The strawberry season came quickly upon on, almost too quickly! They are predicting a short and sweet season with an abundance of berries ripening in a very short time span. In some ways this is fortunate for us since they dropped the price per kilo making self-picked a very economical option this year! My husband and the kids headed to the strawberry farm and came back with 22 kg/48.5 lbs. of fresh strawberries. We have been eating strawberries at nearly every meal these past couple of days.
One morning we had these little shots of strawberry smoothies for breakfast. The small size is perfect for the small folk. Click HERE for the recipe.
Most of the strawberries we froze, and as we made an inventory of the freezer we noticed that we still have an abundance of blueberries from last year as well as some home-pressed apple juice. The apple juice works wonderful with homemade hamburgers and salad for a Fourth-of-July dinner. It won’t be long before the new berries and apples are ripe. It is time to start truly emptying the freezer!
Grilled Vegetable Salad
Chop up vegetables of your choice. I used paprika, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes and garlic. I marinated them in a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar, black pepper, sea salt and fresh tarragon from the garden. Grill or sautè in a pan for a few minutes and serve over a fresh bed of mixed lettuce. Summer is all about easy foods using fresh ingredients. This salad is quick, easy and versatile. Just use the ingredients and herbs you happen to have on hand!
For all of those that celebrate the American Independence Day, Happy Fourth of July!
tableofcolors 
Lovely pics!
Thank you Anjana!
WONDERFUL strawberries!
Strawberries are wonderful, they are the perfect snack and fun to buy from the open air market 🙂
It all looks and sounds wonderful!
Thanks Lovinghomemade!
Thats a wonderful post!
Thank you!
The strawberries are late in this part of the world too, but they are here and I picked them up already picked. Delicious! Have made a few Brita tortes and now I have rhubarb from Lavona in the fridge so rhubarb tart is in the offing. Maybe I should take some pics and send it to you.
Love, Grampa
Your rhubarb tart is wonderful! I would love it if you could share some photos and the recipe ! I’ll have to see if I can get some fresh rhubarb. The ones we planted this summer will be ready for picking next year. Love, Laila
Awesome shots and post. Your posts is good to read after meal. It is impossible to do so before snack, lunch or dinner. The pictures and the writing is too real. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much for your nice comment! I do try to make the food look enticing 🙂
Your strawberries look so wonderful! We had a late spring hail storm which knocked out most of our crop here in Central Texas so it was slim pickings. And that grilled vegetable salad looks really tasty!
Kenley
Oh, that’s too bad! But that is the way it is with nature, the outcome of the crop is often unpredictable. Hopefully next year will be a better year for the strawberries!
That’s what we’re hoping! Also a great reminder to always stock up when the crop is good since you never know… 🙂
This all looks absolutely wonderful. Your photos are gorgeous and I feel like I could take a bite right out of them! Happy 4th of July to you! 🙂
Thank you so much! Hope your 4th is a pleasant one as well!
Lucky lucky you, all those berries. What a haul!! The photo’s, the food all look wonderful. I love berry smoothies, every morning that’s my breakfast!!
It WAS quite the haul! I was pleasantly surprised with the amount 🙂 Strawberries are fortunately easy to pair with other tarter berries.
22kg of strawberries! and how many kilos did they eat whilst on the job? 🙂 And Happy 4th of July to you.
I know, my husband is a very fast picker and they were only gone a few hours. I’m not sure how much they ate when on the job, but they were promised to eat as much as they pleased…hence the eager helpers!
What a great incentive! Eat as much as you want.
Those berries are just gorgeous! I would be eating them every day and at every meal too! Beautiful lettuce too!
Thank you! The lettuce has been coming up nicely, but some unknown little critter got my kale!
Asparagus, to me, means Spring, strawberries Summer. I’ve not frozen any yet, like you I’ve got last year’s cherries and blueberries taking up space. I’ll get to them, too. 🙂
I definitely agree! We have project “eat-the-berries” underway now in order to empty the freezer! Today for lunch we had a rice porridge/pudding with berries…yesterdays evening snack was oven-raised pancake with berries… 🙂
22kgs! Incredible!! I’m longing for Summer now 🙂
Yes, it was quite incredible! But I certainly didn’t mind!
How lovely and how lucky. I enjoyed your post and especially enjoyed the sweet photo of your daughter. Enjoy your fruits of summer. 🙂
Thank you Karen! The girl in the photo is a daughter of a friend. It was taken from a birthday party where each guest planted a summer flower to bring home as a party favor.
Sorry for the mistake but a lovely photo nonetheless.
Mmmm….I love how you’re using all the gorgeous fresh produce of the season! I need to used up the peaches in my freezer before I start buying up the new crop 🙂
We certainly love all of the fresh produce, their flavors and vitamins 🙂 I would love having so many fresh peaches that some would actually make it in the freezer…but they are an import product for us!
Thank you for always making me smile with the evocative, sweet pictures of food in the earth, on plates, being tended to by your children, being enjoyed. It’s always such a pleasure. Sophie
Thank you so much Sophie, made me smile!
beautiful warm pictures…just lovely. I’m looking forward to strawberry season.
Thank you! The strawberry season usually arrives quickly and before you know it has passed just a little too quickly 🙂
These pictures are great!
Thanks!
I love strawberries, such beautiful pictures!
I do too, and we try to eat as many fresh strawberries as possible since the season always slips by so fast!
Alas, our strawberry season just ended. I used up the last of them in strawberry muffins. Of course, I haven’t had time to put my strawberry post out. Soon perhaps 🙂
These smoothies would have been a great way to use up the last bit of strawberries, which I always have since they are soooo good and I always buy too many….
I’ll be sure to read your strawberry post when you put it out! 🙂 Fortunately frozen strawberries work wonderful in smoothies as well!
Lovely! Your pictures are a feast for the eyes!
Thank you so much!
oh myy…your strawberries are gorgeous! so is the grilled vegetable salad. I would love to try it.
I was quite pleased to have a houseful of enthusiastic strawberry pickers 🙂 It made the whole process so much quicker…especially since they destemmed while picking, freezing them was quite simple! The grilled vegie salad is simple and easily adjusted…just check and see what is available in your fridge!
mmmh…this looks so delicious! And I love the girl´s braid too. (:
I love her braid too 🙂 and thanks for stopping by!
I love strawberry season, it’s my favourite fruit and time of the year! Hope you had a lovely 4th of July 🙂
Our 4th of July was a relaxed day and quite near to the normal since there are no fireworks here in Finland…but on the weekend we had some fellow Americans over. Thanks for stopping over!
The salad looks so good. 🙂
Thank you Imelda!
such a sweet post – i love the hair braid 🙂
yummY! It all sound SO delicious!
This is the first year I chose the self-pick option as well! Just yesterday I came back with a basket full of raspberries. I love raspberries 🙂
I absolutely love raspberries…they are my favorite! I found a raspberry patch in the woods and have made several trips there. The only downside is that you need to be fully dressed to protect from the stinging nettle 🙂