What's For Dessert? - 4th of July Rhubarb Crumble Pie

It seems as though this time of year is busier and more eventful than the Christmas season! I hope all of you had a wonderfully patriotic Independence Day!  Piper and I attended a killer BBQ at a friend's home and I decided to try my hand at rhubarb. This was totally new for me, and from what I gathered this recipe was a winner!  The best part about it is the freedom to improvise a little and you can cheat by buying frozen rhubarb in the frozen fruit section of your grocery store!

~Ingredients~

Filling - 

1 lb rhubarb, cut into 1-inch pieces

3/4 cups of white sugar

1/8 cup of all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/8 tsp. ground cardamom

1 graham cracker crust

Crumble topping - 

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup of butter (or a 1/2 stick), cut into pieces

dash of cinnamon

dash of cardamom

dashes of vanilla extract

~Instructions~

1.  Preheat oven to 375.  In a medium bowl, mix together the rhubarb, white sugar, 1/8 cup of flour, vanilla extract, and ground cardamom.  Spoon into a graham cracker crust.

 2.  In a food processor, pulse together the 1/2 cup of flour, salt, and brown sugar.

 3.  Add the butter and pulse until butter pieces are pea-sized.

 4.  Spread topping over rhubarb mixture.  At this point, I sprinkled more cinnamon and cardamom on top and dolloped splashes of vanilla randomly over the crumble topping.

 5.  Bake for 35-45 minutes until the top is slightly browned and your house smells like a baking utopia of goodness.  Enjoy!!

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SUMMER FOOD FESTIVAL 2011!!

My apologies for being AWOL the past few days. It has been more than a little hectic around here and  a lot of it had to do with prepping for the Summer Food Festival that took place last Sunday at my house!  The whole day was filled with good friends who brought even BETTER food.

Spicy hot chicken legs, smoked brisket, spicy Southwest ranch beef which can be served on buns or with tortilla chips, pea salad, pasta salad, chilled cucumber yogurt soup, strawberry poke cake, Oreo dirt cake, raspberry peach cobbler, crab dip with crackers, risotto with Swiss Chard, fruit salad, frozen chocolate bananas, rum-spiked watermelon, and Portobello mushroom pizzas were all devoured equally.  Judging took place by a raise of hands and the winners are as follows: Michelle Borst won the main dish category with her Southwest Ranch Beef crock pot dish, Cindy Cassel won for the side dishes with her fresh and veggie-filled pasta salad, and Amber Douglass won the dessert category by a LANDSLIDE with Oreo dirt cake (Get it? Landslide?? Dirt?....sigh....)  Good job guys!

Not only was there good food, but there were nifty party favors for the guest to take home. They were given Chinese take-out boxes filled with Applewood Hickory Rub, Zaatar, Jamaican Jerk seasoning, Chinese Five Spice, and a fortune cookie.

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Foodie Baby: Grilled BBQ Chicken with Rice

Today for lunch, the adults ate the most mouthwatering charcoal-grilled BBQ chicken with baked beans and grilled zucchini on the side. I know Piper loves smoky flavored things because of a baby food version of an adult dish that I appetizingly call "Cowboy Slop" (which I will be posting soon), so I figured this would be a hit as well. I used some Basmati rice that was leftover from a previous dinner to add a little manganese and iron. Piper ended up loving the taste, but had a little issue with the texture of the rice which doesn't puree quite as smoothly as the meat.  It would be the only thing left on her tongue, and after a few inquisitive looks up at me as if I can swallow it for her, she figured it out. Enjoy, little foodie babies!

~Ingredients~

8 oz. chicken breast (one large one)
pepper
BBQ sauce of your choice
charcoal grill
1/2 cup of cooked rice
water

~Instructions~
1.  Sprinkle the  8 oz chicken breast with fresh ground cracked pepper

 2.  Grill on first side for 5 minutes.  Baste with BBQ sauce and flip so that breast is sauce-side down. Grill another 5 minutes.

 3.  Baste the other side again and grill for another 5 minutes.

 4.  Repeat and grill another 5 minutes.

5.  The chicken is grilled for a total of 20 minutes at this point and should have a nice crispy-red BBQ sauce layer.
6.   Remove from grill and cut into pieces.  Place in a food processor.
7.  Add 1/2 cup of cooked rice.
8.  Add a little extra BBQ sauce (your discretion, depending on your baby's taste)

 9.  Add water until you have reached the desired consistency for your baby.  The younger, the more smooth it should be. The older ones can handle their chunks pretty well. Maybe teeth has something to do with it?

10.  It should make 4 jars of smoky delicious baby food.

 11.  Your child should look something like this after the first taste.  ENJOY!

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