Rhubarb Strawberry Pie

I love me some rhubarb.

A couple of years ago I was complaining to my grandma that there weren’t very many rhubarb recipes in my cookbooks. Well, she up and gave me one of her cookbooks. Bless her! I love it, too. It’s not a pretty picture cookbook but one of those small-town books in which the recipes are submitted by home cooks. There are about half a dozen recipes titled “rhubarb pie” and then dozens more with different flavor variations. There are probably four “rhubarb strawberry pies”.

I chose this pie because it only had a half cup of sugar in the ingredient list. It is not very sweet. If the thought of tart rhubarb makes your mouth draw up, go ahead and add more sugar. We like it this way, though, so I haven’t tried it sweeter.

Rhubarb Strawberry Pie

Adapted from Exclusively Rhubarb Cookbook edited by Sondra Astor Stave

2 1/2 – 3 cups chopped rhubarb (I used fresh)

1/2 cup sugar

1 t lemon zest

3 T (scant) minute tapioca

1/4 t salt

2 cups strawberries (I used frozen unsweetened…partially thawed)

3/8 cup pie crumbs

1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust

Stir together the rhubarb, sugar, zest, tapioca, and salt. Let sit 15 minutes. Stir in the strawberries. Pour fruit into the pie crust and sprinkle the crumbs evenly over top.

Bake the pie in a preheated 450 oven for 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 and bake another 30 – 45 minutes or until it’s bubbly and the filling is thick. Cool completely. Delicious served alone or with ice cream or lightly sweetened whipped cream.

Yield: 1 9-inch pie

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Larabars

My aunt told me this recipe is very good. She was correct. These things are excellent! I’ve never tasted a commercial larabar so I can’t say they really compare but I don’t think I ever will buy one, seeing as how we love these homemade bars.

I had some difficulty mixing up these babies. I dumped everything into the food processor and turned it on only to find that the dates liked to get caught under the blade and lift it up, rendering it useless. So I dumped everything out on to the counter and hand chopped the dates and prunes into quarters. Then I threw half of them back in, whizzed them up, and put in the remaining half. This seemed to do the trick. Maybe you should do it this way, too, so you don’t kill your food processor.

Larabars

Adapted from here

2 cups (10 oz) pitted dates

1 cup (6 oz) prunes

1 1/4 cups (5 oz) assorted dried fruit (I used craisins, raisins, and pears)

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

2 cups (6 oz) sliced almonds

1 t almond extract

1/2 t cinnamon

Hand chop the prunes and dates in quarters. Place half of the ingredients in a large food processor. Pulse until pulverized. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse again until pulverized and somewhat paste-like. Press into an 8-inch square pan. Cut into bars, whatever size you wish. Store between layers of wax paper in an airtight container or wrap individually if you plan on eating them on the go.

Yield: 12 to 16 bars

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Quick Cherry Cobbler

This has been my go-to cherry cobbler recipe lately. It’s super easy. And we think super delicious.

It’s actually kind of a cross between a cobbler and a crisp. There aren’t any oats in it to make it an official crisp but it’s more crunchy than it is soft like a more traditional cobbler. Whatever you want to call it, it tastes yummy.

Quick Cherry Cobbler

adapted from Mamas Minutia

1 quart frozen sour cherries, thawed (I already have a 1/2 cup sugar on my frozen cherries)

1 T lemon juice

2 T quick cooking tapioca

3/4 cup multi-grain flour

1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 small egg

5 T butter, melted

Dump the cherries into an 8-inch baking dish. Sprinkle the lemon juice and tapioca over them. Slide into the oven and turn it onto 350 degrees.

While the oven comes up to temp and the cherries get hot, mix the flours and sugar. With your fingers, mix in the egg. It will be crumbly/sandy. That’s how it’s supposed to be.

When the cherries start to bubble around the edges, sprinkle the topping over them. Last, but certainly not least, drizzle the butter over all.

Slide back into the oven bake for another 45 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven. Eat warm or room temperature with your choice of milk, ice cream, or whipped cream. We usually do the milk.

Serves: 4

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Basic Fruit Gelatin

When I have a build-up of canned fruit juice in the fridge, I make this gelatin. It is quite tasty and though it does have sugar, you can be assured that there are no artificial colors like you get in Jell-o!

You can use a variety of fruit juices and fruits. I usually use peaches and/or pears because that is what I have an abundance of but the batch pictured was actually mostly nectarines. I’ve heard tell that there are certain fruits that don’t allow gelatin to gel so maybe you should be careful. I think pineapple is one of them but that might only be fresh pineapple.

I often like to put this into little glasses as I have pictured here. They make such nice little servings and it’s super fun to clink your spoon around trying to scrape out as much gelatin as you can. Am I weird?!

Basic Fruit Gelatin

Adapted from More with Less, page 276

2 cups fruit juice, divided (from canned fruit)

1 T plain gelatin (I think this is one packet?)

1 T lemon juice

3 T orange juice concentrate

2-3 cups chopped canned fruit

Put one cup of the juice into a small sauce pan. Whisk in the gelatin. Over medium heat, cook mixture until gelatin is completely dissolved, stirring often.

Once dissolved, stir in the lemon juice, OJ concentrate, and the remaining fruit juice.

Put the chopped fruit into little cups or a bowl. Pour the gelatin over top. Chill until set, usually about 6 hours.

Serves: 4 – 6

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Stuffed French Toast, Strawberry Sauce, and Weekly Menu for 12-24-12

Well, I did so much baking last week that I don’t have much in the way of kitchen duty for the beginning of this week at least. I love  family get-togethers! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

Monday: Christmas with my family…I’m providing assorted desserts

Tuesday: Christmas with Brad’s family…I’m providing cupcakes and mashed potatoes

Wednesday: Sauteed Chicken Breast, Peanuty Noodles, Green Beans

Thursday: Beef Veggie Soup

Friday: Burrito Bake, Green Beans

Saturday: Venison Steaks, Stuffed Potato Skins, Broccoli

Sunday: Negotiable

And now, a delicious breakfast recipe, in case you don’t yet have any ideas for Christmas morning!

I made this yesterday morning for breakfast. I figured we’d be eating pretty heavy on Christmas day so we’ll have something light first thing that morning.

This is not a light dish. I typically eat about 3 pieces of French toast but I can only eat one of these “sandwiches”. The cream cheese really fills you up. We love it, though. With good homemade fruit sauces, it really is quite delectable.

The strawberry sauce recipe I have here is my very, very favorite. Seriously. It makes a great topping for pancake, waffles, French toast, and desserts as well. It’s especially tasty on angel food cake.

Stuffed French Toast

bread (we prefer the cheap bought stuff for French toast!)

cream cheese, softened

fruit sauce/pie filling of your choice

eggs

milk

toppings of choice

First make your egg/milk mixture. I  usually do about equal volumes of eggs and milk. I don’t know if that’s proper for French toast but it’s how I do it.

Then, spread one side of each piece of bread with cream cheese and put a dollop of fruit filling in the center of one piece. Spread it out and then lay another piece of bread on top, cream cheese side down this time.

Dip the “sandwiches” in the egg mixture. Make sure both sides are coated in egg. Fry in butter on a medium-hot skillet until golden brown. Top with maple syrup, more fruit, yogurt, pudding, etc.

Strawberry Sauce

adapted from my mom’s recipe…which actually comes from my grandma, I think

1 quart canned strawberries*

3 T sugar

3 – 4 T clear gel

pinch salt

1 quart sliced frozen strawberries, partially thawed

Drain the canned berries really well. (I then feed the berries to the chickens since they don’t have much flavor any more). In a sauce pan, combine the strawberry juice, sugar, clear gel, and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook a minute or so to make sure it’s thickened. Pour this thick juice over the frozen strawberries. Chill. Eat. Mmmm.

*I use 1/2 cup sugar in each quart of strawberries I can. I also put 2 T in each quart that I freeze. If you are using unsweetened berries, you might want to adjust the sugar accordingly.

Yield: 5 to 6 cups sauce

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