CHERRY-RHUBARB-STREUSELKUCHEN

Kuchen means cake, but this fast and easy recipe is made on a jelly roll sheet.
Last evening Jackie had given me some rhubarb and I knew just the recipe that I wanted to make.
While at my sister's house the other day , I had picked up a magazine that she had brought home from Switzerland. It was the May issue and they had this Cherry-rhubarb streusel recipe for Mother's day in it. I had planned on making it a few days ago, but every grocery store that I went to did not have any rhubarb. Would you believe that at one store they wanted to sell me Swiss chard, as rhubarb, because it had red stems. The funny thing is that it wasn't even a kid, but an adult gentleman from the produce department that kept insisting it was Rhubarb! Can you imagine that!!Anyways the problem was solved with the gift from Jackie.



This morning I set forth and made the cake. Susan, this piece is for you. When you called I was just putting the streusel on. 40 minutes later we could have had a coffee and a piece of cake. Too bad that you are in Montreal and I'm in Ottawa.
Oh well, we still had a nice chat and got caught up on things.

Cherry-Rhubarb-Streusel Cake
1.350 grams drained sour cherries ( my jar was over 500 gr. so I used 2/3 of the jar)
2.500 grams washed and cleaned rhubarb cut into 1 cm. pieces.
3.250 g. soft butter
4.200 g. sugar
5. a pinch of salt
6. zest of one lemon
7. 5 eggs
8.250 g. flour and 1 tsp. baking powder
For the streusel, some butter (40g.) sugar(50g) flour (100g.)and a dash of cinnamon.crumble together.
Drain the cherries and wash the rhubarb and slice into 1cm. pieces. In a mixing bowl cream the butter,sugar and salt and lemon zest.Alternately add the flour baking powder and eggs, until mixture is well blended. Pour into a 32x28 greased baking pan. Sprinkle the cherry and rhubarb over the dough and lightly press into the dough. Prepare streusel and place on top of fruit mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for about 40-45 minutes. Garnish with some whipped cream, or serve as is . Delicious.

FRENCH FRIES

Well those chip wagons are in full force in our neck of the woods, and I truly wish that I could say that I have been strong and passed them by, but alas, the flesh is weak and I have had them ...twice already! Ahh sad but true. Today was just one of those days when I could no longer "fake" cleaning the house. The central vac hose was blasting all day. The steam machine came out for the floors and the furniture polish made an appearance in I don't know how long. For supper there was only me and after working practically all day I didn't much feel like cooking or for that matter making a healthy salad. Today called for fries the quick kind that you just fry up in a frying pan , I didn't even have the energy to pull out the deep fryer now all I need is some wine to put my feet up and dip my fry into the mayo.


This is my Boo Girl she is really ill even though she may not look it in this photo.

On the weekend of Mother's day Boo was not her energetic self. She refused to eat and drink and late Sunday night her breathing was a bit laboured. When I took her to the vet on Monday the blood work and X-Rays showed that Boo had Immune- Mediated Hemolytic Anemia. Basically her immune system is not recognizing her red blood cells as being Good and is attacking them. Red blood cells supply oxygen to all your organs. I could hardly believe what I was hearing, one day she was healthy the next day she wasn't! We are in for a long haul. Presently she is on Pepsid and 6 Prednisone pills a day, twice weekly visits to the vet for blood tests to see if her red blood levels are going up. She was as low as 16 and is now at 34 but needs to get to 50. The vet said that she would more than likely be on meds for 6 months and even then when she gets tapered off she may relapse. So needless to say, we are all concerned and hoping for the best.

This is Cherry, Boo's daughter, she is also real sad as she can sense that something is not quite right

Boo and Cherry are always together these are my girlies!

ICEBERG WEDGE WITH BLUE CHEESE DRESSING

In recent years, iceberg salads have been supplanted by those of mixed lettuces and other tender greens. But I think that the iceberg wedge garnished with a thick blue cheese dressing still has a lot going for it. A little snip of some chives and voila I had a lunch ready in seconds.

Blue Cheese Dressing
1/2 c mayonnaise
1/2 c sour cream
juice of 1 lemon
dash of Tabasco sauce
sea salt/pepper
6 oz. crumbled blue cheese
3 T finely chopped chives , plus slivers of chives for garnish.
iceberg lettuce
Serve Chilled!

MINT-CHOCOLATE CHIP ICE CREAM

OK here it is my first attempt at making ice cream. Why not ? I consider it an important food group, if you are like me can't you eat ice cream any time??

Do you really need an excuse or reason?

I sure don't.

A while back I mentioned my new ice-cream attachment. Everybody here immediately put in an order for their favorite. Ron ( who was still here and actually made the first batch made a custard base Coffee Ice Cream from David Lebovitz's book ,The Perfect Scoop. Ryan wanted Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream ( That is not made with any chocolate chip) from the Willams-Sonoma book called, Ice Cream, Rob wants the White Ice Cream , His will be the next batch made.
When I first foraged into ice cream making I was doing a Pioneer Unit with my grade 4 Class. We went to the Outdoor Ed. Center where we spent 2 days "Roughing " , it like in the "Old Days". While the kids were divided into groups, Dinner prep, dinner cooking, dessert, slop cleanup, the group that got Dessert, were quickly groaning when they realized that ice-cream would be cranked and churned by hand! But the results. oh my were delicious!
That was years ago, too many to say in this blog, but the good news is that I never forgot the taste of homemade ice cream and now that I have my machine ,it is something I plan on making quite often. Beware , it is not a quick process, requiring at least 2-3 days from beginning to end. There are short cuts one can take, but if you are going to go to this length to make home-made ice cream why cut corners now.

Mint Chocolate-Chip Ice Cream
1 1/2 C whole milk
1 1/2 C double cream
1 C packed fresh mint leaves
1/2 C plus 2 T. sugar
4 large egg yolks
pinch of salt
1 -2 drops green food coloring (optional)
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate finely chopped
2 T. canola oil
In a saucepan combine milk, 1 C. of the cream and mint leaves. Cook over medium heat until bubbles form around the edges, remove from heat and let stand for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile combine the egg yolk, sugar, salt and remaining 1/2 C cream in a bowl. Whisk until smooth. Gradually whisk about 1/2 cup of the warm milk mixture into the egg mixture, until smooth. Pour this mixture back into the milk pan and cook over med heat stirring constantly with a wooden spoon and keeping the custard at a low simmer until it thickens. Do Not let the custard boil.
Strain through a sieve pressing on the mint with the back of a spoon.
Place the bowl into a larger bowl partially filled with ice cubes and cold water. Stir occasionally until cool. Cover with plastic wrap pressing it directly over the surface of the custard , chill at least 3 hours or overnight.

About an hour before freezing the ice cream melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Stir the chocolate until it is melted, then stir in the oil Transfer to a small pitcher. Let cool to room temp.

Pour the custard into the ice-cream maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions. When nearly frozen and the consistency of thick whipped cream, add the chocolate while the machine is churning. Transfer to a freezer safe container. Cover and freeze until firm. at least 3 hours. Makes about 1 quart,1 L.