I had a mother that adored rhubarb. She grew her own and fed the tart concoction to me as a child and I absolutely hated it. She had friends that were older, and they all loved it as well, so I grew up thinking it was something old women ate. I avoided it like the plague for years, and finally decided that it was pretty good in a strawberry rhubarb pie, but even now, I never cook it.
For some reason this week, I decided I wanted to try and make stewed rhubarb like she used to. Hubby bought me several stalks at the farmer’s market, it cost $5.00 for those stalks, and I’m thinking, “this better be worth it.” So then I picked up a quart of strawberries, and last night I peeled the strings away like she always did, cut it into chunks, put it on the stove with just a few tablespoons of water and the strawberries and a pinch of salt and simmered it on low for about ten minutes. Then I put in two cups of Splenda, no way was I going to put in sugar, after all rhubarb is only 25 calories per cup, I had a good thing going, didn’t want to amp the calories with real sugar.
I always have Edy’s Slow Churned Sugar Free (80 calorie) Ice Cream in the freezer. I scooped out the ice cream, put it in a dish and poured the warm rhubarb strawberry mixture over the top. Oh-my-GAWD, it was incredible!
I have a lot left, so this morning I added the chilled rhubarb to my cottage cheese berry concoction, and later on I’m going to make a diet version of Rhubarb Fool, layers of rhubarb and whipped cream Cool Whip.
You might want to rethink rhubarb, too. Martha Stewart has some yummy looking recipes on her website. Check them out here…
Mother was also a fan of gooseberries, we had gooseberry bushes, and those things were the most sour fruit I ever put in my mouth. But now that I’ve “found” rhubarb, I’m thinking that I should give gooseberries a try, if I can ever find them again. Who knows, Mikey might like those, too!
0 comments:
Post a Comment