BAKED RHUBARB SUPREME FROM KAREN-----RHUBARB OR RHUBARB/STRAWBERRY PIE WITHOUT ALL THE CALORIES FROM THE CRUST

Everyone I have served this Baked Rhubarb has wanted the recipe to make it.  It is so simple and so delicious and rhubarb has always been considered a great spring tonic.  If you crave rhubarb pie or strawberry-rhubarb pie this a wonderful recipe to satisfy the cravings without all the calories from the crust.  The baked rhubarb tastes just like rhubarb pie.  For strawberry-rhubarb, I put the baked rhubarb on top of a bowl of fresh strawberries.  If you want some crust, put small disks of prebaked crust on top of the rhubarb the last few minutes it is in the oven. 

Baked rhubarb ready for some whipped cream, ice cream, shortcake or just a spoon.

The cycles of life are so surprising.  This recipe came from a neighbor at the cottage who I knew as a little girl.  Life went on and I never saw her again until an after-party given for Tom's band the Winds.  It was like we never grew-up and left home because as adults, fifty years later, we still enjoy each others company. 

BAKED RHUBARB SUPREME FROM KAREN

6 c rhubarb, cut into pieces

1 1/2 c sugar

5 T quick-cooking tapioca

Grated rind of one lemon, optional

1/4 c butter, optional

INGREDIENTS:  Rhubarb, sugar, Minute Tapioca, lemon rind (optional), and butter (optional).

Mix together well, the sugar, tapioca, and lemon rind, if desired.  To the sugar mixture, add the rhubarb. Mix well. Frozen rhubarb with have juice with it. If using fresh rhubarb, mix very well until the sugar releases liquid from the rhubarb to soften the tapioca. Stir well. Let mixture, with fresh or frozen rhubarb, stand for at least 15 minutes so the tapioca softens. Spray a 1 1/2-quart casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray. Add rhubarb mixture to dish. Dot with butter, if desired. Cover the dish. Bake in preheated 350 F. oven for 25 minutes. Remove cover and stir well. Bake an additional 25 minutes, uncovered, until done. Rhubarb will be ready when the fruit bubbles around the edges.

Combine sugar, tapioca and lemon rind, if desired, and mix well.

Add sugar mixture to rhubarb and mix very well.  Let mixture stand for at least 15 minutes for tapioca to soften. 

 

Spray  a casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray.

Add rhubarb mixture to sprayed dish.

Dot rhubarb mixture with butter, if desired.

 

Cover the dish and bake for 25 minutes in 350F over.  Uncover.

Stir rhubarb mixture well.  Continue to bake for another 25 minutes or until done.  Mixture will be bubbly around the edges when done. 



Enjoy!  (Wish the photograph's hands weren't so shaky--LOL)

 

I like to serve the baked rhubarb with a squirt of whipped cream.  Cousin Martha likes the rhubarb warm.  I like it cold or warm.

For a strawberry and rhubarb "pie", serve rhubarb sauce over fresh strawberries.

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!!!!

MICHIGAN'S LEON'S POTATO SALAD BY MICHIGAN COTTAGE COOK

LEON'S POTATO SALAD by MICHIGAN COTTAGE COOK.

So yummy.  Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.  This is a salad for those special times.





Leon's Potato Salad was a Michigan tradition for our family from the 1960's to the 1990's.    The salad was made in the state capitol of Michigan, Lansing.  It was an unusual salad potato as it was very creamy, a little sweet, with a celery back-note flavor to the dressing.  I served Leon's salad at Matt and Cindy's wedding reception.  It was the only thing not homemade.  It was a favorite of Matt's.


In the 1960's, there were many neighborhood corner markets or butcher shops on the Westside of Grand Rapids.  Within two blocks of my childhood home there were four markets.  My Mom, who was very picky where she shopped, would not shop at Henry's the closest market a block away.  Mom shopped at Johnny's Market, two blocks away, and so the rest of the family shopped there too.


Johnny's was a butcher shop where they made Polish sausage and other sausages fresh every week.  Johnny carried a full line of beef, pork, and veal.  If you wanted a certain roast of a certain weight, Johnny would go into his room-sized cooler, grab a quarter of a beef carcass or pork, and cut you exactly what you wanted.  The walls in the store had shelves, floor to ceiling, carrying what at that time were the necessities of life.  There were not a zillion kinds of canned soups and the little freezer held a few frozen vegetables boxes, pints of ice cream, and treats on a stick for the kids. 

You didn't just go to Johnny's to shop.  You also went to talk.  He loved a good joke and plenty of politically incorrect Polack, Johnny, and Hollander, me, jokes were exchanged.  The talking was so important because one of the first times I bought Leon's Potato Salad, Johnny told me it was so good as they used whipping cream for the dressing.  My quest to duplicate the recipe would have taken much longer if I hadn't known that fact.  It is the whipping cream that adds a special sweetness to the salad.  

On and off over years I have been trying to make the salad like I remember it.  I could never get the correct sweetness.  Adding sugar to mayonnaise just didn't cut it.  I come from a family of mayonnaise eaters.  My Mom and Cousin, Margaret, wouldn't eat anything that wasn't prepared with Hellman's Mayonnaise.  Me, I am not that fussy.  I eat anything but turnips.  One day a light bulb went off in my head and, yes, it hurt.  A commercial establishment would not use mayonnaise as it is expensive.  The salad would have been made with salad dressing.  That simple fact solved my one of my sweetness problems. 

Replicating a commercial product can be difficult as food companies have access to flavoring oils and other ingredients not available in the retail market.  To get the celery back-note of flavor, I used ground celery seed as well as whole celery seeds.  Be careful of the ground celery seed as it is bitter and a little goes a long way. 

Food effects all of our senses.  We can feel it in our hands, hear it sizzle or crunch, taste it, smell it, and see it.  Because all our senses are involved, special foods make an indelible impression in mind.  The final time I experimented with this recipe, I knew it was as "right" as I could make because as I stir it together it smelled just like I remembered Leon's Salad smelling.  I think it tastes just right too.    


The celery, red pepper, parsley, and red onion were always chopped very fine in Leon's salad. 

MY VERSION OF LEON’S POTATO SALAD
I was so happy when I came up with this recipe and that I remembered to write down my notes as I worked.  No, "Oh I'll remember that."  Not.

 

2  to 3lbs.  new potatoes, waxy potatoes

¼ to 1/3 red onion, finely chopped

3 stalks celery, finely chopped

¼ to ½ red bell pepper, finely chopped or jar of pimentos, drained and chopped

¼ bunch of parsley, finely chopped

Ingredients in salad:  New potatoes, red bell pepper, red onion, and parsley.

LEON'S POTATO SALAD DRESSING

1 c whipping cream, divided

½ c Miracle Whip

2 T sugar

2 t cider vinegar

Scant ½ t onion powder

½ t salt

Scant ¼ t ground celery seed

¼ to ½ t whole celery seeds

Ingredients for dressing:  Whipping cream, salad dressing, apple cider vinegar, onion powder, celery seed, ground celery seed, and salt. 

To make the dressing:  Reserve 1/3 cup of the whipping cream and set it aside.  In a bowl, combine the whipping cream with the salad dressing.  Add the rest of the ingredients and stir well.  Chill for a couple of hours or more to allow flavors to meld. 

Set aside 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup whipping cream.  Mix together the remaining whipping cream and salad dressing.

Mix other ingredients into the whipping cream mixture.

Chill dressing for at least two hours to let flavors meld.

To make the salad:    Put the potatoes in a pan and cover with cold water.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer until fork tender.  Drain well.  Do not over cook.  Let cool until you can handle the potatoes to peel them.  Peel the potatoes and cube them into small pieces.  Pour ¼ cup to 1/3 cup of whipping cream over potatoes and mix well. Add the red onion, celery, red bell pepper and parsley.  Pour prepared and chilled dressing over the potato mixture.  Mix gently to combine all the ingredients.  Chill overnight.

Wash the potatoes.

Put potatoes into a pan and cover with cold water.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer until just fork tender.  Do not overcook. 

Drain well.

Cool potatoes until you can handle them to peel them.  Cut into small cubes.

Measure between 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup whipping cream.

Pour whipping cream over cubed potatoes

Carefully mix potatoes and cream together.

Add finely chopped parsley and add to potato mixture.

Finely chop red onion.

Add onion to potato mixture.

Finely chop red bell pepper.

Add to potato mixture.

Finely chop celery.

Add to potato mixture.

Carefully mix all the ingredients together.

Add the dressing.

Carefully mix dressing into potato mixture.  Chill overnight.

Serve chilled.

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!!!

ON MEMORIAL DAY WE HONOR AND GIVE THANKS TO OUR VETERANS

We remember, we honor, we should never forget those who have served our country.  Memorial Day gives us a day when we can all pause, remember and give thanks to those who have served in our Armed Forces and especially those who have given the ultimate sacrifice, their lives, to give us the freedoms we enjoy and take for granted.

Tom served 4 years in the Navy on a destroyer in the Middle East.

Uncle Pat fought with General Patton all the way up the Italian boot and was the gunner on the first American tank to cross the Rhein River.

My Dad received an appointment to Annapolis.  However, he found that he wasn't a citizen.  The judge had started to put his name on his Dad's paper when it was discovered he was too old to be put on the citizenship papers of a parent.  When WWII started, he was too old to serve in the military.  He joined the Civil Air Patrol.  He flew troops, in his own planes at his own expense, for quick trips home before deployment overseas.

Mitch, son, gave 6 years to his country serving in the Air Force in England and Montana.

BABY HALEY GRADUATES FROM HIGH SCHOOL----BOB'S BOUNTIFUL BURGER BAR

HALEY GRADUATES FROM HIGH SCHOOL.

Haley's Nana Margaret, her Sister and Mother.

I guess the question is as old as time.  Where does time go?  I am sure it was just yesterday when the first Katrinka and I headed out to Great Falls, Montana in my little old Honda to welcome Haley into this world and stay a few weeks.  After eighteen months of care-giving, The Katrinka and I finally headed home.  Now Baby Haley is heading to college.  Where does time go?  I would really like to know.

I can't believe it has been over two weeks since I posted.  I have been busy with some great recipes to post soon.  I know I kept saying that, but I will get busy.  I promise.

Life changes call for parties.  For Haley's graduation, her Uncle Bob prepared one of his Bountiful Burger Bars.  He puts out everything you would want on a burger and more so everyone can make their own ultimate burger.

Aunt Cindy and Uncle Matt brought Cindy's Dad fantastic taco salad.  She wanted to dress it at the last minute and it is such a big salad that they dressed out on the tailgate rather than mess up the kitchen.  Cousin Erin had to watch the process.  For Cindy's Dad's salad recipe go to:

http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2010/08/durrells-taco-salad.html

Cousin Zach wanted to make sure his Grandpa's salad was make correctly. 

Haley had to come out to see what was happening.

Salad is done.  Time to eat.

In one corner Bob puts out ketchup, three different mustards, three different cheeses, mayonnaise, Canadian bacon for a burger famous at the Butler in Saugatuck, MI, crispy bacon, and grilled pineapple.  The pineapple is to duplicated a burger from Red Robin.

Bob's sauces included across the top from the left, teriyaki sauce, barbecue sauce, A-1 steal sauce and pickle relish.  Across the bottom from the left, red salsa, green olives, black olives and sliced pickles.

Next comes green salsa, sliced Jalapeno peppers, sauteed mushrooms, sliced and grilled red onions, sliced tomatoes and lettuce.

A better pictures showing the peppers and onions.

Avocado, more lettuce, and sliced raw, red onions round out the condiments.  The taco salad sets ready to be enjoyed.

Cousin Erin made Haley's graduation cake.  What talent my Grand-daughter has.  The numbers are rice crispy treats covered with fondant.

I had to take two pictures to get all the numbers to show.

Haley and Erin admire the cake.

Family tradition says that the person being honored has to make the first cut in the cake.

Cousin Zach waiting for the cake to be served.

Cousin Zach enjoying the cake.

Cousin Bradley, soon to be cousin Jera with Grandma "Doughnut" in the background.

Cousin Tanner says, "A good time was had by all."  Family is what it is all about in life.