A toybox & rhubarb crumb bars

Today was a beautiful day. Chicago spring this year feels late, I'm always ready for it by March and just have to sit around and wait for it to arrive. I love those days like today, when winter feels like it was worth it because now we have a warm breeze and everyone is outside and things are growing.

I brought in the toy box I finally re-did for my daughter. This toy box was originally at my grandparent's house when I was growing up, then it moved to my house when my Grandfather did when I was a teenager, where we used it as a shoebox. My dad has had it in storage for years now, and I've intended to refurbish it for her since I was pregnant. I chose Strawberry Shortcake for the fabric because my toy box growing up was Strawberry Shortcake, and I like to have that connection between old and new. It was fairly easy work, I just took the seat part off and painted it all pink, removed the old fabric covering and stapled on the new then put it back together. I am happy with the work, but with the cost of the paint, fabric, and new hinges I probably could have bought her a cheap plastic Dora or whatever box, but when I got it in her room she immediately loved it and had to crawl, walk, and lay on it before she made up the fun game of sitting on it and throwing toys off for me to catch and give back to her so she can throw them again, and again, and again...

I bought some rhubarb at the farmer's market last week. It was my first time working with rhubarb and I made a strawberry/rhubarb crisp from a recipe I had my eye on since the winter. It turned out fair, but did not turn me into a rhubarb fan. I had some left over and decided to make the rhubarb crumb bars in the May 2009 issue of "Everyday Food". They are amazing! It's white cake, then rhubarb, then a brown-sugar crust on top. I'm hungry just thinking of them. My only problem with the recipe was that I had to use so many bowls, but it was well worth it because the bars are delicious, make them!

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/rhubarb-crumb-bars?autonomy_kw=rhubarb%20crumb%20bars&rsc=header_1

FOR THE STREUSEL
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus room-temperature butter for pan
1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
FOR THE CAKE
1/2 pound rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 tablespoon light-brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Line with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on two sides. Butter and flour parchment and pan, tapping out excess flour.
Make streusel: Whisk together butter, brown sugar, and salt. Add flour and mix with a fork until large crumbs form. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Make cake: In a medium bowl, combine rhubarb, brown sugar, and 1/4 cup flour. In another medium bowl, whisk 3/4 cup flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy; beat in eggs, one at a time. With mixer on low, beat in vanilla, then flour mixture. Spread batter in prepared pan. Sprinkle with rhubarb and top with streusel.
Bake cake until golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs attached, 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool completely in pan. Using paper overhang, lift cake from pan. Cut into 16 bars.

Let me introduce my Garden

This year I am tending my first garden. I live in a rental house, and am lucky enough that at some point in the past someone who lived here had a garden. While digging it up I found a few of the plastic plant markers, and there is a small garden shed there, built on the back of the garage. It was some time ago though, because it turned into a weed field. I started digging it out in March and have since been clearing, digging, composting, planting. I can't seem to have enough space, I keep wanting to plant more. My plan was to plant everything from seed, but I did end up buying a few herb seedlings. I did plant leeks, arugula, 2 types each of lettuce, onions, carrots and cucumbers, 3 each of hot and sweet peppers, tomatoes and beans. I also planted some vine peach, I'm not exactly sure what it is, some type of melon. I have yet to plant my watermelon, squash and pumpkins, the pumpkin patch is not large enough so I have to dig some more out, I'll probably do that tomorrow.

My lettuces are doing excellent, and my onions look okay. I think that some of the beans sprouted, I noticed just this morning. The problem with the beans is that I found some of them on top of the dirt, cracked open. I'm working on putting up a little fence around to keep the critters out.

Indian on a Thursday night Part II

I forgot the picture in yesterday's post.

Indian on a Thursday night

A few years ago a friend bought me "Betty Crocker's Indian Home Cooking" with recipes by Raghavan Iyer. I would pull it out every once in awhile and consider making something but never did, until yesterday. I'm glad I finally did! I spent over 3 hours in the kitchen (possibly because I had a toddler at my feet the whole time) but it was well worth it. The menu consisted of Almond-Lamb Curry, Cumin-Scented Corn and Green Beans and Naan. Everything was delicious, and I felt proud that it all turned out my first time making a new cuisine. I learned how to open a coconut, and although it's not an every-day type of thing it is far superior to the shredded dry kind. I will be trying many more Indian recipes in the days to come, and am absolutly adding Naan to my regular breads.

I made a few slight modifications, the recipes listed below include my changes.

Almond-Lamb Curry

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 cup chopped red onion
2 tablespoons peeled and chopped gingerroot
5 chopped cloves garlic
1/2 cup silvered almonds
1 teaspoon ground coriander seed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
a couple pinches freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup tomato sauce
3/4 cup water
1 pound lamb for stew
2 tablespoon chopped fresh cilanto
1/2 cup heavy cream

1. Heat oven to 300.
2. Heat oil in dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add cumin, sizzle 30 seconds.
3. Add onion, gingerroot and garlic; stir-fry 5 minutes or until onion and garlic are light golden brown.
4. Add almonds, coriander, salt, cloves and pepper; stir-fry 2 minutes or until almonds begin to brown.
5. Stir in tomato sauce and 1/4 cup of the water; reduce heat. Partially cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
6. Stir in lamb and half the cilantro. Cover and simmer about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lamb is browned. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup water.
7. Cover and back 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 45 minutes longer or until lamb is tender and sauce begins to thicken.
8. Remove from oven. Stir in heavy cream, sprinkle remaining cilantro on top.


Cumin-Scented Corn and Green Beans

10 ounce box frozen corn (about 3 ears if using fresh)
3/4 pounds fresh green beans
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup water
handful chopped cilantro
1 cup shredded fresh coconut* (1/2 cup dried unsweetened shredded coconut)
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon Garam Masaala

1. Heat oil in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add cumin, sizzle 30 seconds.
2. Add remaining ingredients besides Garam Masaala to the skillet; stir-fry 30 seconds. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
3. Stir in Garam Masaala

* To open a coconut first scrub the outside to remove any dirt and the fibers hanging off. Use a long, sharp object to poke one of the eyes and drain the juice (the juice is drinkable). Using a hammer or heavy knife pound the coconut all around until it cracks. Wedge a short, sharp knife between the meat and the shell and pop the meat out. Put the meat in a food processer to shred.


Naan

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup milk, slightly warmed
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
About 1/2 cup warm water
Melted butter

1. In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients. In another bowl, mix together warmed milk and oil; stir into flour mixture. Stir in warm water, a few tablespoons at a time, until dough forms a farily stiff ball and is not sticky or dry.
2. Knead dough in bowl about 3 minutes or until dough becomes smooth and pliable. Brush dough with melted butter and cover with plastic wrap; let rest 30 minutes.
3. Place pizza stone on grill rack, set to medium-high heat.
4. Divide dough into 4 equal pieces, shape each into a ball; brush with butter. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest 30 minutes.
5. Roll each piece into an 8-inch circle, about 1/4 inch thick, on a lightly floured surface. Do not tear dough.
6. Place dough on the hot pizza stone and cook 1 or 2 minutes, until surface bubbles. Flip and cook an additional 30 seconds to 1 minute. Remove and brush with melted butter, wrap in foil to keep warm while cooking remaining dough. Cut each piece in half to serve.

Guacamole

As a first post I thought I should have something difficult and exotic, but today I made the best guacamole of my life and think it deserves being written about.

My dinner plan was to attempt to recreate the BBQ Nachos from a local restaurant, I bought a salsa from World Market to go with and an avacado to make the following quick & delicious guac.

1/2 avacado, mashed
1 shallot, finely chopped
3 or 4 cherry tomatoes, finely chopped (I would typically use about half of a larger tomato, but I had some of these on hand that needed to be used)
1 teaspoon full-fat plain yogurt
Combine all and enjoy!