I hope you all had a marvelous Independence Day! Our holiday was pretty low key…we relaxed around the house with the boys, made a killer celebration dinner (including a new recipe: strawberry rhubarb crisp, which I’ll share below), and then yes, we braved the local firework display with our two 3 month olds. We had decided to punt the fireworks this year–my hubby and I were both a little bummed about missing them. But while catching up on my blog reading yesterday, I read that a lot of moms take their babes to see fireworks. Many babies do perfectly well with the noise, especially if they are commonly exposed to loud sounds. Since our two little guys frequently put up with Paul the Dog barking and have yet to cry from his loud voice, I figured we were probably safe. So off we went and it was perfect! We found a nice little spot in the grass, spread out our quilt, and watched a lovely little display with our two boys, who were a little more quiet and less squirmy watching fireworks than they had been all day! Woo hoo!
As for that strawberry rhubarb crisp, all I can say is YUM! I love rhubarb, but I’ve always been a bit stand-offish when it comes to doing anything with it myself. It looks like pink celery, folks! But don’t let the color scare you away. I was determined to use it in a dessert this Independence Day, and I found this recipe from Anne Burrell on Food Network.
Ingredients
Filling
- 1 quart strawberries, stemmed and quartered
- 4 stalks rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch lengths
- 1 cup sugar (Anne only called for 1/2, but I wanted it to be a bit sweeter!)
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 orange, zested and juiced
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Topping
- 1 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/4 sticks butter, cut into small
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Pinch salt
- 1 to 2 tablespoons water
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine all of the filling ingredients in a large bowl and stir to be sure everything is well combined. Spoon the filling a wide shallow baking dish.
In a food processor combine the flour, oats and brown sugar and pulse to combine. Add the butter, vanilla, and salt and pulse pulse pulse until the mixture looks dry and crumbly. Add 1 tablespoon of water and pulse until the mixture starts to come together and look crumbly. If the mixture still seems dry add 1 more tablespoon of water and pulse to combine. Crumble the topping over the filling. Bake in the preheated oven until the filling is hot and bubbly all the way through and the topping looks crispy and light brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Serve warm with whipped cream (my favorite) or ice cream.
Yummy!
And now, totally unrelated to Independence Day or strawberry rhubarb crisp, I have a musing I’d like to share with you. Did you (or your daughter or your sister or your cousin or your neighbor or your best friend…) ever have an American Girl doll?
I had Samantha and I LOVED her. I had almost all of her clothing and would change her outfits frequently. While changing her clothes was always fun and exciting, it was kind of a pain due to the fact that she really offered no help when it came to putting on all her fabulous Victorian garb. And her fingers! They seemed to get caught on everything! But in the end, she always looked so stylish…
Well, that’s what I think of almost every time I get the boys dressed.
