Tasty Tuesday

27 06 2012

This is a tasty little treat my kids have dubbed “Rhuby Crunch.” Thanks to my good friend and co-worker Karen for sharing this great recipe which will serve a harvest crew, a large potluck or picnic or a big, big family.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crunch

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rhubarb Crunch

1.5 cups flour
1.125 cups rolled oats
1.5 cups packed brown sugar
1.5 tsp. ground cinnamon
.75 cups butter, melted
8 cups sliced rhubarb (fresh or frozen)
1.25 cups sugar
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
1.25 cups water
1 tsp. vanilla extract

In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and butter. Mix until crumbly. Press half the mixture into an ungreased 13×9 baking pan. Cover with chopped rhubarb. For topping, combine sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan; add water. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir 2 minutes more. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Drizzle over rhubarb, making sure to cover to the edges of the pan. Top with remaining crumb mixture. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes or until bubbly throughout. Makes 12-15 generous servings.

We like it best served hot from the oven with vanilla ice cream.

A few tips:

1. The recipe is easily halved or doubled depending on your needs.
2. You can substitute apples, strawberries or blueberries for up to 1/2 the rhubarb. The sample baked for this post included about 2 cups of fresh strawberries and 6 cups of finely diced fresh rhubarb.
3. You can add finely chopped walnuts as part of the oatmeal measurement.
4. This is just as good for breakfast as dessert!





Twin Doelings

7 03 2012

Twin Doelings

Onion, the alpha doe in our herd, had twin doelings Tuesday, March 6.

What a difference a week or two makes. Two weeks ago we had lost a dozen kids, all either stillborn or too premature to survive and thrive. There didn’t seem to be anything physically wrong with the kids, other than they lacked some developmental markers. We had a warm snap and then the temperatures dipped and we got another week of snow. All the first-time nannies kidded early. Maybe the weather was just a coincidence. Maybe. It had been a sad kidding season for our young goat herders.

But, life marches on and we have to live in the here and now. Over the past week we have welcomed six healthy little kids out in the pasture. Five are in the care of their nanny and one is bottle-fed; two little bucks and three doelings.