Milestones

Any parent can tell you that there are all sort of milestones that you look forward to with your children.  As babies, you are excited about them learning to crawl and walk and talk and--very important, this one--sleep through the night.  As they get older, you mark different occasions, such as the first day of school and the first loose tooth.  As the mom of an 8-year-old and a 4-year-old, I've been through all of those.  But then last week, I got to make note of a new milestone that I wasn't expecting.  I don't think they have a spot in the keepsake book for your child's first x-ray. =) 

Yes, thanks to my younger daughter Gillian, I've now had the exciting experience of taking my child to the urgent care facility to have her foot x-rayed.  Thank goodness it turned out to be just a bad sprain, no broken bones.  I just really hope that this isn't going to be a trend with her.  I didn't have my first sprain until I was in college, and was even older when I got my first stitches.  Honestly, though, that's pretty surprising, since I've always been quite a klutz.  I've mostly just had lots of scrapes and bruises that I can't remember acquiring. =)  I have to say, it worries me that Gillian is starting all this at 4.  *sigh*

I did have some other, more enjoyable, new experiences over the weekend, thanks to this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe.  Sarah of teapots and cake stands picked Strawberry Rhubarb Double Crisp for us to make this week.  I was happy because this gave me a chance to use my new baking pan that I got recently from King Arthur.  Phyl got one recently and recommended it, and I really like the pretty green color.  Even better, it was on sale!  (and might still be)  

Another new thing with this crisp was the idea of using part of the crumb mixture to make a bottom crust, then using the rest for the top.  I've done that for bar cookies, but not for crisp.  I also like the new idea of adding crystallized ginger to the crumb mixture.  One last new thing--I don't think I've ever used strawberries in crisp, since they can get watery when cooked.  Cooking and thickening the strawberry part ahead of time took care of that problem.  I did make one change to the recipe.  I'm not a big fan of rhubarb, so I didn't use it.  I thought about using cranberries to get some tartness (a good idea from Kayte), but then Nancy suggested using apples to get the same sort of bulk as the rhubarb.  I used some fairly tart Macintosh apples, which worked nicely.  (Oops, just realized that I made one other change--I left out the nuts so my girls would eat it.)  (Okay, last one--I also reduced the sugar to 3/4 cup since I thought it might be too sweet without the rhubarb.)

The verdict?  Yum!  This crisp was really delicious.  The combination of strawberries and apples was very good, and I love the chewy bits of crystallized ginger in the crust/crumbs.  Ginger and strawberries is a great flavor combination that I'm going to have to remember.  Both girls liked it, as did Jamie (though he couldn't quite place the ginger flavor at first).  I ate mine without ice cream, both for dessert and breakfast the next day.  I enjoyed the texture of the bottom crust, and will have to try the same technique with other fruits.  

If you'd like to try this recipe for yourself, head on over to Sarah's blog.  And to see what everyone else thought of this week's selection, check out the Links.