Blog Dog Dan: COOKING IN THE DARK WITH COCHRAN & CHRISTIE

Two bees, or not two bees, that is the question. We were hoping the other bloggers wouldn't say that! The real quote is "To be, or not to be, that is the question," which is from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet (written about 1600) and is the best-known quotation from this particular play and one of the most famous in world literature. Did you know Lion King was loosely based on this play? We thought you'd enjoy some more interesting facts about honeybees and honey - you will BEE amazed!

There are three types of bees in the hives: queen, worker, and drone.
Honeybees fly at 15 mph and their wings stroke 11,400 times per minute, making their distinctive buzz.
Honeybees are the only insect that produce food for humans.
Honeybees are responsible for pollinating approximately 80% of all fruit, vegetable, and seed crops.
Honeybees communicate with each other by dancing and using pheromones (scents).
Honeybees never sleep.
Honey is 80% sugar and 20% water, honey never spoils, and is the only food that includes all the substances necessary to sustain life, including water.
To make one pound of honey, the bees in the colony must visit 2 million flowers, fly over 55,000 miles, and will be the lifetime work of approximately 300 bees.
The typical beehive can make up to 400 pounds of honey per year.
A honeycomb cell has six sides.
Although Utah has the title "The Beehive State," the top honey-producing states include California, Florida, and South Dakota.

Since Christie and I like to stay clean (yes, clean!), we like the personal care products by Burt's Bees. Burt's Bees operates under a business model referred to as "The Greater Good," which outlines that all company practices must be socially responsible. To reflect this philosophy, Burt's Bees uses all natural ingredients, engages in environmentally friendly business practices, and extends its humanitarian efforts to the community at large.

We have been a little worried about bears liking insects though, so we've tried to stay indoors as much as possible. Christie had a wonderful idea of making Strawberry Shortcake for you tonight. We collected the Strawberry Shortcake dolls when they were popular in the 1980s. A greeting card illustrator for American Greetings designed Strawberry Shortcake in 1977. The line of characters had their own fruity or dessert-themed name with clothing to match, and they each had a dessert- or fruit-named pet! Strawberry Shortcake was our favorite, along with her cat, Custard. All of the dolls had hair scented to match their dessert theme and lived and played in a magical world called Strawberryland.

We were going to make the sponge cake, but decided to use the dessert cups instead, just to make it easier, and we bought Cool Whip. All we did was make the Strawberry Syrup, and we got the recipe from Junior's Cookbook. Instead of using 3 quarts of strawberries, we reduced this amount to 2 quarts and reduced the other ingredients as well:

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE

2 quarts strawberries, sliced (about 8 cups)

3/4 cup cold water

1 cup sugar

2 tbsp. cornstarch

1/2 tsp vanilla or almond extract

Few drops red food coloring (optional)

Wash and slice the strawberries 1/2-inch thick.

Bring 1/2 cup water and 1 cup sugar to a boil in a large saucepan over high heat. Boil for 5 minutes.

Mix the cornstarch and the remaining 1/4 cup water together in a cup until the cornstarch dissolves. Slowly whisk this mixture into the boiling syrup. Return to a full boil and boil for 2 minutes.

Remove the syrup from the heat and whisk in the food coloring. Stir in the vanilla or almond extract and gently fold in the strawberries.

Store in the refrigerator until ready to use, up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 1 month. We prepared a double-decker!

ENJOY!

Let's watch Strawberry Shortcake in Sweet Dreams (starts at 50 seconds):

Not that we're trying to be sweeter than anyone else, we've got a "beary" good video. First, listen to the The Bare Necessities from The Jungle Book: