Tag: garden

Sweet Pins: Ground Cherry Pie

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School is back in full swing, and I can’t seem to find a minute to myself.  People tell me that someday, I will miss these days.  I’m not so sure.  Having nothing to do every now and then sounds pretty sweet to me.

I finally found some time today to take care of some of the produce my hubs grew this summer.  Every year, he tries something new.  Last year, it was scorzonara (I’m still not sure what that is).  This year he grew physalis pruinosa or ground cherries.  They are of the same genus as tomatillos and same family as tomatoes.  Never heard of them?  Me neither, but they have got to be the coolest thing ever!  First of all, they grow in these cute little packages much like the paper lanterns plants people decorate with.

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When they are ready to be eaten, they fall to the ground.  Hence the name “ground” cherry. My favorite part is that in order to get to the fruit, you need to peel open the little paper-like packages they come in.  It’s like Christmas!  It really is! The really cool thing is that they look like and have the consistency of small cherry tomatoes, only they taste like pineapples.  Yes, PINEAPPLES!

ground-cherries

Pinterest produced several recipes that looked delicious when I needed to find out what to do with these amazing little creatures.  One of my faves is for  Ground Cherry Pie from All Recipes.com.  This recipe is an old Mennonite recipe, has a crumb topping, and is so simple to make.  If you are lucky enough to find ground cherries at your local farm stand.  Grab them quick and make this pie.  It is so unique and yummy.  I guess you could call it… yumnique.

ground-cherry-pie-with-ground-cherries

Ground Cherry Pie

via allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/2 – 3 cups ground cherries
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 TBSP all-purpose flour
  • 2 TBSP water
  • 1 (9″) unbaked pie shell
  • 3 TBSP all-purpose flour
  • 3 TBSP sugar
  • 2 TBSP butter

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
  2. Pour washed ground cherries into bottom of unbaked pie crust.
  3. Mix together brown sugar and flour and sprinkle evenly over ground cherries.  Sprinkle water over entire mixture in pie crust.
  4. Combine flour and sugar.  Cut in butter until mixture has a crumb-like texture.  Sprinkle this evenly over ground cherry mixture.
  5. Cook in 425 degree oven for 15 minutes then reduce oven to 375 degrees and cook for another 25 minutes.  Let pie cool completely before serving.

 

ground-cherry-pie

Sweet Pins: Rhubarb Dream Bars

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Rhubarb.  You either love it or hate it.  I happen to LOVE it!

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My brother-in-law sent a huge bundle of rhubarb home with my husband after a recent trip north.  Now when I say I love rhubarb, I love it in moderation.  The amount I have currently in my fridge is nuts!

Luckily, I’ve done some pinning and came across a few recipes that looked totally yumskis.  Some were savory and of course most were sweet.

This dreamy, creamy rhubarb recipe from Noshing with the Nolands completely caught my eye.  Especially the word…EASY.  Gotta love easy!

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Rhubarb Dream Bars

Ingredients:

Crust

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup butter

Filling

  • 4 lg. eggs
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 4 cups diced rhubarb

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Line the bottom of a 9×13 pan with parchment paper.  Make sure the parchment goes up on the sides to make it easy to remove the squares later.  Put crust ingredients into a food processor.  Process until butter in incorporated and press crumbly mixture into the pan.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Crust will be pale in color.
  2. In the meantime, mix together eggs, sugar, flour and salt.  Fold in rhubarb.  Pour on the hot crust and continue to bake for 40-45 minutes.
  3. Let the bars cool and remove using the parchment paper.  Cut into squares.

 

 

These bars are creamy with a smidge of that wonderful, rhubarb tartness.  Delish!

What’s your favorite way to eat rhubarb?

Rhubarb Dream Bars