Rhubarb Strawberry Jam

Once a year, the boys head out for a Father-Son's campout with the other gents from our church. You'd think they would revel in roughing it, but instead they stay at a cabin, project sporting events on to a sheet, and eat prime rib, shrimp, dutch oven potatoes, and chocolate cream puffs. I'm not making this up. Cream puffs, people, cream puffs. It sounds so cush, I'm tempted to throw on a baseball cap, draw in a sharpie handlebar mustache and sneak in. Except that I always have a wonderful time at home with my little girl having our Mother Daughter weekend. I'm sorry to be so 1870's, but we made jam this year. OK-that isn't all we did-we also went out to dinner and spent hours and hours in Barnes and Noble. We didn't wear bonnets or churn butter, but we did make jam while the men folk were away. Truthfully, we would have made it if they were here, too. They would have helped us, since we are a liberated modern family, daggum it. Besides, this jam's a huge family favorite. The recipe hails from the Quiet Man's South Dakota Grandma Darland. I never cared much about jam, until we stopped on our cross country honeymoon road trip for a day or two on the farm. Grandma set out a jar of the bright red sticky stuff with breakfast. One smear later I was hooked. It shouldn't really be called jam-no, it's more like candy. I've made Grandma Darland's jam for many people with the same addictive results. It's got three ingredients-just rhubarb, sugar, and strawberry jello. The chopped rhubarb stands all night, soaking in syrup. After a quick boil, the strawberry jello thickens the jam without having to use pectin or Sure-Jell. You don't have to heat process it if you don't want to. Simply freeze it in pint jars until ready to use. But don't count on it lasting too long. Hurry up now, before spring rhubarb gets replaced with summer veggies.

Rhubarb Strawberry Jam

Estimated Cost: $5.00 for 3 pints

Tips: Look for rhubarb at the Farmer's Market for the best prices. I'm buying a rhubarb plant to make it even cheaper for next year.

3 cups sugar

5 cups chopped rhubarb

1 (3 ounce) box strawberry jello

Combine sugar and rhubarb in medium pot. Let stand overnight. Bring rhubarb mixture to a boil. Boil 12 minutes. Stir in jello. Process in jam jars, or freeze. Try a little stirred into plain Greek yogurt. Yum!

Up Next:

Ice Cream Tart

Food and Furthermore XI: Rhubarb Streusel Coffee Cake

Home again, home again, jiggety jig....Well, actually, we're not quite all the way home yet. We are back in the States and having picked up the children (who seem to have barely noticed that we were gone) at Aunt Heidi's house, we are making the four hour drive home this morning. I'm plotting ways to get back to the Canadian Rockies with the whole family, this time with tent and sleeping bags in tow. It seems almost sacrilegious to stay in a hotel with this kind of beauty outside, doesn't it? Furthermore, we're raising our kids to love good ol' cheap tent camping.

Although, I'm not sure I could relax on the Columbia icefield with my two charges running around. I can just imagine my little cowboy starting an avalanche.

Or canoing on Lake Louise, icy glacial water awaiting anyone who rocks the boat, and what five year old boy would not rock the boat? But I'm pretty sure that I could safely take them to the cucumber farm without fearing death-although there are reports of a wandering black bear in the area....can you spot him? And while visiting the cucumber farm, the owners Mr. and Mrs. Charest, would hopefully share their rhubarb streusel coffee cake again. What a way to greet visitors! If you want to garner my loyalty, feed me a generous square of moist and delicious coffee cake, bejeweled with little pieces of rhubarb and topped with a hearty sprinkling of brown sugar streusel. Mrs. Charest was kind enough to share this recipe, plus the four big servings that Quiet Man and I greedily gobbled up. Give it a try and taste for yourself the remarkable flavor of Canadian Hospitality. I can't wait to get some more. Rhubarb Streusel Coffee Cake

Estimated Cost: $3.00

Notes: Use whatever fruit you've got on hand in place of the rhubarb. The obvious choice would be blueberries, but chopped plums, apricots or peaches would be lovely for a summer coffee cake.

1/2 cup salted butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup plain yogurt or buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups chopped rhubarb, or other fruit

For Streusel:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, buttermilk and vanilla. Stir in flour and soda, stirring just until blended. Add rhubarb and pour into greased 9 by 13. Combine all streusel ingredients and sprinkle over the top. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until springy in the center.

Coming Tomorrow:

Tuesdays With Dorie-Blackberry Peach Cobbler