Happy Place, Happy Space
I look forward to my UglyFood surprise bundles. Our last visit brought even more excitement & squeals.
There were several trays of strawberries sitting at the entrance way of the UglyFood homestore.
Contents of my Surprise Bundle this week
Upon chatting with the young man who packs my veggies, I found out that these trays were going to be thrown out because many of them were mouldy and leaking juice.
I must have said something like, oh dear! what a waste! to which he replied, please feel free to take some with you if you don’t mind sorting through them. Which, of course, I excitedly said, yes please!
When I got home, I happily sorted through 11 punnets (he managed to find me these which were bleeding the least), and ended up with a colander of useable, although very ripe, fruit. I immediately cooked them with sugar & orange juice.
The next day, Baking Fiend Daughter made a Strawberry Brookie (brownie + cookie = brookie) with the cooked pulp.
Alas, we decided that the strawberry flavour was not distinctive enough. So we made a coulis out of the puree and drizzled it over the baked good. Much better!
Actually, the coulis is very tasty and we’ve been eating it over yogurt, ice cream and well, just straight of the container. It is fruit, after all.
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Reading your Joyful Posts brings me to my happy place. I hope having them in one place makes it easier for you to find when you need a bit of happy therapy, too.
If you would like to join in, ping back to this post and I will include you next week.
- Antoinette Truglio Martin’s Tomato Pie: showcases a household favourite
- Carol Ann Siciliano‘s Delights: paints with words
- Deb’s World’s Ways to Stay Afloat: helps local businesses in this time of need, and brings us a big smile with pink flamingos
- Heavens Sunshine’s Radiant & Fanciful: brings sunflowers with a smile
- Julie at Eat, Play Live’s Coffee & Chocolate Babka: plants an olive tree & receives postcards
- Laurie Grave‘s The Consolation of Tomato Sandwiches: shows us how to make a tomato sandwich like they do in Maine
- Little Pieces of Me‘s Grateful Fridays: has a varied list of things to be grateful for this week
- Marilyn at Serendipity Seeking Intelligent Life on Earth‘s Don’t Move the Furniture: reconsiders house-cleaning
- Natalie the Explorer‘s My 10 Favourites This Summer: shares her “Best Of” the summer
- Reflections of an Untidy Mind‘s Walk in their shoes: calls us to compassion as she shares her walks and through her Friday song
- Thistles and Kiwis’This Week’s Small Pleasures: spots pretty blooms on lockdown walks & amuses herself with talks, podcasts & Netflix as home
- Trent’s World‘s The Weekly Smile: nurses a sick kitty back to his adorable self
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This post is my contribution to
- Weekend Coffee Share hosted by NatalieTheExporer
- What’s On Your Plate Challenge hosted by Deb at TheWidowBadass & Donna at RetirementReflections
Touring My Backyard 
Oh what a treat. We have a couple services here that deliver “not store worthy” produce and overstock products. I received it for awhile but had to stop. i loved it though.
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It is fun, but it does take a bit of work to get the ripest fruits & vegetables used up first, or preserved.
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A brookie with the strawberry coulie — sounds very indulgent. When I have leftover strawberries, I like to put them in smoothies, yogurt, or put it on top of ice cream!
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Do you cook your leftover strawberries? Or do you freeze them?
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I freeze mine. I haven’t tried cooking them.
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Oh my goooooooossssshhhh!! Nummy!
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We’ve gotten cleverer – we don’t always rely on frosting now!
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So will this count when Lent rolls around? I’m guessing not. Clever indeed, Ju-Lyn!
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Sigh …. quite a few months to go till Lent … so not going to worry about it yet!
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Heehee. 🙂
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The Ugly fruit and veggies sound like a rescue indeed – and great to not have it merely tossed away!
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Most of the time, our Surprise Bundle is of very good quality (they put in the bundle items that are in excess, but not necessarily close to end of life). The ones that are close to end of life that require some rescue are sold at much lower prices.
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oh got it!
and my son used to get a box of something like this delivered a couple of years ago!
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Hi Ju-Lyn, I think it’s great that you were willing to put in the effort to rescue those strawberry gems and turn them into something wonderful. Good for you.
I wanted to share a story that just makes me smile to this day so many years after the fact. I was not my most graceful but can’t help but laugh at myself that day. I hope you get a smile from it too.
Blessings.
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Thanks for the encouragement Gary – I do what I can as it gives me great satisfaction reduce food waste.
Thank you for your story: laughing at oneself is a cultivated skill … one we could all use!
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Loved the picture of the strawberries and the connection with other posts. Inspiring use of foods and the opportunity to score some free but still useable foods. How great that the fellow who helped you was willing to give them to you rather than throw them away. Enjoyed the post. Michele
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Appreciate the kind words & encouragement, Michele!
Young Man was very generous – as you said, he could have chosen to throw them away.
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Hpw wonderful. And there was nothing ugly about your concoctions. Thanks for sharing
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Appreciate your popping in to share in my espacades!
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Dear Ju-Lyn — Your intrepid shopping fills me with delight and your cooking skill fills me with awe! Thanks for sharing your path to such pleasure. (And thank you, as always, for linking to my post.)
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I am chuckling – you have such a humorous way with words! You are most welcome in this space as you always bring a smile!
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Love the idea of a brookie! Especially with a coulis.
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It was a good combination! We tried to incorporate the fruit puree into the brownie part, but the flavour wasn’t very pronounced. We figured the addition of the coulis would bring a better strawberry flavour.
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That is so wonderful that you scored those strawberries! ! I love when tings like that happens. I am so happy for you! The delicious pastry looks like something that wouldn’t last long in my house 🙂 I hope you are enjoying a fabulous weekend! Thanks for the coffee!
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Thank you for the catchup. Hope you are all doing ok staying home!
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Hi, Ju-Lyn – Are the strawberries in your feature photo the ones that you got free from the Ugly Fruit Company? They look perfect to me!
I never heard of a Brookie before – I will definitely remember this.
Thank you for joining us at What’s On Your Plate. Deb & I greatly appreciate it!
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Yes, these are the rescued strawberries. Had to throw about more than 3 times the amount due to mould. These look good photographed, but we could hardly eat them as is as they were very ripe.
Brookies are new-ish to us too. We love them!
https://preppykitchen.com/brookies/
Thank you & Deb for hosting us – I so look forward to being part of this gathering!
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Yum is all I can say 😋
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Hee hee! Thanks Brian! It was rather delicious, and I enjoyed lots of strawberry goodness this week.
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Wonderful to get those strawberries, and I enjoyed reading how you sprang into action to preserve them. Bravo! As always, thanks for the mention.
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Hee hee! I just had to spring into action again this evening to rescue a box of tiny champagne grapes that Fruit&Veg Fairy Godfather brought around. Too ripe to eat as is, so we had to cook them up. Will check tomorrow to see what state the fruit is in before we make plans.
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Looks good! Should be called GreatFood surprise. 😊
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It is Great Food, and it is a wonderful surprise, so that would be an excellent name!
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Gorgeous red strawberries, Ju-Lyn. The brookie and coulis looks delish and artistic. Thank you for the mention and for linking up with #weekendcoffeeshare.
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They do look beautiful; we tried eating them straight but they were a little overripe. So cook them we did!
Most welcome in this space, Natalie! and thank you for hosting the Coffee Share!
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What a great initiative ugly food bundles! Well done on using them in a variety of ways! Always happy to be included in your joyful posts, many thanks 🙂
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It is very satisfying to know that I am contributing in some way to reducing food waste, and I get delicious fruit & veg at the same time!
Most welcome as always in this space, Debbie!
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An exceptionally, beautiful cover photo Ju—Lyn. Frugal, not wasteful, tasty….excitement and squeals is a perfect recipe. Brookie and coulis are great suggestions.
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Appreciate your delighting in this endeavour with me! Excitement & squeals are best shared!
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Thanks for including a link to my post. 😊
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Most welcome in this space, Irene!
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Oh what luck with those strawberries!
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Right place at the right time!
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