Red, White, Blue and Crispy

I got hooked on a new kind of rice crispy treat from some good friends at a recent BBQ... and then I found a recipe for them on smitten kitchen.  To enhance the flavor of the treats, they use twice the butter, brown the butter first to golden and nutty deliciousness, and add some sea salt w/ the cereal... these really are amazing treats.

So, for the 4th of July I decided to take it up a notch.  Red, white and blue treats.  And, well, I couldn't stop there.

For the red layer I added cinnamon, bit of salt and red coloring... add more than you think or they are a salmon color like mine were.

For the white layer I did like the above - sea salt.

For the blue layer I added some almond extract and a bit of salt.  I didn't put in enough blue, so they were grey-ish... but you get the point.

We used rice checks instead of crispies - I think the larger cereal is nicer.  (sometimes we just mix up the last cup of all the cereal in the house to make them... that's yummy, too.)

I put the red layer down first, then the white, then the blue ... used a greased butter wrapper to press it firmly into a deep 9x9 brownie dish.  Cooled, cut into little triangles... they really were a hit... as gourmet as a red white and blue cereal treat can get.

For the base:
1-stick butter (1/2 C) - melted, browned, no burnt (stir and watch closely)
6-cups marshmallows - add to melted butter off heat, if you need low heat to fully melt, that's cool... but stir and watch.
7-8 cups cereal - stir into smooth butter/mallow mixture
1/4 t sea salt - add w/ cereal

For the Red White and Blues... I doubled the recipe and then split the butter into 3 pans from the start... I added the color w/ the marshmallows.    When it was smooth I added a 1/4 t cinnamon to the red and a couple caps of almond to the blue and the salt to the white....

YUM - Patriotic Yum!

Gargantuan Rhubarb

Our rhubarb plant at the old house is gargantuan, almost out of control. When we bought our house 12-years ago it was in the middle of the grass. I dug it up and put it in the raised beds we built the 2nd summer - a combo of llama manure and compost took it to a new place in rhubarb plant-hood. 

Then I split it into 3 plants that went even bigger. So I split each of those into 3 and gave the 6-chunks to friends a few years back and left one for myself. Now I have just one plant left. It still gargantuan and time to split up for friends.

The whole point of telling you this is that i have a lot of rhubarb and I glean it at least 3 times a summer... pies, crisps, sauces, freezing, sharing with friends... With this amount of rhubarb I am often looking for a few new recipes.

This summer a new friend gave me a new recipe. RHUBARB DREAM BARS... the name alone sounds delicious. Here it is for you. Thanks Trinette!

Crust:
2 c. flour
3/4 c. powdered sugar
1 c. butter
Mix above together with pastry cutter and press into ungreased 9x13 pan.
Cook for 15 min. at 350 degrees

Filling:
4-5 eggs
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
4 c. finely chopped rhubarb
Beat eggs and add sugar, flour and salt. Stir in rhubarb.
Spoon onto crust and bake at 350 degrees for 45 min. or until golden brown.

__________________

I got to thinking that this would probably be great w/ other fruits, too. We have a few fruit trees that we prune and glean each year. But there is one tree, the pie cherry tree, that I had never picked. This year we picked all the fruit. It's been soaking in water for a few days (we went to Glacier Park over the weekend) and will get cooked down into a nice base that can be made into jam, pie, chutney, or ... hmmm... I'm thinking a Rhubarb-Tart Cherry Dream bar.

What do you think about that idea?

I'll let you know how it turns out. Feel free to post your recipe idea below.

Dilly Beans and Powder Days

I've been experimenting with pickling this year.  I did standard dilly beans and dill pickles.  But I also tried a (sweet) rosemary lemon bean w/ sweet onion instead of garlic and did the same w/ some cucumbers... will report back in a few weeks when I crack them.

This weekend I'll dabble w/ a friend's grandmothers bread and butter pickle recipe.  I've eaten them and they are divine... now it's my turn for a go at it.

Here is the Lemon-Rosemary recipe:

enough beans for 4-pint jars
one small sweet onion - sliced into 4 large rings/rounds
4 springs rosemary
8 two-inch strips of lemon rind
1.25 cups white wine vinegar
1.25 cups apple cider vinegar
2.5 cups water
3 Tbl canning salt
2 Tbl sugar

prepare jars and lids according to canning directions (sterilize, etc...)
start water bath a-boilin'
bring vinegars, water, sale and sugar to a boil
pack sterilized jars w/ a round of onion, one spring of rosemary and 2 strips of lemon and beans
fill w/ prepared brine from above
screw on lids finger tight
boil in water bath for 10-mins
set aside for 24-hours to rest undisturbed, make sure all lids have popped (or are inverted) by end of 24-hours
store for at least 2-3 weeks before opening

Eat up ravinously or enjoy w/ a bloody mary after a Montana Powder Day!

ENJOY!