Strawberry Basil Preserves

I picked up a basil plant from Trader Joe's about a week ago and its tall stems were flopping over. Originally, I wanted to use the fresh basil to make margherita pizza (basil, tomato, mozzarella); but our weather has turned back to the Pacific Northwest norm of below 60 degrees F and not enough sun (not good for making pizza dough). Basil seems to go well with red fruits and this is to see if basil goes well with strawberries.

The basil might overpower the strawberry flavor in this batch, as I used more than 1/4 c of basil leaves. I added a few more whole strawberries to the remainder of the prepped half-flat to bring the total fresh weight to 2 lbs.

One jar didn't seal properly so it is in the fridge. Now I have two cups of jam to eat. Do you know what that means? More exercise.

Strawberry Basil Jam, ready for its hot water bath

Makes: 5 half-pints

Ingredients

2 lbs fresh strawberries, de-stemmed and chopped
1/2 c filtered water
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon)
1 c organic granulated sugar
1/4 c roughly chopped fresh basil leaves

Directions

In a large saucepan, add strawberries and water. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce to medium heat and continue to boil for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a food processor, combine sugar and fresh basil leaves. Whirl together until no large bits of basil remain and the sugar turns to a pale green color. Set aside.

Remove lid from the saucepan and stir in lemon juice. Add sugar gradually, stirring to incorporate. Boil for 5 more minutes. Skim off any foam that rises. 

The jam is ready for jars when the volume of liquid has reduced and the jam has thickened.

Pour jam into hot, sterilized jars with a 1/4" headspace. Wipe the rims, lid and tighten bands on jars before processing in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

Lightly Sweetened Whipped Heavy Cream

One of my favorite ways to eat strawberries is to heap whipped cream on top of them. A mere 8 oz of heavy cream makes about 2 cups of whipped cream. It's easy to make even if you don't have an electric mixer with a balloon whisk. It's the perfect accompaniment in colder weather when you don't want to scarf down strawberries with ice cream.

Ingredients

8 oz heavy cream
2 tbsp powdered sugar

Directions

In a sealable, sturdy container large enough to hold two cups of volume, add heavy cream and powdered sugar. I use a pint mason jar.

Whisk with a balloon whisk until stiff peaks form. By hand, this takes about 5-10 minutes. With a stick blender or electric mixer and balloon whisk attachment, this takes about 2-3 minutes.

Don't overbeat the cream unless you are trying to make butter.

Btw, you can also add this to fresh brewed coffee or hot cocoa to create sweetened foam on top of your drink.

Strawberry Rhubarb Simple Syrup

It wasn't until I had a rhubarb infused hard cider at a cider fest earlier in the year that I started to appreciate the culinary aspect of this plant. Behold! Strawberry-rhubarb syrup for cocktails and soda drinks. I saw this recipe on my RSS feed from Smitten Kitchen. It is a very simple recipe that smells fruity and has a tangy sour-sweet taste. 

Also this was my first time using rhubarb in a recipe. Should you happen to buy the stalks fresh, trim and discard the ends as you would with a stalk of celery. Then chop or dice as normal.

Yield: 3 cups

Usage: 2 tbsp per 6-8 oz of chilled sparkling water or sparkling wine

New York Styled Bagels

Fresh baked bagels from a hot oven is definitely the way to go for future bagel eating. Simply, wow. The dough is airy and soft like a pillow. Its underside is a nice golden brown color and when you tear the bagel apart, it has that classic bagel-tearing-texture. How else to describe it..? I've never been to New York and I've always been skeptical of bagels sold west of New York state. The style has less to do with the ingredients in the dough than how the dough is prepared, specifically the boiling time of the bagels. This recipe was adapted from the Sophisticated Gourmet blog.

New York Style Bagels from Scratch

Ingredients

3 1/2 c all purpose unbleached wheat flour (minus 3 tbsp)
1 1/4 c warmwater (or whey), heated to 115 F
3 tbsp Bob's Red Mill Vital Wheat Gluten
1 1/2 tbsp organic granulated sugar
1 tsp sea salt
plus more flour for kneading

Kitchen Notes: Green Tea & C Electrolyte Drink

This is certainly a cheaper option to Gatorade or coconut water and is a good mix of sea salt, sugar, and potassium. There are many ways to feel thirsty and not have water quench it. For today's recipe write-up, I will assume that this vampiric thirst is due to the dry 90+ degrees (Fahrenheit) weather in the Pacific Northwest; also I just ate a heavy protein-dense sandwich for lunch.

Onto the recipe...

In a 1-quart mason jar add the following:

1 packet of Emergen-C (any flavor) or Trader Joe's Effervescent Orange
8 oz filtered water

Swish the liquid around in the jar until the powder dissolves, then add:

8 oz fruit juice (something high in potassium, like Trader Joe's Cherry Cider or Blueberry Juice)

The type of fruit juice used offers different ratios of vitamins and trace minerals.

Brew 8 oz green tea (from leaves or a tea bag), remove tea bag and dilute with another 8 oz of filtered water. Or brew 16 oz of green tea and add that to the jar.

Add 1/4 tsp sea salt -- the type of salt does matter for its trace minerals. Himalayan sea salt will have a higher concentration of trace minerals as will Hawaiian Black Salt; but don't go breaking the bank on this ingredient. Most salt labelled as "sea salt" will work. 

If you are concerned about the lack of iodine in sea salt, you could add food items such as fish, dairy, eggs and seaweed to your diet.

In total, you should have 32 oz of water consisting of:
1 c fruit juice
1 c green tea
2 c filtered water
1/4 tsp sea salt

According to MyFitnessPal, each 8 oz serving contains:

36 calories
sodium 128.8 mg
potassium 117.5 mg
magnesium 15 mg
Vitamin C 416.8 mg

Enjoy and stay hydrated!

Read more?
Magnesium-rich foods [PDF]
WebMD: Minerals by Function and Source