Strawberry Salad with Walnuts and Red Onion

 I'm always a bit skeptical of salad "recipes" because, let's face it, a salad is just tossing a bunch of things together.

Why the need for a recipe?

This one is a personal favorite of mine, and though it's usually done with my despised raw spinach, with lettuce it steals number one.

 So I guess with Labor Day weekend, end of summer strawberries might be hard to come by but salivating at the pictures is almost as good!

 "Ordinary Day" Vanessa Carlton

Ingredients:

• stawberries, sliced
• feta cheese, crumbled
• red onion, chopped
• walnuts, chopped
• spinach or lettuce
• balsamic vinegar

Directions:

Toss ingredients in balsamic vinegar.

Red, White, and Blue Layer Cake

 This cake was so good. Every part. Even though we left it to dry out for two days before eating!

 So this is a pretty amazing (not to mention delicious!)

 "I'm Leaving On a Jet Plane" (I wish!)

Ingredients

2 1/2 cup(s) cake flour

1 1/4 teaspoon(s) baking powder

3/4 teaspoon(s) salt

1/2 teaspoon(s) baking soda

3/4 cup(s) butter, softened

1 1/2 cup(s) sugar

2 tablespoon(s) sugar

1 cup(s) strawberry preserves

4 eggs

3/4 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract

Directions 

Bake the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two 9-inch cake pans with parchment paper. Lightly coat the pan with butter, dust with flour, and tap out excess. Set aside. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together and set aside. Cream the butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until light and fluffy in a large bowl using a mixer set at medium-high speed. Add the eggs one at a time. Separate the batter, putting half into another bowl. Add 3/4 cup preserves. Scrape down sides of bowl and beat in vanilla extract and the food coloring. Reduce mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture by thirds, alternating with the buttermilk and ending with a final addition of the dry ingredients. Divide the batter equally between the pans and spread evenly. Bake on the middle rack of oven until a tester inserted in the center of each cake layer comes out clean -- about 20 to 30 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.  Slice both cakes in half. Alternate spreading extra preserves and frosting on cake. Frost cake.

Ingredients

2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons butter or 2 tablespoons margarine, softened
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Combine until fluffy. 

 

 

Strawberry Filled Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting

The Music:

"Strawberry Fields Forever" (I know, I know. Talk about cliched)

 The cake was good. The filling was perfect.

The frosting was heavenly.

But left me feeling guilty.

I was going out on a limb. Frosting with flour?
and the ingredients were less than healthy.

 Whatever! Desserts are when we don't care about health correct? At least it has strawberries in it so it is kind of healthy.

 Plus, they look professional and I got to use the cake plate!

 Ugg... Maybe I'll make these again. The dripping frosting makes me crave this frosting.

 Bite shot

   

And another











THE FROSTING (I added some of the filling to the frosting to make it stawberry falvored)

THE FILLING:

• 32 ounces of fresh strawberries
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• Pinch of salt

Prepare strawberries by rinsing, draining, removing caps and cutting into small pieces. Place in a large bowl. Add sugar. Stir and allow to sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Strain the juice from the strawberries into a one-cup measure. Add enough water to make one cup of liquid. In a small saucepan, combine the strawberry liquid, lemon juice, cornstarch and salt.

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture boils and becomes thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Cool completely. Stir mixture into reserved strawberries. Stir. Using a blender, blend on low speed until filling is smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use. Any leftover strawberry filling may be kept for several days and used on toast, pancakes or mixed in plain Greek yogurt.

To fill the cupcakes you can use the large end of a piping tip, knife or apple corer to cut out a round section in the cupcake. Then fill the cupcake and put the cut-out portion of the cupcake back over the filling.

THE CAKE:

• 1 cup almond or soy milk
• 1 Tbsp. vinegar
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Add vinegar to almond or soy milk and set aside. Sift together all dry ingredients (cake flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar). Soften margarine in microwave (do not melt it completely), and add to dry ingredients.

Add remaining wet ingredients, and mix until just combined. Be careful to not over mix. Fill muffin tins 2/3 fu