I’ve had a strawberry-rhubarb pie once before in my life. We were visiting my aunt’s parents in Maine and the only two things I remember from the trip are the lake water in Maine is WAY too cold for swimming and strawberry-rhubarb might be my favorite combination in the world. AND YET, until last week, I never tried to make anything with rhubarb. It’s hard to find in the grocery store around here and a little intimidating. I suppose I could grow it myself, but the leaves are toxic and I’d be worried about the kids or pets accidentally gnawing on them.

But when I saw fresh rhubarb in the grocery store last Wednesday I decided it was time to give it a shot. I knew there was a recipe for strawberry-rhubarb crumble in my Weight Watchers Cookbook so I grabbed some strawberries too (I love buy one get one free!). It would have been better if I remembered to grab all the other ingredients that recipe called for, but I made it work.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumble
adapted from the Weight Watchers PointsPlus Cookbook (but I promise no one will know!)
Serves 8

Topping:
3/4 cup old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
3 Tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons butter

Filling:
2 stalks rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces (about a cup)
2 – 2 1/2 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 Tablespoon grated lemon zest

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and spray a 7 x 11 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray (you can use a slightly larger or smaller dish but be sure to watch your bake time)

Combine all the topping ingredients in a medium bowl. Using the back of a fork, break up the butter and stir it into the dry ingredients until it looks like crumbs.

Combine the filling ingredients in a large bowl and stir well until the sugar coats all the strawberries and rhubarb. Spread it out evenly into the baking dish. Repeat with the topping. Bake on the center rack for 50-60 minutes until filling bubbles and topping is golden brown.

I think it’s the perfect combination of sweet and not too sweet, especially with the crunchy topping. And the best part about a crumble is it’s not REAL baking, so if you need to substitute or switch ingredients it’s easily done without risking a huge disaster (ask me about the time I tried to make a pie from memory and forgot to put shortening in the crust. BLECH.)

Enjoy!

Thank you COOL WHIP for sponsoring this post. Join us on Facebook for inspiration and recipes for everyday treats. What you add makes it. #coolwhipmoms

We’ve been eating a lot of dessert in our house lately, both because it’s delicious and because the promise of a treat after dinner encourages the kids to sit nicely and eat their meal. I’m not talking about anything elaborate or time consuming, just something sweet like fruit, cookies or ice cream – all of which are improved with the addition of COOL WHIP Whipped Topping. (more…)

1. When E says “What’s for dinner?” and I have no idea, I can throw together a pizza in 30 minutes.

2. Everyone in my family eats it.

3. Cheeeeeeeeese.

4. It’s easy to keep the ingredients on hand so I can make it any time I get a craving.

5. I never have to deal with leftovers.

Super Easy BBQ Chicken Pizza

1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breast

1 Pillsbury thin crust refrigerated pizza crust

2 cups shredded mozzarella (2% or fat free is ok, but not as delicious as the real stuff)

1/2 bottle Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Toss the chicken in a baking dish, top with some of the BBQ sauce. Bake for 20 minutes or until cooked through. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray. Spread out the pizza crust evenly. Pop the crust in the oven for 5 minutes (you can put it in with the chicken). Once the crust is pre-baked, take it out and spread the rest of BBQ sauce over it. Top with the red onions, then the cheese. When the chicken is cooked, shred it up into bit sized pieces and add it to the pizza. Put the whole thing back in the oven for 8-12 minutes until the cheese is melted and the crust starts to brown. Try to wait a couple minutes before you eat it, or you’ll burn your mouth.

If you or your kids aren’t fans of spicy stuff, substitute your favorite BBQ sauce for the Sweet Baby Ray’s. It’s not exactly HOT but it is tangy. And if you don’t like onions (Mom) just skip ’em.

Dinners have been my downfall when it comes to Weight Watchers – I can eat healthy, reasonable portions all day but by 6 pm I’m incapable of eating less than my body weight in pasta and cheese. It doesn’t help that my husband thinks ketchup is a vegetable and would rather starve to death than eat a nice spinach and goat cheese salad. But between my Weight Watchers cookbook (see What’s For Dinner? Volume 8) and healthy recipes I’ve found online, I’m doing pretty well so far in 2012.

This week’s recipes are almost all from Skinny Taste, my newest obsession. Luckily she’s got years of archives plus new posts every week so I don’t think I’ll get tired of the recipes any time soon.

1. Spicy Shrimp Fried Rice – Skinny Taste
2. Chicken with Leeks Sun-Dried Tomatoes in White Wine Sauce – Skinny Taste
3. Carne Bistec – Skinny Taste
4. Chicken Panini with Arugula, Provolone and Chipotle Mayonnaise – Skinny Taste

I also made Pollo in Potacchio, which was so delicious I forgot to take a picture before shoving it in my face.

1. Spinach Lasagna Rolls – Skinny Taste
2. Skinny Baked Macaroni and Cheese – Skinny Taste (I chopped up the broccoli really tiny and even the most veggie-adverse members of my family ate it.)
3. Dr. Weil’s Broccoli (for those who think they don’t like broccoli) – Girl’s Gone Child (I hate broccoli, I LOVE this – I made it without the olive oil so it was only 1 Weight Watcher’s PointPlus for a huge bowl)
4. Chicken Pizza Quesadillas – I used the leftover chicken thighs and tomato sauce from the Pollo in Potacchio , threw in a little basil and some cheese and put my quesadilla maker to use. SUPER fast and I was so proud of myself for using up leftovers (We have a real leftover problem in my house – no one eats them).

And for dessert:

Phyllo Fruit Tart – Skinny Taste

So what have you been eating in 2012? Any really amazing new recipes? Found anything on Pinterest you’re dying to try (or want me to try first)?

(Sorry for the terrible, terrible pictures – it’s winter and my kitchen s a cave by 5 pm.)

The Theme: Winter sparkle snowflake party, with glitter, pale pink and blue accents
The Location: The entire first floor of my house

This post is going to be HUGE, so if you have no interest at all in Caroline’s party please come back in a few days when it’s been bumped off the front page. I don’t want to put in a page break and have people think I’m trying to trick them into more page views. I get my page views the honest way – exploiting my children and friends!

The Decorations:

Dining room

Tree branch sprayed with snow-in-a-can

Ruffled crepe paper trees from this tutorial found on Pinterest

Living Room

Snowflakes cut from printer paper (Google “snowflake templates” for ideas)

My clothes pin photo display re-purposed as Caroline’s year in photos display!

Epsom salt in mason jars to look like snow

Glitter play dough party favors (more details in this post), yarn wreath, mirror frosted with snow-in-a-can

Yarn wreath, $1 picture frame ornament from Target

Chandelier decorated with dollar store garland & ornaments

Doily garland

The orange high chair didn’t match my theme, but a paper table cloth and a little tulle fixed it!

Fake snow everywhere!

The Food:

Hot cocoa and cocktail bar – the Keurig made it SO EASY!

I bought every single Christmas mug at Goodwill

Mini marshmallows, egg nog, powdered sugar, crushed candy canes, vanilla syrup, pink sprinkles, whipped cream, coconut flakes. Also on the bar: dark and milk hot cocoa, cider, Bailey’s, vanilla vodka, coconut rum, peppermint schnapps, mini candy canes.

Cucumber sandwiches, candy cane blossoms, red peppers & dip

Smoked salmon, dill & cream cheese on herb bread

Cupcakes (from a box!), my favorite frosting, edible sugar paper snowflakes bought at Stop & Shop

Sparkling cranberry brie bites. You know how sometimes you seen an idea on Pinterest and think “yeah, there’s no way that idea is going to be as awesome in real life”? This one was JUST AS AWESOME.

Thumbprint cookies, gooey vanilla sparkle cookies, fruit & dip, sugar cookies, ginger cookies, mini pastas on sticks with vodka, marinara, and alfredo sauce.

Coconut snowballs

Cream cheese mints, lemon meringues

The pasta on sticks was a great idea… for grown ups. Next time I’ll get less pointy things.

Milk bottle snow men. Not quiet as cute as on the interwebs, but still cute.

Lemon cake (more boxed mix!) tinted 3 shades of pink

Tiny cake baked in a tomato can, covered in sprinkles & topped with “Caroline” written in chocolate

Don’t even THINK about taking her cake away

The Fun:

Glitter play dough & cookie cutters on a kid-sized table

All the planned activities in the world can’t stop the kids from getting every toy out of the toy box

DIY pull string pinata (more here) was a hit, even though it didn’t work exactly as planned. I had to shake most of the candy out after the ribbon holding it up broke, but the kids didn’t care one little bit.

DIY snowglobes were cuter in theory than in reality. They were kind of leaky and some of the trees dyed the water purple and the glue was messy, but everyone went home with one!

Sharing strawberries with a friend

Refusing to wear her hair bow

Dance party!

These two are TROUBLE

Playing with Grandma

Somebody got a pony for her birthday! (She’s kind of scared of it though)

Family photos with two kids – there is ALWAYS someone not looking.

Holy crap, that was ridiculously long. I think I got all the links and recipes in there but if you’re looking for something let me know. My Pinterest board for the party (with most of the ideas I did use and some really good ones I didn’t get around to) can be found here.  I’m sorry most of the photos are terrible – it gets dark REALLY early here so I had to use the flash after the first 30 minutes of the party. It was definitely a great time and I know Caroline enjoyed herself. I hear everyone’s kids slept really well on Saturday night so I think they ran off all the sugar I pumped into them before they went home. Thank you to everyone who came and especially to my mother-in-law Carol who flew all the way from Ohio just to help me make the food and watch Little Evan for a few hours!

And Happy Birthday Caroline!