by Jade Buchanan Happy June everyone! Here in Calgary, I'm bemoaning the weather since it's a little too hot for me, but I must admit I'm liking the green grass and flowers blooming. Summertime makes me remember growing up in my family, eagerly waiting for the time that my mom would go outside to the backyard and cut the rhubarb in the garden. She still grows it, and so I decided I just needed to use it in one of my absolute favourite recipes... strawberries, rhubarb, oats... I'm in heaven here!

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

3 cups strawberries 3 cups rhubarb
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp grated lemon zest
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Oat Crust

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
2/3 cup rolled oats

1. Place prepared fruit in a 2 quart (2 L) baking dish. (I pretty much only have one casserole dish anyway, so this was a no brainer for me. I'm not even sure if it's 2 quarts...)
2. Combine sugar, flour, lemon zest and cinnamon. Add to fruit and toss to coat. (I had to sneak a taste of this while preparing it, but managed to restrain myself so I didn't just grab a spoon and dig into the fruit.)
3. Mix crust ingredients with a pasty blender until crumbly. (Of course, no surprise here, I don't have a pastry blender. Not even sure what one would look like. I had visions of myself standing in a store with a lost look on my face asking people where to find the pastry blenders.... So I just melted the butter, poured it over the top of the rest of the ingredients and stirred the whole thing together with a fork. Worked just fine for me.)
4. Sprinkle crust over fruit mixture.

Bake at 350 F (180 C) for 45 minutes, until crust is bubbling. Serves 8 (or one, depending on if you're like me or not. Fruit and crisp! You can't go wrong with that!!)

So there you have it, a nice and easy recipe that even I can make!

Happy cooking, and happy reading!

Jade