Last Friday, I took the girls to Olive Berry Acres for some strawberry picking.  It's an hour drive, but well worth it.


We picked 15 lbs of berries, which did not seem like too much at the time, but was an amazing amount when we got home!


I spent most of Saturday preparing strawberry dishes, including Strawberry Malts, Strawberry Rhubarb Blondies (with basic modifications to make it dairy-free), strawberry shortcake, strawberry lemonade, strawberry jam, and strawberry muffins.  I still had some berries left, and at the suggestion of a friend, decided to make some barbecue sauce.  I followed the recipe from Closet Cooking and was pleasantly surprised with the awesome flavorful sauce!



Roasted Strawberry Barbecue Sauce

You will need:

• about 4 cups of strawberries, capped and sliced into halves.
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 2 TBSP maple syrup
• 2 TBSP strawberry jam (we used the homemade stuff we made Saturday!)
• 2 TBSP balsamic vinegar
• 2 TBSP soy sauce
• 1 chipotle chili in adobo sauce, chopped (this is from a can) (add more for a spicier sauce)
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 TBSP ginger powder
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 2 TBSP cilantro, either freshly chopped or dried

Begin by preheating your oven to 425 degrees.  Lay out your strawberries on a foil covered baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, allowing the juices to ooze out and slightly carmelize on the foil. 

 

While the strawberries are roasting, mix the remaining ingredients in a sauce pan.  If you are using fresh cilantro, leave it out for now.


Bring these ingredients to a boil.  Add the strawberries and caramelized juices, scraping every last bit of deliciousness from the foil and bring to a boil.  Turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.


If you didn't add in the cilantro earlier, add it now.  Pour mixture into a blender and blend until it has the consistency you like.  Pour sauce into a jar for storage or use immediately.


I used mine to enhance the pork chops I was grilling. The verdict:  Everyone liked it!  It was a great blend of sweet and tangy and spicy, giving the pork chops a wonderful smoky flavor.

Autumn... is there anything better?  The smells and textures; the crispness and the break from the heat; the crunching under your feet; the COLORS!  It's college football season, pumpkin cookie time, raking & jumping in leaves time, time to be creative in costuming, time to make applesauce & chili (although not necessarily at the same time).  Really nothing can beat this time of year.







If I could capture the smells and pipe them through the internet to you, I totally would.  But in lieu of that, check out other autumnal images over at I Should Be Folding Laundry's You Capture Challenge.

When I saw that the You Capture challenge for the week was in the kitchen, I cringed.  I don't particularly like to cook and my kitchen is almost always a disaster.  We have very little counter space and what we do have is usually littered with the girls' drawings, mail, recycling, fruit, veggies and other random items that have no good place to go.  So after much trepidation, I decided I'd show you a few of our garden/farm fresh counter toppings.


The cherry & grape tomatoes are from our garden, the larger tomatoes are from the next door neighbor's garden.  The cucumber is from one of my good friend's gardens.  The peppers, corn & potatoes are from the local farm stand.  We love fresh produce!


Now, I will admit none of the fruit is from our garden but much of it is from the local farm stand.  I wish we had a local berry picking place but the nearest one is over an hour drive.