Mistake Cake, by Diane

This is a recipe I have been making for years for our family and I have just never thought to post it! This cake is a riff on a strawberry shortcake, but we make it with blueberries for the 4th of July each year. The cake gets its name from a mistake that went wrong but so good it's oh so right and now we make it this way every year! A few 4th of July's ago, I tried to make whipped cream from scratch using whipping cream and sugar, then assembled the layers of the cake and put it in the fridge before our cookout. By the end of the meal, the whipped cream had turned to liquid and essentially melted through the layers of the cake. What started out as a massive disappointment turned into quite the discovery as the cake soaked up all the sugary creamy goodness and now we will never make it any other way!! This cake is so freakin' delicious and absolutely the taste of summer. YUM.

Ingredients:

1 ring angel food cake

1 pint strawberries, sliced

1 pint blueberries

1 8oz container heavy whipping cream

1/2- 1 1/2 cups sugar

Canned whipped cream

Directions:

1. Slice the angel food cake into three even layers and poke each layer several times with a fork, set aside. 

2. Mix cream and sugar until the sugar dissolves (use your desired level of sweetness).

3. Assemble the cake by starting with the bottom layer and drizzling about 8 tbsp of the cream mixture onto the cake, making sure it soaks in. Then cover with berries and place the next cake layer on top. 

4. Repeat for all layers, and the drizzle more cream mixture over the outsides and inside of the cake, reserving some "mistake cake sauce" for serving. Chill for 30-60 minutes to allow the sauce to absorb.

5. When ready to serve, top with dollops of canned whipped cream and berries and serve with a side of the magic sauce. Yum!!!

Whole30 Chocolate Covered Strawberries, by Diane

This week I got a fruit mix that contained strawberries, which I don’t like by themselves. But there was a bunch of them sitting in the bottom of the container and I couldn’t let them go to waste, so I created a chocolate coating for them that was whole 30 compliant. These are delicious!


Ingredients:

12 Strawberries
3 tbsp Cocoa powder
1 tbsp Coconut oil
1 tbsp Date syrup


Directions:

1. In a small bowl, melt 1 tbsp of coconut oil.

2. Mix in cocoa powder and date syrup and stir until smooth.

3. Using a fork, dip the strawberries in one by one and coat twice, leaving a few seconds for the first coat to congeal before dipping again.

4. Place the strawberries gently on a parchment paper lined plate. Once hardened, transfer to a container and freeze.

Mood Changer Juice, by Diane

The local juice shop by me has this delicious juice called the Mood Changer. It has all kinds of ingredients that have mood boosting effects, and it's really good! A few mornings ago, I was prepping to my make typical AM green juice (apple, kale, parsley, lemon, ginger, and cucumber) but I had some strawberries that were about to go bad. I realized that all of the ingredients except the parsley and cucumber were in the Mood Changer juice, so I threw the strawberries into the mix. I kept the parsley and cucumber too, because why mess with perfection and hydration! This combo turned out to be SO good, I will definitely have it on regular rotation now! The apples I've been using are fresh picked from a local orchard, and having them fresh and in season definitely helps as well.

Ingredients:

1 small green or yellow apple, preferably tart or sweet and sour like a Cameo
1 inch ginger (use 1/2 this if you don't like the taste)
10 small-medium strawberries
1 small handful parsley, leaves only
3 large leaves of kale, stalks included
1 small cucumber, peeled
1/2 lemon, rind removed


Directions:

Juice the first three ingredients together, then the greens, then the cucumber and lemon last. Stir and drink immediately!

Whole Wheat Waffles, by Cheryl

For some reason I thought I needed a waffle maker. I don't know why. So my little red and silver waffle maker was delivered yesterday and I decided to make some whole wheat waffles for me and Julia this morning. It was actually really cool seeing her face when the batter turned into waffles. She said, "Whoaaaa".  These were really tasty and it is a solid recipe to follow. I halved the recipe and it made 3 large waffles. We had them with strawberries and some warm maple syrup. Yum!

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1.75 cups milk
1/4 cup melted butter or oil (I used melted butter)
1 tablespoon honey (I used maple syrup)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
Optional toppings: maple syrup, fruit, etc.

Directions:

1) Preheat waffle iron.

2) Whisk together the eggs, milk, butter, syrup (or honey), cinnamon, and baking soda until well combined.

3) Add in the flour, baking powder, and salt, and whisk together until the large lumps have disappeared.

4) Ladle about 1/2 cup of batter into the center of the waffle iron. My waffle iron has a green indicator light when it's ready, but if yours doesn't then cook for about 3-4 minutes.

5) Top with toppings!

Strawberry Chicken Farro Salad, by Cheryl

I finally had time to read all of my Eating Well magazines since I have two weeks off from graduate school and had a couple of long flights to keep me entertained. This recipe comes from the magazine and let me just tell you it was scrumptious! Normally I don't do salads as a main course for dinner, but adding the farro in with the salad makes it more like a sweet and savory bowl rather than just a salad. And I knew that by adding that grain that Jon would find it more hearty as well and would therefore eat it up! The marinade the strawberries were in was the perfect dressing and went so well with all of the other ingredients. My final product did not have toasted pecans, but instead just regular chopped ones since I burned the first batch (don't let those suckers out of your sight for a second... they burn quickly!) and I didn't want to risk burning more. Second, the recipe calls for feta cheese which we didn't have. I think blue cheese would go so well with this though. Definitely a keeper. Yum!

Ingredients:

Olive oil
1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon honey ( I used maple syrup)
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme
black pepper
salt
2 cups halved strawberries
2 (4-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast cutlets
paprika
4 cups fresh baby spinach
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
3 tablespoons chopped pecans, toasted
feta cheese, crumbled

Directions:

1) Combine 1 tablespoon oil, the vinegar, honey, thyme, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a bowl and stir with a whisk. Add 1 cup strawberries, tossing to coat. Let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes.

2) Meanwhile, cook farro according to package directions.

3) Heat a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Brush chicken with remaining 1 teaspoon oil; sprinkle evenly with pepper, salt, and paprika. Coat pan with oil or cooking spray. Add chicken to pan and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side or until done. Remove and let stand for 5 minutes.

4) Divide farro, spinach, 1 cup strawberries and onion between 2 plates or bowls. Top evenly with chicken and strawberry-balsamic mixture. Top each serving with pecans and cheese.