Foodie Firsts: A Trifecta of Firsts All Wrapped Up In One Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp

Foodie Firsts is a Move Eat Create re-occurring feature focusing on my adventures in the world of food.  Over the course of a few short years, I have transformed from a picky, fearful eater to a curious and open-minded foodie.  In a commitment to continue to expand my culinary experiences, I have started Foodie Firsts.  I will commit to trying something new and sharing that experience with you.  My endeavors may include experimenting with cooking techniques I’ve never tried before, testing a single new ingredient, or drawing upon my creativity to combine foods in ways I never imagined.  Whatever it is, I will eat (or maybe drink) it and share it all with you.  You can decide for yourself whether you, too, would like to try.  Let’s be bold and eat good food!

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Are you ready for the ultimate Foodie Firsts column?  I managed to hit several firsts for me in a single dish.  I tried new ingredients (two of them!), baked something I’ve never baked before, and ate something I’ve never eaten before.

Wild, right?

What can I say?  I guess sometimes I just like to go big in the kitchen.

So I am presenting to you today a simply satisfying and relatively healthy strawberry-rhubarb crisp (gluten free and vegan, of course).  I do realize that such a dish may be considered plain and common, but it may surprise some folks that I had never actually eaten a fruit crisp before.  I swear to this on my favorite wooden spoon.

For many, MANY years of my life, I lived by three food rules:

1)      Nothing that comes from the sea or ocean

2)      No warm beverages

3)      No cooked fruit

You might know me well enough to know by now that #1 still stands (since I’m vegetarian), but #2 and #3 have gone out the window – happily out the window.  I’m not even sure why or when I developed these rules, but we can all see their ridiculousness, right?  How I lasted so many years without coffee is positively baffling.

My decision to get over that last rule was only further validated by this crisp.  I knew straightaway that my first crisp should include rhubarb (I’ve extolled its wonderfulness before).  The trick, of course, was that most of my hoarded recipes were not gluten free, so I needed to ensure to find or adapt one for my needs.

Fortunately for me, I case across this recipe on the Gluten Free Goddess’ blog which uses . . . wait for it . . . quinoa flakes in place of more traditional oats.  Now, I can eat gluten free oats, but this substitution was very appealing.  I had procured a package of quinoa flakes a few weeks ago when I spotted them on sale, but hadn’t touched them since placing them in my pantry.  Now, just like that, they had a purpose.

Then, to make things even wilder, I decided to test out stevia as a sweetener – another ingredient I had not used before.

New ingredients.  New dish.  New dietary needs met.

And so, the baking commenced.

What resulted was a lovely, simple crisp incorporating a few of my favorite ingredients (rhubarb, hazelnuts, cinnamon), which was perfect for eating straight out of the oven, or topped off with a scoop of ice cream (I like So Delicious French Vanilla Soy Ice Cream).

I will say that, being new to the flavors of stevia, I found it to have just a tad bit of bitterness that I didn’t love and I might consider using half stevia, half other sweetener in the future just to tone that down a bit.  Although the soy ice cream toned that down, too!  The quinoa flakes worked beautifully and I’m most excited to use them again.

Notes & Final Thoughts:

Serving Suggestions:  If you like a very sweet crisp, this isn’t it – so add additional sweetener prior to baking.  Alternatively, you can also drizzle the cooked crisp with maple syrup or agave – a touch that I found delicious.

Lessons Learned:  Just because a belief or practice has served you well (or at least you think it has) for a number of years, doesn’t mean it will continue to do so.  By letting go of my food rule around cooked fruit (which for so long I thought was shielding me from mushy and unpleasant eats) I have opened the door to dozens of new experiences and flavors for me to try.  I know that they may not all be perfection, but I’m pretty confident that it will pay off with huge, delicious dividends in the long run.

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Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp

Serves 5-6

Adapted from the Gluten Free Goddess

Ingredients:

• 1 pint strawberries, tops cut off and chopped
• 3 medium-large stalks of rhubarb, split vertically and chopped
• 1 tablespoon agave
• ¾ cup quinoa flakes
• ½ cup millet flour
• ¼ cup chopped hazelnuts
• ½ tspn powdered stevia (or equivalent ½ cup sugar/dry sweetener of preference)
• ½ tspn cinnamon
• ¼ tspn salt
• ½ tspn vanilla extract
• 3 tblspns coconut oil, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare 6 small ramekins or an 8-inch square baking dish by spraying with cooking spray.
2. Combine chopped fruit in a bowl.  Add agave and toss to coat.  Distribute evenly in ramekins, or spread across your square baking dish.
3. In a medium bowl, combine quinoa flakes, millet flour, hazelnuts, stevia, cinnamon, and salt.  Whisk together.
4. Add melted coconut oil and vanilla extract to bowl with the quinoa/flour mixture.  Work together (I suggest using your hands), to incorporate the oil and vanilla well.  The mixture should become crumbly and slightly moist.  Distribute this topping over your ramekins or your baking dish evenly.
5. Bake 20-25 minutes.
6. Remove from oven.  Eat warm or store in the refrigerator, covered, for a couple of days (rewarming if desired).  Serve as is or with agave, ice cream, yogurt, or coconut cream as possible toppings.

Apple-Rhubarb Refrigerator Jam

If you were to ask me what my favorite vegetable is, I’d be hard-pressed to come up with an answer.  I’m a big fan of veggies and am not likely to turn many of them away.  But there is one vegetable (that doesn’t even really feel like a vegetable – it feels more like a fruit if you ask me) that probably generates a particular kind of excitement in me that others can’t match.

I’m talking about you, Rhubarb.

Mmmmm. . . rhubarb.

I suppose the reason that it excites me so is that it comes and goes so quickly.  It’s that whole limited supply, time-constrained marketing ploy that Mother Nature clearly figured out long before the fancy advertising executives did.

Plus, it’s delicious, so it has that going for it.

Rhubarb fascinates me, actually.  It’s beautiful.  Really truly beautiful.  The tall stalks are lovely and when you chop them up, the layers of color inside create an ombre effect that is so visually stimulating.  I love how it’s so firm in its raw state, but cooks and bakes up softly with ease.

This year, I have decided I need to stock up and freeze some rhubarb so that I can enjoy it for months to come, but for right now, I made jam.  Instead of going the traditional route, combining rhubarb with strawberries (which also would have been great, I’m sure), I decided to combine my rhubarb with apples and whip up a satisfying spread that delivers just a touch of sweetness to whatever it graces.

Enjoy.

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Apple-Rhubarb Refrigerator Jam

Makes 1 – 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients:

• 2 cups rhubarb, chopped
• 1 cup apple, unpeeled, chopped (I used a Granny Smith)
• 1 cup sugar or sugar alternative of your choice
• ¼ tspn ground ginger
• ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Method:

In a heavy bottomed pot, combine all ingredients over med-high heat.  Bring to a low boil and then reduce heat to low-medium, so that it simmers gently.  Cook, stirring frequently and skimming off any foam that may develop on the top.  Using the back of your spoon or a potato masher, break up the chunks of rhubarb and apple as they soften and break down.  The jam is ready when it has become thick and viscous enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.  Remove from heat.  Pour into a glass jar and let sit, uncovered at room temperature until cool.  The jam will keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 weeks.

Foodie Firsts: Kumquats!

Foodie Firsts is a Move Eat Create weekly feature focusing on my adventures in the world of food.  Over the course of a few short years, I have transformed from a picky, fearful eater to a curious and open-minded foodie.  In a commitment to continue to expand my culinary experiences, I have started Foodie Firsts.  Each week I will commit to trying something new and sharing that experience with you.  My endeavors may include experimenting with cooking techniques I’ve never tried before, testing a single new ingredient, or drawing upon my creativity to combine foods in ways I never imagined.  Whatever it is, I will eat (or maybe drink) it and share it all with you.  You can decide for yourself whether you, too, would like to try!  Let’s be bold and eat good food!

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Kumquats.

If you’re in a space where you’re able, I encourage you to say this word aloud.  It’s a word that feels a little odd to say and hear.  A peculiar word, it is, with sharp sounds that force you to enunciate.

I would venture to say that the experience of saying and hearing kumquat is similar to what it is like to eat one.  Sharp.  Deliberate.  Peculiar.  Maybe even a tad exotic.

I have, of course, known of the existence of kumquats for a lifetime.  I’d heard of them without ever really knowing what they were.  They seemed so unusual and foreign – not something I would happen across on an average day.  I knew that they were a type of citrus, but I had never really considered what they would taste like.  I knew they were quite small, but never stopped to ponder how to eat them properly.  They were totally and completely mysterious to me.

Until last week.

Last week, I was wondering through the produce aisle at New Seasons Market (my favorite of all markets), looking at the abundance of various citrus that flooded the bins.  There were navel oranges, blood oranges, sumo oranges, tangerines, tangelos, grapefruits (white and red), lemons, Meyer lemons, limes . . . you see where I’m going with this.  The final stages of winter were producing a citrus bounty that was quite stunning, actually.  Nestled among the cases of plump navels and grapefruits was a slim, almost unnoticeable bin of kumquats.

Intriguing.

Here was the perplexing little fruit that I knew next to nothing about, but I decided to scoop some up.  Taking home a handful, I put them on my counter and sort of stared.  I wasn’t quite sure what to do with them.  I needed to do some research, but was impatient and wanted to just try one right away.  So I did.

Now, please don’t laugh at what I’m about to tell you.

Okay, laugh if you must, but just don’t tell me that you did.

Alright, so I took a kumquat – barely the size of my thumb – and set out to peel it.  This was my instinct.  You eat citrus after it’s been peeled, right?  I tore into it and ripped off the outer flesh, tossing it into the bin.  Left with what was truly a miniscule bit of fruit, I bit in.  It was tart.  REALLY TART.  Not bad.  But more tart than seemed reasonable to eat on it’s own.

I closed the bag, left them on my counter, and decided I needed to seek out answers on how to eat these tiny fruits from the those in the know – random people on the Internet.

The problem was I got busy and it took me a few days to get around to it.  When I finally did consult the all-knowing Internet, I had waited too long.  Once of the first things I learned was that kumquats don’t last long at room temperature and can turn rancid and moldy.  The second thing I learned about kumquats was that you don’t peel them.  You eat them whole – skin and all.

Oh.

Oohhhhhhh.

That makes so much sense, because let me tell you, peeling a kumquat is not an easy thing to do well.

Plus, the skin actually is crucial to the taste experience.  As it turns out, the inside of the kumquat is very tart (as I had experienced), but the peel of a kumquat is very sweet.  When you bite into one whole, you get both together, creating an entirely different (and more balanced) foodie experience.

Oooohhhhhhhhhh.

Well, I felt a little silly learning this, thinking how I had torn apart my first one, but I was determined to try again.  Back to New Seasons I went, where I purchased a new batch of kumquats.  This time they went into my refrigerator for preserving freshness.  All except for one, that is.  That one I promptly washed and ate, standing right over my kitchen sink, skin and all.

Wow.  What a different experience.  There was tart again, sure, but this time there was so much more than that.  It went something like this.  When I first bit in, I was hit with the tartness of the body of the fruit, but then, after just a moment, as I ate it, the sweetness from the skin is released and they come together to provide a complex, layered flavor that was unlike any other citrus I’ve ever tasted.  It was exotic.  It was peculiar.  It was delightful.

I ate a couple more this way, reveling in this whole new flavor experience.  I had also noticed online, though, that a common use for them is in salad.  Well, I’m a girl who loves her greens and I eat 1-2 salads a day.  Perfect.  When dinnertime rolled around, I decided to slice a couple up and add them to my salad.  Combined with a combination of power greens (romaine lettuce, kale, baby chard, and baby spinach), cucumber, tomatoes, and raw red onion, they made a beautiful looking salad bowl.  Then, after drizzling with white wine vinegar and sprinkling with salt, pepper, and sunflower seeds, I dug in.  They were a WONDERFUL addition to my standard salad.  They added a refreshing brightness and zing that was absolutely delicious.

Final Thoughts:  Kumquats are a fantastic find.  I’m utterly astounded that something so compact can pack in so much exciting flavor.  I’m definitely glad I gave these little fruits a try (despite my initial misunderstanding about how to eat them!).

Serving Suggestions:  Try them raw, as I did, to just get to know them a bit.  Certainly, slice them up and add them to a salad – you won’t even need much dressing with their added flavor.

I haven’t tried this yet, but I’ve also seen them used in cocktails.  I kind of like the idea of a little muddled kumquat with some dry gin, a dash of bitters, and maybe even a splash of grenadine – served with a slice of kumquat on the rim or floating on top for visual appeal.  Sounds like a good happy hour to me.

Lessons Learned:  Do my research.  I can laugh at myself for the ridiculousness that was me trying to peel that tiny little thing, but I could have saved myself some time, trouble, and a whole batch of spoiled kumquats if I had done my research first.  Let’s hope I can remember this in the future.

Why Wednesdays? – Why I Eat . . . Plants! – #3

A Note About This Feature:  Why Wednesdays is a Move Eat Create weekly feature determined to turn the mid-week doldrums upside down and celebrate things I love to do and blog about.  Currently, the focus is on food, cooking, and eating.

 

In 2012, I became a vegetarian.  Before some of you read that and hurriedly click off to another page, worried that I am here to convert you, let me preface this post by saying that I am not going to tell you why you,too, should become a vegetarian or why you should not eat meat or anything like that.  I’m simply going to talk about plants – why I eat them and why, just maybe, you should, too (even if you eat meat, also!).

I can’t even count the number of times in my life that I said something like, “I would love to be a vegetarian, but I just don’t think I could do it.  I just couldn’t give up [insert various meaty food here].”  The reality is that I just wasn’t ready.  Not only did I not have the proper incentive or motivation to do so until recently, but I didn’t have the creativity and adventurousness with food, either.  As I started to change my eating habits to follow a much healthier lifestyle, I started to naturally eat less meat, mainly because I wanted to eat more plants.  I took very, very small steps at first.  I traded quarter-pounders for turkey subs and eventually all veggie ones.  I started beginning each lunch and dinner with a bowl full of salad.  Homemade pizzas were topped with plenty of peppers, onions, and tomato slices, rather than pepperoni.  I added a piece of fruit to every breakfast and lunch that I ate.  And so along I went, making small shifts here and there.

Before I knew it, meat was starting to comprise an increasingly small amount of my daily food intake and fruits and veggies were piling up on my plates.   This was coinciding nicely with my increased activity levels, extra energy, loss of excess weight, less instances of colds, allergies, and other ills, and overall increase in general good vibes.  And, once that ball got rolling, it was hard to stop.  Who needs chicken burritos when I can make delicious bean and zucchini ones?!  Why take up room in my belly with fatty bacon when I can have a delicious, fresh, ripe bowl of fruit?!  Some may scoff, but few flavors can match the pure deliciousness of a nicely ripened piece of fruit.

Plus, I should note that I have had a roommate this whole time who happens to be vegetarian.  Sometimes I wanted to ensure I made a meal everyone could have, so meat got left out and vegetables took its place.  Other times, I had a meat-centric dish, but was intrigued by what my friend was eating and wanted to give it a try.  My surprise at how many delicious preparations there were for vegetables (and grains and legumes) was constant.

Over time, I craved plants.  Roasted carrots, please!  Minestrone soup? Yes and thank you!  Aloo gobi (Indian cauliflower and potatoes)?  Oh goodness, I will take seconds!  And, please do not even think about having me go a day without a big, green, leafy salad.  Perish the thought!

I was starting to adore plants.  Then one day, I realized I hadn’t touched a piece of meat in a couple of months.  Just like that, I was done with it.  It had become that easy.  And it felt wonderful, because when I used to say “I would love to be a vegetarian, but . . . “ I had actually meant that first part.  In order to eat a hamburger, I often had to actively work to shut out the reality of what it was.  Finally, my behaviors matched my values and intentions.  I love it when that happens!

Now, further helping me along this path was the incredible amount of learning I did about the health benefits of plants.  Seriously.  Many of you probably have no idea – I sure didn’t.  I mean, we all know on some level that fruits and vegetables are good for us, but huge amounts of information about the extent of this hangs out in the dark corners of the library, the deepest of web page domains, and the highest numbers on the television dial.  This information just doesn’t get shared widely.  If you’re not seeking it out, you won’t ever learn most of it.

Case in point:  The China Study by T. Colin Campbell.  This book changed my life.  I mean really, truly changed my life.  It’s not a book about one small research project or a ‘miracle diet’ or anything of that sort.  It is a well-explained, meticulously documented summary of years and years of expansive research on the benefits of plant-based diets.  The information in it is invaluable and I cannot recommend this book enough.  When I was reading it, I must have bugged Mr. Move Eat Create about fifty times with the phrases “Did you know?” and “I had no idea!” and “Why are we not taught this in school or by our doctors?”

That last one is critically important and is worthy of a blog post in its own right.  Why aren’t we taught this in school or by our doctors?  Why don’t doctors ask about our daily habits?  Why don’t we learn in school about the correlations between plant-heavy diets and longer life spans, less heart disease, less diabetes, LESS CANCER?  Yes, cancer –  that horrible, nasty disease that we just seem to accept as inevitable to us all.

I eat plants for a number of reasons these days.  I feel better.  I get sick less often.  I have more energy.  My blood pressure has lowered.  I reduce negative environmental impacts of food production.  They TASTE GOOD.  I’ve mentioned before another blog/website that I love: No Meat Athlete.  Well, Matt Frazier over at that blog has a catchphrase:  Runs on Plants.

That’s me these days.  I’m Shannon and I run on plants.

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Previous Entries in This Series:

#2 – Why I Eat . . . With Reverence

#1 –   Why I Eat  . . . Thoughtfully

Recipe: Blueberry Jam (Filling the Blueberry Void)

For a while now, Mr. Move Eat Create has been lamenting the lack of blueberry jam.  Other jam flavors abound: strawberry, apricot, blackberry, raspberry and so on.  But, blueberry, he sadly noted, was missing.

I decided to fix that.

Knowing that blueberry season is quickly nearing its end, I thought I should act quickly.  So I snatched up two pints of locally grown blueberries and set about my kitchen to fill the blueberry jam void.

This is a fairly thin jam and has a really nice fresh flavor that is quite delicious spread on toast.  Mr. Move Eat Create also thinks it is amazing scooped onto some Nutulla-covered graham crackers.  To be fair, he thinks a good many things are great when combined with Nutella, but he’s probably right, nonetheless.

Jam.  Spread.  Nutella companion.  Whatever you want to do with it, enjoy!

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Blueberry Jam

Ingredients:

2 pints blueberries

½ cup cane sugar

1 tblspn freshly squeezed lemon juice

Directions:

1. Pick through your blueberries to ensure all traces of stems are removed and then wash them well.
2. Put blueberries, sugar, and lemon juice into a medium sized pot over medium-high heat.
3. As the blueberries warm up, begin to mash them with the back of a wooden spoon or potato masher.  It’s not necessary to completely mash them, as they will break down as they cook.
4. Once the mixture starts to boil, reduce heat to medium.  Continue to mash as needed and stir, while cooking uncovered over medium heat for 20-25 minutes.  Skim off foam or skin that forms on the top as it cooks.
5. The jam will still be quite thin, but you’ll know it’s ready to come off the heat when it has thickened enough to lightly coat the back of a wooden spoon when dipped into it.
6. Remove from heat and let cool in the pot for an hour or two.  Skim off any remaining skin and pour into a jar.  Leave uncovered for several more hours or overnight in order to cool completely.  Cover and store in refrigerator.

The Oregon Berry Festival . . . and 10 lbs really is A LOT of fruit!

Last weekend was the Oregon Berry Festival and I had the opportunity to spend a bit of time there on the lovely warm Saturday afternoon we had.  This is a small festival, but what it lacked in size, it more than made up for in berry-goodness.

It was held in Portland’s Pearl District at the Ecotrust Building, a beautiful modern retail space with an outdoor courtyard-like area.   In the courtyard several local farmers were on hand to share their bounty.  Booths were seriously overflowing with berries of all kinds – raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, tayberries, and others I had never heard of!  It was a gorgeous sight.

Inside, the festival had space for vendors who weren’t growing the berries themselves, but who sure knew how to put them to good use.  Berry liqueur, cocktails, preserves, pastries, and juices were there for the tasting (and buying!).  

It was a really fantastic little piece of the local food scene and I took a home a delicious pint of raspberries which I later used to make a raspberry sauce for peach parfaits (more on those below).

I suspect the reason that I only bought one lone pint of berries at the festival was that I arrived there straight from a farmer’s market, where I had collected on a Groupon purchased a few weeks back.  The Groupon entitled me to 10 lbs of peaches and apricots from a local farmer.  Now, when I purchased that Groupon I was seriously excited (I also have one for 10 lbs of apples and pears to pick up later in the season).  I love fruit.  I love locally grown produce.  And, I love a deal.  I saw the offer and snatched it up right away.

I didn’t really stop to figure out how much 10 lbs is in regards to peaches and apricots.  You should probably know that I am notoriously bad at this sort of thing.  Something is seriously awry in the part of my brain that allows most people to estimate weight, size, space, et cetera.  I am always WAY off.

I arrived at the Farmer’s Market, happily handed over my Groupon voucher to be redeemed, and I was told to select the fruit I wanted.  A scale was at the ready and I could weigh it out myself.  I started sorting through standard peaches, donut peaches (extra yum for those), and apricots, placing the chosen ones in my bag.  After a couple of minutes, I figured I surely had to be at least halfway there.

I was wrong.

I placed my bag on the scale and it read: 3 lbs 2 oz.

Seriously?!  I already had enough fruit to last me the week!  I kept going and repeated this startling process a few more times before I finally was finished and made my way through the crowd with my huge bags of peaches and apricots slung over my shoulder.

I clearly just had no idea how little these fruits actually weigh.

Once home, I had to figure out what to do with all of it.  I had intended on making parfaits with what I thought would be about a third of the peaches (and turned out to be about a twelfth of them!), which is what prompted me to buy the raspberries at the festival.

After all was said and done, I made the parfaits (which were quite tasty), used all the apricots up to make homemade apricot-vanilla bean jam (SO good), and have been snacking on the rest of the peaches all week.

I will certainly try to be more prepared when the time comes to cash in on my apple and pear voucher in a couple of months.

In the meantime, I share with you my recipe for Bourbon-Poached Peach Parfaits with Raspberry Sauce.  Enjoy!

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Bourbon-Poached Peach Parfaits with Raspberry Sauce  

makes 3 parfaits

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups water

½ cup brown sugar

2 tblspns bourbon

½ long or 1 short vanilla bean (split lengthwise)

2 tblspns lemon juice, divided

3 peaches, stones removed and quartered

1 cup fresh raspberries

2 tblspns confectioners’ sugar

12 oz greek non-fat yogurt (plain or vanilla)

¼ cup crushed graham crackers (I used Annie’s Organic)

Directions:

1. Put the water, brown sugar, bourbon, 1 tblspn of the lemon juice, and vanilla bean into a pot and heat over medium-low until the sugar is dissolved, stirring frequently.
2. Once sugar is dissolved, bring the mixture to a boil, add peach quarters and let simmer for 7-8 minutes.  If the syrup doesn’t cover them entirely, turn peaches over halfway through.  Pierce with a fork and test to ensure the peaches are soft.  If they are, remove from pan, peel off skins, and let cool.  (The remaining syrup can be discarded or used to poach other fruit if you like).
3. While the peaches cool, make the sauce.  Toss raspberries, confectioners’ sugar, and remaining 1 tblspn lemon juice into a blender or food processer.  Process until liquefied and combined.  Push through a strainer to remove any raspberry seeds.
4. Assemble the parfaits when ready to serve.  First, place two peach quarters in the bottom of each glass.  Top with a few spoonfuls of yogurt.  Drizzle raspberry sauce on next.  Repeat these layers in each glass one more time.  To finish, sprinkle crushed graham crackers on the top of each parfait.

Note:  I imagine that these parfaits would be equally good with crushed nuts or granola in place of the graham crackers.  And, you could always use ice cream instead of yogurt for an even more decadent dessert  – though I do think these were fantastic as is!