How to freeze Strawberries, handy Kitchen Tips !!!!

It is strawberry season finally, I have been waiting a whole year for it. Last year due to bad weather, the strawberry season was very short and I missed out on eating my favorite Hood Strawberries. Last week, I went berry picking with my friend and her cute 11 month old daughter . We had a great time, as we were the only 3 ppl on the strawberry field. I picked not much but about 5 lbs of strawberries. I should say I was very very thrilled. I came home not knowing what I am going to do with 5lbs of strawberries.

5lbs of Strawberries and fun :) 

Here's what I did to freeze almost half of my berries to eat later. I learnt these tips from my friend whose mother freezes them this way.

It must be common sense to many of you, but I never knew this until a few days ago and thought it would be nice to share this with all of you. Strawberries once picked can get mushy in 2 days, so you can do this either the same day or the next day after you pick them.

I picked every single one of these :) 

Step 1 : Put your strawberries in a colander and wash them thoroughly. Look for dirt marks on the strawberry and wash off completely.

I love taking macro shots of strawberries, I think they are beautiful

Step 2 : Place a kitchen towel or napkin and let your strawberries dry completely. Make sure there is not much water on the strawberries, and they are not wet. I did not remove the tops or chop them, as I wanted to keep them as is. You can take off their tops and slice them before you are ready to freeze.

Step 3: Use a cookie sheet with parchment paper on it, place strawberries individually on the sheet. They should not be sticking to each other. Freeze them for a couple of hours. This extra step will ensure you have individually frozen strawberries and not ones that are clumped and frozen to each other. It will also be easier to use them.

Step 4: Remove them from the freezer and put them in a ziplock bag and back in the freezer again.

Tada, its that easy. 

I hope you have fun strawberry picking with your family !!! :) 

My basket of happiness

Road trip stop 1 - The Dalles, Oregon

We have stopped for lunch at this cute little cafe in Dalles Oregon . Brama caffe - serves Italian and Greek food. We ordered two panini's one with chipotle chicken and the other with Caprese . 

Each table has these cute expresso shot glasses and are really cute . 

My chicken panini with Greek salad was very good. The brown bread with seeds and oats added the perfect crunch to the chicken that was grilled and soft. It also had some chipotle mayo that tasted delicious . For dessert I had the affogato vanilla gelato with expresso shots!! Oh it was so delicious I had tasted this when I was in Australia as a student . Here's a picture of it 

Will write more later.. Tata

Roadtrip Cookies or just-to-eat peanut butter chocolate chip cookies

Whenever we had to leave for a road trip or rather any trip in India, my mom always always used to make her methi theplas. So that we have something to munch on along the way. These theplas were so good that on days when we go bored of eating outside we would eat a couple of the theplas with some tea or coffee.

Well, my theplas dont exactly taste like my mom's and they require so much effort which I am very lazy to do by myself. I decided to go ahead and make some peanut butter chocolate chip flourless cookies before we leave on our road trip to Eastern Oregon ( soo excited !!! :D ) . These cookies have no flour in them, can be made gluten free using gluten free rolled oats and are a perfect snack for the road as they have protein - peanut butter, fiber - rolled oats and are tasty - chocolate chips & vanilla ! These are so easy u must, must make them :) .

Ohh, I love these cookies !!! 

I have adapted this recipe from the blog two peas and their pod.

Ingredients:

* Rolled oats - 2/3 cup

* Peanut butter  - 1 cup

* Brown Sugar - 2/3 cup

* Eggs - 2

* Baking Soda - 1 tsp

* Vanilla Essence - 1- 1 1/2 tsp

Recipe:

Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies

This recipe will make around 12-15 medium sized cookies.

Preheat your oven to 350 F.

In a bowl mix the rolled oats and baking soda and keep aside.

In a mixing bowl add the brown sugar, eggs, peanut butter and vanilla essence and mix until everything comes together.

Add your rolled oats + baking soda mixture and mix on medium speed for 1 min.

Finally add the chocolate chips.

The mixture is quiet sticky, so you might want to use a scoop or a spoon to put them on a sheet.

Bake them for around 9 - 10 mins until they are a little brown on the edges, once you remove them from the oven they will continue to cook. Once they cool down a bit say 2 - 3 mins you can transfer them to a cooling rack and let them cool completely before you pack them for your trip !!

I hope you all have a stress-free and relaxing weekend !! Enjoy :)