Hi, there!
Today, I’m not cooking, but I am in the kitchen. I’m prepping!
I live in Kansas, and I’m finding really great deals on beautiful, red, juicy strawberries. I really enjoy frozen berries in my morning smoothies. Often, if I buy the frozen bags of “berry blends” that include strawberries, the frozen strawberries are small and whole. Even with my powerful Blendtec blender (that I love, BTW), my smoothies are often, well, not smooth. The whole frozen strawberries, even when small, just don’t seem to get blended in the way I like them.
So, I’m preparing and freezing my own!
I’ve thoroughly washed my berries. Next, I begin at the tip and slice them all the way to the stem / leaves. 
Then, I halve the tip piece and quarter the remaining slices.
Thanks to Google, I found out some very important facts: strawberry leaves are safe for human consumption AND strawberries, including their leaves, are safe for canine consumption. This made both Shyma and me very happy today! I didn’t have to “core and de-leaf” the berries!! I could simply coarsely chop them and put all the pieces in the bag! And, when I got sloppy and dropped a piece or two on the floor, Shyma could have a treat, as well.
After all the chopping, I place a cup or so of chopped strawberry pieces into zip-lock baggies and freeze them. I consider these “single 
servings”. When I wish to add them to my smoothie, I take out one serving at a time. If the berries are stuck to the baggie, simply run the bag under warm water for a moment to release them. Next, I dump the frozen ball of strawberry pieces into a glass bowl and microwave for 15 second or so to thaw them just enough that I can break the pieces apart into smaller chunks. Then, I add the strawberries to whatever else I’m blending into the morning smoothie and blend away!
I love the convenience of having the single servings, and I really love that my morning smoothie ends up smooth!
Enjoy!
Kelly