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Easy Roasted Berry Mint Compote

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Easy Roasted Berry Mint Compote – Super easy, fruity and delicious! It’s perfect for breakfast toppings, snacks, desserts and so much more.

Easy Roasted Berry Mint Compote - Super easy, fruity and delicious! It's perfect for breakfast toppings, snacks, desserts and so much more.

Compote, what is it?

According to Merriam Webster compote is a dessert of fruit cooked in syrup. However, for me a compote is so much more than a dessert, it’s a condiment with so many possibilities. When making compote you can use one fruit or a combination of fruit. I used a combo of strawberries, blueberries and mint, but you can use whatever fruit combo you like. I didn’t want to make it overly sweet with sugar, so I combined the fruit with a small amount of agave and balsamic vinegar glaze instead of sugar. This Blackberry Balsamic Glaze is a great option. I also chose to roast the fruit in the oven over boiling on stove top.

Easy Roasted Berry Mint Compote - Super easy, fruity and delicious! It's perfect for breakfast toppings, snacks, desserts and so much more.

Roasting the fruit gives it bolder flavor in my opinion and it’s a lot easier than standing over a boiling pot of fruit.

Easy Roasted Berry Mint Compote - Super easy, fruity and delicious! It's perfect for breakfast toppings, snacks, desserts and so much more.

Typically compotes are used over pancakes, yogurt, cake, and ice cream to name a few. But I also like to use it over soft cheeses like Brie or goat cheese, so delicious.

Easy Roasted Berry Mint Compote - Super easy, fruity and delicious! It's perfect for breakfast toppings, snacks, desserts and so much more.

Easy Roasted Berry Mint Compote - Super easy, fruity and delicious! It's perfect for breakfast toppings, snacks, desserts and so much more.

Easy Roasted Berry Mint Compote - Super easy, fruity and delicious! It's perfect for breakfast toppings, snacks, desserts and so much more.

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Easy Roasted Berry Mint Compote - Super easy, fruity and delicious! It's perfect for breakfast toppings, snacks desserts and so much more.

Easy Roasted Berry Mint Compote

  • Author: Celeste | TheWholeServing
  • Prep Time: 6 mins
  • Cook Time: 25 mins
  • Total Time: 31 mins
  • Yield: 2 cups
Print Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. of fresh strawberries
  • 1 pint of fresh blueberries
  • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar glaze or Blackberry Balsamic Glaze
  • 2 tablespoons agave nectar or maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped
  • extra mint for garnish

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. After washing the fruit, hull and slice the strawberries.
  3. Place the sliced strawberries and blueberries on a shallow baking pan, drizzle with balsamic glaze and your choice of agave or maple syrup, and sprinkle on mint, toss to coat.
  4. Place in preheated oven and roast for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
  5. Transfer to a serving dish or storage container. Store in fridge.When serving garnish with more mint.
  6. Serve over pancakes, waffles, yogurt, toast, soft cheeses and more, be creative and enjoy!

How do you like to use compote?

If you make this recipe tag @thewholeserving on Instagram and hashtag it #thewholeserving, I want to see how you use your compote.

Easy Roasted Berry Mint Compote - Super easy, fruity and delicious! It's perfect for breakfast toppings, snacks, desserts and so much more.

 

Easy Roasted Berry Mint Compote - Super easy, fruity and delicious! It's perfect for breakfast toppings, snacks desserts and so much more.

 

Strawberry, Blueberry, Jicama Salad

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Sweet juicy strawberries, plump blueberries, and crisp jicama, together they make the perfect patriotic salad. This Strawberry, Blueberry, Jicama Salad is easy and deliciously healthy.

Sweet juicy strawberries, plump blueberries, and crisp jicama, together they make the perfect patriotic salad. This Strawberry, Blueberry, Jicama Salad is easy and deliciously healthy.

Memorial Day, a day to honor all of the fallen men and women who have served our country. I just want to say thank you to all their families who have also made a sacrifice and to all the men and women who continue to serve.

Memorial Day also symbolizes the beginning of summer, and this Strawberry, Blueberry, Jicama Salad is perfect not only for Memorial Day but all summer long. It has lots of flavor, but not a lot of calories. You can enjoy it without worrying about your waistline.  

If you’re like me and need a dish to take to a gathering this weekend, this is one that’s quick, easy and deliciously healthy. I put this together in 20 minutes.

For anyone not familiar with jicama, it is a round root vegetable very similar to the texture of a turnip and has a taste closer to that of an apple. For more info on jicama, check out What is Jicama Good For? at Food Facts.

Sweet juicy strawberries, plump blueberries, and crisp jicama, together they make the perfect patriotic salad. This Strawberry, Blueberry, Jicama Salad is easy and deliciously healthy.

To make my salad more festive and patriotic, I cut little stars out of the jicama and placed them on top before serving.

Sweet juicy strawberries, plump blueberries, and crisp jicama, together they make the perfect patriotic salad. This Strawberry, Blueberry, Jicama Salad is easy and deliciously healthy.

Sweet juicy strawberries, plump blueberries, and crisp jicama, together they make the perfect patriotic salad. This Strawberry, Blueberry, Jicama Salad is easy and deliciously healthy.

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Sweet juicy strawberries, plump blueberries, and crisp jicama, together they make the perfect patriotic salad. This Strawberry, Blueberry, Jicama Salad is easy and deliciously healthy.

Strawberry, Blueberry, Jicama Salad

★★★★★

5 from 6 reviews
  • Author: Celeste | TheWholeServing
  • Prep Time: 20 mins
  • Total Time: 20 mins
  • Yield: 5
Print Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 16 oz. package fresh strawberries
  • 1 ½ cups fresh blueberries
  • 2 cups diced jicama, about half of a large jicama
  • juice of one lemon or lime
  • agave nectar (optional)
  • 3 tablespoons, chopped mint

Instructions

  1. Wash and hull strawberries, place on a paper towel and pat dry. Slice strawberries into a large bowl.
  2. Wash and pat dry blueberries and add to the strawberries.
  3. Peel and slice a large jicama in half. Place jicama flat side down and slice 4 to 5 ¼ to ½ inch slices and set aside. Continue to slice and dice the remaining jicama until you have 2 cups.
  4. Place jicama in the bowl with the berries, add the lemon or lime juice and mint.
  5. If you want to add an extra bit of sweetness, drizzle with a small amount of agave nectar, I added 3 teaspoons.
  6. Toss gently with a spoon or use your hand to mix. Transfer to serving dish.
  7. For an extra patriotic feel cut stars out of the sliced jicama that was set aside earlier and place on salad.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 cup
  • Calories: 88
  • Sugar: 12.8
  • Sodium: 4.5
  • Fat: 0.4
  • Carbohydrates: 21.6
  • Fiber: 5.9
  • Protein: 1.4
  • Cholesterol: 0

If you make this recipe or a version of it, take a picture and share with me on Instagram, tag it #thewholeserving or leave a comment below. I’d love to see or hear about your version of this Strawberry, Blueberry, Jicama Salad.

Sweet juicy strawberries, plump blueberries, and crisp jicama, together they make the perfect patriotic salad. This Strawberry, Blueberry, Jicama Salad is easy and deliciously healthy.

 

If you like this salad you may like this Watermelon and Blueberry Salad.

Watermelon and bluberry, perfect summer salad.

Sweet juicy strawberries, plump blueberries, and crisp jicama, together they make the perfect patriotic salad. This Strawberry, Blueberry, Jicama Salad is easy and deliciously healthy.

No-Cook Strawberry Mint Chia Jam

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No-Cook Strawberry Mint Chia Jam-filled with flavors of lemon and mint. Takes only minutes to make and no stove required.

No-Cook-Strawberry-Mint-Jam4

Remember last week when I shared how to make Strawberry Shrub, I told you that more than drinks can be made with the wonderful stuff.  So today I’m sharing my No-Cook Strawberry Mint Chia Jam in which I used Strawberry Shrub as the sweetener. This is one of those quick and easy recipe, no need to turn on the stove-top or oven.

This recipe starts with beautiful strawberries, lemons, I used Meyer lemons, pungent mint.

I’ve been loving strawberries lately and it was hard not to eat the ingredients before using them in this recipe . Every third or fourth berry went into my mouth, so sweet and juicy.

The lemons I used this time were Meyer lemons. Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a Meyer lemon and a regular lemon?

Meyer lemons get their name from Frank Meyer, he brought the Meyer lemon to the US from China in the early 20th century. The Meyer lemon is thought to be a cross between a regular lemon and a mandarin orange. Meyer lemons may be smaller than regular lemons, with smoother deep yellow skin, and Meyer lemons aren’t as acidic, they are sweeter than regular lemons. The rinds of a Meyer taste and smell more herb or spice-like, which adds more complexity. Meyer lemons are more seasonal and best found from December through May.

Regular lemons are generally larger, thicker skinned, more acidic and are readily available throughout the year.

I couldn’t resist the mint because it was so beautiful and pungent and it adds so much flavor to the jam.

No-Cook Strawberry Mint Chia Jam-filled with flavors of lemon and mint. Takes only minutes to make and no stove required.

It’s the chia seeds that really give this jam texture. It’s amazing how something so tiny packs such a powerful punch.

Increased and sustained energy levels, mental clarity, stable blood sugar levels, bone health, increased fiber intake, weight management and healthy hair, skin and nails, these are just a few of the benefits you may have if you include Chia seeds to your daily diet. Just 15 to 20 grams (2 to 3 tablespoons) of Chia a day will provide you with all the omega-3 your body needs. Reference:Dr. Wayne Coates-AZChia.com.

Finely chopped strawberries can be added for a chunkier more textured jam, which is what I did for mine. This step is completely optional.

No-Cook Strawberry Mint Chia Jam-filled with flavors of lemon and mint. Takes only minutes to make and no stove required.

No-Cook Strawberry Mint Chia Jam-filled with flavors of lemon and mint. Takes only minutes to make and no stove required.

If you don’t have fresh berries you can totally use frozen berries or whatever berry is your favorite.

This awesome jam is great in yogurt, hot cereals, ice cream, on toast, pancakes, waffles and in your favorite nut butter sandwich. And by the way, this jam makes a great gift if you don’t eat it all yourself.

No-Cook Strawberry Mint Chia Jam-filled with flavors of lemon and mint. Takes only minutes to make and no stove required.

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Strawberry Mint Chia Jam

★★★★★

5 from 2 reviews
  • Author: Celeste @TheWholeServing
  • Prep Time: 10 mins
  • Total Time: 10 mins
  • Yield: 3 cups
Print Recipe

Ingredients

  • 2 cups quartered strawberries, measured after they have been quartered
  • 2/3 cups strawberry shrub
  • 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons lemon zest
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped mint
  • 1/4 cup chia seeds
  • 1 1/2 cups of finely chopped strawberries, optional

Instructions

  1. Place strawberries, shrub, lemon juice, zest, mint and chia seeds in a blender. Puree until mixture is your desired consistency.
  2. Transfer mixture to a bowl and add in the remaining chia seeds, and strawberries. Mix well. You canals add in more mint if you like.
  3. Transfer to glass jar seal and place in the fridge several hours or overnight. Jam will thicken as it cools.

Notes

Jam should keep in the fridge 2 week to 10 days.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 tablespoon
  • Calories: 11
  • Sugar: 0.8
  • Sodium: 0.4
  • Fat: 0.4
  • Saturated Fat: 0
  • Carbohydrates: 1.8
  • Fiber: 0.7
  • Protein: 8.3
  • Cholesterol: 0

If you make this recipe or a version of it, take a picture and share with me on Instagram, tag it #thewholeserving or leave a comment below. I’d love to see or hear about your version of No-Cook Strawberry Mint Chia Jam.

No-Cook Strawberry Mint Chia Jam-filled with flavors of lemon and mint. Takes only minutes to make and no stove required.

No-Cook Strawberry Mint Chia Jam-filled with flavors of lemon and mint. Takes only minutes to make and no stove required.

Sparkling Strawberry Shrub

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Sparkling Strawberry Shrub – Sweet, tart and delicious combination of strawberries, turbinado sugar and apple cider vinegar. If you like fermented drinks like Kombucha you’re going to love Shrubs.

Sparkling Strawberry Shrub - Sweet, tart and delicious combination of strawberries, turbinado sugar and apple cider vinegar. If you like fermented drinks like Kombucha you're going to love Shrubs.

Have you had a shrub today?

No,not the bush you find in your front lawn or garden center, but the fruit and vinegar based drink that seems to be popping up all over the internet. Shrubs first became popular in the colonial days, made by mixing vinegar syrup with water or carbonated water and spirits. During the colonial days all foods were freshly prepared and without refrigeration foods would go bad quickly and sometimes cause those that ate it to get sick.

Before refrigeration vinegar was used to preserve fruits and vegetables. The syrup that was a by product was mixed with spirits and used initially as a medicinal tonic for good health, but soon evolved into something more. I’m so glad we have refrigeration today.

So what Is a shrub?

It’s a mixture of fruit, sugar and vinegar, and yes vegetables can be added. There are two methods of making this sweet and tart concoction, the cold-processed or cooked method. The method I’m sharing today is the cold-method, a 1:1 ratio, and I chose to use turbinado sugar.For more on shrubs check out this article from Michael Dietsch, his first book Shrubs, was published in 2014 and this article from Total Food Service.

Sparkling Strawberry Shrub - Sweet, tart and delicious combination of strawberries, turbinado sugar and apple cider vinegar. If you like fermented drinks like Kombucha you're going to love Shrubs.

Step one: Wash, quarter the strawberries and lightly crush them with my fingers and mix with the sugar.

Step Two: Cover and place in the fridge for one to two days, stirring occasionally.

Step Three: Strain the syrup from the fruit, pressing gently and scraping any sugar not dissolved into the syrup.

Step Four: Mix the vinegar with the syrup, pour into a clean bottle (I recycled some old wine bottles), cap bottle, shake to mix the undissolved sugar and refrigerate for several days. I left mine for about a week and shook it everyday to dissolve any sugar. Eventually the acids in the juice and vinegar will dissolve any remaining sugar. The leftover fruit can be used in smoothies or over ice cream.

Sparkling Strawberry Shrub - Sweet, tart and delicious combination of strawberries, turbinado sugar and apple cider vinegar. If you like fermented drinks like Kombucha you're going to love Shrubs.

After a week it will be a very sweet and tart shrub. I have to admit I was a bit dismayed with all of the sugar, but after making a drink I realized I only used 1 tablespoon of shrub for 8 ounces of water.  And oh, by the way, it can be stored in the fridge for 6 months or more.

Sparkling-Strawberry-Shrub2

Once you have your shrub it’s time to get mixing.  Make yourself a Sparkling Strawberry Shrub or get creative and make a signature drink.  If you are in the mood for a cocktail you can mix your shrub with your favorite sparkling wine, liqueur, vodka or gin.

But drinks aren’t the only thing shrubs are made for. Use it to make jams, jellies, salad dressings and sauces. I’m going to be giving other fruits, herbs and vegetables a try, and of course I will be sharing with all of you.

Sparkling-Strawberry-Shrub

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Sparkling Strawberry Shrub - Sweet, tart and delicious combination of strawberries, turbinado sugar and apple cider vinegar. If you like fermented drinks like Kombucha you're going to love Shrubs.

Sparkling Strawberry Shrub

★★★★★

4.6 from 7 reviews
  • Author: Celeste @TheWholeServing
  • Yield: 6 cups
Print Recipe

Ingredients

  • STRAWBERRY SHRUB
  • 3 cups fresh clean quartered strawberries
  • 3 cups turbinado sugar
  • 3 cups apple cider vinegar
  • SPARKLING STRAWBERRY SHRUB
  • sparkling water
  • Strawberry Shrub to taste

Instructions

  1. In a large bowl mix the quartered strawberries and sugar, lightly crush some of the berries with your fingers.
  2. Cover bowl and place in the fridge 6 hours or 1 to 2 days. Stirring occasionally to help dissolve the sugar.
  3. Strain syrup that has formed from the fruit using a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth, into a large bowl. Press gently on fruit to extract as much of the syrup as possible.
  4. Scrape any undissolved sugar that remains into the syrup.
  5. Whisk the apple cider vinegar into the syrup.
  6. Pour into a clean bottle, cap bottle, shake to mix the undissolved sugar and refrigerate for several days. I left mine for about a week and shook it everyday to dissolve any sugar. Eventually the acids in the juice and vinegar will dissolve any remaining sugar. The leftover fruit can be used in smoothies or over ice cream.
  7. TO MAKE SPARKLING STRAWBERRY SHRUB
  8. Pour desired amount of water into glass and add Strawberry Shrub syrup to taste, mix and serve.

Notes

Sparkling Strawberry Shrub adapted from Michael Dietsch, Cold-Processed Shrub at Serious Eats

If you make this recipe or a version of it, take a picture and share with me on Instagram, tag it #thewholeserving or leave a comment below. I’d love to see or hear about what you create with Shrubs.Sparkling Strawberry Shrub - Sweet, tart and delicious combination of strawberries, turbinado sugar and apple cider vinegar. If you like fermented drinks like Kombucha you're going to love Shrubs.

 

Sparkling Strawberry Shrub - Sweet, tart and delicious combination of strawberries, turbinado sugar and apple cider vinegar. If you like fermented drinks like Kombucha you're going to love Shrubs. Sparkling-Strawberry-Shrub-Pin

5 Favorite Things Friday

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5-Favorite-Things-Friday

Happy Friday!!!

Today I’m doing something a little different, instead of a recipe, I’ll be sharing 5 favorites of mine this week.

 

Bowls-Of-Strawberry-Citrus-Salsa

 

 

1. I shared this Strawberry Citrus Salsa earlier this week and this stuff is sooooo good, it was my lunch and dinner one day this week. If you missed it check it out here.

2.I’m big on smoothies and this Strawberry, Mango & Baobab Smoothie is my fav this week, this was a good week for strawberries and mango.

3.Fries and dip, I love fries, but these are no ordinary fires, they’re Parsnip Fries With Creamy Garlic-Tahini & Herb Dip, move over potato, there’s a new fry in town.

4. Next week is Teacher Appreciation Week and one full week before Mother’s Day so I’ve been searching for cute gift ideas. My favorite site for this is Lia Griffith, she has some absolutely beautiful DIY projects.

5. Tatertots and Jello is another place to find great DIY Mother’s Day and Teacher gifts.

 

 

What are some of your favorites this week?, Leave a link to your favorites, I’d love to check them out.

 

Strawberry Citrus Salsa

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Bowls-Of-Strawberry-Citrus-Salsa

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a nice weekend. I finally was able to do an outdoor workout on Saturday, there was a break in the rain, but the clouds were back on Sunday. All in all, it was a pretty wonderful weekend.

I was also finally able to complete the photo shoot for the recipe I’m sharing with you today.

It’s been in the works for a few weeks now and I had planned to shoot the photos last week, one bag of grapefruit and one bag of oranges purchased.

Finally, time for me to put it all together for the shoot and there are no grapefruits, my daughter had asked if she could have one and I said ok, as I thought to myself, there’ll still be plenty left for me to make the salsa.  WRONG!!, she ended up eating them all by the time I finally had the time to take photos. But it’s all good, I’m glad she loves eating citrus fruit.

Bowl-with-Ingredients-Strawberry-Citrus-Salsa

Citrus fruit is a great source of fiber, vitamin C, and wonderful flavonoids that are antioxidants that help reduce inflammation and may prevent cancer.

Citrus fruits can be used for more than just a snack, morning drink, or a squeeze in tea of water.  It’s great paired with salads and veggies.

Chips-and-Strawberry-Citrus-Salsa

SWEET, TART, CREAMY and SPICY, that’s what you get with this recipe. And it’s pretty don’t you think?

And it’s rather tasty on tacos and burritos, I had some of those this weekend and guess what I topped it off with?

Strawberry-Citrus-Salsa-CL

You can easily leave out the avocado for anyone who doesn’t like them, but who doesn’t like avocados? It’ll still be an awesome salsa.

Strawberry-Citrus-salsa-wo-Avocado

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Strawberry Citrus Salsa

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews
  • Author: Celeste @TheWholeServing
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Ingredients

  • 2 cups diced strawberries
  • 2 medium grapefruits, sectioned
  • 2 medium oranges or 3 small oranges, sectioned
  • 2 mangoes, diced
  • 1/2 cup red onions, diced
  • 1/3 cup jalapeno, diced
  • 1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped
  • dash of sea salt
  • 1 medium avocado, diced (optional)

Instructions

  1. Place all ingredients except avocado in medium bowl and toss together.
  2. Transfer to serving dish when ready to serve.
  3. If using avocado, mix the diced avocado in just before serving.
  4. Have fun and ENJOY!!

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1/4 cup
  • Calories: 65
  • Sugar: 13.5
  • Sodium: 14.4
  • Fat: 0.4
  • Saturated Fat: 0.1
  • Carbohydrates: 16.1
  • Fiber: 2.4
  • Protein: 1.1
  • Cholesterol: 0

Strawberry-Citrus-Salsa-wAvocado

 

Shared with: Coastal Charm, Yesterfood, Mandy’s Recipe Box, Lou Lou Girls, Home Stories A to Z, Nap Time , Creations, Cooking With Ruthie, Craft-O-Maniac, Life is Fantasmic

Strawberry Infused Lemonade

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Infused-Lemonade

It’s starting to heat up a bit here in Texas and this strawberry infused lemonade is the answer, it’s a healthier version of the sugar loaded lemonade.

I have always infused my water with citrus and sometimes mint, but lately I have become obsessed with infusing with berries and other herds like basil and rosemary.

It’s amazing how something so simple, yields so much flavor overnight.  I’m sure there is a time and place for longer infusion times, like infused liquors, I’ll have one of those to share with you later.

This is the perfect recipe for your July 4th gathering, no one will miss the sugar.

Strawberry-Infused

This is such a beautiful drink, and if you like, add spirits to make it an adult drink.

Strawberry-Lemonade

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Strawberry Infused Lemonade

  • Author: Celeste Meredith
  • Yield: 5
  • Category: Beverage
Print Recipe

Description

Tart, refreshing summer beverage.

Ingredients

  • 4 cups of filtered water
  • 1/3 cup agave nectar
  • 1 and 1/4 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice, about 10 lemons
  • 1 and 1/4 cups of fresh sliced strawberries
  • 1 lemon, sliced in circles
  • frozen blueberries

Instructions

  1. Pour the water into a large glass pitcher, add the agave and mix well.
  2. Add the lemon juice, mix well.
  3. Pour in sliced strawberries and sliced lemons, stir, cover and refrigerate overnight.
  4. The next day, pour lemonade into a serving pitcher using a fine strainer.
  5. Serve with sliced strawberries and frozen blueberries.
  6. To make this an adult drink add the spirit of your choice.
  7. Have fun and enjoy!