Now that I live in “Strawberry Country,” I like to freeze strawberries when they are in season. If I do not have fresh strawberries, I use my frozen strawberries or purchase them from my local grocery store. When your recipe calls for a 10-ounce package of frozen strawberries, you can use one pint of fresh sliced strawberries with ½ cup sugar. My motto is this: fresh is always best, second best is frozen and last is canned.

And when you like all the ingredients listed in a recipe, you know it will be delicious. I’ve always loved berries of all kinds and use them in recipes whenever possible. Now is the time to enjoy cooking with fresh strawberries.

Strawberry Nut Salad

Ingredients

• 2 3-ounce packages strawberry Jell-O
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 10-ounce package frozen strawberries, thawed (or 1 pint fresh with ½ cup sugar)
• 1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
• 3 medium bananas, mashed
• 1 cup coarsely chopped nuts
• 1 pint sour cream

Preparation

Combine Jell-O and boiling water until Jell-O is dissolved.

Fold in strawberries with juice, pineapple, bananas and nuts. Pour ½ mixture into 8-by-12-inch glass dish.

Refrigerate until firm. Keep remaining mixture at room temperature. Spread sour cream on top of set jell-o mixture. Spread the remaining strawberry mixture on top of sour cream. Refrigerate until firm.

From the scriptures

Spiritual food is essential for all of us, as well as physical food. We should nourish our mind and feed our spirit daily just as we feed our body. To memorize a weekly Bible verse is a fabulous spiritual food. Try it, and you will see how easy it is to memorize just one Bible verse each week!

Our Memory Verse for this week is: "The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.” Exodus 15:2