For most people from my generation, Strawberry Shortcake is an adorable little girl who smells like fake strawberries. I hadn’t had a strawberry shortcake in years, but recently, the strawberries from the Farmers Market were $5 for a flat, and who could resist? So I bought ’em, and then had a whole bunch of ripe strawberries that were all dressed up and  had no where to go. So I sugared them, and we had strawberry shortcake. But I also happened to have mint on me, so I added mint to the shortcake, and the strawberries, too!

You guys, it occurred to me only after making this that it only takes about 30 minutes – truly – to put together. So I think it warrants being part of 30 in 30, if only because sometimes you might have unexpected company and want to make them dessert – or, you want some dessert but you have no one to make a cake for, and you don’t want to spend two hours making dessert for yourself, but 30 minutes? That’s basically no time at all.

Here’s the recipe:

6 cups strawberries, sliced
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup butter
1 beaten egg
2/3 cup milk
1 tablespoon fresh mint, chopped
1 cup whipping cream, whipped

Here’s what you do. Preheat your oven to 450. Mix together 1/4 of your sugar with your sliced strawberries, and set aside.

Meanwhile, put your flour, baking powder, and remaining sugar together. Then, cut in your (cold) butter until your have a crumbly dough. Beat one egg in with your milk, then add to your dry ingredients, adding your mint here, too. Break your dough into eight pieces. Bake for about 10 minutes, until starting to brown (be wary not to over cook them, as the bottoms will scorch before you realize it!)

Now, let them cool, and meanwhile whip your cream by placing it into a bowl and whipping the dickens out of it with a whisk. The past two or three times I’ve done this with a metal bowl and metal whisk, and it seems to go faster, but I couldn’t tell you why. Either way, it’s a good arm workout! You’ve practically earned that shortcake. Or two.

So now, after you’ve baked the shortcakes for 10 minutes, pull them out and let them cool for another 10.

Now assemble your minty-strawberry-y goodness. Cut each shortcake in half, then layer whipped cream, strawberries, then the other half of the shortcake, then more whipped cream and strawberries. Add some mint, and you’re on your way to a happy treat that’ll make your heartstrings sing.

So for this 30 in 30, we know you’re often looking for lunches and dinners to get in under 30 minutes, right? But I also know that a lot of us look RIGHT OVER breakfast and under-indulge all week (think cold, boring cereals, or worse, even a SKIPPED meal) and over-indulge on the weekend (bottomless mimosas and pancakes stacked miles high.) It’s better for your body to regulate your morning with a hearty breakfast that’ll keep you full until lunch without loading up on sugar. Or carbs. Or alcohol, preferably.

And so, since I have recently become obsessed with farro (I mean, it’s fast! It’s easy! It’s delicious! It’s hearty!) I figured that I could come up with a breakfast surrounding the grain.

So, here is a quick, easy, delicious breakfast that you can whip up in 15 minutes for a special weekday-morning staple that’ll keep you full.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup farro
1 cup milk
dried blueberries, apricots, or cranberries
slivered almonds
agave (optional)

Here’s what you do: Boil 1/2 cup farro over high heat in milk. Lower heat, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes. Stir with a fork, and pour into bowl. Top with dried (or fresh) fruit, slivered almonds, and agave. Serve warm.

This was like oatmeal – nutty, and sweet and perfect with agave, and it kept me full the whole morning! It’s definitely going to become a staple, because in addition to easy and delicious, it’s pretty cheap to make – making it a win in my book. What’s your favorite hearty breakfast? Do you even EAT breakfast?

You may have noticed that Girl Scout season has come again, and people are happily enjoying their samoas and thin mints all the live-long day. Well, Melissa and I say, how come so much gluten? and how come only once a year? Thin Mints should be enjoyed year round! At all times! Tuesdays, and weekends, happy days, and sad! So we set out to make gluten free thin mints. M found a recipe here, and we followed it (mostly.)

So we followed the recipe, put the cookies out…

Used the top of a sauce jar to make our thin mints…

And we put them in the oven. Then we remembered that we forgot to put the sugar in! The horror! Cookies without sugar?! Luckily, they were still pretty delicious, I’m not going to lie.

This was taken when the cookies were still drying – but Melissa put them in the freezer, and they hardened quite nicely, she informed me later.

Here’s the recipe, adapted by M and me for optimal deliciousness. You can follow the directions from the original recipe, just omit the sugar. We also decided on semi-sweet chocolate for the glaze, instead of dark chocolate, because without sugar in the cookie you need a little extra sweet in your glaze!

5 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon pure peppermint extract
¾ cup (105g) high-quality all-purpose gluten-free flour
¼ teaspoon xanthan gum
½ cup (40g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon kosher salt

GLAZE
½ pound semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
pure peppermint extract, to taste

In honor of Garlic Month, we wanted to roundup our best garlic recipes to give you something to make this weekend!

1) No good dinner is complete without garlic bread. This easy recipe will have you hot, delicious garlic bread ready in twenty minutes, and everyone at the table will instantly perk up – guaranteed.

2) Pesto isn’t complete without a healthy serving of garlic. Try our pea pesto if you’re interested in trying something different from the same old pesto!

3) Corelyn made this garlic ginger shrimp which is easy and yet something different from the weekly chicken and potato dinner!

4) If you’re looking for some raw garlic that will be hidden in something delicious (such as, say, cheese?) then look no further than this Garlic Goat Cheese Dip, which is fast to put together and is a crowd-pleasing appetizer!

5) The baked lemon pasta from the Pioneer Woman is delicious, easy, and has a healthy serving of garlic – and you can always, always add more!

What is your fave way to eat garlic?

Garlic, My Soul is very excited because April is National Garlic Month. As you may or may not know, we love garlic, and we were excited that a whole month is dedicated to one of our top ingredients.

Garlic is a great ingredient for a million and one reasons; it tastes wonderful, of course, but it’s also great FOR you – it helps you absorb iron, it helps lower cholesterol, can help reduce inflammation, lowers blood pressure, has antibacterial properties….the list goes on. Find more information about garlic and its benefits here.

In its honor, we roasted up some garlic to spread on bread. Roasting garlic is super easy and it is delicious, too. Here’s what you do.

First, lop off the top of the head.

Now, you can either a) wrap your garlic in tinfoil, or b) use a garlic baker.

I got this one at the Treasure Mart in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with my mom for like 2 dollars. You can get them online too, but tinfoil really works, too. Just depends on how often you’re going to be baking garlic!

So now you’re going to be baking your garlic head with a little bit of olive oil, at 400 degrees for about 30-45 minutes. Check it at the 30 minute mark – it should be translucent and should cut easy (like slightly melted butter!)

When your garlic is done, it’ll look like this – caramelized, and perfect. The individual cloves will slide right out of their casings, making it easy to pull one out and spread it all over your bread. We’d recommend toasting your bread, first.

Rub it all over your bread – I used about three or four cloves per piece, which was great. You’ll definitely have garlic breath, but OH BOY it’ll be worth it. Happy Garlic Month, I hope you enjoy it as much as we are!