strawberry madness.....shortcake, strawberry rhubarb jam, compote....

karen got me a groupon coupon gift.....a big discount on pick your own strawberries at scotts in east lyme.  having missed the saturday hours we had to go on father's day......kelsey and i picked about 10 lbs of berries in just over an hour and a half....and we both lamented the muscle pain for 2 days.

what to do with all those strawberries.....

we started slow....kelsey made the requested strawberry shortcake for father's day using a martha stewart recipe.  this was light and flakey and absolutely delish! looked gorgeous too.

like most things kelsey makes.....a work of art

that was just the warm up...i made a strawberry rhubarb compote from a strawberry slump recipe....very, very yummy........ have had it with greek yogurt for breakfast all week.

......and the next day i started making jam.
recipe after the jump



i had a bunch of rhubarb that i found at the farm stand in essex too...so i decided i would try to make strawberry rhubarb jam......started digging for recipes.   this one looked foolproof......i bought the big canner pot at walmart for $19.99 ....and did all the prep work for the cleaning and sterilizing of the jars.  all i can say is this entire process is very comforting  ...(must be the nurse in me)........so many steps but so satisfying in the end......even washing the jam spots off the counter and stove made me happy!

washed, cleaned and ready to go

directions say to individually squish....crazy! is used a potato masher

chopping the rhubarb.....not the best knife skills ....not even
the right knife!  the nail polish color is nice though

so gorgeous!

i did NOT individually crush each berry but i did measure meticulously and followed all the steps.  i used a plastic funnel i picked up at walmart for $1.69 so worth it!!!  i would definitely make this recipe again......well i did already actually....i made two batches....got to bed at 1 am.  strawberry madness...... the stanley cup playoffs are over so maybe i will pick more berries.........not (there is always wimbledon)