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Does Mom love strawberries and rhubarb? Then look no further! You’ve found the perfect Mother’s Day dessert that will bring her back to a simpler time.

Rhubarb Strawberry Pudding Cake

Makes 6-8 servings.

Ingredients:

¼ cup water

1 ½ tsp cornstarch

1/3 cup plus ½ cup sugar (I reduce this very slightly when I make it because we like a little less sugar)

2 cups chopped fresh rhubarb stalks (about two large stalks)

1 very full cup chopped fresh strawberries

1 cup all purpose flour

1 ¾ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 large egg

½ cup whole milk

1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preparation:

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter an 8 inch square glass or ceramic baking dish. I didn’t have one, so I used a 10 X 7 ceramic dish.

Stir together water, cornstarch and 1/3 cup sugar in a small saucepan, then stir in rhubarb. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly, then simmer, stirring occasionally for 3 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in strawberries.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and remaining sugar in a bowl.

Whisk together egg, milk, butter and vanilla in a large mixing bowl, then whisk in flour mixture until just combined. Mixture tends to be more like a dough than a batter.

Reserve ½ cup fruit mixture, then add remainder to baking dish distributing evenly. Spread dough/batter over it, spreading evenly. Drizzle reserved ½ cup fruit mixture over dough/batter. Bake until a cake tester or wooden pick inserted into center of cake portion comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes depending on size cake pan used. Cool in pan on a rack 5-10 minutes. Best served warm with a scoop of your favorite vanilla ice cream.

 

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Not into Corned Beef and Cabbage? Try our brilliant beef stew instead this St. Patty’s Day!!

Pot O’Gold Beef Stew

Total cooking time: about 2 3/4 hours.

Ingredients for stew (8 servings):

2 ½ pounds good stew beef chunks (make sure it’s good quality and marbled stew beef, such as chuck, for a tender stew)

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup canola or other vegetable oil

1 very large onion or 2 medium onions, coarsely chopped

1 container (32 oz) beef stock (I use unsalted. If using salted, you might want to adjust how many bouillon cubes you add.)

4 beef bouillon cubes (Herb-Ox has no MSG)

Salt – 1 tsp and extra for coating

Worcestershire sauce – 1 T

Ketchup – 2 T

Pepper – ¼ tsp and extra for coating

Garlic Powder – 1/2 tsp and extra for coating

2 lb very small potatoes (Red and yellow are nice. You can buy these together in a combo bag). If a little larger, cut half or quarters so that they are approximately 1 inch size chunks.)

4-5 large carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup fresh green beans cut into 1 inch pieces. (I usually just buy about a dozen or so fresh green beans.)

2 bay leaves

Ingredients for Dumplings (makes 8):

1 1/3 cups Biquick mix

6 T milk

2 T fresh finely chopped parsley

Place flour in large Ziploc bag with several shakes each of salt, pepper and garlic powder. Shake until mixed. Add several pieces of stew beef at a time. Coat and then remove each of the pieces shaking off the excess flour and put on a plate. Repeat until all beef is coated. Save flour.

In an 8 qt Dutch oven or heavy cooking pot with lid, heat oil over medium-high heat. Brown meat a few pieces at a time. Remove pieces as they brown.

Reduce heat to medium and add onions, cooking until almost tender. Stir in the reserved flour, then gradually add stock, stirring until mixture is slightly thickened. Add bouillon cubes, Worcestershire, ketchup, bay leaves, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Then add beef. Heat to boiling, stirring. Reduce heat to low and cook covered for 1 hour.

Add carrots and potatoes and heat to boiling. Reduce heat and cook covered for 45 minutes.

Stir in green beans and frozen peas. Cover and simmer for another 15 minutes until all vegetables are tender.

While these are cooking, mix dumplings according to instructions on Bisquick box. Add a little extra milk if too thick. Consistency should be similar to corn muffins or corn bread batter  – thick and wet, not dry. You can even mix the dough earlier if you’d like. Just refrigerate until ready to use.

Uncover stew, remove bay leaves (if you can find them!) and bring back to a boil. Drop dumpling dough by large spoonfuls (I use a regular flatware soup spoon) onto top of stew so dumplings are barely touching. Sprinkle with chopped parsley. Reduce heat and cook uncovered for 10 minutes. Cover and cook for 10 more minutes.

Serve stew in bowls with one or two dumplings each.