Strawberry Shortcake

I was not joking when I said there is nothing healthy about this dessert.  But... I took some amazing photos.  I knew you would want to see them regardless of the calorie count. 

Oh and there's a cute dog anecdote, and who doesn't love a good dog anecdote.

Sadly the famous peach and blueberry pie did not make an appearance this last weekend thanks to rock hard peaches at 3 different stores.  But I must say, that plan B was certainly delicious.

Not to mention, I love getting the chance to use my parents' kitchen.  There's so much room!  Compared to my little apartment kitchen it was amazing.  All of the nice appliances and fixtures... ah, one day.  Oh and check out the bowl that I put my shortcake in, it is so pretty.  My parents got them in New York while there.  Needless to say I was like, where are mine?  I wanted to steal them and take them home with me.

What you'll need:
Big carton of strawberries
Sugar
Bisquick mix [follow the recipe for shortcake on the box]
One lemon
Carton heavy whipping cream
Vanilla
Powdered Sugar

Let's get out those beautiful strawberries, wash them, and slice them.

Mix your strawberries with a half cup sugar.  Then zest the lemon into the strawberry and sugar mixture, and juice half of your lemon in as well.  It's amazing the effect that lemon has on the strawberries.  It just brightens the flavor so much, it's delicious, you just have to put it in there even if you don't think it's a necessity.  Because it's really not, but it makes such an amazing enhancement to the strawberries, just trust me, you'll be wowed!

And now with your hands all lemony, you should have some fun with your poor dog whose nose is millions of times more sensitive than ours.  My dad decided to put his hands up to his nose and see what kind of face he would make, because Flash is known for his funny faces, and well here are the results..

Hahaha, I love the snarl.  Poor puppy, but not really my mom spoils him like none other. You'll often hear the refrain in our house about Flash being the "third and favorite child".  [It's so true]

When you're done torturing your pets, pop your strawberry mixture in the fridge to marinate. 

Then prepare your shortcakes.  I followed the recipe on the Bisquick box, it worked wonderfully, they came out perfect.

After you mix all the ingredients together, divide batter to make 6 shortcakes on the pan, then pop into the oven.

When they come out of the oven they will be golden brown beauties that you will want to consume on the spot.  But if you're like me, you have to wait because you prepared them several hours early... wha wah waaaaah.

When you are ready to eat your shortcakes, prepare your whipped cream. Start off by putting the heavy whipping cream and 1 Tbs vanilla into your parents' amazing stand mixer [that you would sneak out of the house if you could, but you're pretty sure they would notice...] and get that whipping.  When soft peaks start to form add in 3 Tbs of powdered sugar. 

I promise it won't be overly sweet, because you definitely don't need something uber sweet in a dessert like this.  It's the perfect balance of sweet and creamy for this dessert.

Layer everything together and enjoy your sweet, strawberry dessert!