Nana camp part 4 - all about strawberries

strawberry half

Sweet juicy delicious strawberries!  All the things you can do with them.  We made shortcakes, and jam and lemonade and crisp and dipped them in chocolate and other yummy things.  We also tagged them with Washi tape flags

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a cake eater......not cupcakes either.  For as much as I like to eat I really would rather that cake go to Marie Antoinette Qu'ils mangent de la brioche".  Give me strawberry shortcake on the other hand and I'm in.  Pair strawberries with rhubarb and I'll wait in line for it.  Add a crisp topping and I am in dessert heaven.  Well then you can always dip a perfect strawberry in dark chocolate...............

Reina and Gabriela have this beautiful strawberry patch in the back yard

so we are waiting until they get ripe for our next semester of camp

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First recipe: Strawberry shortcakes:

Individual strawberry shortcakes.  Paula Deen

Ingredients:

1 quart strawberries, hulled and quartered

sugar...1/4 cup + 3 Tbs  + 8 tsps

2 cups AP flour ( I always use King Alfred Flour)

1 Tbs baking powder - yes girls this is the leavening in this pastry

1/2 tsp salt

8 Tbs ( 1 cube) butter, cold and cubed

half and half   2/3 cup   + 1/4 cup

whipped cream - sweetened optional

garnish...I chose dark chocolate....Paula calls for mint leaves

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

In a medium bowl toss the strawberries and 1/4 cup sugar and set aside..

In a food processor toss together the flour, baking powder, salt and 3 Tbs sugar

Add cubed butter and blend until it is the consistency of corn meal

Place in a large mixing bowl.  We'll do the rest of the mixing by hand

Make a ball of the mixture and make a well with your fist.

Add 2/3 cup half and half and mix with a rubber spatula or fork.  DO NOT overmix or you will have a rock not a biscuit

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and fold it over itself a couple of times until it just holds together. Pat the dough out to 3/4-inch thickness and cut out 8 round 3-inch biscuits.

Transfer the biscuits to a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Brush the tops of each biscuit with the remaining half-and-half and sprinkle each with 1 teaspoon sugar ( I use sparkling sugar- it sparkles more) ). Bake in a preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until the biscuits have risen and are a light golden brown.

Remove from the oven and let cool slightly. Split each biscuit, spoon some strawberries on the bottom piece, then whipped cream and top with the other biscuit half. Garnish chocolate shavings or mint leaves and more strawberries.

shortcakes out of the oven

strawberry shortcake with Washi tape flag

Next project 

Strawberry Rhubarb jam:

This recipe is from Marisa McClellan  Here's her Food in Jars blog

Small Batch ( all Marisa's recipes are small batch) Strawberry rhubarb jam

Ingredients:

1 pound strawberries

1 pound rhubarb

1 1/2 cups sugar

Method:

Strawberries: rinse, pat dry, and cut into smaller pieces

Rhubarb: cut into 1/2" pieces

In a large bowl combine strawberries and rhubarb pieces; pour sugar over and mix.

Let stand at least 1 hour to get fruit juices to release

For small batches a wide (10" or 12") sauté pan is best for cooking and reduction.

Bring to a rapid boil and then reduce heat to simmer.

Cook for 10 to 12 minutes or until a large spoon can "part the read sea" successfully

Can or keep in fridge.

If canning bring a water bath to boil and process 10 minutes

Will make 3 half pints.  That's 3 cups total.  I said it was small batch

Everyone knows what a jar of jam looks like but look at this:

Reina put hers on waffles the next morning and topped it with more strawberries:

Strawberry rhubarb jam on a waffle topped with whipped cream and more strawberries

Since I had rhubarb I made a strawberry rhubarb crisp:

strawberry rhubarb crisp

Here's the recipe:

Ina Garten's strawberry rhubarb crisp

Ingredients:

4 cups rhubarb ( about 4 good sized stalks) cut into 1" pieces

4 cups strawberries, hulled and halved

Sugar  - 3/4 cups for filling, 1/2 cup for crisp topping

1 1/2 tsp grated orange zest

1 Tbs cornstarch

1/2 cup orange juice

1 cup AP flour

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup oatmeal

12 Tbs( 1 1/2 cubes) cold butter, cubed

Ice cream or whipped cream for serving

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 deg

For the fruit, toss the rhubarb, strawberries, 3/4 cup of the granulated sugar and the orange zest together in a large bowl. In a measuring cup, dissolve the cornstarch in the orange juice and then mix it into the fruit. Pour the mixture into an 8-by-11-inch baking dish and place it on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.

For the topping, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, the remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar, the brown sugar, salt and oatmeal. With the mixer on low speed, add the butter and mix until the dry ingredients are moist and the mixture is in crumbles. Sprinkle the topping over the fruit, covering it completely, and bake for 1 hour, until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is golden brown.

Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream

Note: The topping usually makes enough for 2 crisps.  I use what I think is right and then pop the remaining in the freezer to use later.

Next up  Strawberry lemonade:

strawberry lemonade

Here's a recipe from Ree Drummond

Makes 12-14 servings

ingredients:

2 pints strawberries, hulled and halved- a pint is just about a pound

3 cups sugar - or sweeten with Agave

2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice - 8-10 lemons

Method:

In a blender or food processor, puree the strawberries with 1 cup of the sugar and 1 cup of water.

In a large container, mix together 11 cups water, the remaining 2 cups sugar, the lemon juice and the strawberry mixture. Stir and taste, adding more sugar if you like. Refrigerate until well chilled.

Last but not least:

Dipped strawberries

We all love chocolate  dipped strawberries but these girls brought it to a new level:

We added white chocolate, coconut, sprinkles

dipped strawberries, mis en place

Here's the recipe:  Ina Garten's chocolate dipped strawberries

Ingredients:

1/2 cup chocolate chips

2 Tbs heavy cream

12 long stemmed strawberries

Method:

Melt the chocolate and cream together in a bain Marie or double boiler until just melted. Stir and remove from the heat. Dip each strawberry in the chocolate and set aside on waxed or parchment paper to dry.

And here are Reina's and Gabriela's masterpieces:

dipped strawberries

I think they made a lot more of these after we signed off

Well land now for the information learning part of Nana camp:

Propagation- the breeding  of a plant (or animal) by natural processes from the parent stock resulting in exactly the same plant---no GMOs here

We learned how to propagate a strawberry plant by planting the roots of a runner into it's own soil because next year we want even more strawberries.

Theme for 2 weeks - strawberries   Word of the theme--propagate.

Nana Camp 2020

Nana camp part 3

These two sweethearts make me smile

We started off as amateur physicists studying magnets and magnetism.  Did you know that our North and South "poles" are magnets?  That's why compasses always point North.  The North pole is a positive force magnet.   Well the fun part of physics week was making decorative magnets that you can use to attach to a surface to remind you of something.

under the sea magnets, et al

Gabriela's jelly fish

making space for the magnet

We chose to make under the sea magnets:
Here's Gabriela's jelly fishWe started with  the idea and templates from Purl Soho.  Try this website.  They offer superb yarns but also have felts and beads and other wonderful products

We used our templates; chose our creature; and started sewing.

The first time around our projected flopped because the magnet didn't really fit into the pocket space we had created so we came up with the "quarter" solution:

magnet now inside jelly fish head

This turned out to be fun and I now have beachy magnets hanging on to steel stuff

May the magnetic force be with you, young physicists!

The next week we explored biology - or zoology.  First we talked about mammals.  What do all mammals have in common?  Who are the exceptions? Why? Assignment: what is your favorite mammal?  Now let's draw her.   Reina chose an elephant.  Ask Reina anything about an elephant and she will give you the answer.  Gabriel thought a lot about it and chose a sea turtle.  Well that's my Gabriela.  I chose a goat!!! No surprise there.  And then this all made the next collage project possible.  First we sketched.  We talked about our mammals characteristics and which of these characteristics would make their artwork easily identifiable.

Theme of the week: mammals

Word of the week: oviparous     hmmmmm

collage elephant, Reina
So we all sketched our mammals and our oviparous animal and then got down to yet another collage project:

Gabriela's oviparous rainbow turtle.

and I chose to memorialize my sweet Sunflower who passed away this week:

you are my sunshine

my sunflower

Somewhere along the way we talked about Washi tape.   Never heard of it.  The girls already had some so I got busy and found some online and we made bookmarks from discarded thick paper (actually cereal and ice cream packaging)

supplies for Washi tape bookmarks

Gabriela's bookmarks

Now we all have a couple of bookmarks for our avid readers.

Somewhere along the way the girls also did a collage/paper mâché project with their name letters R and G   Here is Reina's

Reina

I'm still waiting for yours, Gabriela!!!

These two sweethearts make me smile.

Nana camp part II, watercolor, citrus week, rock star week

So then we took camp outside and did some water coloring of flowers we found blooming in our gardens

Reina's tulip

Gabriela's leaves

my poppy garden

The next week was Citrus week!!!  Special request for Key Lime Pie!!!!

While we waited for our Key lime juice to arrive Nellie and Joe's  we made felt coasters in the design of citrus slices:

Thank you to Purl Soho for the free pattern:

supplies for citrus coasters

assembled pieces

pieces in place

pinned in place

stitches in top layer with some seed spaces

coaster set

"grapefruit" coaster and wine glass

OK  Now for the Key Lime Pie

recipe from Williams-Sonoma-classic Key Lime Pie

The Nellie and Joe's 100% Key lime juice arrived and the girls did a great job.  They used graham crackers for the crust; I used the Ginger snap cookies.  They whipped up their cream right before the served it to their parents that night.  I topped mine with a little toasted coconut:

classic Key lime pie with gingersnap crust and toasted coconut

So citrus week was complete and yummy.  Good work girls!!!

The word of the week....."scurvy"

The next week the girls were rock stars.  We studied rocks....well we painted rocks.  The girls found smooth rocks around their yard (remember we're under quarantine- how dare we go off the property) about the size that would fit in their hand.  We collected paints and paint pens and thought about positive phrases we would like to be reminded of:

supplies for rock painting

Reina's rocks "Be Happy"

Gabriela's rocks - love the confetti, don't you?

my rocks - "Dream big"

OK then back to the kitchen to make rock cookies

We used the chocolate chip cookie recipe on the back of the Nestle bag and added "rocks" in the form of chocolate chips, white chocolate chunks, M & Ms, caramel bites and Heath English toffee bits:

Gabriela's rocks

rock star cookies

word for rock star week - "lapidarian"
Stay tuned for the next three weeks

Nana camp

My girls in Seattle like so many have been home from school since March.  Their teachers have been sending them assignments for home study and we decided to start some fun learning via FaceTime.  For 12 weeks we have been learning and doing.....lots of fun.  We started with paper beads: made crackers in the kitchen; moved on to felt art, citrus and Key lime pie.  This week we switched from sweet creations to salads and nutrition....it's all fun.  I am enjoying my virtual time with these precious girls..

We started March 23 with paper beads:

black and gold paper beads

the above beads came from this magazine page

the girls chose these pages

cutting isosceles triangles from paper

paper beads drying

words of the week: "isosceles" and "corrugated"

The next week we made a collage of more of our magazine paper and created an iconic Seattle architectural structure:

Many well known artists used "collage" as an art medium

Reina chose 

Seattle Public market

No trouble identifying this famous sign.

Amazon campus 3 spheres

I have yet to see this one but there are 3 spheres on the Amazon campus in Seattle.  Gabriela chose this soon to be iconic structure

And I chose this:

Eiffel tower collage

See the black cat on the left front leg?

word for the week - "iconography"

Now we've done a couple of weeks of Mod Podge.  Can you get enough Mod Podge?

My Seattle girls and I all love to be in the kitchen so week 3 was doing a little baking.  We explored 3 recipes---all crackers.  Well it's nearly impossible to find yeast in the markets these crazy days and we're "not allowed" to go to the markets except for essentials  so we had a "use what you have" theme this week:  The girls did great  We made cheese sticks from Puff pastry and cheese:

cheese straws, mis en place

cheese straws

Crispy flat seeded crackers

seeded flat crackers

seeded flat crackers in a glass

and Savory cheese biscotti

savory cheese biscotti

We learned quite a bit about substituting ingredients that we did not have for those that we did.  We used different flours, different (or no) leavening and a variety of nuts and seeds.

theme of the week: crackers

word of the week: "leavening"  and as many French words as we could use in our virtual Boulangerie

Yep  They're good