My S-T-R-and-AW Berry

*This is a forgotten post. Forgot to post it when I wrote it. Here it is - just a few weeks later than originally intended.

"I GOT my strawberry.

My aw berry. 

My S-T-R-and-AW berry."

Click play.  Right now.  Come on, do it.  You'll love it.  I promise.  Your only regret in clicking is that the catchy little tune will be forever stuck in your head.

Monday morning as I cleaned out the deep freeze I discovered gold.  Well, actually it was red.  One last bag of frozen strawberries, hidden under the plethora of frozen peppers and shredded zucchini still in the freezer.  Twas a sight to behold.  And so it was determined, smoothies for lunch.

With the freezer purged of all of last year's berries we hit the road and headed for the nearest U-Pick.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, is like fresh picked Ontario strawberries.

And so we picked 'till we could pick no more.

To be exact we got 7 baskets of strawberries.

For dinner: Ham, Asparagus, Strawberry, Tortellini Salad
Very simple.
Our tradition on the night of strawberry picking.  A shout out to Joel and Christine Tate for introducing us to this treat.  You MUST give it a try.  Nothing says summer like this salad.

And then comes the jam.
Lots and lots of jam.
After years of experimenting we've settled on Certo Light Freezer Jam - recipe in every box.  Be sure you get the LIGHT box.
Again with the simplicity:
4 cups crushed berries
3 cups sugar
1 box Certo Light
That's it.  Simple yummy goodness.  No cooking.  No water boiling.  House stays cool.

There you have it, 25 jars ready for the freezer.

25 jars of jam and 25 medium size bags of flash frozen berries fill my freezer.

I just hope that we can make them last until next summer!