The Ranch Kitchen | Desserts, Desserts, Desserts

Strawberry season is here and there’s nothing sweeter than these desserts from The Ranch Kitchen today.
We love our strawberries and especially picking them at our local farms in our area of Northeast Texas. These little roadside stands will let locals pick their own berries and always sell the most wonderful jams, jellies, vegetables, and local honey. I must pace myself though, because it’s all just so tempting to buy everything and I have a sweet tooth for all blackberry jams!
This past weekend over Easter while my girls were home, we tried to pick strawberries, but with Good Friday the day before and most people off, they beat us to the punch! Our favorite farm did have some strawberries for sale, so we bought enough to eat with our Easter lunch. Next weekend we will try again to pick our own. I’ll make sure to freeze a bushel or two for later celebrations this summer.
Freezing berries is super simple. I freeze strawberries individually by washing them well, cutting off their green leafy tops, and allowing them to air dry completely. We then load them in to freezer safe Ziploc baggies and freeze them until time to use them in the recipes below. This is the same process I use for dew berries (picked off our place – wild black berries), traditional larger black berries and blue berries as they do not stick together when you allow them to dry well before freezing. I love, love going to my freezer to find these berries when I don’t have fresh at my disposal. Living in the country, I like my freezer and pantry to be stocked, because running to town isn’t always convenient.
With strawberries at their very sweetest this time of year, try these quick and easy recipes. As Mother’s Day approaches or just because you love strawberries, there is always an excuse to eat them. Click on the recipe links in each title and pictures below to access all recipes off The Ranch Kitchen where you can print with our easy ‘recipe card’ format, pin to your Pinterest board or share with friends by email.

Our fresh strawberries from our farm stand visit! We ate these with a little sugar on top!
Stained Glass Salad
In my pantry, there is always a can of peach pie filling so I can make this simple salad for family and friends. We serve it with brunch or as a dessert on top of pound cake.

Strawberry Brownies
This cake mix brownie is one of the most popular recipes on my site lately. Next time I think I’ll add in one cup of pureed strawberries to add even more flavor!

Strawberry Salad with Feta and Sugared Pecans
Strawberries aren’t just for desserts! Use them instead of tomatoes in your next salad and toss in these delicious sugared pecans and Feta cheese!

Strawberry Angel Food Cake
If there was one dessert from my childhood I remember the most, then this is it. Simple to make with a store-bought Angel Food Cake, whipped cream and sliced strawberries. You can’t get any easier than this!

Kathy’s Strawberry Pie
This friends strawberry pie is delicious. She is a fabulous cook and her days now in retirement are something I am a little jealous of!

Brandi’s Strawberry Cupcakes
On my blog post about these, I said they had one million calories…and even if they did, then it’d totally worth it! These were staff favorites during my days on my last campus and Brandi (God love her), had to make these wonderful cupcakes ALL THE TIME!

The Ranch Kitchen’s Peach and Blackberry Cobbler
This recipe could easily be substituted with strawberries or added to the mix with the peaches and blackberries.

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So, if you’ve never picked strawberries at your local farms, make plans to do this soon. It’s great family or friend bonding time, you can eat as you go….my little nephew did once, so I bought an extra pound (it was all over his face and shirt…fun memories)! It’s also just plain, good old fun and you’ll get sweet rewards from your trip!
Alise – The Ranch Kitchen