Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

A few weekends ago, I found myself with 2 pints of strawberries, a rhubarb patch that needed some love (it'll go to seed if you don't pick it!) and a sweet tooth. What's a girl to do? Make strawberry rhubarb crisp, of course! So I followed this recipe because it seemed to have the simplest ingredients and quite honestly, looked easy. And damn, it was good.

I brought it to a Cinco de Mayo party and it was a hit. But I honestly don't think you can go wrong with rhubarb; it's so flavorful and fresh. So now I'm already looking forward to picking my next rhubarb recipe, but there are so many to choose from! Which would you choose?

Here's our little rhubarb patch in our backyard.

Mixing the ingredients.

 The magic of rhubarb comes in the baking. Yummmmm.

P.S. I remember when I was a little girl, I'd fill a dish with sugar (for dipping since it's sour!) and go out to our rhubarb patch and eat myself silly. But I always had to leave enough for my mom's famous Blubarb Crisp! (Blueberry Rhubarb :))

Quick and Easy Sugar Fix

Remember the diet coke brownies? Well, courtesy of my mother, I learned about another quick and easy, two ingredient baked good: The Angel Fruitcake. A box of angel food cake, a can of pie filling of your choice (you can also choose less sugar, if you so desire) - mixed together and baked according to the box and you've got yourself angel fruitcake. I was quite impressed with the outcome - I'm not gonna lie, Joe and I both got seconds. Next time, I think I might give apple filling a try. 

What do you think - would you give this a try? If so, what flavor?

Cookie Dough Dip

For Tom's birthday, I attempted to make this cookie dough dip that I had bookmarked for months. It's actually considered a "healthy dessert", yet mine may have been on the less healthy side because I kept adding sugar to improve the taste. In the end, I couldn't even tell you how much sugar I added, but it's a helluva lot more than what the recipe called for.

Overall, it was... good. I chose Nilla wafers as the dippers and I think they brought the dip to the next level. (Never underestimate the power of a dipper.) I can't decide if I didn't like it as much because I knew the base was GARBANZO BEANS or if it really wasn't cookie dough flavored enough? At any rate, people did eat most of it, so it must have been decent, right? Though after time, I think people got skeptical since the small remainder of the "cookie dough" was sitting out for hours. And then started to sweat - almond butter oil? My verdict: If you want something sweet and healthy, give it a try. If you want something sweet and don't care about the calories, have some ice cream :)

Cookie Dough Dip (I doubled this recipe)

Ingredients
1.5 cups chickpeas (1 can, drained)
1/8 tsp plus 1/16 tsp salt
Tiny bit over 1/8 tsp baking soda
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup almond butter
Up to 1/4 cup nondairy milk (Start with 1 T, and add more as needed)
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup chocolate chips
2 to 3 T oats

Directions
Add all ingredients (except for chocolate chips) to a blender or food processor, and blend until very smooth. Then mix in the chocolate chips.

And for dessert.

As promised, my Easter dessert: Tiramisu. A dessert that I fell in love with when studying abroad in Italy. I've had bad tiramisu before so I hoped to pull this one off, especially since my sister had never tried the delicious dessert. (Italian translation of Tiramisu: Pick-me-up... and as our Italian professor told us, it's a aphrodisiac. Interesting.)

Verdict: Success!

The recipe I used isn't your traditional recipe, but super easy. I'd highly recommend giving it a shot.

Easy Tiramisu

Ingredients
3 tablespoons instant espresso powder
1 bar (8 ounces) reduced-fat cream cheese
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup sugar
2 packages (3 ounces each) soft ladyfingers
Unsweetened cocoa powder, for dusting

Erika's secret additions: cinnamon and pure vanilla extract (Straube, are you proud I didn't use imitation?)

Directions
In a medium bowl, mix espresso powder with 3 tablespoons boiling water until dissolved. Add 1 1/2 cups cold water; set aside.

With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese with heavy cream and sugar until light and fluffy.

Spread a few tablespoons of cream-cheese mixture in the bottom of a 2-quart serving dish. Separate ladyfingers. One by one, dip a third of ladyfingers in espresso, then arrange in bottom of dish. Spread with a third of cream-cheese mixture. Repeat twice with remaining ladyfingers, espresso, and cream-cheese mixture (can be refrigerated, covered, up to 1 day).

Dust with cocoa just before serving.