Whether you have fresh or frozen strawberries, make a batch of this wonderful ruby red dessert sauce.  It only take a few minutes to prepare and it's great poured over homemade ice cream or cheesecake.  Wonderful stirred into plain Greek yogurt too.

Strawberry Vanilla Sauce

makes approximately 1 1/2 cups

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 16 ounces fresh or frozen strawberries, chopped

• 6-8 tablespoons granulated sugar (depends on how sweet the berries are)

• 1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped (or equal amount of vanilla bean paste or extract)

• Zest of half a small lemon

Directions

1. Place fresh strawberries, sugar, and vanilla bean seeds in a bowl and mix together; rest for 30 minutes, until berries begin to give off their juice (skip this step if using frozen berries).

2. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine strawberries, sugar, and vanilla bean seeds (if using vanilla bean paste or extract, add after mixture is removed from the heat); heat until sugar dissolves completely, stirring frequently.

3. Remove from heat and stir in lemon zest. Serve warm or cold. Chill leftovers for up to a week.

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