strawberry cupcakes with strawberry buttercream

the last couple weeks i was pregnant, i was on a cupcake kick. while other soon to be moms are sitting with their feet up (or is that an illusion, and we're all still working like crazy?!), i was baking cupcakes each week. and these definitely didn't disappoint. i love how the fresh berries cooked down and turned almost jam-like in the middle of the cakes, so each bite had some jammy goodness. they're a great way to use up some overly ripe berries.

and i found the perfect finish. ever since i made this white layer cake with blackberry buttercream - which is still one of my all time favorites - two summers ago, i've been looking for an excuse to make the buttercream with different berries. and this strawberry version is just as good - if not better - than the blackberry.

strawberry greek frozen yogurt

a couple months ago i got the bright idea of making frozen greek yogurt. coincidentally, this was the same time ben & jerry got this same bright idea. the first time i made it, i literally froze a container of vanilla greek yogurt in my ice cream machine. yes, it worked, but because greek yogurt is so thick, the frozen version was almost too much for me. too thick and creamy. so i assumed cutting the richness with fruit would be the perfect fix.

strawberry jam bars

i spent my last few pregnant saturday mornings at the rochester public market, looking for the best local strawberries. every week i found them sparsely hiding behind the boxes and boxes of driscolls. perfectly dark red, the biggest berries the size of my thumb, and perfectly sweet. every week i was surprised by how many people stuck their noses up at the real berries and headed instead for the imposters. 

white bean & chicken chowder

yes, it's june. yes, it's warm out. but every year, there's always a week or two about now where summer sneaks away and we're left with cool, rainy days, and even cooler nights. filled with fresh vegetables, chicken, and cannillini beans, this chowder is perfect for one of those cool summer nights.

you aren't still buying your beans canned, are you? a couple years ago our good foodie friend chris picked up a small pressure cooker on clearance for us. ever since then, i ditched the cans and make beans in my pressure cooker. it's insanely simple and works well for black, cannellini, and kidney beans.

tin roof ice cream

as a kid, i almost always had black raspberry ice cream when we went out for cones in the summer. i loved the smoothness of it - i despised chunks as a kid and all those weird kid flavors, like bubble gum and cotton candy - and it was exotic enough at the time that the only place to get it (or so i thought) was when we went out for ice cream. in other words, it wasn't a usual treat.

as i've gotten older, while i still love a good black raspberry every once in a while, my ice cream cravings are dominated by "stuff." chocolate fudge swirls. peanut butter chunks. chocolate covered peanuts. the more stuff mixed into ice cream, the better.