Strawberry Tart with Vanilla Cream

Strawberries are the perfect accompaniment to a summer dessert, and this recipe makes for an easy treat so you can spend your evening relaxing on the patio with a cool drink rather than fussing over a dessert inside. The hardest part of the whole recipe is to keep yourself from eating the vanilla cream with a spoon. So as long as you have a little self-control you're all good.

Vanilla Cream

• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened

Vanilla Cream Directions:

1. Blend the vanilla, sugar, and cream cheese until smooth. Add more vanilla extract if it is too thick (should not form peaks when stirred). Set aside until you're ready to serve the tart.

StrawberryTart Ingredients:

• 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed according to directions on the package
• 1 pint fresh strawberries, rinsed and sliced
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup cream cheese, softened
• 1 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Strawberry Tart Directions:

1. Preheat the oven 400 F. 
2. Beat the egg, cream cheese, brown sugar, and vanilla with a whisk until smooth and almost pillowy, about 3 minutes.
3. Roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface into a large rectangle about 1/2" thick (roughly 10x16"). Prick the dough with a fork every three inches or so.
4. Blind bake for 4 minutes, then remove the puff pastry from the oven. Spoon and spread the cream cheese mixture over the pastry, leaving about 1 inch border un-touched (like a pizza). Bake for an additional 8-10 minutes, until the pastry is golden around the edges.
5. Top with the sliced strawberry wedges and let it cool to room temp before drizzling on the vanilla cream. Use a pizza cutter to slice up the tart into squares before serving, as is or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

White Sangria with Strawberries

This is unbelievably easy and perfect for those times that you want to get your party on but also pretend to be classy, like when you host ladies night at your place or bring a specialty drink to a barbeque.

To be quite honest before last weekend I had never made White Sangria, so I was a bit nervous. I mean, you pour everything in and have to hope for the best! Yikes!

However, after a Pinterest binge and a chat with a really friendly woman at the liquor store I just went for it. The beauty of Sangria is that you can tweak it to be what you want, not what it should be.

Also quite the bonus, you don't have to splurge on a crazy expensive wine, because all of the other ingredients will smooth out any cheapo wine you pick.

Makes 8-10 tumbler-sized servings (you'll probably want to double, triple, quadruple this recipe, it's just so dang delicious)

Ingredients:

• 1 pint strawberries, sliced (about 2 cups sliced)
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 orange, halved
• 1 lemon 
• 1 bottle Pinot Grigio
• 1/2 cup Triple Sec
• 16-24 oz. ginger ale

Directions: 

1. In a small sauce pan add the strawberries and orange juice. Lightly simmer until the orange juice thickens to a more syrupy consistency, about for 8-10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, slice the orange and lemon and place in a large pitcher.  Add the strawberries, wine, and Triple Sec. Use a long spoon to mix the fruit and wine, then let it sit covered in your fridge at least 4 hours (overnight if you can!). Pour in 16oz. ginger ale right before serving (adding more if needed).
3. Serve with a ladle, scooping some fruit into each cup as well. 

Substitution Options: 
Orange juice:  Any other citrus juice such as limeade, lemonade, or grapefruit juice etc.
Triple Sec:  Brandy, Cointreau, or White Rum
Ginger ale: Sprite, 7-up, Lemonade
Fruit: Apples, peaches, pineapple, mango... really anything that's in season!

Strawberry Balsamic Jam

I've been trying to get back to basics lately, trying to DIY and re-purpose and not be such a lump, and canning is something I've always wanted to master. Yesterday I took the plunge - I bought a canning kit! I considered buying everything separate then I realized that I would be setting myself up for disaster if I didn't have the right tools (plus, how would I know that I didn't have everything?)... so I bought myself a complete canning kit. And I'm so glad I did -- it made canning a breeze and now I just want to can everything I see!

This was an excellent recipe as a beginner, and it boosted my confidence, gave me a can-do attitude... get it? CAN do? Anyway, this recipe is great for testing the water - it makes 2 jars, takes less than 45 minutes working at a snail's pace, and it makes you feel like a gosh darn pioneer.

Makes 2 mason jars
Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 quarts of strawberries (about 10 cups)
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 packet of pectin
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

Other tools/supplies: 
Potato masher
Canning kit (1 large stock pot, canning rack, jar tongs, 2 mason jars + lid/band for each, funnel)

Directions:

1.  Place the jars, lids and bands in the large pot and cover with water, simmer as you work (this sanitizes the jars/lids)
2. Rinse the strawberries then hull them (aka lop off the stem). Place them in a rimmed baking sheet then mash with the potato masher -- leave it lumpy but make sure each strawberry gets smashed apart. Now here is where you have a couple options: Place the strawberries in a bowl and add 1 cup of the sugar, let it macerate overnight then continue. Or, you can be impatient like me and just forge ahead. 
3. Pour the strawberries into a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the sugar (or the remaining sugar if you decided to let it macerate) and stir constantly, cook for about 10 minutes. Bring the strawberries to a rolling boil and add the pectin. Turn the heat down to medium low and cook for 5 minutes stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and stir in the balsamic vinegar.
4. Remove the jars and lids from the water with your tongs, set them on a clean dishtowel. Turn the heat to high--we want to bring the water to a boil. Place the funnel in one jar and pour the jam in until it's no more than 1/2 inch from the top. Do the same for the other jar. Wipe the rim, place the lid on and screw on the band to fingertip tightness. 
5. Place the jars back in the water bath (use the tongs! The jars will be hot hot hot from the jam), cover with a lid, and boil for 10-15 minutes. Use the tongs to remove the jars from the water and set them somewhere where they can sit upright and undisturbed for 24-48 hours.
6. Consume jam within 1 week of opening, but as long as the top is concave (it shouldn't pop when pressed) it will keep indefinitely. 

Note:
Shelf life-- I found recipes and blogs and articles about the shelf life of homemade canned jam, and I found that if you sealed it properly and gave it the water bath at the start, you should be good indefinitely. If you blew off the water bath, you're on borrowed time. If the lids pop when you press them, it's time to eat up. Otherwise, your jam should last through the winter. Of course, this is my first time canning jam so I doubt my jam will last longer than a week or so because I will eat it all!
Sugar-- Most recipes I found told me to have a 1:1 berry to sugar ratio, but I am not a fan of super sugary foods so I had 8 cups of strawberries and 2 cups of sugar... and it was sweeeeet. As you can see in my photo, I didn't have enough jam to really fill up the jars all the way, so I adjusted the recipe for y'all.