strawberry madness.....shortcake, strawberry rhubarb jam, compote....

karen got me a groupon coupon gift.....a big discount on pick your own strawberries at scotts in east lyme.  having missed the saturday hours we had to go on father's day......kelsey and i picked about 10 lbs of berries in just over an hour and a half....and we both lamented the muscle pain for 2 days.

what to do with all those strawberries.....

we started slow....kelsey made the requested strawberry shortcake for father's day using a martha stewart recipe.  this was light and flakey and absolutely delish! looked gorgeous too.

like most things kelsey makes.....a work of art

that was just the warm up...i made a strawberry rhubarb compote from a strawberry slump recipe....very, very yummy........ have had it with greek yogurt for breakfast all week.

......and the next day i started making jam.
recipe after the jump

strawberry rhubarb crisp

tilly used to grow rhubarb in her garden.....all along the stone wall there was mint and rhubarb growing like crazy and trying to take over.  when i was little i would pick stalks of bright red rhubarb and try to eat it......so sour.....it used to make my grandfather laugh.   my sister and i would get a bowl of sugar and dip the ends of the rhubarb into the sugar and munch away.  every summer tilly would make strawberry rhubarb pie.....it was so good.  years later when tilly was in her 70's and 80's she would pick me a bunch of her rhubarb and bring it over to my house as a gift.....now i have to hunt the farmers market or get karen to grab me a bunch from whole foods in west hartford.   britany and i tried some different rhubarb and strawberry combo recipes last summer....some successful......one ...not so much.....it looked very pretty but it did not set, it  kind of turned into a pink blob....not so good but we laughed a lot!!!! ( and of course we tried to eat it.....it tasted pretty good but what a mess).  last month's food network magazine had an ina garten recipe for strawberry rhubarb crisp.....that sounded amazing.....all the strawberry rhubarb yumminess and no fussing with pie crust.  i made it memorial day weekend with britany, emily, and kelsey.  (we cooked all weekend......had a blast)....oh and the crisp was wonderful........(also awesome to dollop on top of greek yogurt for breakfast)

beautiful red and green

crunchy bubbly goodness

recipe after the jump

foodie adventure "magic kingdom"

our family....the four of us have some travel rituals.....we have often returned to the same places many times to spend our vacation together.  one of those places is walt disney world.  i've lost count of how many times we've been ....but every time....(even with kids in their 20's ) it is a super fun vacation.  we have our favorite rides (yo ho yo ho......a pirates life for me).....and of course there are a few favorite treats.  one must do every visit is to wander over to the dole pineapple soft serve stand in adventureland and order one of those pineapple floats for each of us.    on a hot day a pineapple juice parfait with soft serve pineapple sorbet....ahhhhhhhh.   (secret discovery...they also have these in hawaii at the dole pineapple plantation on o'ahu.)

frosty fruity goodness

hipsta-matic.......ok now i am ready to ride space mountain!

  i can try this at home....why not.  i have an ice cream machine...... i bought a ripe pineapple and some dole pineapple juice and set about trying to find a good recipe for pineapple sorbet. ......

my recipe after the jump

16 ish spice rub pork ribs with barbecue sauce

one of my favorite things to order at bobby flay's mesa grill is 16 spice pork.....it is so good.  i like a lot of what bobby flay makes but can't handle the level of spicy.....the 16 spice is mild compared to some things you could try on that menu.  i was really excited when i saw bobby make the 16 spice chicken with bourbon barbecue sauce on the throw down show...it looked easy to do and the folks that tasted it were raving...well of course it was bobby!  i printed the recipe and i have made my version of the 16 spice rub and the barbecue sauce minus the bourbon and chilis about 10 times....i have used it on chicken, pork loin, pork chops....all delicious.  i made a trip to the butcher in essex the day before memorial day weekend to stock up for some guests....oh and to celebrate....because hallelujah the stove is hooked up and working!!!!  (love it, love it, love it....best thing i have ever bought....... really! i have been cooking like a mad woman for 10 days with no time to stop and write down any of it....too much fun cooking ) i know i am crazy...i admit it.

 it arrives but only the electric oven is operational for 2 weeks

 finally cooking with gas..... and not on the deck but in the kitchen

 so back to the butcher.....he had these gorgeous piles of ribs he was sorting and rolling each one into a neat pile....so i struck up a conversation with him about how i might cook these, since i don't have a smoker...and he gave me some advice on cooking them slowly in the oven wrapped in foil.  i got them home and looked around for some inspiration....i had a container of the 16 spice ( my version) rub and decided why not.  i dried them and added the rub on both sides and put them back in fridge for 2 hours while i made the barbecue sauce.  i preheated the oven to 250 and double wrapped the ribs in foil and cooked them for 2 1/2 hours.  i took them out of the oven and opened up the foil wrap basted them on top and bottom with the barbecue sauce and put them on the gas grill on the foil for a half hour on low.  these were so good they did not last long enough to get a picture of them...sorry about that.
my version of the rub recipe and the barbecue sauce after the jump.