putting it by, part 2

So here we are...six quarts of strawberries left, and not too much more jam can be made. I was actually thinking about doing some strawberry rhubarb jam, but I nixed that idea (not sure why actually- I think it was too hot to turn on the stove? Not sure). I hulled and froze three quarts, just whole. I'm hoping I can use those for baking or smoothies (after we get that blender...) or something else later in the year.

Then, I decided to do some baking (for freezing). My mom has the world's best strawberry bread recipe. Seriously, I love it. I tried it a few years ago after I first met Jared, and used my trusty flax/water egg replacement method and, um, it sucked. It fell apart and was just kind of gross. I think the four eggs in this recipe are really serving a purpose here. But, being the optimist that I am, I thought I'd try it again. No dice. I think this was a little better, but not good enough to share with you all. It tastes good, but totally sunk after I took it out of the oven. I think it's too wet. Anyways, I'm working on that recipe and maybe can share it with you soon.

In the meantime, I have another one for you. I think I might have mentioned earlier in the spring trying to make some rhubarb muffins that were a flop (are we seeing a theme here?). They tasted good, but fell apart (again, theme?). Well, I think I've actually been successful in perfecting this recipe. I got some good feedback from the office yesterday, but I really love to know what you think if you try these. I'm kind of new at this whole recipe creating thing and would definitely love some ideas.

Vegan Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins

This recipe would work best, I think, with fresh (and local) strawberries and rhubarb, but I'm sure would be fine with frozen fruit as well (I'll report back in January when I thaw out some of my strawberries and rhubarb!). Also, I don't like things too sweet, and these definitely are not very sweet. If you want them to be sweeter, increase the maple syrup to 1/2 cup, and add a couple extra tablespoons of flour to balance out the wetness. I haven't tried this yet, but will let you know if I do.

Wet Ingredients:
1 cup rhubarb (washed and chopped into pieces about 1/2")
2 cups strawberries (sliced)
1/2 cups melted non-dairy margarine
1 tbl ground flax seed
1/2 cup oatmilk (soymilk would be fine here, we just drink oatmilk)
1/3 cup maple syrup.
1 tsp orange extract

Dry Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp sea salt

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin. In a medium sized bowl, mix together wet ingredients. It's good to do the wet first so that the flax seeds have time to get a little "gelatinized." In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour wet into dry. Mix gently, just until ingredients are combined (don't overmix). Fill up greased muffin tin. Bake 18-20 minutes. Allow to cool about 5-10 minutes before transferring from the muffin tin to a wire cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before eating.

So there you have it! Seriously, if any of you try this I'd love to hear what you think. Enjoy! (also, for those of you keeping track, I still have one quart of strawberries that I'm eating. Otherwise I've used them all up!)