Strawberry Rhubarb Ice Cream

Last week from my CSA with Enterprise Farms, I got a bunch of rhubarb. Honestly, All I have ever known rhubarb for was strawberry rhubarb pie. I posted on twitter for any recommendations on what to do with this stalk-y tart vegetable. Kerry from Kerry Cooks told me about her Rhubarb Chutney While I got suggestions for jams, and soups, and of course pie. I ultimately went with Amanda, from the The Kitchen Misfit 's idea for ice cream.

I have haven't made ice cream, since about the age of 7 or 8 when my sister had a barbie ice cream maker, which shockingly didn't work terribly well. But I decided to give it a go.

I used this recipe from myrecipes.com as a base recipe and then adjusted to try to make it a bit more nutritionally sound/ my taste.


Ingredients:
2.5 cups low fat milk
1 cup fat free half and half
2 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
3 packets truvia
1 bunch fresh rhubarb (chopped, about 2-3 cups)
2-3 cups strawberries (I used half fresh/ half frozen)
3/4 cup red wine (*** in retrospect, possibly too much)

1.  Combine milk and half and half over medium-high heat until bubbles form around the edge. Do not boil. 
2.  In a large bowl combine 1/2 cup sugar and egg yolks, and stir until pale yellow.
3. Slowly pour in about half of hot milk mixture and stir constantly. 
4. Pour egg/ milk mixture into pan with the rest of the milk mixture and heat until it reaches 160* F, stirring constantly. 
5. Place pan into an ice bath, until custard cools, stirring occasionally.  
6. In a sauce pan combine wine, rhubarb, strawberries, sugar and tuvia. heat and bring to a boil until rhubarb is tender and liquid is syrupy. 

7. Remove from heat. Wait 10 minutes to cool, then add strawberry rhubarb mixture to custard mixture and stir. (*** In retrospect, cooling the mixture more would have been better, such as refrigerating over night)



8. Place mixture into the freezer, and stir occasionally.








The results : Pretty good for my first ice cream attempt. The taste was very good. It was really sweet (which I like) you could likely cut down on the sugar/ sweetener a bit.

The texture was a bit off, and there were a lot of ice crystals. If I let the ice cream melt in my mouth it has a very smooth texture, but when eating it like normal the ice crystals were rather pervasive.

I found this serious eats article about tips for homemade ice cream making - which likely would have been useful before hand. - So my ice crystals could have been from making the recipe low fat, not chilling it fast enough, and adding too much alcohol. So, if you choose to make it, those are some aspects to consider. 

Overall though, pretty happy with my use of rhubarb!

Produce Galore!

I made the mistake of drinking coffee last night at 6 pm, before my counseling test. I generally do not do that.
I was up until 3 am. Way past my bed time. Hence, I had trouble waking up with morning and had no time for breakfast. Since then I have been all screwed up.
I had Developmental Psyc from 9:30 to 11, then I stopped by Shaws- because thats the time when there is the best selection of discounted produce. I was so mad I didn't bring my camera- the selection was AMAZING!
I loaded up on produce- probably more than necessary- but I'm sure it won't go to waste.
I got:
Some pretty Strawberries for $ 1.12


3 pounds of apples for under $ 2 and some grapes for $ 1.26

And Eggplant and 2 peppers for $1.57 and another eggplant and 3 little zucchini for 1.30, and some Kale, Broccoli, and a red pepper for $ 0.80

And some romaine lettuce:
And all together (sans grapes- they just did not look pretty in their plastic bag and ruined the picture): All for $9. Not too shabby.



Since the cheap produce is usually on its last leg of life, I just cooked most of it right away. I Seasoned an eggplant and a zucchini with black pepper, Garlic and Onion Spice, Thyme and Olive oil, and popped it in the oven:

The other eggplant, red peppers, and zucchini just went in with a little olive oil and water:

In the process of cleaning and prepping my new produce, I probably consumed about 2 cups of grapes. I didn't take a picture so here's a stand in:

*http://www.buycostumes.com/Purple-Grapes-Adult-Costume/17896/ProductDetail.aspx*
I figured I better site that stolen photo after reading the drama on the BUslowfood blog! http://slowfoodbu.blogspot.com/2009/03/march-happenings.html
I also had a small apple:

For Lunch I had some Kale, Roasted Eggplant, Peppers and Zucchini, a bit of brown rice and lentils, topped with hot sauce.

As per usual, as soon as eating real food, I had a sugar craving. Since I skipped breakfast I thought it was best to consume it in semi healthy form while getting in a whole grain by making a small bowl of oatmeal:
1/4 cup oats
10 craisins
10 butter scotch chips
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tb peanut butter
1/2 banana
water


Of course that didn't cure it
so I had the other half of the banana, with almond butter and some chocolate chips, and a couple cups of English Toffee Dessert tea with soymilk.




Dinner was some more kale, with eggplant, zucchini, tomato sauce and about 1/2 cup whole wheat rotini and a couple shreds of Veggie Shreds Vegan Cheese.


Finally after dinner dessert, a light and fit yogurt with some Trader Joes high fiber cereal:


Clearly skipping breakfast did not save me any calories! They were just all squished into one half of the day instead, which in fact just slows down your metabolism and is more likely to cause weight gain, which is one reason I generally try to spread my food out throughout the day.

I'm off to study for my next test, which is on Thursday. Happy Produce Shopping!