The thing I love most about those hot days of spring and summer is, after being thoroughly chilled from a full day of air conditioning indoors, stepping outside and feeling the warmth of the air on my skin. Then I sit down in my car with an even higher temperature, and letting the heat soaking through my skin and thawing me from the inside out. I like to sit there a minute or two before turning on the car’s air conditioning. For me it’s like stepping into a sauna or a hot tub. Now I’m not saying I want to be boiling hot all day, but those first few minutes when your body isn’t used to it yet are pure relaxation.

The thing I love second best about spring and summer is nature’s sweet treats topped with homemade whipped cream.

If you know how to make whipped cream, you are probably laughing at my post about how to make it because it is so simple (you take cream and you whip it), but I didn’t always know how to make it and I’m betting there may be a few more people out there who don’t. If everyone knew how simple it is to make, those beloved aerosol cans would have a much harder time making their way into our grocery bags. So if you do already know how to make it, this is more of a suggestion than a recipe, in case you forgot how much better it is homemade.

Last week my co-workers and I got together for our quarterly team building day. We work from home, so this is one of the few times we actually see each other in person. This time we picked strawberries at Batey Farm in Murfreesboro, TN. We all had a blast, and each left with a bucket of deep red gems. We all talked about what we would do with them. Several desserts were mentioned. Some people were just happy to eat them.

I had good intentions of making jam with mine. I even picked a green one for added natural pectin. They smelled too good. On the way home, I decided I would just eat some and freeze some. As soon as I walked in the door, four greedy little hands snatched up at least a quarter of the bounty. (My kids, if you didn’t catch that.) Jam, freezing, even shortcake was out the window. My new goal was just to eat some before the rest of my family found the bottom of the bucket. Lucky for me I just happened to have some heavy whipping cream in the refrigerator.

Here is what you need to make whipped cream: cream, a whisk, and about two and a half minutes. You can get fancy and add vanilla, cinnamon, sweeteners, chocolate… But really all you need is the cream.

You don’t even have to measure it. just pour some in a bowl. Remember it’s going to double in size, so you don’t need a whole lot. I added vanilla, which you also don’t have to measure, just a few drops. The strawberries were so sweet on their own. I didn’t have to add a sweetener.

Next put the whisk attachment on your mixer, and go to town. I timed it and it took me about two and a half minutes. Just keep going until the cream stops moving, and you can do the Dairy Queen trick and tip the bowl up without any sliding. (Disclaimer: I wouldn’t tip it upside down in true DQ form, just in case it’s not there yet.)

That’s it! Now just cut up some juicy, ripe, and sweet summer fruits before your family figures out what you’re doing.