Strawberries are in season!

I really enjoy the fresh produce that is in season during the summer. In my household, berries and watermelon top the list of summer favorites. Strawberries are my son’s absolute favorite fruit and lucky for us they are now in season so we can have them frequently at great prices. I generally will generally shop at Walmart for fresh produce and when they asked me to choose a berry to highlight strawberries were a no brainer. 

When you are choosing strawberries be sure to pick the ripest, plumpest berries that are the most fragrant. You will find that these are the sweetest berries. There is nothing better than being able to enjoy fresh berries that are naturally sweetened. I pack them in my son’s lunch box and he is in Heaven.

I decided to try a couple of things with the marvelous strawberries that I picked up at Walmart. My initial thought was to try a recipe that combined both watermelon and strawberries. I saw a post on facebook about a watermelon cake and I decided to try it out. Naturally sweetened and healthy, I thought this would be a great snack or dessert for my son.

Well, things didn’t go as planned. I attempted to follow the “recipe” that I saw on Paleo Cupboard by memory and that is where I failed. I didn’t buy a huge watermelon because I am leaving town soon and want to be sure the entire thing is eaten. With knife in hand I cut my mini melon and it was kind of a disaster. 

It looks nothing like my example but I wasn’t deterred. I made coconut whipped cream but again met a stumbling block. The full fat coconut milk did not harden the way it did the last time I made coconut milk whipped cream so it was more liquidy. 

I still whipped it up and spread it on my watermelon, however it soon started sliding off.  I tried to decorate it with strawberry slices but as they started melting off the cake I made another decision.

I placed the “cake” in the freezer to harden the whipped cream. I left it in the freezer for about 10 minutes and was able to at least get the strawberries to stay on long enough to take a photo. NOT my best work. I will have to attempt the watermelon cake another time with a larger watermelon and hope for the best. I still think my son will be thrilled with my efforts.

After this debacle I decided to go back to basics and enjoy my strawberries simply. With whipped coconut cream and the result? Delicious! What can I say, I’m not a master at watermelon cake but I can whip up some non-dairy whipped coconut cream which is a delicious topping for my beautiful berries!