge. Spoon the cream over the strawberries and level the surface, spreading the cream right to the edge. Put the pan in the fridge to set over night.

When you are ready to serve, dip a knife in hot water, release the spring on the pan and run the knife around the edge of the tin. Ease off the base with a warm palette knife and transfer the cheese cake to a serving dish. Decorate with the sliced strawberries and sprigs of mint.

Red Berry Meringue Pie

This pie has no pastry, so cuts down on calorie intake in that respect, making it quite a healthy pudding. It still contains some sugar, but the sweetness of the meringue is overshadowed by the sharp taste of the fruit. It has virtually no fat as the only fat, a healthy monounsaturated fat that tends to improve the 'good' cholesterol levels in the body, comes from the almonds, which add extra crunch and texture to this delicious dessert.

Ingredients:
100g unblanched almonds
175g strawberries, washed, drained and hulled
175g raspberries, washed and drained
175g red currants, washed and drained
3 egg whites
175g caster sugar

Method:
Preheat the oven to 200C.

Divide the almonds between 4 ramekins, placing them on the bottom of each. Mix the berries together and put on top of the almonds, filling the ramekins to only half way up.

With an electric whisk, whisk the egg whites in a clean glass bowl until they form stiff peaks. Add half the sugar and whisk again until the mixture is glossy. Fold in the remaining sugar and divide the meringue between the four ramekins.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for about 5-10 minutes before serving.

Summer Fruit Charlotte

Chill out this summer with this cool light dessert;

it needs time to set but is definitely worth the wait.

Ingredients:
100g caster sugar
250g strawberries, sliced
175g raspberries
1 pack sponge fingers
2 sheets gelatine
500g Greek yoghurt
2ml vanilla extract
a few extra berries for garnish

Method:
Place 75g of sugar in a small pan with 100ml water. Heat gently, stirring until dissolved. Add the strawberries and raspberries to the pan. Take off the heat and allow to cool for 15 minutes. Strain into a shallow dish, reserving the fruit.

Dip the sponge fingers one by one into the syrup and use to line the base and sides of a 1 litre pudding basin, cutting the sponges to fit. In another pan, soak the gelatine in about 50ml cold water for about 5 minutes until soft, then warm gently until melted.

Place the yoghurt in a bowl with the vanilla extract and the remaining sugar, then beat in the melted gelatine. Place half this mixture in the basin, add the reserved fruit, cover with the rest of the yoghurt mixture and top with any left over sponge fingers. Drizzle any remaining syrup around the edges and chill for 4 hours.

To serve, invert onto a plate, remove the basin and top with some extra berries.

Strawberry Ice Cream

Strawberries are more than good for you;

they are magic little berries full of healthy goodness.

Just 5 strawberries provide an average adult with their daily requirement of vitamin C, which not only boosts the immune system, but also fights free radicals and helps prevent heart disease and cancer. Strawberries are also rich in the antioxidant, ellagic acid, which has powerful anticancer effects. All the more reason to eat this wonderful scrumptious fruit.

This ice cream, perfect for a warm summer evening, makes a little fruit go a long way. Prepare it the day before for the best results.

Ingredients:
250g strawberries
75g icing sugar
juice of half a lemon
150ml double cream
75ml single cream
6-8 large strawberries to garnish

Method:
Hull and wash the strawberries. Drain them thoroughly and cut them into small pieces. Put them in a liquidiser with the icing sugar and lemon juice and blitz them to a puree. Whisk the two creams until thick, but not too stiff. Blend the cream into the strawberry puree. Spoon the strawberry mixture into a plastic freezer container, cover with a lid and leave to freeze for 12 hours.

One or two hours before serving, remove the ice cream from the freezer and thaw slightly in the fridge. Scoop the ice cream into individual glasses and decorate with slices of fresh strawberry.

Fruit and Vegetables in June

The abundance of fresh food in June makes cooking a pleasure. This month heralds midsummer, with the longest day and plenty of sunshine. The promise of long summer evenings provides the ideal time for out door living and good eating.

June keeps up the good work that May began with asparagus remaining the star vegetable, with lower prices than May, but with quality every bit as good, if not better. I have noticed that as we approached June, the spears grew fatter and more succulent, all the better for pigging out on! Make the most of them as they don't last for much longer.

Jersey Royals, those gorgeous little spuds, are also still available, but make the most of them this month as they will also be ending their season at the end of this month. I use them often for a quick salad; boiled and covered in herb butter, they are the quintessential accompaniment of a grilled steak or chop on the braai or barbecue.

Broad beans are also continue in their availability; they are likely to be larger than they were in May so skinning them is a good idea. Use them for extra filling and nutritious salads and stews. Summer cabbages are also in their peak season, tender enough for a stir-fry. Cauliflowers are also available now, but are still a little on the pricey side; their price should come down as the month wears on.

New UK vegetables this month include courgettes and mangetouts, which should get steadily more plentiful as the month progresses. Think about using courgettes cooked on the braai, halved lengthwise and brushed with olive oil. You may want to try them in salads too, where they add a lovely nuttiness and crunchy texture. Salads are of course in vogue this month to accompany outdoor living with Baby Gem lettuces, tangy spring onions, crunchy radishes, cucumbers and lots of tomato varieties becoming widely available. Cherry tomatoes make such colourful additions to a green salad and there are also some delightful little berry tomatoes available now, which are no bigger than blueberries and just as tasty as their bigger cousins; give them a try some time.

Junes fruit basket begins its summer bounty this month. Apricots are starting to ripen, getting the orange hue that indicates good texture and flavour. Gooseberries are also coming along nicely with the best of this fruit arriving in about the middle of the month, but this year looks to be coming sooner because of the unseasonable warm spring. Among imports from the continent should be melons from Spain, including honeydew and cantaloupe, and peaches from Italy. Cherries are another June speciality, with the first supplies coming from Europe, to be followed later in the month by good fruit from British orchards. Raspberries also make a showing at the beginning of this month, along with red and black currants.

But the star among fruit this month, of course, is the strawberry. It is the quintessential summer fruit, forever associated with the Wimbledon tennis season. How could we ever do without strawberries and champers in this season of sunshine!

In recent years a lot of investment in money and time has been made in trying to find varieties that extend the season of this fruit. Some of the modern varieties have been developed to show resistance to disease and for long shelf life, sadly sacrificing flavour. Varieties have been created to look good, but as with any fruit, the proof is in the tasting. With the season progressing as fast as it does, the same variety can taste sharp one week and gloriously sweet the next.

There are three critical elements when it comes to proper strawberries with the perfect balance of sweet and sharp. The first and most important is the variety. It is rare to find a large variety, like for instance an Elsanta, that thrills; big it might be but size counts for very little. The small strawberries like the Mara des Bois, on the other hand, nearly always bursts with stunning flavour, is richly scented and totally bursting with the tang that a strawberry is supposed to possess.

The second critical element is freshness. The shorter the time from plant to plate, the better the strawberry tastes. Time, even in relatively small doses, takes its toll. Only a couple of days away from the plant the fruit already become dull, the goodness dissipates and they all taste mediocre. In practice this means growing your own is best; if you can't do that then pick your own at an open farm or at least buy from a farm shop or farmers market where you can be assured that the fruit has been picked that very same day, or at most, the previous day. It's up to you how quickly you can eat them.

The third element is the right degree of sunshine - plenty of sunshine but not overly hot - as the berries redden to plump ripeness. A little rain is fine, but too much moisture swells the berries to an ungainly, watery mass, diluting the taste and encouraging the berries to rot.

Since there is little we can do about the weather, it makes sense to concentrate on flavour and freshness. As with all the best fruit, the trick to always enjoying good strawberries through the season is to choose the varieties that are at their peak as they ripen through the season.

Look for strawberries that are red from crown to tip, and as always, rely on taste rather than looks alone. Remember, even a strawberry that is a little sharp can be improved with a little sugar.