rhubarb simple syrup + a giveaway

in ,

i did a terrible thing last year: when eggboy pointed out that our house came with a very large, very low-maintenance, very beautiful rhubarb patch, i went out, did my thing, enjoyed a lot of blintzes about it, and then despite how many times i told myself that i was going to continue to have my way with all of that rhubarb, i did not. i used next to none of it. i neglected it and it died.

i have lived with this guilt for one year.

so the other day when i was working with all of the eggs to put in our little garden and saw across the yard that our rhubarb had sprang up, i ran as fast as i could safely run while carrying scissors to collect a very large armful of it. (it was more of a trot.) eggsister and i immediately dipped a stalk in sugar and ate it as if it were nature's fun dip, and then i chopped some up for rhubarb water to make this simple syrup. later, eggboy blew my mind by informing me that rhubarb is a vegetable and not a fruit. am i the last person to learn that??

i've been making cakes with it and giving away bouquets to everyone that crosses our path. celeste even took some on her road trip back to portland. (that's her in the photo hiding behind the big fat leaves, don't eat the leaves!) and once i'm all rhubarbed out, i am going to chop it all up and freeze it for the year. i'm feeling good about our little rhubarb patch. real good. 

i like this syrup because it allows you to experience rhubarb in all of its celery-ish sour glory without much other schmutz there to salt its game. sometimes i worry that rhubarb gets bitter about always having to share the spotlight with strawberries, you know. i like adding this to soda water and cocktails... what else do people use simple syrup for? snow cones? snow cones!!!

rhubarb simple syrup

makes about 4 cups, which is a lot of simple syrup, i know. there's no shame in halving this.

ingredients

2 pounds rhubarb, chopped

water

3 c sugar

a squeeze of lemon juice

clues

place the rhubarb in a large pot and cover it with water. bring to a boil, and then simmer it for an hour. (if you have the time, i like letting it cool overnight to really make sure that the rhubarb flavor is extra strong, but if not that's ok.)

strain the water into a bowl or large measuring cup and discard the rhubarb. measure out three cups of the water and pour it back into your pot. if you're left with more rhubarb water, you can discard it, or you can add it to the pot, just make sure that you have equal parts sugar and water.

whisk the sugar with the water and bring to a boil, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. stir in the lemon juice and let it cool.

serve with soda water, cocktails, snow cones, or whatever else you'd like!

enjoy!

ooh and do you see those fun coasters in the photos? they are from small gunns, a really awesome san francisco-based company! this week i'm giving away one small gunns linen set: a table runner, six coasters, and six napkins. to enter this giveaway, leave a comment with 1) your favorite use for rhubarb, and 2) your favorite color of these linens. i'll choose a winner next week! open to u.s. residents. update: this giveaway is now closed.

-yeh!

thank you so much to small gunns for sponsoring this post! for 30% off of your next order, use the code: sprinkles. for more ways to connect with them, check these out: instagram/facebook/twitter/newsletter.

cheddar donuts

in

if there were ever any remedies in the world for waking up with a grossly sticky phone, not even the wherewithal to gauge the ferociousness of a headache, and the sneaking suspicion that yes, you did in fact stand with a microphone in front of a large group of inspiring people and call them bitches and dude bitches, it's these:

1. a long soupy shower

2. emerging from the shower and seeing a large white bed with a plop of neon ombré blue hair in the center. this would be stephanie's hair. it is fantastic and we are slumber partying in brooklyn currently. 

3. very loud ben folds

i'm going to go try to pull myself together but first, a very very large hug to all of you for this. it has not soaked in, i predict i may cry today, and i'm going to send you a proper thank you note once i can collect my thoughts and words from wherever they are hiding. 

but before i leave, let's make donuts! because it's national donut day, the best day of the year.

now listen, i don't like deep frying. so when i deep fry, i want you to know that it's worth it. it's worth the energy, it's worth taking the extra step of putting on an apron so that you don't get oil on your cardigan, and it's worth the calories. these cheddar donuts are especially worth it because they're fried challah dough stuffed with cheddar and coated in cheddar powder. think of these as slightly sweet, fluffy fried grilled cheese balls that will take a couple of minutes off of your life, but we're all gonna die anyway, so let's just do this. 

cheddar donuts

makes 24 

ingredients

dough:

2 1/4 tsp yeast

3/4 c warm water

1/4 c + 1 tsp sugar

1 tsp kosher salt

3 c flour, plus more for dusting

2 large eggs

1/3 c flavorless oil, like canola

 

 

assembly:

3 c shredded sharp cheddar cheese

oil for frying

1/2 c cheddar powder

sriracha, for serving

clues

Combine the yeast, warm water, and 1 teaspoon of sugar in a medium bowl and give it a little stir. Let it sit for about 5 minutes, until it becomes foamy on top. 

Meanwhile, in a large bowl or the bowl of stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix together the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar, salt, and flour. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and oil. 

When the yeast is foamy, add it to the dry mixture immediately followed by the egg mixture and stir to combine. Knead, either by hand on a floured surface or with a dough hook for 7-10 minutes, adding more white flour as necessary (but try not too add too much), until you have a nice smooth dough.

Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature until it has doubled in size, about 2 hours. 

Divide the dough into 24 small balls. Roll each one out, stuff with 2 tablespoons of shredded cheddar and pinch the ends shut to seal in the cheese. Place them on a sheet of parchment and let them rise for about 30 more minutes. 

Meanwhile, heat 3 inches of oil in a large heavy saucepan fitted with a thermometer to 350f. Using a slotted spoon, fry up your donuts in batches of 3 or 4 for 3-5 minutes each, until golden brown. transfer them to a paper towel to pat off any excess oil, toss them in cheddar powder, and serve.

Enjoy!

and do check out all of the other awesome donuts for national donut day!! 

-yeh!

p.s. a few orders of business: i am heading to los angeles this weekend to play the opera that i won't shut up about. can you come? can you come?? there are still tickets left! and then after that, i will be scooting to new orleans for the sustainable seafood blog conference, where graham and i will be dressing up like tara and johnny and talking about food styling. tickets are still available for that as well!!! also what do i need to eat in la and nola?

strawberry and peanut butter cookie salad

in ,

i don't know if you and i have ever truly sat down and discussed the elephant that fills up the entirety of the upper midwest: there are no vegetables in salad. salads here contain jell-o and mayonnaise and sweets of all sorts (whatever, yes, grapes), but unless you specify a vegetable salad, there's a very good chance that asking a true midwesterner to bring a salad to the potluck will mean making more room for dessert. 

the salad chapters in the stack of church cookbooks sitting beside me are my favorite. oddly they're where you'd expect a salad chapter to be, right after the appetizers and before the mains, but ingredients like miniature marshmallows, cool whip, and cream cheese make regular appearances. after experiencing a few long winters here, the best reason i can think of for not using vegetables would be limited access to fresh ones. but why marshmallows? why cookies? do you know why? this all sometimes feels like a never-ending punchline where the joke is actually on me because in the end, i get to eat salad and have my cookies too. 

out of all of my new midwestern food friends, cookie salad might be the one that i've had the most fun with. a typical cookie salad is fudge striped cookies, vanilla pudding, buttermilk, cool whip, and mandarin oranges or bananas. you can find a recipe for that here. but when you start making substitutions and taking liberties like a millennial, you realize that a cookie salad is not so different from an eton mess or perhaps a breakfast parfait. 

i have an eton mess inspired version of a cookie salad in the latest issue of saveur along with a little story that i really want to show you! i had so much fun with it. i haven't seen it yet because magazines just take longer to get here, but perhaps if you're near a newsstand, you could pick one up??

and then here is another version of a cookie salad. it's a slightly healthier take, as the cream and pudding get swapped out for yogurt, but it feels right for both breakfast and dessert. you can use plain yogurt, as i usually do, especially if it's for breakfast, or you can use any flavored variety that you'd like. it's also embarrassingly easy. are you ready?

strawberry and peanut butter cookie salad

ingredients

for each serving you will need:

a big plop of yogurt

a handful or two of peanut butter cookie crumbs (i used this recipe)

fresh sliced strawberries

and, yes, sprinkles

 

clues

stir all of the ingredients together in a bowl and serve immediately or the next day (it's actually really good the next day when the cookies have absorbed some of the yogurt!) or layer them artfully in individual dishes and let your guests toss their own salads. 

enjoy!

-yeh!

thank you to the wonderful celeste for stopping by and helping me make these little cookie salads on her drive across the country! come back, celeste! we forgot to eat them! 

pictured: coasters // glasses // wooden spoon

a savory yogurt + egg breakfast salad situation

in

i've had a really bizarre relationship with breakfast recently, in that sometimes i get so distracted by the morning twitter and email and other things around the internet that i straight up forget to eat until eggboy comes in hungry for lunch. in my mind i am one of those people who wakes up, eats a toast, runs, and then works. in reality, this whole process can take until well into the afternoon because the internet has so many things and i just want to look at them all. 

i did go through a phase a few months ago after i read this comment thread that said that it's healthiest to eat a large breakfast with many carbs, a medium lunch, and a light dinner with no carbs. i would eat kale and matzo brei and bacon and oatmeal for breakfast, and a salad for dinner. i slept really really well!! but i did not look forward to my dinner because i hated limiting myself and i just wanted spaghetti. <3 spaghetti <3

but then in the past month or so there were way too many days when the only reason i ate breakfast was because eggboy told me i should and it was usually a handful of peanut butter granola, an avocado toast, or a pile of hazelnuts. nothing against any of those foods, i've just been searching for more. more excitement, more colors, more things that are going to wake me up better than pictures of rihanna as an omelette. 

and then cheryl's book arrived and a new version of one of my old favorite breakfasts was staring at me saying hi, remember me!!! a simple fresh salad served over a big old plop of savory yogurt, drizzled with olive oil, just like what i had every morning on my trip to israel and every morning for the few months after. cheryl's is fancier though, with micro greens and maldon salt, and the recipe is nestled in her book among a slew of the most perfect savory yogurt applications i ever did meet. yogurt frittatas, yogurt omelettes, yogurt soups... there are sweet ones too of course, like a labneh brownie tart, omg, but the most inspiring part of her book for me is her case for savory yogurt, especially at breakfast. it's so refreshing and exciting that for the past few days, i've been itching to wake up and eat this breakfast.

to further my trip down israel memory lane, i started adding za'atar and an egg*, which makes for a filling/healthy/delicious situation that you should definitely try right now. it's a perfect protein-y breakfast. thank you, cheryl!! you rule. 

a savory yogurt + egg breakfast salad situation 

inspired by the tomato, avocado, and cucumber salad from cheryl sternman rule's yogurt culture

makes 1-2 servings

ingredients

1 c plain yogurt (ideally, greek yogurt)

a fried egg or two

1/2 avocado, diced

1/2 c diced english cucumber

1 tomato, diced, or a handful of cherry tomatoes, halved

2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil

flaky salt, such as maldon

black pepper

a pinch of za'atar

a substantial sprinkling of minced fresh herbs or micro greens (i've been using watercress though bc sista can't get micro greens in the middle of nowhere)

olive oil-y or buttery toast with salt

clues

spread the yogurt in a shallow bowl or on a plate, place the eggs on top and sprinkle on the avocado, cucumber, and tomato. drizzle everything with olive oil. sprinkle with salt, pepper, and za'atar. garnish with herbs or micro greens. serve with toast.

enjoy!

-yeh!

*there is another reason i added an egg (other than the fact that i love eggs (and eggboys)): and that is that i've officially become an egggirl for the american egg board! over the next few months, i'll be bringing you eggcentric recipes and egg facts in partnership with the incredible egg. (for example: do you know the difference between cage free and free range eggs?? free range chickies can go outside and forage! some cage free chickens can too, but not all of them. more on this here. most eggs reach the store within one week of being laid, and for those of you who like baking with room temperature eggs: an egg left out at room temperature for one day ages about as much as a refrigerated one does in a week.) the word is still out on whether or not i get to meet kevin bacon, but regardless, i am very excited about all of  the egg things that are in my life right now. 

thank you so much to the american egg board for sponsoring this post! all opinions are my own.  

pictured: tiny spoon // spatula // plate