Recipe: Strawberry Pecan Fig Spread

Summer is the perfect time to enjoy the delicious bounty of seasonal fruits; especially, ripe, red, juicy strawberries. I enjoy heading out to the pick-your-own farms and choosing farm ripened produce for my special recipes. Supporting our local produce growers is very important [to me] because we live in a rural farm district. If you love fruit and nut spreads here is a quick and easy strawberry spread. I love a healthy dollop of this summer spread on vanilla wafers as an afternoon snack. All you need is a blender, measuring cups, a bowl and the ingredients below for this easy strawberry spread.

Ingredients:

1 pint strawberries wash, dry and hull berries
½ cup chopped pecans
¼ cup chopped dried figs small bits
2 tablespoon honey
8 oz cream cheese - set aside at room temperature until soft

Preparation:

Put strawberries in the blender. Slowly add the softened figs, which blend better if they are roughly chopped or torn into smaller pieces. Blend on chop setting until mixture is thick. Try not to over- blend the mixture or it will become too thin to fold into the softened cream cheese.

Add chopped pecans and continue to blend. Based on the consistency you want, you may add more strawberries. To get this to be a dense spread add more figs and/or pecans.

Fold mixture into the softened cream cheese. Cover spread and place in the refrigerator until you are ready to use. When stored properly in an air-tight contain this mixture can stay refrigerated for 4-5 days. Enjoy!

Noteworthy Tip: When figs were not available or you don't like figs I have substituted dried dates. Almonds also work well if pecans are not your nut of choice.

Gardening: If you enjoy gardening get a couple of strawberry plants and try growing your own. Nothings better than juicy strawberries, straight from the garden.