Peeling a Pomegranate

Can I get a big “Shehecheyatnu” for rhubarb season?

נברך שכינה אלותינו רוח העולם שהחיתנו וקימתנו והיגעתנו לזמן הזה
N’varech Shekhina Elotenu Ruach HaOlam Shehecheyatnu V’kiy’matnu V’higiatnu Laz’man Hazeh

Let us bless the Presence of the Divine, Spirit of the World, who keeps us life, sustains us, and enables us to reach this season.

Seriously people, this is what sacred eating practices are all about - joy and gratitude.   I love this time of year, it’s just a rolling series of seasonal amazingness that just brings the Shekhina into sharp focus. Eating a fresh picked juicy strawberry or tart taste of rhubarb just fills me with gratitude for everything that is good in my life.

My first rhubarb yumminess of the spring was Baked Rhubarb with Vanilla Pudding. It’s a Martha recipe. Personally, I found the pudding to be way to sweet for me. Next time I’ll cut a good deal of the sugar from that.

Next I made rhubarb muffins based on a recipe from the Parve Baker. As a side note, I’m totally coveting her Wordpress theme — it’s totally gorgeous. I really might have to invest in something custom soon, but I digress. I used her recipe with the following substitutions:

• Butter instead of margarine
• Almond Milk instead of soymilk (I was out of cow milk)
• Brown sugar and Maple sugar (1/2 cup / 1/4 cup) instead of white sugar all white sugar. I did use a 1/4 cup of white sugar

The muffins don’t seem to rise much, and I would let them cool completely before eating them — but darn are they tasty. Much thanks to JCarrot for featuring the Parve Baker!

Next I made Rhubarb Ice Cream. Yeah, that’s right. Other than discovering that Karo Light Corn Syrup has high fructose corn syrup in it too — it was a great experience. I normally wouldn’t use corn syrup at all, but I hadn’t made the recipe before. I certainly will never be using this product again. I’ll just stick to Lyle’s Golden Syrup, honey or agave syrup.

The Rhubarb Ice Cream recipe came from The Ultimate Ice Cream Book: Over 500 Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, Drinks, And More. I’ve made tons of recipes from the book, and they are usually great! I’m going to serve the rhubarb ice cream tonight in home made ice cream cone bowls, recipe from same book, with fresh strawberry slices and whipped cream. It’s a rhubarb ice cream sunday experience! More ice cream adventures: Ice Cream @ Art and Carly & Flickr Pics.

Technorati Tags: rhubarb, seasonal eating, sacred eating practice, gratitude