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Posts tagged ‘spring’

Apr 19

13 Comments

Going Out

Egg carton from a recent egg pick up

It is gorgeous today here in Portland. We’ve seen remarkably little of this kind of weather this spring and it’s all I can do to not play hooky and go sit in a park with a book. And as I was sorting through the egg cartons that need to be returned to the place where I pick up eggs every week I found the one pictured above. It certainly sums up my feeling today. . .

And one more photo from this morning, from a neighbors’ front yard. There are still plenty of edible bits on these leggy shoots of kale and arugula and I’ve gotten in the habit of walking down the street mid-morning to pick the greens for my lunch.

Tuscan kale and arugula going to seed.

And now I will go outside, not to a park with a book but still outside!

Happy Spring, once again!

P.S. I promise to post two recipes next week to make up for today’s lack of any.

Apr 9

9 Comments

Rhubarb Yogurt Cake

As requested by some of you on facebook, here’s the recipe for the Rhubarb Yogurt Cake I made today. I made it before I went to pick up my three-year-old son from school. He is always famished when I get him so I always bring a snack. Today it was a warm square of this cake. It took me exactly 8 minutes to make the batter and about 35-40 to bake. I was running late and not sure I was going to make it before he started wondering where I was. That’s why I know how long it took me!

I make this cake every spring when rhubarb starts showing up in the farmers’ markets and now also in my very own garden. Even though my rhubarb plant started out nice and deep red now the stalks are mostly green. Anyone know why this is? It tastes fine, but with rhubarb the color is half the fun.

 

 

Rhubarb Yogurt Cake (adapted from my cousin Mary Lane)

This cake is not very sweet so if you like sweeter desserts I would add a few Tb

s. of honey or maple

syrup in additional to the brown sugar.

4 cups rhubarb, sliced thinly

1/4 cup butter (softened if you have time but not necessary)

1 1/2 cups brown sugar (loosely packed)

grated zest of 1/2 an orange (skip if you don’t have on hand)

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 cup all-purpose flour (or 1 cup whole wheat pastry and 1 cup all -purpose)

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1 cup whole-milk yogurt

Preheat oven to 375. Butter a 9 x 13 cake pan.

Cream butter with a wooden spoon, add zest and sugar and cream together until well blended. Whisk in egg and vanilla, add flour, soda and salt and finally yogurt and then rhubarb until mixed. Do not over mix. Spread batter in prepared in pan and bake until golden around the edges and tester comes out clean. It will seem a bit soft but firms up as it cools.

Serve as is or with lightly sweetened whipped cream.

Happy Spring!

Jan 28

4 Comments

Sidewalk greens

Cress
Not a weed, a salad green!

Hello and welcome to my first blog post for Cook With What You Have!

I was playing outside with my three-year old the other day and he was digging in an empty garden bed on an unseasonably warm January day. I noticed that the raised bed’s edges were alive with the bright green little cress (actually called Hairy Bittercress and related to the commercially available watercress) that is always my first sign that winter is slowly on the wane. I’ve used this delicate, peppery green in salads for years despite its unpalatable name, which I just learned today. I think it’s mostly known to farmers and is a weedy  nuisance but to city dwellers with little else edible growing at the moment, it’s a fun treat.

So look around your house and yard and see what you find. pull up the whole plant, wash well and then add it to a salad, a sandwich or quesadilla and enjoy.

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