Back! (sort of) With Rhubarb!

Oh jeez.

So I've been in crazypants suburbia for 2 1/2 weeks now, and I keep buying groceries (seriously, buying and buying and buying, at like 5 different stores) but mostly I haven't been cooking very much. I've been hanging out with the wee siblings, reuniting with friends, watching the Red Sox, attending my college reunion, working out at the so-much-better-than-stupid-Columbia gym, and oh yeah sort of studying for the bar exam. Oy.


Look, it's Maddy! She is one of my all-time heroes, and she gave a freaking amazing talk at S'Wellesley Reunion. Definitely the highlight (well, ok, basically the only part I went to).

ANYWAY, the point of all this is, I am trying, sort of, but I'm not going to make blog posts about how tasty Kashi frozen dinners are (they really are--why is Kashi so much better than everyone else at everything?).

This little bowl of deliciousness is a work in progress, but basically you can't go wrong with a pile of strawberries, rhubarb, sugar, and oats.

Strawberry & Rhubarb Crisp
Based loosely on the recipe for Double Crunch Bumbleberry Crisp, at http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/recipe-cobbler.html

• 1 1/2 to 2 lb fresh rhubarb, cleaned, trimmed, and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1/2 lb fresh strawberries, coarsely chopped
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
  
• 1 tsp arrowroot (could substitute cornstarch or tapioca for this)
  
• 1/4 cup canola margarine, softened
  
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar

1. Toss the rhubarb and strawberries with the sugar in a large bowl and leave it alone for 30 mins to a couple of hours to work its magic.
2. Preheat the oven to 350*
3. Put the now-syrupy mix of rhubarb and strawberries into a 9x9 in baking dish, sprinkle arrowroot powder on and mix around. You could add the arrowroot before or after you put it in the dish, but I forgot to add it until it was into the baking dish and it wasn't a problem.
4. In a small bowl, mix together the margarine, oats, flour, and brown sugar with your hands or a wooden spoon until it's crumbly and relatively homogeneous. Then sprinkle it evenly over the fruit.
5. Bake for 45-60 mins, until the rhubarb is tender and the whole house smells like amazingness.

Lessons learned: rhubarb takes a super long time to cook. I sort of knew this, but for some reason I was still following a non-rhubarb recipe in part and only cooked it for 30 mins originally. Big mistake. The bowl of stuff I had at that time was amazing but some of the rhubarb wasn't done so I threw the rest back in the oven.

Also, more thickener! The 1 tiny teaspoon of arrowroot I put in was definitely not enough. I didn't want it to be too starchy, but I think syrupy-ness is an asset here so probably more like 1-2 tablespoons would be ok.

They still have good rhubarb at the supermarkets around here, so I think there's a pretty high probability that I'll make this again very soon so I can try to improve it.

I failed to make it to class this morning so now I'm trying to work out a plan to get to a night class in a couple hours, and I just devoured a (microwaved) sweet potato with black beans and Trader Joe's plain salsa.
And I still had some photos on my camera from the last time I made pizza . . . I brought my remaining packets of yeast home so I think there has got to be some pizza in my future. If I'm feeling extremely ambitious, I may do a few vegan pizzas for my graduation/homecoming party in a couple weeks. Now, off to hunt for a BarBri class and a parking place! I am really sick of having to ride in with my parents at the crack of dawn, so I think I may go check out several other locations this week and next week. It is an exciting life I lead, for reals.