Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce

    Facts:

• I’m the kind of person who will eat a messy cupcake and have frosting all over my hands, but will still browse Pinterest for 20 minutes using only my pinky and ring fingers before I get up to wash my hands.
• Turns out I hate brussel sprouts. Anybody got a recipe that makes brussel sprouts taste like something other than sewage?
• I always say “julienated” instead of julienned.

• Eric likes to go swimming at the gym. For a long time he used the only goggles we owned, which were actually mine, and which were definitely hot pink. As if goggles don’t make you look like enough of an idiot.
• Since it was just his birthday, I will assuage Eric’s ego by ending with this much more manly fact:
• Eric and I recently wrote our bucket-lists. I put boring things like “eat good food in Italy.” Eric, on the other hand, wrote that he wanted to be a sailor on a “real” ship (like the one in Master and Commander). I refuse to go with him on this dream-ship of his, so he ended up making a pact with our brother-in-law (who apparently also has nautical aspirations) to one day sail the seas together.

I made this on a whim this morning to top off Eric’s birthday waffles. (An annual tradition. What’s the point of getting older if there are no waffles involved? I mean really.) I had some leftover rhubarb in the freezer from these magically delicious Rhubarb Meringue Layers. Waffles and rhubarb are a match made in culinary heaven. I’ve made regular ol’ rhubarb sauce before, with sugar and water, but it’s got nothing on this version. The orange juice and vanilla give it depth. (That’s right people, depth.) Eric, after his first taste, said I could eat this sauce with a spoon. And then…we did.

Happy birthday Eric!

Today I’m listening to Two Coins by Dispatch.

Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce

Source: adapted from Allrecipes.com

2/3 cup white sugar
5 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 cup orange juice
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
5 cups total fresh or frozen strawberries and rhubarb, chopped (I used 4 cups rhubarb, 1 cup strawberries)
5 drops red food coloring (optional)

Whisk sugar and cornstarch in a large sauce pan. Add orange juice and vanilla. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Add strawberries and rhubarb; reduce heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and mash the cooked berries with a fork. Stir in food coloring, if using. Serve warm or cold. This would be really good on ice cream.