Strawberry Milkshakes
It's been a busy last couple of weeks with the new baby and all. But finally, after the long rains we've had up here the picking season opened yesterday morning at West Union Gardens, our favorite U-Pick farm. Sean and I set out early to pick some strawberries. We arrived about half an hour after the farm opened and there were a good dozen people picking already. In the hour we spent picking another dozen or so showed up so it wasn't too crowded.
We covered about ten linear feet of plants and found strawberries in many stages of ripeness. Some still whitish-green and some a deep dark red and mushy. But there were many clusters of nicely ripe fruit so the picking was easy. Our yield was a little over seven pounds and costed $6.50. The farm grows Hood strawberries which is a very juicy variety. All my life I have never been such a strawberry fan, but these are GOOD!
On the way back we stopped at the grocery store to pick up some Tillamook French Vanilla ice cream to make strawberry milkshakes. The local restaurant chain Burgerville serves strawberry milkshakes made with local ingredients for a couple of weeks every year. Though good they are a little pricey so I thought we would try to make them ourselves.
Now, one would expect that finding a good strawberry milkshake recipe would be easy to find on the internet. Wrong!! I searched a long time to find a recipe with just milk, ice cream and straberries. I found lots of recipes with other yogurts, fruit juices, milk powders, you name it. But a basic one was hard to find. In the end I found a recipe on a BBC website of all places. I guess you can always count on the Brits ;-)
So today I tried to make my first ever milkshake. About two cups of ice cream, three quarter cups of 2% organic milk, one quarter cup of heavy cream and three quarter cups of strawberries. Popped everything in the blender until smooth and slightly chucky. Served three coffee mugs of homemade strawberry milkshake. Sean loved it, Staci thought it was a little runny, and I thought I could tweak the measurements a little but overall the taste was good. Different from the restaurant, but good none the less.
We'll be going thought those seven pounds in no-time, I expect.
We covered about ten linear feet of plants and found strawberries in many stages of ripeness. Some still whitish-green and some a deep dark red and mushy. But there were many clusters of nicely ripe fruit so the picking was easy. Our yield was a little over seven pounds and costed $6.50. The farm grows Hood strawberries which is a very juicy variety. All my life I have never been such a strawberry fan, but these are GOOD!
On the way back we stopped at the grocery store to pick up some Tillamook French Vanilla ice cream to make strawberry milkshakes. The local restaurant chain Burgerville serves strawberry milkshakes made with local ingredients for a couple of weeks every year. Though good they are a little pricey so I thought we would try to make them ourselves.
Now, one would expect that finding a good strawberry milkshake recipe would be easy to find on the internet. Wrong!! I searched a long time to find a recipe with just milk, ice cream and straberries. I found lots of recipes with other yogurts, fruit juices, milk powders, you name it. But a basic one was hard to find. In the end I found a recipe on a BBC website of all places. I guess you can always count on the Brits ;-)
So today I tried to make my first ever milkshake. About two cups of ice cream, three quarter cups of 2% organic milk, one quarter cup of heavy cream and three quarter cups of strawberries. Popped everything in the blender until smooth and slightly chucky. Served three coffee mugs of homemade strawberry milkshake. Sean loved it, Staci thought it was a little runny, and I thought I could tweak the measurements a little but overall the taste was good. Different from the restaurant, but good none the less.
We'll be going thought those seven pounds in no-time, I expect.
