Easy as Hell Rhubarb Ice Cream

4-ish cups of diced rhubarb
2 cups whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Dice rhubarb and spread on a parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup sugar (I used vanilla sugar today, because I could). Roast in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. After roasting, toss rhubarby mess into a bowl and chill in fridge. Once chilled stir rhubarb into 2 cups cream, 1 tsp vanilla, and 1/2 cup sugar. Freeze according to ice cream maker instruction. Move to freezer-safe container and freeze until firm in freezer (or eat as soft serve).

The resulting ice cream is sweet and tart at the same time and is a gorgeous pink colour however my camera batteries are recharging so no picture until tomorrow.

Banana Bread

modified from the Pillsbury Best Muffins & Quickbreads cookbook


3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
3 small-medium mashed ripe bananas
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
*optional* 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom only of 9x 5 or 8x4-inch loaf pan. In large bowl, combine sugar and margarine; beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs; beat well. Add bananas, milk and vanilla; blend well.

In small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt; mix well. Add to banana mixture; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Gently stir in chocolate chips. Pour into greased pan.

Bake at 350°F. for 50 to 60 minutes (70 minutes in Calgary) or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pan. Cool 1 hour or until completely cooled.

Jam Day 1 - 2010

About a month back it was time for the rhubarb to burst forth and both my yard and my neighborhood are blessed with large quantities. The houses in my area are predominately 50-60 years old (though there are a couple of blocks of homes that date back to the 1910's) or new infills. These older homes often have huge rhubarb plants growing in the alleyways where no one harvests them and they simply go to waste. Not being a fan of waste (especially of something as awesome as rhubarb) I set out on a walking tours of the community, picking stalks as I went. I skipped any houses with backyard gardens as well as any plants that appeared to be tended by the home owners. Coming home it was time to wash, dice, and jam. I made Strawberry Rhubarb jam and Bluebarb jam (from The Complete Book of Small Batch Preserving) as well as Rhubarb vanilla Jam from Food in Jars. Most of the Bluebarb was put away in the basement by the time I took this picture.

Back to Blogger

So I had a blog over here a few years ago but over time I stopped using it and finally deleted the thing. That was way back before I got married and possibly even before I'd met Ty. These days this blog will pretty much be all cooking, canning, gardening, and random stuff done round our place...hence the new blog name.