Egg Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free Fresh Strawberry Bread

I love strawberries. While at the grocery store, I saw them for $1.00 a quart so I grabbed 5 of them. I like to keep different sliced breads and muffins in the freezer for the girls to warm for breakfast or a snack. With all of these ripe perfect strawberries, I decided to try something new and make Strawberry Bread. The bread was perfectly moist and stayed that way even after being rewarmed in the microwave. This bread is now tied for my favorite with the Zucchini Bread.

Fresh Strawberry Bread

2 cups strawberries, measured then finely chopped
2 cups strawberries, measured then pureed
1 1/4 cups unsweetened applesauce
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/8 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Combine the chopped strawberries, pureed strawberries, applesauce and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Add the flour mixture to the strawberry mixture then mix until just combined. Divide the batter evenly between 2 sprayed 9x5 loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes or until the top of the bread is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached.