I'm Glad I Didn't Blink

 Strawberry season in my area was very short.  It's not typically a long season, only a few weeks, but this year it was unusually short.  Blink and you'll miss it short.

Partly because of the cold rough winter we had and the deer damage to the strawberry fields.  Partly because Spring was kind of cold.  Partly because Spring was also rather wet, with several spells of flooding all over the state.  And, partly because just as the plants which had survived all that were starting to get ripe berries on them, our weather got hot and humid, then very rainy again.  Like five out of seven days with some sort of rain.  Which made the berries ripen very quickly and then just as quickly, even if they weren't ripe, start to mold.

I'm glad I didn't blink.  If I had, I would have totally missed out on fresh picked local strawberries.

I knew I wasn't going to get any strawberries from the patch in my garden.  The deer and other, smaller, four legged critters had ensured that by eating off the plants just as fast as they began to grow.

I had hoped to do some u-pick strawberries, so I was keeping an eye on the Facebook page of the local strawberry farm.  Unfortunately they, and a few other u-pick places not as close to me, announced in early June that they would not be able to open this year for u-pick due to crop damage (aka deer and weather).

So I watched the Facebook pages of some of the small farm markets that have popped up in the area in the last handful of years.  Pre-picked strawberries wouldn't be as cheap (or as fun to get) as u-pick berries, but at least they'd be fresh (compared to grocery store strawberries from the West Coast) and they'd be those smaller flavor-packed berries that this part of Michigan grows.

When I spotted a post that was only two hours old stating that the closest to me farm market (of the bougie kind) had strawberries in, I practically dropped everything and drove over right away.  The whole nearly 8 miles from this little place here to there I hoped that they wouldn't be sold out by the time I walked in the door.

And thankfully they weren't.  $7.75 per quart later, I walked out with two quarts of fresh local strawberries.  Knowing that they wouldn't keep for long; some all ready weren't looking too firm, I started making plans for how to best enjoy them and use them up.

First up, strawberry shortcake for dessert that night!

Me and Betty (Crocker) got busy in the kitchen whipping up some homemade shortcakes.  Since DH was out of town, I cut the recipe down to only two servings.  Because as much as I like strawberry shortcake, this diabetic girl does not need to eat six servings of it in just a couple of days.

I'm so glad I didn't blink.

I also didn't share, either.  I mean, I couldn't, really, being the only one home and all.

In case you're wondering, here's how I cut down Betty's recipe: 

It says that it makes six servings.  I only wanted two servings, which was 1/3 of a recipe.  So I did some math (ok, quite a lot of math) and got busy translating cups into tablespoons and tablespoons into teaspoons and dividing all that by three.

This is what I came up with, and it cooked up fine and tasted fine with the usual texture of this recipe when made in it's entirety of six servings, so I feel pretty confident it will work for you too if you want to give it a try.

>About a cup of sliced strawberries and 1 teaspoon of sugar per shortcake served, mixed together and allowed to sit for about 1/2 hour while I mixed up and baked the shortcakes.

>1 Tbsp plus 2 tsp shortening/lard

>2/3 cup flour

>2 tsp sugar

>1 tsp baking powder

>generous 1/4 tsp salt

>1/4 cup milk

Cut the shortening into the dry ingredients until crumbly, then mix in the milk until blended.  On a lightly floured surface (my handy dandy Tupperware pastry sheet), knead 20-25 times.  Roll out 1/2" thick and cut with a 3" (biscuit) cutter.  Bake at 450 degrees F for 10-12 minutes.  Cool slightly, then split each shortcake in half and layer with strawberries.  Top with whipped cream.