I hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend, even as it comes to a close.  I’m sorry I’ve been gone from the blog world, but I’ve been enjoying time with lots of family.  I want to share a few pictures with you of the last couple of days, including ones of a hike Nathan, Asher, and I went on yesterday as well as a family barbeque at a nearby ranch.  Hope you enjoy…And enjoy your day with family and friends as we celebrate our great country!  See you tomorrow with more food   Off to indulge in homemade brownies and watermelon!

Are you sick of strawberries and rhubarb yet?!  I’m not

Here is the last of my three recipes combining the two ingredients…first a rubble, then a crisp, now a crumble.

I found a recipe for Strawberry-Rhubarb Squares from Stonyfield Farms and while I didn’t have all the ingredients, I substituted.  The squares had a tough time staying together…they sliced well but them fell apart.  But oh they were good.  So sugary and sweet!  I took them to my young adult small group meeting at church and people really enjoyed them.  They were all gone before I left.  But unfortunately I left without a photo…but trust me, you’re not missing much.  Just imagine crumbs

Here is the original recipe.  I however substituted mashed banana for 1/4 c. of yogurt and 1/2 c. of granulated sugar for brown sugar.  I also didn’t have strawberry flavored yogurt, so used french vanilla and added real strawberries   Maybe my substitutions had something to do with it falling apart?

When I made the recipe, it had been one of those days where I felt very overwhelmed and stressed.  I’ve had it pretty easy since returning from Togo, but once in a while my days get so jammed packed, I have a melt down.  Life was just slower in Togo and some days I have a hard time readjusting.  Well, I decided not to use a blender to cream the butter, egg, and sugar and instead put all my frustration into it.  Man, my arm hurt!  But it was creamed.  And after talking to my mom on the phone, I felt much better.  Plus after eating a piece of this with a glass of milk before bed…ahh, life was good again

Here are the steps:

Well worth the frustration!  And a season ends…goodbye rhubarb, it’s been fun!  Until next year…

Well, Sheila was right yesterday…I had nasturtiums, kohlrabi, and rainbow chard.  It took me a while of googling to figure it out, but I did and Sheila confirmed it   Be sure to check out the links to find out more!

I decided to eat the kohlrabi for lunch yesterday along with the fresh salad greens and a cucumber I received from Jake’s Farm. 

I cut off the top and debated peeling it.  But once I tasted the peel, I realized it had to go!  It was very rubbery! 

The kohlrabi is white in the inside and smells like cabbage.  But it tastes like radish.  Luckily I like radishes so the spicy crispness was really great!  Look for the white slices in the salad below…

I also added the nasturtiums but didn’t like their taste.  Too “flowery.”  Kind of like pollen.  Whatever you think a flower tastes like, that’s what it tasted like.  Plus they wilted really quickly!  Oh well…

Yet, overall the salad was great!  I think I may have another one today   And I have a few ideas for how to use the same ingredients again…Stay tuned!

Yesterday was day 1 of…you guessed it:  my CSA pick-up!  I was out and about with my grandmother having lunch in Asheville and seeing a movie.  On our way home to rescue the dog from boredom, we stopped by Jake’s Farm.  It was really out in the country and the roads were quite curvy and many were gravel.  But my little Honda persevered and we made it intact.  And left with this mound of goodies:

I am quite pleased with the bounty and they say the box will only grow as the season progresses.  However, I did get three vegetables I was a bit unsure about…Mostly unsure about what they actually ARE!  So I now think I have pretty good guesses but I’m going to line them up for you.  Please comment and let me know if you KNOW what they are!  I need confirmation!

1)

2)

3)

Ideas?!!

Ok, so I’ll leave you with some close-ups of the food as well as pictures of the farm.  Looking forward to cooking

Also, my grandmother has arrived.  She lives in a retirement community in Durham, NC but has recently returned to the mountains for the Summer.  She has a small guest cottage (the size of a studio) that Nathan and I have been living in rent free.  She is now here and in the “big house.”  It has been nice to visit with her since I had only seen her once since my return from Togo.  The other great thing is that she is cooking for me!!  I have not had anyone cook for me since a host mom in Togo for three months.  And that food wasn’t that great.  But I’ve been eating baked chicken, homemade naan, strawberry panna cotta, roasted veggies, and fresh salads.  Amazing!  I’ve been explaining the blog and how she needs to start taking pictures of her cooking so I can post the food and recipes.  Maybe one day I’ll make it to the kitchen before she’s done so I can share the process with you.  But trust me, my stomach is happy  

I decided to make a Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp for my grandmother the other night to show my appreciation.  And luckily it was much more successful than the “rubble.”  I started with a recipe from the NY Times by Mark Bittman.  Here’s his intro to the crisp if you’re interested… 

click to enlarge

 And here is the recipe.  I took his previous advice and used strawberries in place of some of the rhubarb. 

click to enlarge

It was simple and quite yummy.  And actually quite tart, which surprised me.  Again, I didn’t think the rhubarb would have much taste but it did.  Tangy sweetness.  Definitely recommended. 

And as for the title of this post, my grandmother decided to serve a very similar looking main dish for dinner.  We ate both out of small blue bowls.  Only after serving it, did it occur to us that one may have trouble distinguishing the two!  Here are the two dishes: 

Which one is the rhubarb and which one is…..(spaghetti sauce minus the noodles in this pic!)?? 

Here’s another view: 

I guess tasty food comes in brown and red?!  

And for the final update, guess what’s up for today??  My first CSA pick-up!!  Fresh veggies, here I come!!

I found the recipe in a little recipe book I downloaded online.  The book is titled Classical Seasonal Desserts and was complied by Eating Well.  I checked out the “Spring” section and found the perfect recipe…combining the two foods I bought at the farmers market: strawberries and rhubarb!  The recipe was simple enough, starting with cubes of whole wheat bread.  I had the ingredients to make a loaf in my bread machine, so I started by making that.

I then made a custard, combining eggs, egg whites, skim milk, sugar, vanilla extract, and orange zest.

Afterwards, I mixed the bread (crust removed and cubed) with crushed gingersnaps…

…quartered strawberries, sliced rhubarb, and toasted walnuts…Yummy fresh strawberries:

And the rhubarb…

I really think this is the first time I’ve eaten rhubarb.  But it’s definitely the first time I’ve cooked with it.  I expected it to look and taste a lot like celery but it didn’t at all!  It was hard to cut, but was juicy and bright green in the inside.  And it is TART!  No wonder you have to add sugar

It all got mixed together and put into a greased casserole dish.

Kinda looks Christmasy doesn’t it?!

It baked for a while covered in foil and then uncovered and topped with a few more walnuts…

Here’s the final product…

Looks pretty and tasty, right?!!  Well…I don’t really know.  Nope, don’t know.  Because this happened…

AHHHH!!!  I was walking to up to my grandmother’s house and it slipped out my hands

I didn’t cry but I did sigh…ahhh!!

Sad, huh?  I tried to save some but there were shards everywhere.  I didn’t want to tear up my stomach   So…I had a taste on a fork and trashed the rest. 

Sigh.  Rubble.

But I still had some strawberries and rhubarb left…more recipes to come…Life goes on

I’ve already walked the dog this morning and am *wishing* I had THIS for breakfast.  But I had it yesterday and it was delish!  No ice cream included…just some yummy oatmeal.  And it was topped with coconut butter!  I heated a heaping tablespoon of the butter in the microwave for 15 sec.  Definitely poured just like icing…Ahhh…heaven   Nothing like dessert for breakfast!

I’m off to work with some young adults at my church to do some yard work and painting for a low-income family in the community…Gotta get going!  See you tomorrow

There were mostly plants this time which I don’t need any more of   But there were a few food items, and I picked up a couple.  I have already been busy in my kitchen cooking, thus recipes are to come.  But here’s what I had for breakfast yesterday morning…Give you any clues as to what I bought?

When is your local farmers’ market?  If you don’t know, find it here…

Local Harvest

Local Dirt (thanks Andy for this website!)

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P.S. Check me out on Shannon’s blog today…:)

I’ve really been enjoying coconut in my overnight oats.  When I saw one of my favorite bloggers Ashley take her coconut and make it into butter, I got so excited!  I seriously left her a comment with so much enthusiasm for her experiment that I probably scared some of the other readers   She said the end consistency was like icing..And what is better than icing?!  I grabbed my grandmother’s trusty blender, added shredded coconut, and Wah-Lah!  Coconut Butter.  It took less than 10 minutes to make and truly uses nothing other than coconut.  Check it out…And I’ll share my oatmeal and coconut butter creations with you soon!

Kind of like oatmeal…kind of like pancakes…My newest experiment: Oatcakes!

And we had them for dinner

I love this blog and when Deb made pancakes with oatmeal, I knew I had to try them.  She gushed over them and said they were simple to make.  Plus I had all the ingredients for the recipe…have to love recipes like that!

 The recipe calls for oat flour as well as oatmeal.  I followed Deb’s instructions and placed one cup of oats in the food processor and whirled away.  I’m always surprised when these things actually work

I also had to make some oatmeal…easy 1 cup of oats to 2 cups of water. 

I added the oatmeal to the wet ingredients and then added all of the dry ones…

The baking powder added some nice bubbles…and the aroma was amazing!

Then I started cooking…hot iron skillet and a bit of butter…

Equals perfection…perfectly browned pancakes

I made a whole pile of them from the batter…

Nathan ate so quickly, that I couldn’t get a picture! (with a side of turkey bacon cooked in the oven to save my sanity and stove-top space)

They had a slight sweetness and a soft consistency.  At first I thought they were undercooked but realized that was the cooked oatmeal.  They definitely tasted like pancakes but had a fun twist in consistency.  A definite experiment worth doing again.  Perfect yumminess!