Strawberry Everything and Chicken

So it turns out that strawberry season starts early in Georgia. Really early. So early, if you don't know this, you just might miss it. After the last few years of living back in Virginia, I had marked on my mental calendar to get those strawberries by late May/early June. Georgia strawberries arrived this year at the beginning of April. That said, I had a little help from the local farms. I didn't do the picking myself, but I made sure the berries were about two minutes off the vine before I took them home with me.

I didn't get to make any jam last year, as we were right in the middle of graduating a high school senior in our house, and we were about to make another big move. This year, I am making up for last year's loss. I have tried several versions of strawberry jam, but I still go back to a simple and flawless recipe right off the back of the Ball Real Fruit Classic Pectin jar. It's easy, and there's not much to it, and it turns out great every time!! *Reduced sugar recipe below. It's still sooooo sweet. 

Strawberry Jam

4 quarts of strawberries 

(8 cups mashed/processed)

9 tbsp Ball Classic Pectin

*6 cups sugar

2 teas butter

After washing strawberries and removing the caps, place them in a long pan and mash with a masher or  pulse in blender or food processor. Barely pulse unless you don't want chunks. I love the chunks. 

The rest is easy. Pour strawberries into a dutch oven or good pot that doesn't stick, and gradually add pectin. Add butter here as well to reduce foam. Stir to dissolve. Bring to a boil that won't stir down. Add in all of the sugar at once, and keep stirring until completely dissolved. Bring to a boil again, and allow to boil hard for one minute. You might want to wear an old tee shirt for this (learned that the hard way). Remove from heat and fill sterilized jars. Place new lids on jars that have been simmering in water and secure with rings. This makes around a dozen half pints or six pints. I process my jam in a water bath canner at a rolling boil for 10 minutes. Then I remove the lid and allow them to stay in canner for five more minutes. Remove and cover jars with a towel overnight.

After a little bit of hard work, I get to share some and eat some. My favorite morning treat is PB&SJ toast. 

While I was making the jam, I set aside enough strawberries for dinner. We love sweet salads, and Strawberry Basil Salad seems like the perfect paring with Lemon Chicken. We are always trying to find new ways to marinate and grill chicken because...we eat a LOT of chicken. I had this one in mind, as it makes for great leftovers to add in to another salad later.

Lemon Chicken Marinade

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup white wine 

Juice and zest of one lemon

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp fresh rosemary

1 tbsp fresh thyme

2 large cloves minced garlic

Combine all ingredients and marinate 4-5 chicken breasts for at least 8 hours, but overnight is better.

We grilled the chicken, and served with Strawberry Basil Salad.

Strawberry Basil Salad

spinach

2 green onions, sliced

4-5 basil leaves, julienned 

strawberries

feta

Craisins

glazed pecans

Dressing

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup vinegar

3 tbsp honey

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 teas sugar

1/4 teas salt

After being so good and healthy for dinner, there was room for a little dessert. This next recipe was the whole reason I decided to blog about strawberries. After four years, I have finally arrived at the best recipe EVER for strawberry ice cream. It's soooo worth the effort, and it's not even that much effort. 

Strawberry Ice Cream

2 pints fresh strawberries*

(should be around 2 cups after 

mashing or processing)

2 tbsp bottled lemon juice

4 large eggs

3 cups of sugar, divided

2 cups heavy whipping cream

3 cups milk**

1 cup half and half

2 teas vanilla 

*I pulse berries in a food processor so there aren't big ice chunks in the ice cream

** I used 1% milk , b/c that's what we always have in the fridge

Combine mashed strawberries, lemon juice and 1/2 cup of sugar in a bowl and refrigerate at least one hour. This next step is optional. I am not a fan of raw eggs, so I temper them first. To do that, I heated the milk and remaining 1-1/2 cups of sugar over the stove until very hot (not quite boiling). I then added a cup of the hot mixture slowly into the beaten eggs while whisking. Mix well, and then slowly add the egg mixture back into the remaining milk/sugar mixture in pot on stove. Continue to heat and stir until almost a boil. Remove from heat and add half and half, whipping cream and vanilla. Stir and refrigerate also an hour, but I recommend longer to make the ice cream process shorter. 

When everything is chilled to your desire, process in whatever type of ice cream maker you have. We used to only have the hand cranking one when I was a kid, but I thought it was so much fun! 

Try not to eat it straight out of the container. 

Naaahhh. Go ahead!! You deserve it!! Look how hard you just worked!! 

My family loved it!! I will make this every year!! 

Bite of history

A woman by the name of Nancy Johnson received the first U.S. patent for the hand-cranked ice cream maker in 1843. I love you, Nancy!!!