Strawberry shortcake (and a marital secret Mom reveals)

The other week I was in Indiana just at the start of their strawberry season. I hankered to enjoy an evening meal of shortcake and strawberries. When I learned there was a U-Pick patch a stone’s throw from Mom’s retirement complex, I went over early the next morning. Only $1.25 a pound. What a delight to dig into a bounty of delicious berries in long straight rows after picking on my somewhat difficult hillside patch, described here.

You’re thinking they eat shortcake as a meal? How healthy is that?

Well, the kind of shortcake we like for a meal is not a sweet cake, more like a biscuit, made from a mix and doctored up just a tad. Cheating, I know. We use either Bisquik ® or Jiffy ® Mix.

Back to the healthy. A traditional Strawberry Shortcake meal at the Miller household consisted of (for each person):

Menu:

A cup or so of chopped, lightly sugared fresh berries.
A half cup of milk.
Bisquik ® type shortcake
Cheese or bologna or deli smoked turkey as a “side” – not on bread
Perhaps fresh garden lettuce as a wrapper for the cheese/bologna/turkey

Four food groups. A cup of strawberries supplies 160 percent of your daily Vitamin C, plus some fiber and potassium. Protein and calcium in your milk and cheese or deli meat. A small amount of veggie/fiber in your lettuce, or perhaps a carrot on the side if you insist on a traditional veggie.

Where the healthy comes in too, lest we forget, is that this is pretty much a low-effort, stressless meal. That has to count for something. You clean the berries, you bake up the shortcake, the house fills with delicious scents, you serve, you eat. Pure enjoyment. I’m mostly about eating simply which counts for a lot in the summer.

I laud my parents who practiced local simple eating before it was trendy, because that’s what we did frequently for an evening meal in summer. (As farmers, our main meal of the day came at noon, where Mom served traditional dinners of meat, a starch, veggie and salad.)

But once spring fruits got under way, for our evening meal there was a steady succession of bread and milk topped with the fruit of the week: strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, peaches. These were our favorites. We did not grow blueberries in our orchard but Mom would buy those in bulk, as I do now, from those who did or, if necessary, shipped in. (You gotta have blueberries however you can get your hands on them.)

Then the surprise. On my recent visit, Mom shocked me by saying she NEVER LIKED the soggy bread part of these meals. And now that Daddy is gone, she feels free to skip the milk-soaked bread, and just have milk and strawberries, milk and peaches, and her bread on the side, not all mushy like Daddy loved.

Now I’m wondering what if Daddy ate it that way because he thought Mom liked it that way?

Kind of rocks the underpinnings of your understandings about your parents, you know, if they could live with such secrets.

But that’s always the way I liked Mom’s shortcake best too—I crumbled a little for my strawberries and milk, but saved a nice hunk to eat on the side, warm and slathered in butter.

I was never able to get my husband and three daughters to enjoy this as an evening meal except for when we were at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. They ate it then. If I served at home, someone was sure to ask, “Is this all we’re having for supper?” (But then, we do not have our main meal of the day at noon!) So it remains a special treat just for strawberry season, just at Grandma’s house. Some foods are like that. But maybe your family will think it’s cool.

And the results from the “How do you like to eat your strawberries” poll a couple of posts ago?
55 % love shortcake best
44 % pie
Neither jam or cheesecake got a single vote.

(Jiffy ® used to make a versatile version Mom used called “Baking Mix” (here) but after scouring two grocery stores, I’m not sure they make it anymore. Anyone know?)

Shortcake (Using the standard recipe on the box)

2 1/2 cups Bisquick ®
2/3 cup milk
3 Tablespoons sugar
3 Tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

Stir mix, milk, sugar and melted butter until it hangs together. Spread into greased 9 inch pie pan or other baking dish of those approximate dimensions. Bake in 425 degree oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Slice into pie-sized servings of your choice, for 6-8. Serve while warm.

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Did you ever learn something new about your parents, or your mom or dad that surprised you or changed your picture of them?

Or, did your mom or dad ever stop doing something once their partner was deceased? I’d love to hear more.

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For hundreds of recipes helping you cook whatever is in season, check out Simply in Season, from Herald Press.