I was Facebook resistant for years. Years.
Then my niece convinced me I could lock a Facebook page down so tight that my name wouldn’t even appear in a search. I was ok with that.
I have 42 friends. That’s all.
Thankfully, one of them is my friend Jeannette from high school. We reconnected last summer through our other friend, Kristen.
Jeannette lives an hour away. But it is an hour that all Inland Empire Californians are happy to drive. When it is 117 degrees in my town for the entire month of July, it is a sea-cooled 80 in coastal North County.
Which means that while the rest of the nation is digging out from that last Spring snow, or sandbagging for the Spring thaw, in Southern California, we have this:
The other day we piled up the kids and went to a U-Pick field.
Kate had the bucket for 10 minutes and not one strawberry made it in. Not one.
And yes, she did accessorize it up for this adventure.
Gabe took picking seriously, so much that he was standing in six inches of mud to get the best berries. “I had to” he told me.
(Sigh. See previous post.)
Annie was mostly unimpressed, but that’s because I woke her up from a nap.
At the end, the kids had strawberry juice everywhere. Evan is actually dripping in this picture.
Luckily, I had wipes. We cleaned them up before we walked backed to the car, past the sign that said “No eating while picking”.
On the ride home, we talked about what to do with all our strawberries. Gabe and I decided we would make a strawberry cream pie. So we turned this:
Into this:
I had to hurry, because every moment, there were less and less berries in the bowl.
Shea blames Lizzie, but I’m on to him. Her fur is white. If she was eating berries, I would know.
Thanks to Go Bold With Butter (www.goboldwithbutter.com) for the recipe:
Strawberry Cream Pie
Vanilla Cream Filling:
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons flour
¼ teaspoon salt
2/3 cup sugar
3 cups half and half
1 teaspoon vanilla
Crust:
1 ½ cups chocolate cookie crumbs (I used chocolate Teddy Grahams and processed them in the mini-prep)
½ cup butter, melted
1 quart strawberries
Directions:
Begin by making the filling. In a medium-size saucepan, whisk together cornstarch, flour, salt and sugar. In a small bowl, whisk together half-and-half, egg yolks and vanilla. Slowly pour the egg mixture into the cornstarch mixing, whisking constantly. Bring the mixture to a boil, whisking constantly. When it thickens, remove from heat, and push through a fine sieve. Cover the surface with plastic wrap and chill for at least 4 hours. This can be made 24 hours ahead of time.
Hull strawberries, cut in half and toss with a tablespoon of sugar. Let rest for two hours.
To make the crust, preheat the oven to 350°. Mix the cookie crumbs with melted butter and press into a 9-inch pie plate. Bake for 10 minutes, cool completely on a rack.
Pour the vanilla filling into the cooled crust. Arrange strawberries over the top of the pie.
Keep the pie in the fridge until ready to serve.
Nutritional Information (10 servings):
Calories: 408; Fat: 23; Cholesterol: 181 mg; Carbs: 43.9; Protein: 7.7;
The recipe got a grade of D in terms of health. But it’s homemade. And it has 68% of required daily Vitamin C.
That counts for something, right?
Full Of Graces 