Strawberry Bread Sandwich w/Fresh Whipped Topping

Summertime.

What comes to mind when you think of summer?

Scorching heat...the south set records this year!

Grilling out.... grilled hot dogs! I take mine with ketchup & mustard only, please.

Iced cold lemonade...love a glass of sweet lemonade to quinch my thirst.

Watermelon....sweet, juicy, cold watermelon....mmmmm....

Swimming in a cool pool...ah! So refreshing!

Fireflies....I love sitting outside on a long summer evening watching fireflies.

Strawberries....fresh, bright red, juicy strawberry shortcake! Yummy!

Summer holds such fun times and promise but yet in a blink of an eye it's over. Is it me or is summer the fastest season? 

Fall starts September 22nd. So we have about 5 weeks left...what are you going to do to finish up the season? I made this:

Strawberry Bread Sandwich with fresh whipped topping ... NOT Cool Whip!

I  will never buy Cool Whip again. Never. My friend Sandra told me about a better alternative. It's so easy and taste better than CW.

I don't have any pictures of me making fresh whipped cream, but it's so easy you don't need to see instructions. I promise.

Here's what you need: a bowl, about 1 cup of heavy whipping cream, sugar & blender.

Take your whipping cream and pour about 1 cup of it in the bowl. Pour some sugar in...just a little. You'll add some later if you need to. Get your blender, turn it on and whip the cream until stiff peaks form. About 4-5 minutes. Taste. If it needs some sugar stir in some sugar.  Done. That's it! And I gaurantee you it taste better than anything you could buy at the store.

I couldn't pick which one was the better picture so I am showing you all of them.

This is a little dark, but it still looks delish, huh?

Strawberry Bread Sandwich
Adapted from Pike Place Market

I changed this recipe a little. You can do that. Whatever suits ya that day. First, I didn't add nuts. Second, the actual name of this recipe is Strawberry- Nut Bread. Third, they serve it as a stand alone bread. It's delicious by itself. They give some ideas on how you could serve it, so really they leave it up to you on if you want to serve it alone or with toppings. I had two toppings available. I made a sugar and milk icing and the fresh whipped topping. My youngest son loved it with the icing and my older son & I loved it with the whip cream. My daughter & husband liked it plain. You could add fresh berries, ice cream, yogurt & granola, or dust the top with some powdered sugar. Fourth, I used a carton of fresh straberries. The recipe calls for 2 cups of frozen berries.

Ingredients:
3 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
2 c. sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/4 c. chopped pecans
1 1/4 oil- they suggest a light vegetable, canola, corn or soy oil.
2 cups of frozen, unsweetened, sliced strawberries, thawed- they suggest that if you're going to use fresh berries to let them sit out on the counter 'til room temperature..about an hour. This way they can get juicy. My berries were very juicy. I didn't leave them out for the hour. I didn't measure 2 cups. I just cut all the berries in the carton into slices and let them sit while prepping the other ingredients. I didn't feel the need for them to get juicier, they had enough.

Preheat oven to 350* and grease 2 9x5 loaf pans with spray,

Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, & sugar.

In a seperate bowl mix eggs, oil, strawberries, & pecans.

Now...another thing I didn't do...the recipe suggest making a well with the dry ingredients  & then add the wet ingredients. And then dividing the batter between the two grease pans.

I took my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer and threw in all the dry ingredients. I used the flat beater to make sure they were all incorporated. Then I threw in all the wet ingredients. Once mixed together I divided into the pans.

Bake for 1 hour. I had one 9x5 and an 8x5 loaf pan so I had to bake the bigger one a tad longer. I just put foil on it after the hour so it didn't brown too much.

Cool 10 minutes on a wire rack. Turn out loaves. Slice into 8 slices per loaf and serve as you wish!

Enjoy this summer treat b/c before you know it you'll be making pumpkin bread! Ahhh....fall does sound nice.

Until next time,
Reb