Rhubarb Season is Upon Us......and It's Almost Over

We try to eat seasonally when possible. Most of the time we do pretty good. There are two reasons we are mostly successful at seasonal eating. First of all, out of season fruits and veggies can be EXPENSIVE! Second of all, I don't like to think about my food being on a truck for a week before it even sees a grocery store produce department. Lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and carrots tend to be exceptions because I do enjoy a fresh salad and Bub likes to snack on afresh veggies. Although, I will buy local hothouse veggies when the fresh variety is out of season here. 

Anyway, as part of our plan to eat seasonally, we grow rhubarb (among other things). So far I've harvested three pounds this season and frozen a little too from just two plants. I love rhubarb and although I can't convince S-Man to try anything other than rhubarb crisp, I've got a great recipe and you'll find it below for your baking pleasure. It combines a few I've found online into a wonderful, rhubarb dessert.

Before I share my recipe I will tell you one thing: it's gluten free. I'm on a mostly gluten free (specifically a low FODMAP diet) because it truly works and keeps me feeling good. I tested negative for Celiac Disease and so far this approach, to limit fructan rather than eliminating gluten all together, is working. One challenge I have when baking gluten free is finding a flour blend that works. I use one from this book: The Gluten-Free Bible.

Without further ado, here is the recipe I've come up with:

Rhubarb Crisp
For rhubarb "filling":
2 Tbsp flour of choice
1/2 cup white sugar
1 pound of rhubarb cut into 1 inch chunks

For crispy topping:
1/2 cup flour of choice
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup oats (I prefer rolled oats but quick oats will also get the job done)
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Lightly grease an 8x8 baking dish.
Combine flour and white sugar, coat rhubarb, pour into greased baking dish.
Combine remaining ingredients and spread evenly on top of rhubarb.
Bake for about 35 minutes or until rhubarb is tender and oatmeal begins to brown a little.
Let cool as cooling helps the rhubarb mixture to thicken just a little.
Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Enjoy.

Personally, I think the last step is the most important! Seriously, just enjoy!

And So it Begins!

Finally, we can see the ground! Finally, the ground has thawed! Finally, temperatures are over 40 degrees (temperatures over 30 felt like a victory)! Finally, we can get outside and burn off some energy! My boys are soooooo over winter and frankly, so am I. Over 100 inches of snow fell last season and the snowpack peaked at 24 inches. Temperatures were low; and so were our spirits. But we made it though somehow and I've never been happier to say hello to spring!

With the start of spring comes the start of outside projects. This year our goal is to plant some trees around the yard to provide some shade and privacy between us and the newly built homes behind us. Trees on the roster include: Norway Maple - Crimson King, Adams Crabapple, and a Plum. We're plotting the yard tonight to see what will work best where.

Today was also the first day of garden planning. Stu rototilled today (with this help of his trusty sidekicks) and manure will be going in soon. Growing lists are also being planned out already.There are still over a dozen bags of frozen beans, two bags of frozen zucchini, four quarts of pasta sauce, countless jars of salsa and four jars of sweet pickles from last fall. All in all, we did pretty good and made good use of our crops last year. This year, we're switching it up a little. Bub loves watermelon so we're going to try our hand at growing some for him. We'll still grow some tomatoes and lettuce. Everything else is up for discussion.

We also switched over to organic fertilizer and weed control for the grass. I've been wanting to make the switch for a while for the animals that live around us but also because last year we had some issues with the tomato plants. We couldn't figure out why the leaves closer to the ground were curly and twisted and finally deduced it was due to the weed spray we used. 

And so spring begins, a new season begins, projects begin and life returns.