Rhubarb Tiramisu

During the month of May, my CSA box came bearing rhubarb two times.

Each time, I squealed with joy.

I love the sweet and tangy taste of rhubarb.

Luckily, the May newsletter from Biolandgärtnerei Hüsgen had a whole section on rhubarb. They wrote about the rhubarb fields and how the 1,000 rhubarb plants are cared for and harvested. They also provided three new recipes.

The recipe that really caught my eye was Rhubarb Tiramisu.

from Biolandgärtnerei Hüsgen

Ingredients

500 grams rhubarb

100 grams sugar

1 Tablespoon butter

250 grams quark

250 grams mascarpone

1 orange

1-2 Tablespoons powdered sugar

1 package Tiramisu biscuits

Method

1. Combine the rhubarb, sugar and butter in a saucepan and cook over medium low heat until the rhubarb is a very soft compote. Remove from heat and cool completely.
2. In another bowl, combine the quark and mascarpone with the juice of the orange. Whisk until smooth and shiny. Whisk in the powdered sugar to taste.
3. In a medium-sized serving dish, create layers starting with the biscuits then 1/2 of the mascarpone mixture, top that with the cooled rhubarb compote and the remaining mascarpone mixture. Garnish the dish with the zest of an orange.
4. Cool the tiramisu for at least 3 hours before serving.

Read Full Post »

Mismatched Magic

It’s been a while since I’ve done a “Day in the life of” post. I really enjoy looking back at my earlier posts because they were more of a journal or diary rather than ‘just recipes.’

I guess a mixture between the two is the way to go for me.

Speaking of mixtures, my dinner tonight was a wonderful mismatch of delicious recipes.

Before getting to dinner, let’s start with breakfast.

Breakfast was a yogurt bowl using my new favorite Turkish yogurt topped with raw oats, fresh strawberries from my CSA box, ground flaxseed, raw buckwheat and slivered almonds.

Delicious.

My time at school has been very busy lately. Last week the students had to take their standardized tests which means that this week I’m very busy marking the tests. We have also been busy putting together a musical which has been a lot of fun, but a lot of behind-the-scenes stress for me.

My first break today was spent trying to work out some computer kinks with the tech guy at school. After much effort, neither my SD drive nor my scanner were properly working. Boo.

At least I was able to munch on an apple during the so-called-break.

Regular lessons continued after the break and before I knew it, it was lunch.

Although I didn’t snap a photo of my salad, it was identical to the salad I ate yesterday, so here’s a slightly blurry picture of that salad.

All ingredients, except for the chickpeas and salad dressing came from my CSA box.

Cabbage, red leaf lettuce, zucchini, carrots, red peppers, chickpeas and a dressing made with grape seed oil, white wine vinegar, sweet mustard, salt and pepper.

Lately I’ve recognized that my produce supply is now grocery store free. All of the vegetables in my refrigerator for at least the past 3 weeks have come from my boxed delivery scheme. Really cool to be eating completely locally grown vegetables.

Sadly, I wasn’t able to really enjoy my lunch today as I was too busy arranging microphones and the sound system for my students’ musical.

My adorable 18 students are putting on a musical performance of The Pied Piper of Hamelin. They have worked so hard to create the set, costumes, props and characterizations.

The backdrop for the musical turned out really well, if I do say so myself. I sketched a town scene onto two large bed sheets then the kids took it away from there.

They mixed their paints then painted the entire scene. They worked so well together by organizing themselves into ‘task forces.’ Our classroom assistant and I then went through and outlined everything with black permanent markers.

The amazing music teacher at our school actually wrote all the music for our musical. I told her what I wanted to do, gave her a few lyrical ideas and she created something amazing.

Today my class invited the whole school to watch their dress rehearsal. Although they were obviously nervous, they sang their little hearts out and really impressed the students and teachers alike.

I am so so very proud of these kids.

We have another rehearsal tomorrow with a small audience and then the parents’ performance on Wednesday.

Wish them luck!

After school, I went to the gym and took a new class. It was so hard but so good. While taking a shower, I could barely rub the shampoo in my hair- my arms felt like noodles.

Once finished at the gym, I came home to make dinner.

My refrigerator was getting pretty full of food that needed to be used up or thrown out. Although this meal was a real mismatch of unlike food items, the whole package was magical.

Wild rice, tahini coleslaw, rhubarb chutney and breaded tofu.

Let’s be honest, I only made the rice to use the rice cooker I inherited yesterday from a leaving teacher. Making the rice was more fun than eating it and all but a couple bites sadly went in the bin.

I used Mama Pea’s recipe for Tahini Slaw but omitted the peppers. Although I accidently went a little heavy on the dressing, this slaw recipe is a keeper. I love the Asian flavor from the ginger and creaminess of the tahini.

Yummy!

This past week, a good looking recipe for Crispy Tofu Kabobs with Rhubarb Chutney was posted on one of my favorite recipe blogs, vegalicious.

I knew then and there that these recipes would help me put to use the tofu and rhubarb that were hanging out in my fridge waiting to be used.

Although I didn’t have panko crumbs, normal breadcrumbs worked very well. This is actually the first time I’ve ever fried anything or made a chutney.

While everything (except for the rice) was delicious, the real star of the whole meal was the rhubarb chutney.

Holy Cow!

Spicy, sweet, warm and flavorful, this chutney rocked my taste buds.

If you have 3 stalks of rhubarb handing around, please make this chutney. It was so simple with outstanding flavor and depth.

Such a yummy, mismatched meal.

Read Full Post »

Strawberry Rhubarb Oatmeal

Sweet strawberries and tart rhubarb. Delicious!

For breakfast this past week, I enjoyed oatmeal with a fresh strawberry rhubarb sauce.

The sauce was very simple. Just a matter of chopping up the fruit and simmering until it was tender.

I cooked the apples, lemon juice and rhubarb for a little while first then added the strawberries later. Vanilla sugar, my new love. Good morning, sunshine!

Vegan Strawberry Rhubarb Oatmeal

For the Fruit Sauce

1/2 cup water

1 1/2 cups chopped rhubarb

1 cup sliced strawberries

1 apple peeled, cored and diced

1 tsp. lemon juice

1/2 Tablespoon vanilla sugar, or to taste

For the Oatmeal
1 cup old-fashioned oats

1/2 cup soy or rice milk

1/2 cup water

1/2 banana, mashed

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

For the sauce, combine the chopped fruits, water, lemon juice and sugar. Bring to a boil, and simmer on low heat while cooking the oats.

Separately, combine the water, milk, oats and salt. Simmer on low heat, until the oats thicken to a porridge like consistency. Remove from heat, and stir in the mashed banana and cinnamon.

Serve the oatmeal topped with the fruit sauce.

Makes 2 large servings.

Read Full Post »

Whole Wheat Pancakes with Strawberry Rhubarb Compote

It’s been a while since I made my favorite breakfast food.

Although I’ve been cooking with rhubarb all week, I still had quite a bit left Saturday morning. Luckily, Maria over at twopeasandtheirpod had already concocted a recipe to fix my morning sweet tooth.

 

Whole Wheat Pancakes with Strawberry Rhubarb Compote

Recipe adapted from twopeasandtheirpod

For the Pancakes:

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup soy milk, plus 2 Tablespoons
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 flax eggs ( 2 Tbsp. ground flax mixed with 4 Tbs. water and set aside to thicken)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

For the Compote:

1 1/2 cups rhubarb, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoon vanilla sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 fresh lemon
2 cup strawberries, cut into quartered pieces

1. In a small bowl, mix together the soy milk and lemon juice. Set aside for 15 minutes to sour the milk.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.

3. Add the canola oil, flax eggs,vanilla extract, and lemon zest to the soy milk mixture.

4. Pour wet ingredients over the dry ingredients. Stir gently with a spatula until combined. Don’t over mix. The batter will be thick. Let the batter set 5 minutes.

5. Heat a griddle pan or non stick skillet over medium heat. Spray with cooking spray. Pour about  1/4 of  a cup of pancake batter onto the hot griddle pan, spacing out the pancakes a few inches from each other. When the pancakes start to bubble up, flip and cook until pancakes are lightly browned.

6. To make the compote: Spray a medium skillet with cooking spray. Add the rhubarb and cook for 2-3 minutes over medium heat, until rhubarb is soft. Add in the vanilla sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Stir and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the strawberries and cook for another two minutes.

7. Serve strawberry rhubarb compote over hot pancakes.

Serves 4

Read Full Post »

Bloggers’ Best

My oven and food processor are still sweating from the workout yesterday.

5 new recipes later, I’m making some progress on my recipe wish list.

It’s so much fun to use a recipe that has come from someone else. I felt like all my favorite bloggers came by to play last night. Pure bonding, I tell you!

So let’s jump right in, shall we?

As I mentioned, I volunteered to make the Baby Shower treats for my colleague who is unable to eat sugary sweets or anything made with white flour.

I love a good challenge.

My challenge was made easier by the help of the Happy Herbivore. I slightly altered the recipes, but the link is to the original recipe.

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1¼ cups whole wheat flour
• ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 whole banana, very ripe
• ½ cup raw sugar
• ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
• ¼ cup non-dairy milk
• 1½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup shredded zucchini

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease muffin pan and set aside.
2. Whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together.
3. In a food processor, cream together the mashed banana with applesauce and sugar.
4. In a small bowl, mix the banana mixture with the soymilk, vanilla, zucchini and any other optional add-ins you might like such as vegan chocolate chips or chopped raw walnuts. Stir until evenly combined.
5. Add flour mix to wet mix in 3-4 batches and stir until just combined.
6. Spoon batter into greased muffin pan and bake 18-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Butter Bean Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp cinnamon (optional)
• a dash of ground cardamon (optional)
• ½ cup canned white beans, liquids reserved
• ½ cup raw sugar
• ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ½ cup vegan chocolate chips
• a dash of salt

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a large cookie sheet or line with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Transfer 3/4 cup of the oats to a food processor and pulse, about 15x, until crumbly but not powder. Transfer to a mixing bowl and combine with flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cardamon. Whisk to incorporate and set aside.
3. Transfer beans to processor then add applesauce, sugar, vanilla extract and 1 tbsp of the bean liquid. Whiz until smooth.
4. Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and stir about 10 times. Add chips, remaining 1/4 cup oats and the rest of the bean liquid, stirring until combined. If the mixture is too wet, add more oats. If it’s too dry, add a little water.
5. Drop tablespoon’s of batter onto the cookie sheet, leaving an inch of room between each. Bake 15 minutes, until edges are just turning light brown and middles are firm. They will firm a bit more as they cool. Check the bottoms to make sure they are golden brown.

At the baby shower today, very few people were touching the treats I brought, not even the guest of honor!

Cookies, chocolate cup cakes, strawberries and whipped cream are my contribution.

Once I let her know about the nutritional value of the recipes, the table was flocked with “Oh thank God,” and “I was desperate but didn’t want to break my diet,” and “Really? NO WAY!” I’ve been asked to bring copies of the recipes tomorrow so I’d say the Happy Herbivore’s recipes were a hit! I came home empty handed.

The Guest of Honor was most satisfied. Chocolate cake is her favorite but she thought those days were gone. How wrong she was.

I was just happy she could have her cake while eating for two.

So back to the crazy cooking last night. We’re on to dinner!

On Monday night, I put out a ton of black beans to soak, following Allison’s helpful guidance. Yesterday, I continued the process by cooking the beans until ready to be used. These little gems can’t be found in canned from in Germany.

Vegan Black Bean Burger

Again, click on the link to see the original, unaltered recipe by Emily from The Front Burner

Ingredients: (makes 6 burgers)

• 3 cups cooked black beans
• 2 carrots, grated
• 1/2 cup dry rolled oats
• 1/4 pumpkin seeds
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4  tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp coriander
• 3/4 tsp chili powder
• 3/4 tsp onion powder
• 3/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Next, add the oats and pumpkin seeds to your food processor and grind until coarsely chopped (they will still be a little chunky).
2. Grate the carrots, and then add to your mixture in the food processor. Add 3/4 of the beans, all spices, and the olive oil. Once all of this is in the food processor, give it a whir and mix it all together.
3. Spoon mixture into a mixing bowl and then fold in the rest of the whole, reserved beans. Wet your hands and then form into 6 medium sized patties. Place patties on a non-stick baking sheet or into a baking pan, and bake at 300 degrees for 40 minutes, turning once in the middle. If you want to grill these, pre-bake them for 30 minutes at 300, and then throw them on the grill to reheat and get a little extra browning.

These veggie burgers were pretty good, but I prefer my old-stand-by which is chock full of fresh veggies.

I topped the burgers with a super-simple yet delicious alternative to guacamole.

This recipe comes from Liren over at The Kitchen Confidante

Avocado-Corn-Tomato Salad

• 1 large ripe avocados, diced
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, sliced lengthwise
• 1 small can of corn
• 1/2 medium red onion, finely diced
• handful cilantro, finely chopped
• 1/2 jalapeno, minced
• 1 lime, juiced
• salt & pepper to taste

Toss ingredients and enjoy!

As if my life wasn’t full enough after such a good dinner and a sickening amount of batter eater while baking the cookies and cakes, I had a dessert yet to enjoy!

Brandi at bran appetit always has such wonderful ideas. She is probably featured more than any other blogger on my recipe wish list.

There’s a reason I like her so much.

She does good. She does real good!

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

Ingredients:

• 3 cups strawberries, halved
• 3 cups rhubarb, chopped into 1/2” pieces
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup agave
• 1/2 cup oat flour (simply oats ground in the food processor)
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• pinch salt
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp canola oil

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Mix strawberries, rhubarb, honey, and agave in large bowl and pour into greased 8×8 baking dish.
3. Combine flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon, salt, butter, and oil until mixture is crumbly and butter and oil is incorporated.
4. Sprinkle oat mixture over fruit.
5. Bake 40-50 minutes until edges are bubbling and topping is golden.
6. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

This was so, so good!

So good in fact, it made a reappearance on my breakfast oatmeal this morning.

Don’t be surprised to see this again tomorrow!

Here’s what else I ate yesterday. Simple and repeat items. I just felt I had to share, what with my promise of catching you up and all.

Breakfast

Snack

One of the only photos I have of the Butter Bean Chocolate Chip Cookies

Lunch

Lamb’s Lettuce and Spinach from the balcony

After such a busy day yesterday, I’m taking it    e   a   s   y    tonight.

Read Full Post »

Rhubarb Bread

Just down the path from my apartment, a farmer lady sets up shop out of the back of her van 3 days a week.

Instant farmer’s market.

She sells fresh farm eggs and whatever vegetable, fruits, and flowers are in season. Her food is always fresh, often times still garbed in small chunks of soil. I love that I know where my food is coming from and it feels good to support a local farmer.

This past Saturday, I bought the following from her:

• 1 kg of strawberries, used in the Strawberry Shortcake Cake
• 3 small beats for juicing
• 1 butter head lettuce
• 1 kg rhubarb
• 10 eggs

Today is the first day of my summer half-term holiday. I woke up at 9 and got right to work cleaning the rhubarb for one of my favorite treats.

Rhubarb Bread

Adapted from allrecipes.com the original recipe also has a crumble topping. I left it off to cut back on sugar.

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup apple sauce
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1  1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 cups chopped rhubarb
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease two 9×5 inch loaf pans (or if you only have one loaf pan like me, one loaf pan and 12 muffin cups.) In a small bowl, stir together milk, lemon juice and vanilla; let stand for 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, oil, applesauce and egg. Combine the flour, salt, cinnamon, baking powder and baking soda, stir into sugar mixture alternately with the milk mixture just until combined. Fold in rhubarb and nuts. Pour batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a loaf comes out clean. Muffins need around 20-30 minutes.

All right, I’ve already eaten 3 of these muffins, I think it’s time to put them out of reach.

Read Full Post »