Throwback Tuesday: Strawberry Season

 *Originally posted June 13, 2015 when my boys were 7, 9, & 11

We decided to try strawberry picking this year!

 I'm not sure why I never thought to take the boys before; probably because it's something I don't ever remember doing myself.

But we LOVE strawberries in this house and I can never buy enough.  I knew it was near strawberry season in our neck of the woods and was pleasantly surprised to find that yesterday was the first day for picking.

I thought it would be a great science lesson too:

• We read books about strawberries
• Talked about how strawberries grow
• Looked up recipes to use with fresh strawberries
• Learned where our food comes from
• Looked for locally grown pick your own stands

I figured that would either mean we'd hunt for the ripened ones or else we'd get first pick from lots of plump, juicy, berries.

Either way we wanted to head out early and beat the hot afternoon sun.

The boys were excited!

We were handed two large cardboard containers and headed up the road to pick.

The boys had no idea just how low to the ground strawberries grew and we definitely did not beat the heat or the sun.  Evan picked just a few and then asked me why we can't just buy them already picked.

The other two boys were content to work until both bins were filled.

Being in the hot sun they decided they wanted to go swimming after lunch to cool off.

They started talking about all the things they wanted to do for the day and started talking about the various foods they wanted to make with our newly picked berries.

We were probably only there for 45 minutes or so but we enjoyed ourselves & it's always good to try something new.

Digging through the greenery looking for some
good ones 

This is only 1/4 of the strawberries we picked!  

 We finished up our book on CD and stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things for making strawberry shortcake.

We sat together to eat lunch and I read two more chapters in The Phantom Tollbooth.  As I cleaned up the kitchen they changed and headed outside.  They spent the afternoon swimming in the lake and playing with the boogie boards and tubes.  They enjoyed themselves tremendously and even when they started bickering they soon came to an agreement so as not to be left playing alone.

 Ahhh!

Summer vacation is truly here!

They had fun rocking and trying to throw one another off

Usually they all toppled off together 

Practicing hand stands-- with only one hand! 

Floating and relaxing 

After swimming Evan decided to make chocolate covered strawberries.  

I helped him assemble the ingredients, showed him how to melt the chocolates and prepare the cookie sheet with waxed paper.  I dipped one strawberry to show him how and then he went to town filling up the whole cookie sheet (eating a few along the way).

He had so much fun and could not believe how easy it was!

Want to make Chocolate Dipped Strawberries?  Here is an easy recipe:

You will need:

• strawberries
• chocolate melts or chocolate chips- about a cup (white and milk chocolate; if desired)
• 1- 2 Tablespoons Crisco or coconut oil

1.  Melt the chocolate and the Crisco together in the microwave until completely melted.  We melted one bowl of milk chocolate and another bowl of white chocolate adding a tablespoon of Crisco to each.  Make sure not to over cook the chocolate.  We went in 15 second increments on our microwaving stirring a bit between.

2.  Clean and DRY the strawberries (while chocolate is melting)

3.  Holding the stem of the strawberry dip them in the melted chocolate.  You can spin them around to make sure all sides are evenly coated.

4.  Set chocolate covered strawberry on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.  When done pop the tray into the fridge until the chocolate is completely hardened.

5.  Store in a container in the fridge.  

*to make tuxedo strawberries we first dunked the strawberry in white chocolate, set it aside to harden a bit, and then dunked two sides in the milk chocolate making sure a "V" of white chocolate remained.  We then used a toothpick to make the "buttons"

These look so yummy!  

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