Rhubarb Crunch

 Rhubarb reminds me of home.

The fact that this rhubarb came from my childhood front yard and the recipe is one of my dad's favorites made this treat taste that much better.  Big city meet country rhubarb. :) Yum!

Rhubarb Crunch

1 cup flour                                    

1 cup brown sugar                       

½ cup butter, melted                        

¾ cup oatmeal                        

1 tsp cinnamon                        

5 cups rhubarb, diced

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

2 Tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp vanilla

Combine flour, brown sugar, butter, oatmeal and cinnamon.  Grease 9 x 13 inch pan.  Press half of the oatmeal mixture into the bottom of the pan and then add rhubarb.  Top with remaining oatmeal mixture.  Cook sugar, water, cornstarch and vanilla until thick and clear.  Pour this mixture over the mix in the pan.  Bake at 350° for about 45 minutes.

The tasty finished product with all the oatmeal on the bottom (oops).

Eat warm and topped with cool whip or vanilla ice cream. :)

How Sweet

My weekend selection: "Holy Guacamole!", "Bacon Bliss", "Dark Chocolate Pomegranate", and the day's Baker's Choice, which I believe is a Cinnamon Roll cupcake.

My coworker discovered the perfect cupcake place and we've been taking turns trekking to it during the work week for treats.  Madison Sweets is my new favorite place in town - their cupcakes are delicious and if you're ever wandering down State Street try them out.  Pictured above is my weekend haul...I deserved treats for getting myself out of my apartment. :)

Eventually I hope to try all of the varieties, but so far my favorite is the "Lemon Drop" cupcake. Maybe once I've had all four of the ones pictured above I will change my mind.

May the sweets be ever in your favor!

Honey Love

I have a new affinity for Winnie the Pooh - I get it now.  I understand why he loves honey so much.

When I was younger we never really had honey in the house and I didn't get a taste for it.  To me, though I knew it was honey, I associated Pooh's love of honey to my love of cheese (seriously, even though it's in a honey comb, doesn't that look like melted cheddar cheese?).

Today I finally get it. :)  I was at the farmers market and decided it was high time I give honey another try (I try foods that I don't like, but haven't had much exposure to, again to see if I've changed my mind - still don't like eggnog).  There were a handful of vendors selling honey, but I settled on this one:

Marsden's Pure Honey from the Farmers Market.

Marsden's Pure Honey.  There were several different types so I took the safe route with a Clover honey.  I won't be giving this away.  One spoon-tip full and I was hooked.  Next week I'm going back to taste the other varieties so I can load up my pantry to tide me though the coming winter. :)

Sleepy tea in the Tardis mug with a bit of honey heaven.

Zucchini Adventures

Before this month the only time I'd eaten zucchini was when it was buried in cupcakes.  Several of my coworkers have gardens and leave extra produce in the kitchen for us to take.

I went to the farmers market to get more fresh veggies and I made this:


Tomato-Zucchini Bake

The corn was cut fresh off the cob and I had two different types of zucchini.  It was so easy - I even changed the recipe a bit.  I didn't have the Japanese bread crumbs so I used regular bread seasoned with Italian seasonings.

I hope to make much more with the fresh produce I get from the market this wednesday. :)

First BLT

One of the many things I love about this town is the farmers' markets.  Every Wednesday, whether I need something or not, I wander through the stands of flowers, vegetables, baked goods, and cheese curds.  Today I decided to go all out.  I've never had a BLT that I can recall, needless to say I've never made one.  I thought it was high time I do it - and I had left over bacon from another recipe waiting to be used up.

So I bought the L (whole bunch for $1) and the T (more expensive, but sooo delicious).

I'm pretty proud of my haul - as evidenced by the picture itself. :)

I also got some fresh sweet peas (my coworkers and I were munching them while wandering through the market), some cheese curds (squeaky fresh!), and a cookie (I hadn't had any sugar today, so sue me).

You can see where I'm going with this, right?

My first BLT.

Since I've never had one nor made one I think I did well... it tasted good and I assume that's the golden standard, taste.  The bread was toasted potato bread (because potato is one of the best kinds - eat some and I'm sure you'll agree).  I can see why people like BLTs... probably didn't hurt that I used 3 slices of bacon and that the L&T were fresh.  I ate the rest of that tomato straight - so good.  The sweet peas served as good snack in the belt line traffic jam and the cheese curds served as a good snack during supper prep.

All in all I think I had a good food day. :-D

Solo Apartment

I have moved into my first solo apartment.  I don't have roommates - my kitchen, living room, bathroom, bedroom are all mine. :)

It is really great to come home and be able to cook in my kitchen.

My latest baking endeavor: banana bread - because I didn't eat my bananas fast enough. :)