A very happy late Thanksgiving to some of you, and I guess the rest have a month to go for turkey day. I assume everyone eats turkey only on Thanksgiving and loves turkey dinner as much as I do.

I've got a lovely Rhubarb Spice Cake with cranberries recipe here for those with leftover cranberry sauce or jelly. (I always have alot of cranberry leftover and I freeze mine.)

Rhubarb and Cranberry Spiced Cake

4 cups chopped rhubarb
1 1/3 cups of cranberry jelly
1/2 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
3 well beaten egg yolks (save the egg whites for later in recipe)

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder

spices -

1/2 tsp each of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice

1/4 cup milk

3 egg whites stiffly beaten

orange juice (a few drops)
white icing sugar

2 tblsp. butter - melted

On low heat, cook the rhubarb until soft (about 5 or 6 minutes).

Cream butter, sugar and egg yolks. Combine well until fluffy. Sift (optional) the dry ingredients and add the milk in slowly. Mix well. Add in the cranberry jelly and rhubarb. Fold in the whipped egg whites. Pour into a well greased and floured loaf pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for an hour.

Mix melted butter with the icing sugar until the consistency feels right; add a few good drops of orange juice and mix well. Spread on cooled cake.

No strawberries or cherries here...Just rhubarb. Rhubarb Topped Cheesecake, a little creamier than the rest.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 10 squares)
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 tblsp. low fat margarine, melted
Filling
2 (8 ounce) packages low-fat soft cream cheese
1 cup fat-free vanilla yogurt
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup egg substitute
1 tsp. lemon zest
1/4 cup lemon juice
Topping
3 cups diced fresh or frozen rhubarb
1 cup white sugar
2 tblsp. plus 1/2 cup cold water (divided)
1 tblsp. cornstarch
Red food coloring is optional
Method:
In a small bowl, mix the cracker crumbs, cinnamon and margarine. Press onto the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Set aside.
In a larger bowl, beat the cream cheese, yogurt and sugar until nice and smooth. Gradually add egg substitute. Beat on low speed just until combined. Stir in lemon peel and juice. Pour filling over crust. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 35-40 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool one hour longer. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

In a large saucepan, combine the rhubarb, sugar and two tablespoons water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer until rhubarb is tender, about 10 minutes.

Combine cornstarch and remaining water until smooth; gradually stir into rhubarb mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for two minutes or until thickened. Add food coloring if desired.

Cover and refrigerate until cool. Spoon over slices of cheesecake.

Courtesy of "food and Recipes"

Drinking Vinegar? An "over the winter" project I might try.

You may have seen recipes for drinks with infused water with rhubarb. How about vinegar?

Over time, the flavors and colors let go from the vegetables or fruit (either can be used) into the liquid, and it works with vinegar. Shaking your head over "vinegar?" I did too, but apparently it's wonderful; I haven't tried this, but I will point you to the article and WONDERFUL pics and you can judge for yourself.

Cider vinegar, rice vinegar or distilled white vinegar can be used and tops up a few cups of chopped rhubarb into a mason jar. It is covered and popped into the fridge to sit for 5 months until ready to filter. After filtering, it is poured into a saucepan and simmered with a sweetener.This tart but sweet syrup is then transferred again to a "nice" bottle and kept.

Take a look at this, complete with great photos of the whole process start to finish. Something you might want to try with any number of fruits. The link will be given out at the end of this newsletter.


Strawberry AND Rhubarb Syrup, another syrup with a twist (very tasty over waffles!)

2 cups thinly diced frozen rhubarb

2 cups strawberries cut into quarters

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup corn syrup

1 cup water

1 vanilla bean (or tsp. extract)

Bring all ingredients except for 1 cup of strawberries to a simmer on low heat for 10 minutes.

Remove, and allow to cool.

Stir in the other cup of strawberries and let it cool further.

You can make this a week ahead as long as it is kept refrigerated.

Food for thought? Rhubarb grows very well in raised garden beds for a number of reasons.

The yield is higher, disease and weeds are alot less, fertilizer will perform much more efficiently and drainage is better as well. Thinking about starting rhubarb next season? You may want to start with this method.

Combining two of my favorite things - rhubarb and chocolate

Rhubarb Chocolate Chip Cake

1 1/2 cups chopped rhubarb

½ cup Butter or Margarine, softened

3 Eggs

1 cup sugar

½ cup chocolate chips

1 cup all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. Vanilla

Method:

Cream together butter, sugar, vanilla and eggs until light and creamy. Add sifted flour and baking powder and mix well. Add rhubarb chunks and chocolate chips and blend into mixture. Pour into greased baking pan and bake at 350° F for one hour until golden brown.

By the way, if you should happen to be in Iceland in the near future, you are actually invited to stop and have breakfast with the President. A tourist video has been released (remember the ash?) in order to lure tourists back and reintroduce Iceland as a great place to see.

So, do stop in for breakfast. Guess what he's having? Pancakes with whipped cream and rhubarb jam.

Here's the link to the "drinking vinegar" info. Have a look.

Drinking Vinegar

We welcome any special tips/advice/stories/recipes about your rhubarb you might care to share! Please feel to do so at Rhubarb Expertise

Until next time,

Elizabeth