Strawberries and Whipped Cream

Strawberries and whipped cream is such a simple delicious dessert. It give your kids a serving of fruit and a kick of healthy dairy based fat with very little sugar. In order for it to really be good, you need to make whipped cream from scratch though. It's quick, easy and it's always better than anything you buy in a plastic bowl or a spray can.

Whipped Cream - From Betty Crocker's New Cookbook
For 1 cup of whipped cream:
1/2 cup heavy/whipping cream
1 tsp powdered sugar (granulated will work, but powdered mixes in better)
1 tsp vanilla (optional, but not really because it's soooo much better with vanilla)
Put it all in a chilled bowl and whisk until you get whipped cream. That's it. Really. Whip longer for stiffer whipped cream, less for softer, we all have our preference. Too much and you end up with butter, so be careful. If you have a mixer with a whisk you might need to make a double batch with one cup of cream to really let the mixer make enough contact with the cream to whip it. Experiment. Also, you can vary the sweetness of the whipped cream. Less sugar when you're putting it on something sweet like angel food cake with chocolate syrup, more sugar with something like tart berries. You can add all sorts of other extracts like lemon or mint instead of vanilla if you want to get all crazy. Whipped cream is extremely simple and yet has the option to go wherever your imagination can take it.
I'm a little shocked that people buy whipped cream to be honest. We almost always have a quart of cream in the fridge and whip up a batch whenever we have something to put it on, at least once a week. Pull out a whisk and a bowl and make some whipped cream this weekend to put on something. Strawberries are easy and healthy. Your world will be better for making your own whipped cream, I promise.