On Wednesday, I had a “jam” packed day (Pun intended). After we finished picking strawberries, I was dropped off at the pool. Normally I have a swimming buddy, but my lack of company actually made me a bit more productive since I had nobody to chat with during breaks. I ended up swimming 4km, which is the furthest I have swum since starting to track my lengths. It was also in record time, 1 hour and 10 minutes. I probably could have done it faster, but I did take a couple of water breaks. Also, I targeted my arms and legs, doing flutter board kicks (Which I am terribly slow at) and swimming just with my arms. I chose to work on endurance rather than speed, which is why I did not swim continuously in a freestyle motion.
When I got home, my sister, mom and I made jam. Not only did we have a ton of strawberries to use up (fresh local strawberries don’t keep very well), but we wanted to give some jam to friends as housewarming gifts. We all agreed that they’d be cute wedding favours as well. Emma printed off some cute labels that really helped to make the jars presentable. The recipe called for 8 cups mashed, 3 cups sugar and 2 pectin crystal envelopes. We got a little bit carried away, and ended up slicing a few too many strawberries. Thankfully I had been craving something sweet, so I decided to use the extra in a strawberry sauce. Has anyone read “If you Give a Moose a Muffin” or “If you give a Pig a Pancake”? My situation fell true to these childhood classics. When you make strawberry sauce, you need to make something to go with it! Scones immediately came to mind, and since I had used lemon juice in the sauce, I opted to make a buttermilk lemon zest recipe, courtesy of Canadian Living (The only substitution I made was using 2 tbsp. of lemon zest instead of 1 tbsp.). With my luck I was missing a few essential ingredients, so I had to run out to grocery store. Finally, I returned home, with an hour and a half left before I had to meet up with some friends! Talk about “jam” packed! Check out my two Instagram video (First ones yet) that features me forming the dough and stirring the syrup! The scones were delicious and quite pretty. It is neat to cut them open as they feature speckles of yellow zest inside!
I quickly cleaned up my mess and headed off to Whole Foods where I was meeting two of my favourite people, Chelsea and Joyce! The three of us have been meaning to get together for quite some time, but our schedules are always conflicting. Eventhough we are only a half an hour drive apart, none of us meet up as often as we’d like. Of course, you can’t go to Whole Foods without being tempted by the hot and cold food bars, so we pre-arranged to have dinner there. While it isn’t cheap, there is no denying that it is tasty. I plan on posting about my Whole Foods trips tomorrow, but for today I’d just like to share my simple sweet strawberry sauce recipe! I hope you are able to enjoy it as a topping on pancakes, swirled into oatmeal, drizzled on ice cream or even sandwiched between these lemon scones! It is simply delicious (and slightly addicting). I could probably even eat it by the spoonful as a source of vitamin C (provided I omit the sugar). Did you know that 8-10 of these strawberries pack in 160% of your daily vitamin C needs? Yum! ♥ Molly
“Indulge, Life is Sweet” – Unknown
Sweet Strawberry Sauce
Makes 3.5 cups 
- 4 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tbsp. cornstarch
- 3 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
- 1 tbsp. fresh lemon zest
- 1/4 cup sugar (Optional)
- In a small pot over medium heat, combine all ingredients.
- Bring to a boil whisking gently.
- Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until mixture thickens, about 8 minutes.
- Serve plain or as a topping.
The Happiness Recipe 