Strawberries

In Japan, the strawberries are always delicious! Sweet and rich in flavor! Strawberries are in season here in Louisiana and boy are they good. We have eaten through 4 boxes of strawberries already in the last week. I would love to share a recipe that has become a family favorite, Crunchy Strawberry Salad.

1 pkg ramen noodles
1 c chopped walnuts
1/4 c butter
1/4 c vegetable oil
1/4 c sugar
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp soy sauce
8 c romaine lettuce
1/2 c chopped green onion
2 c fresh strawberries, sliced

Break noodles into small pieces and saute them with the walnuts in the butter until golden, about 8-10minutes. In a jar (or screw top container) combine oil, sugar, vinegar, and soy sauce and shake well. Combine all ingredients and toss just before serving.

When we make this, we skip the butter step to save a few unnecessary calories and you can adjust the dressing to you taste, sometimes I like to use less oil and more red wine vinegar. This is delicious by itself or with a grilled chicken breast on  top of it.

Also, we like to make Strawberry Pie, a quick and easy, hard to mess up, recipe.

1 graham cracker pie shell
1 package of strawberries, sliced
1 c sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 c water

I like to begin by pulling a few of the "not-so-pretty" strawberries out of the package and mashing them up really small. I put these strawberries in a sauce pan, add the water and bring to a boil to get all the flavor out of the strawberries. Then you can strain it if you want those little strawberry pieces out of the glaze. Combine the sugar and cornstarch and add to the strawberry essenced water and cook until thick. You can add a few drops of red food coloring if you want the glaze bright red. Allow the glaze to cool then combine the glaze and the strawberries, mixing thoroughly, and pour into the pie shell. Refrigerate a few hours until set. Serve with whipped cream!

I have also made this pie using a reduced fat graham cracker pie shell, splenda, and a tad more corn starch and it turned out delicious.