This morning, as I entered the container garden plot to check upon my precious plants, I spotted a chipmunk at the perimeter. He looked at me, and I at him, and then I plucked a strawberry and tossed it to him. It was not quite ripe yet–one I had been eyeing for days–and had suffered from the jaws of some unseen predator during the night, which gnawed away the tip of this once beautiful berry, marring its perfection. The chipmunk cautiously checked out my gift, then gratefully stuffed it in his cheeks.
Too impatient to wait for the setting-up before trying it out.
I am trying to grow strawberries this year because of the locusts that live with me, otherwise known as my children. They devour fresh produce in short order, always eating up what I intended to use for something else. I had to fight with them for one pound of strawberries out of the 7 containers of berries I bought this week. I thought the garden would be the answer to this problem.
It’s not. Something is eating my berries. I don’t know what–that chipmunk is certainly suspect, but I’m giving him a pass for now. I don’t think the culprit is an insect, though I’m having plenty of other problems with them right now anyway. Regardless, I go to bed at night and the berries look fine in their window boxes perched on the porch railing. I go out in the morning and find the ripe and almost-ripe berries ravished, a path of destruction left behind, mocking me. They don’t eat the berries in their entirety–no, that would make it less noticeable. Instead, they leave them still attached to the plants, and ever-so-methodically, chew off the ends of each berry I had my eye on the day before. I think it’s time for berry nets.
The shavings from the ice cream machine canister taste good, even if they aren’t pretty.
Enjoy that strawberry, Mr. Chipmunk! It will be your last!
That final pound of strawberries that I managed to keep from the jaws of my own pests? I made ice cream with it. I figured it would prolong my enjoyment just a little bit so I can hold on to the taste of summer, even if just for a few days. There better not be any teeth marks in the container tomorrow morning!
Beautiful mounds of strawberry ice cream, flecked with chunks of pound cake.
Tangy Strawberry Ice Cream
Ingredients
- 1 lb fresh strawberries in season!, hulled and cut into slices
- 1 Tbsp Pinnacle Cake-Flavored Vodka you can use plain vodka
- 1 cup vanilla sugar
- 1 cup Cabot Greek Style Lowfat Plain Yogurt
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp lemon juice freshly squeezed
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the sliced strawberries, vodka, and sugar, stirring til the strawberries are evenly coated. Cover and leave on the counter for about an hour, stirring periodically.
- After 1 hour, combine the strawberry mixture with the yogurt, heavy cream, and lemon juice in a blender. Puree until you reach desired consistency. Pour back into the large bowl, cover, and put in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
- When ready to make ice cream, set up your machine and add the mixture per manufacturer’s directions. In my case, I have a Cuisinart 1.5 Qt maker and after pouring in the mixture, it took about 25 minutes to freeze to soft-serve stage.
- Transfer to an air-tight container and freeze for another four hours or more to set fully.
Notes
You can also serve these over Waffled Ice Cream Planes for an extra special treat!
Pesky critters-everything has to be watched or it will be eaten! We have every animal you can think of here so growing anything is difficult. I will need to try this recipe out -the vodka and greek yogurt has caught my eye-and of course the awesome picture.
I made ice milk just this weekend & used our yogurt in it, too… and wow. It made all the difference. (I did NOT however use Vodka…but now don’t I wish I had? 😉
This looks super yum.
Many thanks for the shout out… from our farm family owners to your bowl of strawberry goodness.
~Regan
Do you have any netting over your strawberries? The birds are usually the culprits with berries. I gave up on my raspberries this year due to not enough space to get enough berries (and they were taking over my whole garden). Now I just visit my father for his fresh strawberries, raspberries and hopefully blueberries this year. Anyway, he has netting over all of his strawberries. I was there last week and we picked at least a quart and enjoyed them. He complains if they are not perfectly ripe–really really sweet, but the rest of us liked them even if they weren’t that sweet.
Good luck!
Getting some berry netting. I didn’t think I needed it for just 2 pots of strawberries that are located on the porch, but I guess I do. I’m sure the blueberries will be next without it.
ahh… very berry… haha ha!
it’s a sweet, pink & fresh ice cream! love it! 🙂
congratz for the top 9 on Foodbuzz !
greetings from Indonesia 😉
Birds, for sure. They did mine in last year.
Perhaps providing them with a feeder only encouraged them, rather than giving them something else to focus on. 😉
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this post about strawberries, your efforts to grow them and the chipmunk. Your ice cream looks delicious. Your children would have a blast visiting a “pick your own” strawberry farm. It’s a guaranteed fun summer activity. Details on my website in my Summer Strawberry Chocolate Cake recipe post.