Edible kitchen disasters

So my friend has rhubarb in her yard. She harvested and passed it along and I thought I'd make Smitten Kitchen's super easy strawberry rhubarb oat bars. And I didn't notice I didn't have strawberries. Or any fruit. Except for home canned apples. So I used those. 

The real recipe: http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2014/05/strawberry-rhubarb-crisp-bars/#more-11831

Just remember: never skimp on sugar with rhubarb

But my real goal today was to delve into Somali cuisine. (Someone in this house is pining for Djibouti.) So, I thought I'd try a recipe or two off The Somali Kitchen.

Comparing my photo to the original it seems I didn't do too badly:

www.somalikitchen.com/my-blog/2014/02/somali-polenta-flat-bread-muufo.html

My first few batches burned. I had the heat too hot. I should have heated the pan on high and reduced to medium as soon as the batter went in. I used two frying pans-- a non-stick egg sized skillet and my cast iron Le Creuset. The non stick yielded more consistent color whereas the Le Creuset was more prone to burn.

Summer Fruit Molasses Bites

I really need to learn to follow a recipe.

I wanted to make strawberry rhubarb muffins. I researched a few recipes online and had to work with a few substitutions since we don't have eggs or milk in the house.

I made something delicious and very dessert-like, and hearty, but because I decided to throw in some coconut flour... Well, I was concerned my dough would be too dry and as a consequence I made it too wet. Oops.

I put about one cup strawberries and two cups chopped rhubarb (and sprinkled some white sugar onto it) into the food processor and made it into something the consistency of jam, or maybe chutney. I set that aside.

Preheated the oven to 350 and smeared 30 muffin cups with a generous layer of room temperature coconut oil.

In a BIG bowl, I mixed the following dry ingredients:
- One cup unbleached white flour
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
- about 1/2 cup coconut flour
- about 1/2 cup sourghum gluten free flour
- about 1/4 cup flax meal
- 1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon

In my kitchen aid mixer:
- 1/4 cup local raw honey* (Omit for true vegan cooking)
- 1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
- 1/2 cup agave nectar
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/4 cup warm coconut oil

In a mixing cup, combine:
- one cup coconut milk
- 1.5 teaspoons strawberry basil balsamic vinegar
Stir and add to mixer when it appears "curdled"
(this is my substitute for buttermilk)

Combine dry to wet ingredients, add fruit.
Poor into muffin tins. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.

I think I baked these for an hour.

They have a crisp outer coating and are gooey in the middle like a brownie.

Crazy rhubarb crumble

This is my crazy, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants cooking at its. At least, I hope it's the best. Looks good. Smells intoxicating. How can we go wrong? It's in the oven now...

Gayle gave us our annual batch of rhubarb. My husband started cutting and we got a yield of about seven cups. This recipe required three. The rest went into the freezer.

My daughter went to work making crumbs. I monitor her dairy intake so I reduced the butter and included some coconut oil. She didn't really listen when it came to "we're making crumbs, not stirring it into a solid mass" so I ended up with a wet solid mass that we had to keep adding solids to. But if I had to guess, these were the final ingredients:

- one cup unbleached white flour
- one quarter cup whole wheat flour
- about one third cup coconut flour
- about one third cup local raw honey
- about one cup sugar
- about one third cup brown sugar
- about two cups oats
- a ridiculous amount of cinnamon
- 1/2 stick butter
- close to 1/2 cup coconut oil

We greased the bottom of my huge Le Creuset skillet and sprinkled about half the crumbs into the bottom. To combat any residual over wetness, we sprinkled even more oats into the pan. Then we sprinkled a few cherries and about 1 cup strawberries into the pan. And then added three cups rhubarb.

Gradually, we heated the following ingredients to a near boil to make a sauce:
- About three tablespoons blackstrap molasses
- one cup water
- two tablespoons corn starch
- one cup sugar

We poured over the fruit. The we added more cinnamon. And dollops of unsweetened applesauce. And topped with the crumbs. And added about 1/4 cup sliced almonds on top of that.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour. I'll let you know if it's incredible. *I hope so*

Verdict: yum!

Rhubarb crumble

The finished product

The rhubarb

We made a rhubarb brown sugar crumble based on this recipe from cooks.com:

the filling

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1813,150175-250200,00.html

We greased my Le Creuset skillet and I chopped about 3.5 cups of rhubarb.

Daughter made crumbs with the following:
- 1 stick melted butter
- 1 cup unbleached flour
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3/4+ a little oats
- cinnamon to taste

Adding the sauce

We put half the crumbs in the skillet.

I mixed about 1/2 cup fresh strawberries and frozen blueberries into the rhubarb. Then I sprinkled some brown sugar on the fruit. (I don't have any granulated sugar in the house)

We put the fruit/rhubarb over the crumbs and I drizzled honey over it.

In a saucepan we made a thickened sauce of:
- one cup water

final crumbs

- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons corn starch
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla

(gradually heat to almost boiling stirring constantly until it gels)

We poured that over the rhubarb filling, covered with remaining crumbs and more cinnamon and baked in the oven at 350 for one hour.

Rhubarb!

My friend Gayle just sent me the link for a cool food blog and it has a recipe for rhubarb cobbler AND Gayle offered me rhubarb if I want to try it. Um, yeah! This blog has a really witty voice and I look forward to checking it out more...

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/06/rhubarb-cobbler/

And look at her take on cinnamon toast! It's too much and too delicious!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/04/the-right-way-and-the-wrong-way-to-make-cinnamon-toast/

Easter Dinner

I didn't cook today. I meant to make homemade bread, but I forgot.

Let's see... for breakfast we had slices of Fruity Fred and orange juice and easter candy.

At 10 a.m., I needed something more so I asked my husband for a scrambled egg.

For Easter dinner, my mother-in-law hosted:
Now, I'll only speak for me. But I ate a ridiculous amount.

• fresh dandelion greens and hot bacon dressing (three servings! Have you ever looked up the nutritional info on dandelion greens? Lots of nutrients, anti-oxidents and the omega fatty acids. Interesting.)
• some corn bake (recipe is on the blog)
• a small portion of scalloped potatoes (the boxed kind)
• a big helping of cauliflower, broccoli and carrots
• a tiny piece of ham
• a few spoonfuls of homemade applesauce (it was runnier than usual)
• two small slices rhubarb custard pie
• one small slice blueberry crumb pie
• about six or seven homemade chocolate creams
• several glasses of iced tea
• one cup decaf coffee with half and half

After that at 2 p.m., I had a mere bowl of raisin bran for dinner.

But tomorrow back to cooking... Stay tuned. Have some fresh spinach and some hamburger that needs using up...