Frozen Mashed Strawberries (makes about 24 ice-cube size servings)

In 2022, I bought way more strawberries than I needed to make my annual supply of Strawberry Jam. In past years, this isn't a problem as the extra strawberries are eaten before they go bad. But after a week I realized that wasn't going to happen. 

Knowing the water content of strawberries and knowing my freezer likes to “dry out” high water fruits and vegetables if they're not cooked or preserved in some way, like zucchini or strawberries, my mind went back to a cartoon I saw as a child about making ice cubes out of, I think, orange juice. The juice of mashed strawberries is consistency of water. Having nothing to lose, I decided to try freezing mashed strawberries with the intent of thawing them out in the winter as topping for pancakes, waffles or biscuits. What I learned in the following weeks is this made a great substitute for Italian Ice. 

Frozen Mashed Strawberries 

3 cups (about 3 pints) of Strawberries Rinse strawberries and remove their caps. Depending upon size of strawberries and freshness, slice and remove any “over ripe soft spots” (you'll know these when you see them). 

Put strawberries in a 3 quart pot.  Crush with a potato masher or your hands. 

Slowly spoon mashed strawberry mixture into ice cube molds. Do not over fill. 

Place trays flat in freezer for 18 hours or until cubes in center of tray are frozen solid. Remove trays from freezer and place upside down on plate for 2 – 5 minute to begin thawing process. Gently remove frozen mashed strawberry mixture and serve or place in freezer-safe ziploc bag and return to freezer for future use.

Frozen mashed strawberries,

ice cube size

Gingersnaps (makes 75 cookies)

Lately, I've been craving ginger. I know it's due to spring in New England kicking up my allergies. Ginger, for whatever reason, dries out my allergy congested sinuses. While I've been enjoying the regular cup of ginger tea with honey and lemon, I've been thinking of this gingersnap recipe which I used to make many years ago. 

Just out of the oven and still warm, the cookies would be soft and chewy. By the time they completely cooled, they had their “snap” making them a good compliment to a glass of milk. If you want a “glistening” look to your gingersnaps, roll cookie in white sugar before baking. 

Gingersnaps (makes 75 cookies) 

1 cup (2 sticks) butter 

1 cup white sugar 

1 egg 

¼ cup molasses 

1 tablespoon baking soda 

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

1 teaspoon ground cloves 

½ teaspoon ground ginger 

2 cups flour 

Extra sugar for rolling (optional) 

Place oven rack on middle run setting. Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit. 

Place butter in a large microwave safe bowl and microwave on high 30 – 60 seconds or until butter is melted. Add sugar and cream. Stir in egg and molasses. Add baking soda, cinnamon, ground cloves, ground ginger and flour and mix well. If dough is too bland, add equal amounts of cinnamon, cloves and ginger to suit taste. 

(Optional) Sprinkle a small plate with white sugar. Drop and then roll rounded teaspoons of dough in sugar to give cookie a glistening look. 

Drop rounded teaspoons of dough on non-stick cookie sheet about 1 – 2 inches apart. Bake in oven for 7 – 10 minutes or until edges are golden brown. 

Cool cookies on wire rack. 

Store cooled cookies in airtight container.

Mixed Nuts with Dried Cranberries or Chocolate Chips (makes about 2 cups)

This recipe was inspired by Trader Joe's Omega Trek Mix which I purchased last summer for a pot luck picnic and had a balance of salty and sweet which I liked. While this nut mix doesn't contain pepitas (pumpkin seeds) nor pistachios, feel free to omit the dried cranberries or substitute for equal amount of semi-sweet chocolate chips. 

Mixed Nuts with Dried Cranberries (makes about 2 cups) 

1 cup (¼ pound) roasted salted almonds or 1 cup raw almonds, ½ tablespoon canola oil and 3/8 teaspoon kosher salt 

1/3 cup shelled walnuts 

1/3 cup shelled pecans 

1/3 cup dried cranberries or 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 

1/3 cup raw sunflower seeds (optional) 

If using raw almonds, pre-heat oven to 275 degrees fareneheit. In a small to medium size mixing bowl combine raw almonds, canola oil and salt until almonds are well coated. Place almonds in single layer on cookie sheet. Bake 45 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely. 

In a medium size mixing bowl combine almonds, walnuts, pecans, dried cranberries or semi-sweet chocolate chips and optional raw sunflower seeds. Serve. Store any leftovers in airtight container in refrigerator.

Almonds, pecans, walnuts with dried cranberries

Homemade Sports Drink, Julie's on demand version

This is a variation of a recipe from the June 2011 print edition of Yoga Journal which doesn't require chilling drink prior to consuming. 

1 cup hot water 

2 tablespoons lemon juice 

Pinch of salt 

1 teaspoon honey, maple syrup or agave nectar 

1 cup cold or room temperature water 

In a heat safe container which can hold just over 2 cups, combine hot water, lemon juice, salt, honey, maple syrup or agave nectar. Let sit for 90 seconds. Gradually stir in cold water. Serve.

Pink Purse Cake

Many years ago while shopping at local discount retailer Ocean State Job Lot with friends, we came across a cookbook titled “All-New Cake Mix Magic” where on the back of the cookbook was photo a “pink purse” cake. Encouraged to make this cake by these friends for our next pot luck, I gave it a try. 

Pink Purse Cake 

1 package (about 18 ounces) yellow cake mix, plus ingredients to prepare mix 

½ cup seedless raspberry preserves 

1 container (16 ounces) white frosting Red food coloring 

Black string licorice or Twizzlers twist black licorice

(Optional) licorice candies (like Good & Plenty), black jelly beans, pastel egg sprinkles 

Place oven rack on middle run.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit. 

Prepare cake mix according to package directions for 13x9-inch cake. Bake cake according to package directions. Cool cake in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove cake from pan to wire rack; cool cake completely. 

From short (9 inch) end use wooden pick to divide the 13 inch length cake into 4 sections with ½ inch scrap: 2 ½ inches, 3 inches, 3 ¼ inches, 3 ¾ inches or 2 ¼ inches, 2 ¾ inches, 3 inches, 3 ½ inches if cake receded from edges of pan during baking or shrunk during cooling process (which happened to me). Use serrated knife to cut cake into these 4 sections. Discard ½ inch strip of excess cake. 

Place widest section of cake cut side down on cake board or serving platter. Spread left side of this piece with preserves; attach next widest section cut side down to left of widest section (the preserves is acting as “glue” for these two pieces as top becomes a downward angled slope). Spread left side of section just attached with preserves; attach next widest section cut side down to left of this section. Spread left side of this section with preserves; attaching smallest section of cake to left. Cake should gradually slope downward from right to left. 

To make purse shape, measure 1 inch from side of smallest cake section. Using serrated knife, cut back to corner of tallest section making smallest section shorter than tallest section. Repeat on other side of cake. Discard scraps. 

Cover cake with foil or plastic wrap and freeze cake for several hours before frosting. 

Tint frosting pink using red food coloring. Remove cake from freezer. Frost cake on top and all sides.

To decorate cake, use string of black licorice and gently press into frosting to outline purse flap or strap. Cut ½ inch pieces of black licorice to resemble stitching. Use 5 Good & Plenty pieces to create flower petals and cut a 6th in half to create flower center. To make strap, use another string of black licorice, pushing ends of licorice string into bottom of short end of cake.

Pink Purse Cake decorated with 

Twizzlers twist black licorice 

and 

Good & Plenty Flowers

Hermit Cookies (makes about 18 cookies)

 My first introduction to Hermit Cookies was when I was in college and bought a package of Archway Hermit Cookies. These were soft, chewy rectangular cookies. I can't remember if they contained nuts, raisins or both. I just remember they were soft and chewy. Craving these cookies many years later, I went searching on-line for a recipe and found this one, which according to hard print copy I have “.... dates back to Sun-Maid's 1923 cookbook.” 

In writing up this post, I went searching on-line again for this Sun-Maid recipe. After multiple searches, sadly, I could not find it as this recipe is a variation of this Sun-Maid version. 

According to a 2016 article from Bon Appetit, there' no clear answer how this cookie got this name nor where it originated from. There are many varieties as a current search for “hermit cookie recipe” yielded over 3,000 results. If anything, this is a versatile cookie. 

Hermit Cookies 

¼ cup shortenting or butter, softened 

¼ cup sugar ¼ cup firmly packed brown sugar 

1 egg 

1 cup all purpose flour 

1 teaspoon baking powder 

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

½ teaspoon nutmeg 

1/8 teaspoon cloves (optional) 

½ cup raisins 

½ cup chopped walnuts 

Place oven rack on middle run setting. Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit. 

In a large mixing bowl, combine shortening or butter, sugar, brown sugar and eggs; beat until light and fluffy. 

Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, if using. Mix well. Stir in raisins and walnuts.

Drop dough by rounded teaspoons onto non-stick cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake in oven for 12 – 15 minutes or until lightly browned. 

Cool cookies on wire rack. Store cooled cookies in airtight container.

Oven Roasted Green Beans (serves 2 – 4)

If you've perused any of my recipes, you've noticed I roast a lot of vegetables,--eggplant, baby carrots, roma tomatoes. Until it was mentioned to me a couple of months ago I would've never thought of roasting green beans. Of course, I had to try it. This is a variation on the Roasted Green Bean recipe from the Healthy Recipes Blog. 

Oven Roasted Green Beans (serves 2 – 4) 

¼ – ½ pound green beans 

1 tablespoon olive oil 

½ teaspoon onion powder 

½ teaspoon garlic power 

1) Wash green beans, remove any stems, palce in airtight container and refrigerate 5 hours to overnight. 

2) Place oven rack on middle run setting. Preheat oven to 425 degrees farenheit. 

3) Line a 15 inch by 10 inch baking sheet with aluminum foil (this make cleaup easier). 

4) In a medium bowl, coat green beans with olive oil. 

5) Spread beans in a single layer on baking sheet. 

6) Sprinkle onion powder and garlic powder atop beans. 

7) Bake 10 – 15 minutes in oven. Beans will make “sizzle” sound as they cook. 

8) Cool 1-2 minutes. Serve.

9) Store any leftovers in airtight container in refrigerator.  

Roasted Green Beans Ready to Eat