Rhubarb Season Part 2

Another AWESOME Rhubarb Recipe for you and of course, this is one of my favorites...
(You can also check out some better photos and details for this same recipe on my sisters blog here: Taste The Joy)

Rhubarb Streusel Muffins 

1-1/4 c. brown sugar  

1 egg
1/2 c. oil          
2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. buttermilk (can sour with 1 Tablespoon vinegar)

Beat in mixing bowl in order given, beating well after each addition.
Stir in:          
1-1/2 c. diced rhubarb
Combine and stir in just until well blended:
2-1/2 cups flour      
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda      
1/2 tsp. salt

Spoon into 20 greased medium-sized muffin cups.
Combine:          
1 TBS melted butter or margarine
1/3 cup sugar      
1 tsp. cinnamon

Sprinkle mixture over batter in filled cups and press lightly. Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes until lightly browned.
(Tip: Replace 1/4 cup of oil with 1/4 cup applesauce to cut fat.)

Rhubarb Season

So, do you really have any other ideas on what to do with rhubarb -- other than the usual rhubarb or strawberry rhubarb pie?  Well, here are a few of my ideas (one at a time... stay tuned for more). And this one is super-easy!

I love it best on pancakes, or waffles or my favorite -- a piece of french toast smothered with a little peanut butter and this delicious strawberry rhubarb syrup! (think I'm crazy? try it and then you can tell me how crazy I am!) My sister has beautiful pictures of this syrup -- click on her blog: Taste the Joy

Rhubarb Recipe I -
Rhubarb Syrup

8 cups rhubarb juice
(to get juice, cook rhubarb in pot or juicer and reserve juice)
7 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 package Sure-Jell
2 (3 oz) packages strawberry Jell-O (blueberry works well, too)

Stir Sure-jell and vanilla into juice. Bring to a full boil, stirring constantly. Stir sugar and Jell-O together in separate bowl. Slowly stir into juice. Stir and bring to a full rolling boil for 1 minute. Skim foam off and pour in bottles. Water bath for 20 minutes. Makes about 6 pints.

Makes great storage item and awesome Christmas presents - completed early on in the year!!

Mango Chutney on my Food Storage Shelf

This is my mango chutney I made TODAY! I don't normally can anything during the winter or spring, but it was kind of fun to pull out my canning stuff and process a little "special sauce."

So - here's the story. I went to this amazing restaurant in Orem, Utah called La Jolla Groves. It was a very nice restaurant. (Think linen napkins.) I ordered the Beef Tenderloins. They came with this sauce called a mango chutney - in a little metal condiment dish. I'd heard the word chutney before, but didn't really know what it was or if I would like it. So, I timidly tried it. Obviously, (because I came home and attempted to replicate it) I loved it and I even asked for more sauce to finish my tenderloins!

For those of you wondering, I looked up a definition of chutney:  "a spicy condiment made of chopped fruits or vegetables cooked in vinegar and sugar with ginger and spices." As defined by wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

So, I decided to make this recipe:
http://www.pickyourown.org/mango_chutney.htm

My only real variation was that I used frozen chunked mangoes. That made life really easy and fairly quick in making up the sauce.

And then, to make sure I liked it, I made steak - especially so I could try my sauce. It was very good- very comparable to the original one I tried, and now I have eight jars to put on the shelf for later usage! I am so excited with myself today!

Next adventure:  mango salsa... I'll let you know how that goes.

p.s. I don't even like mangoes, normally. If you gave me a plain mango - I would have a hard time eating it. But I really like the mix of flavors in the chutney sauce and usually in the mango salsa.  Until next time...

Spelt Sourdough

Hi. I need to tell you about my friend's website. They buy spelt from us and have been making spelt sourdough. I haven't tried the recipe - I need to find a good sourdough starter... but I really wanted to share with you their recipe. I'm going to just share the link so they get the credit for the excellent bread recipe and the photos. I appreciate their little plug for our spelt, too... so go here to get the goods:  http://oakflatsourdough.isgreat.org/index.php/2011/Bread/100-spelt-sourdough.html

We have a unique product variety of spelt - in that it is specifically made for baking. It really breaks down easier in your body and is softer - you could snack on it! And doesn't act like hard red wheat like some other varieties of spelt.

For more information on our spelt - check out our website at www.HiStakes-Spelt.com

Now - go check out the sourdough recipe.

Bread Experiment #12

You might go looking for the other experiments, but you won't find them on this blog... I'm only publishing the ones that I LOVE and will continue to use. (Sorry, no photos - we ate the bread too fast!)


So, here it is, the meat and potatoes of the bread recipe: (If you don't have my basic bread recipe yet you can sign up to get it here. It is the one for the Bosch Universal mixer.)
First, I leave the basics alone - the water, oil, honey, salt, yeast and dough enhancer amounts have not changed.
What I have played with are the flour amounts and what I have been using for my flour. For example, I use roughly 16 cups of flour. I'm not sure how accurate that is anymore, because I always lose count and just add flour as needed until my bread is barely no longer sticky.
So, I put in the hot water, yeast, dough enhancer, oil and honey. Then I add a cup of mashed potato flakes (potato pearls do NOT work, unless you pulverize the pearls first). Next, I put in between one and two cups of ground flaxseed (I prefer this golden flaxseed), AND lately, I've been adding a 10-grain cereal mix. It is a course grind whole grain cereal and I just throw it in. I haven't been letting it sit and soak much, but I understand you can let it sit up to 5 or so minutes. I've also enjoyed adding 1/4 cup millet. It seems to be a lot of millet, so I may tone it down a little to 1/8 cup. (Still experimenting with that one.)
And finally, I prefer to use 3 different kinds of flour - usually spelt, hard white and hard red whole wheat flours. The flour mix makes a tastier loaf, I think. (Don't forget to add the salt.)

The result? Tasty, healthy, WHOLE GRAIN bread that is light enough that you don't feel like you are eating a brick and has enough substance to know you have eaten something! Bread doesn't last long at my house.

This last week, I've made 3 batches of bread (5-6 loaves per batch), mostly for Christmas presents for some friends and neighbors and have had rave reviews about my experiments. One neighbor was so excited she was going to hide it all for herself because my bread is SO YUMMY and so AMAZING! (Actually, I know of at least two people who hid it to eat the loaf by themselves.)   Makes me happy to think I am helping them have a little extra joy in their lives.

Here's to some more happy experimenting!

Blog Giveaway

my sister is giving away one of my cookie mixes - go here and follow instructions to enter: http://tastethejoy.blogspot.com/2010/11/cookie-mix-giveaway.html

(plus she has tons of delicious recipes on her blog, so enjoy reading while you are there! Either way, you can't go wrong by visiting her blog...)

 p.s. You only have until Monday, November 22, 2010 midnight to enter, so don't delay- it only takes a minute.

New Spelt Cookie Mixes!

I am SO excited about these. I have been developing the recipes and getting the perfect Idaho grown ingredients for these mixes for about 6 months and we now have them ready for you to purchase and bake in your own kitchen!

Quick thought: Need a good idea for a gift? These are perfect! And Christmas is just around the corner. (How is the shopping going?)

Both of these cookie mixes are made with Idaho-grown hard white wheat, spelt, sugar and flaxseed. Plus - we used whole flour and whole flaxseed! (Increase your fiber, Omega-3s, and protein intake for the day.) They are tasty and soft and chewy and you can add your own delightful indulgences (chocolate chips, raisins, toffee chips, or whatever you like). There are two different mixes you can now purchase on my website or at my house. Chocolate Cookie Mix or Oatmeal Cookie Mix. The cost is only $6.00/mix and will make at least three to four dozen cookies (depending on the size you scoop them to be). I consistently get at least three and a half dozen cookies.

Each cookie mix is easy to make - just add eggs and butter, (and chocolate chips or raisins or something), mix and bake. I've sampled these around the farmer's market, at different parties I've gone to, and several different events, and I've consistently gotten rave reviews. They are a delightful and almost addicting cookie! It isn't fun to eat just one.

I'd love to hear your review. Purchase a mix and let me know what you think. (Or catch up with me at one of the upcoming craft fairs where I will be featuring these new healthy cookie mixes as well as cookie samples.)

You can find the cookie mixes here:  J's Spelt Cookie Mix

Talk to you soon.

Family Applesauce

Hi. I wanted to post this to show you how much fun we had doing applesauce, recently. I don't think I touched the "turner" on the strainer. My kids had so much fun doing it, I could just focus on other parts of the process. We had good success and did only 5 batches of sauce!

So, make canning a fun family activity - as much as you can. My kids look forward to making applesauce because there are so many things they can help with!