Strawberry Rhubarb Preserves

Spring is such a welcomed time of year!  Weather warms up, moods lift, and berries begin to appear!  The arrival of fresh, cool foods and summer dresses are just around the corner.  With summer coming soon, it is getting to be time to preserve some of that springtime goodness.  Jams and preserves keep the delicious spring fruits on our plates and in our memories long after the season has passed.  In my opinion, strawberries and rhubarb are some of the best things to have leftover from the springtime season. 

Last weekend, I went to a good friend's house for brunch. It was such a delight! We sat outside in the morning sun catching up on life then prepared a morning feast.  We dined on basil, parsley omelet with sharp cheddar as well as gluten free cinnamon raisin pecan bread, Greek yogurt, oranges, and this strawberry rhubarb preserve I had made that morning.  Let me tell you, this preserve complimented everything on our plates so well!  I would especially recommend combining it with yogurt.

A couple of weeks ago, I made rhubarb jam which was so delicious that it didn't last very long at all, so when I was planning this recipe, I decided to be slightly more ambitious and make more than just a half cup...especially since I would be sharing it with friends this time!  In retrospect, making jam in the oven is much simpler than on the stove top which requires constant monitoring, but let me assure you that the result of all the work to make this strawberry rhubarb preserve is fantastic!  

Some notes about this recipe:  Because this recipe does not use gelatin or pectin, this preserve is quite smooth like a fruit butter rather than a jelly or jam.  Also, I do not cover the canning process in this post so the shelf life will be shorter.  If you do wish for a longer shelf life, please reference other sites that provide methods for canning.   Finally, plan ahead!  Time your schedule so that the fruit can macerate for at least eight hours before you can cook it into preserves.

Strawberry Rhubarb Preserves

2 pints strawberries

1 lb rhubarb

zest & juice of 1 lemon

2/3 cup brown sugar, divided
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Hull and quarter strawberries.  Chop rhubarb into small chunks.

2. Toss strawberries, rhubarb, and 1/3 cup sugar in a large bowl.  Zest and juice lemon into the mixture. Stir well.  Now, let it sit on your counter (room temperature) for eight hours to allow the strawberries and rhubarb to macerate.  Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel to prevent things from landing in it.  If you're around, stir every once in a while.

3. Transfer fruit to a colander and drain juice into a large, wide bottom pot. Set the fruit aside. Heat the juice to simmering then add another 1/3 cup sugar.  Keep cooking at a lively boil and stir constantly until the sugar has dissolved and juice begins to thicken and look syrupy.

4. Add a little more than half of the fruit to the boiling syrup. Bring back to a boil and cook vigorously, stirring, until fruit is broken down and scraping a spoon across the bottom of the pan will leave a stripe of bare pan that fills in slowly.  Lower the heat if the preserves begin to scorch.

NOTE: Because there is less sugar in this recipe than the standard, it is important to be sure that the fruit mixture is quite thick before adding the rest...especially if desire pieces of fruit in the final product. 

5. Add cinnamon and the remaining fruit. Bring back to a boil and cook, stirring constantly, until fruit softens but does not disintegrate.  If you want it to be more constant texture through out, then cook for longer until the fruit softens to your liking. Taste and adjust sugar if necessary. Stop cooking when a spoon dragged across the bottom of the pot leaves a clean stripe and the suspended fruit has a texture that you like. 

6. Remove pot from heat.  Let preserves cool to room temperature prior to storage.  It you cannot resist sampling while it's cooling, this preserve is delicious to sample on toast, rice cakes, and yogurt!

Again, please note that I did not cover the canning process, so if you do wish for a long shelf life for this preserve, please reference other sites that provide methods for canning.

Shout out to GF Steel Cut Oats!

Multiple times a year during my childhood, my parents would pack up the car, stuff the kids in the back seat, and we would take a two hour drive to visit the grandparents who lived on top of a mountain in the southern foothills of the Appalachians.

Many times for breakfast, my grandmother would prepare steel cut oats for breakfast and we would garnish it with fresh fruit, cream, and brown sugar...of course, when you are a kid you frequently attempt to see how much sugar you can put in your breakfast and get away with it.  At the grandparents' house it's pretty much all the time!  

apricots, oatmeal and coffee

When gluten was cut out of the diet, so were steel cut oats since all oats at the time were processed in the same facilities a wheat.  Within the past couple of years, it has changed!  So now, it is just so pleasing to me that I can have a big bowl of oatmeal without the worry!   I reminisce about breakfast at grandmas while eating a warm breakfast with fresh, seasonal fruit, and now with much less sugar.

Two Egg Omelet

Omelets are a great weekend treat!  What a great opportunity to walk to the farmers market to pick up fresh produce for the week and then put it in your breakfast!  Or, if you're so hungry when you wake up in the morning, you can roll out of bed and make a well composed breakfast out of the leftovers in your fridge.  In the past couple of weeks I have made several different variations.  The one pictured here is spinach, tomato, and basil, but other variations I enjoy are listed below as well.


Omelet
1/4 to 1/3 cup filling
butter
2 eggs
2 Tbs of your choice of milk product
salt
pepper
herbs


Variation 1: basil, tomato, spinach with mozzarella
Variation 2: rosemary, summer squash, lemon juice (also great with goat cheese)
Variation 3: mushrooms and onions (pre-sautéed) and fontina cheese
Variation 4: a mix of 2-3 chopped herbs like chives, majoram, parsley, basil, thyme, tarragon, rosemary, etc.

1. Prep your filling: dice the spices, chop the veg, slice the cheese, and sauté any filling that needs to be cooked ahead of time.  Onions, mushrooms, and pepper are all best when cooked first with some butter. 

2. Prep your eggs: Crack two eggs into a small mixing bowl and whip in herbs, milk, salt, and pepper until well-beaten. 

3. Add butter to a 6- to 8-inch frying pan and set over high heat until very hot. While the butter is bubbling, move it around the pan to make sure the bottom is coated.  


4. Once the butter stops sizzling, pour in the egg mixture into the pan and tilt the pan to spread the egg mixture evenly. Let eggs firm up a little.  Don't try to lift the egg or move it around, keep your spatula down until the very end! 

5.  While the middle is still runny, add the filling. Put cheese in first to melt, then add your veg that you want to soften (like spinach) and finally, add in the sautéed vegetables. 

6. After a while, you will notice the egg firming up.  When the egg is only slightly liquidy in the center, begin working the edges of the omelet away from the pan.  Fold the omelet in half.  Continue to cook for a couple more minutes so everything melds together.  

7. Serve with coffee, oj, and fresh fruit.  A filling and delicious start to the day!