10 Strawberry Recipes To Sweeten Your Summer

What better way to spend summer than with a basket of fresh and juicy strawberries? During the hot summer months, strawberries are a refreshing way to rehydrate, or they can be a fruity component to a sweet pie or pastry. You can even add them to a cocktail like a margarita or a daiquiri. Make the most out of these versatile red berries while they are perfectly ripe and in season.

Click here to see the 10 Strawberry Recipes to Sweeten Your Summer (Slideshow)

With so many recipes for summer strawberries, we decided it would be the ideal theme for this week's SWAT (Sharing With A Theme). We put the Culinary Content Network and our staff to the test to come up with strawberry recipes, and here are some of the highlights:

• Karen from Baking In A Tornado shared her recipe for sweet strawberry pizza made with peanut butter and strawberry jam. We are onboard with anything PB&J!
• Meriem from Culinary Couture shared with us her recipe for strawberry lemonade bars. Combining strawberries with the iconic summer drink makes for an irresistible dessert.
• The winner this week is Lauren Gordon, the entertain Editor at The Daily Meal. Lauren's fun and festive strawberry cheesecake bites are the perfect dessert for a summer barbecue party.

All of the recipes featured can be made at home for about $20 or less, excluding the cost of small amounts of basic ingredients such as butter, oil, flour, sugar, salt, pepper, and other dried herbs and spices.

Kale Salad with Strawberries and Feta Recipe

This simple salad is packed with flavor from the mint and feta. Strawberries add a little sweetness.

Click here to see the Kale Salad with Strawberries and Feta Recipe

Strawberry Risotto Recipe

The combination of strawberries and risotto might first seem a little strange at first. But this savory dish is nothing but a flavorful and bright surprise. The sweetness of the berries cooks away and you're left with more of a tart flavor. Plus the dish is a lovely shade of pink.

Click here to see the Strawberry Risotto Recipe

Click here to see more Strawberry Recipes to Sweeten Your Summer

Emily Jacobs is the Recipe editor at The Daily Meal. Follow her on Twitter @EmilyRecipes.

This post was originally published on June 20, 1014.