for the love of strawberries

I've never been a huge fan of fruits and veggies.  I like them, I'll eat them, but they're usually not something I crave.  But, lately there are a few that I just can't seem to get enough of.  One of those is sauteed zucchini.  Yum!  Especially with a little Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.  The other is fresh strawberries.  They're in season now, which means that every grocery store I go to has huge displays and great prices for the berries.  My kids will occasionally eat them, plus they're super good for you.  The only problem I have had is buying too much, then trying to figure out what to do with the excess.  I have found a solution to that problem:

Strawberry Sauce  from Ourbestbites.com!  Can I just say Y.U.M!  This stuff knocked my socks off.  I must have eaten five or six spoonfuls before I could get it put away.  I seriously wanted to pour it in a bowl and eat it like soup.  It's simple, quick and easy to make.  You could make it with Splenda instead of sugar and it would be incredibly diet-friendly.  I made it with sugar.  I'm totally at peace with that.  :)  I have great plans for strawberry shortcake, pancakes, ice cream sundaes, maybe even soup.  Why not? 

You can follow the link to ourbestbites.com , (though I warn you, stay away if you're watching your calories).  It is my favorite recipe site of all time- everything I have tried from it has turned out fabulous.  Or, if you don't want to end up spending hours drooling over recipes, here's the Strawberry Sauce:

Strawberry Sauce

1 pint strawberries

1/3 c. white sugar

1 tsp. almond extract (my favorite) or vanilla extract

Wash strawberries and remove stems. If you’re feeling ambitious, you can roughly chop the berries, but I say you’re already feeling ambitious enough by making your own strawberry sauce. So don’t sweat it.

Combine berries, sugar, and extract in medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook for five minutes, stirring/breaking strawberries up with a wooden spoon constantly.

After five minutes, remove from heat and allow to cool slightly (if you have a glass blender jar) and a lot (if you have a plastic blender jar). When cool enough, transfer mixture to blender and pulse until desired consistency is reached. 

I used a potato masher to squash the berries while they were simmering- that seemed to make it easier for the blender to process the sauce quickly, without making it too frothy.   Mine turned out thick and smooth, perfect.  I froze some of it, and put the rest in the fridge.  Seriously, if you even kind of like strawberries, try it.