The Beauty of Substitutions

Yesterday, a little spare time at the office found me (as it so often does) on pinterest. As I perused the unending selection of cute animal pictures, gorgeous architecture and DIY ideas, I came upon a recipe for something called Chocolate Cobbler. Thoroughly intrigued, I gave the recipe a read through and pinned it to make that very night.
However, my kitchen had other plans. When I opened my cupboards that evening I found them bare, and the countless ingredients I'd been positive were in there just a few short hours ago, were gone. It seemed my pantry had grown thoroughly neglected.
At first, I thought I was just out of brown sugar. Determined to make a go of it anyway, I searched the web for substitutions. Then I ran out of white sugar, followed shortly by the realization that I didn't have any cocoa. Suddenly my chocolate cobbler seemed pretty impossible.
Filled with despair, and with a half finished recipe sitting on the counter, I grabbed a spoonful of ice cream and slumped down on the floor to pout. But the ice cream just wasn't doing it. Dammit, I wanted that cobbler! It was time for more substitutions.
By the time I was done, it was a vanilla cobbler made with icing sugar. And you know what? It was yummy. My husband doesn't even want me to try the chocolate version. He likes this one. Which brought me to an epiphany about writing.
Perhaps you've heard the quote by Erin Morgenstern, "When in doubt, just add ninjas." I have it pinned above my writing desk. Well, last night I really understood how to put it into action. (Not that I added tiny ninjas to the cobbler. Although that would be interesting...) When things aren't working out and you're afraid your work is going nowhere, just make a few substitutions. Play with the recipe and add a twist or two to fit your needs. Because guidelines are helpful, but when you throw a few rules out the window, you wind up with something totally different. And maybe you'll like it a lot better than the original.

Summertime Blue Rhubarb Pie

First off, an apology. I know I was supposed to post yesterday, but by the time I remembered I was climbing into bed and was just too damn tired to climb back out. I was running around all weekend, trying to catch up on yard work on Saturday when there was a break from the rain, exercising my poor, bored doggie, cleaning my house, catching up on laundry and surprise: baking. I know, it's weird to hear me say that (or more correctly, it's weird to see me write that), but it's true.

During my frenzied fit of yardwork, I harvested my rhubarb plant. I should explain now that I hate rhubarb. When I moved into my house, the previous owner had planted one along my back fence, and I always forgot to dig it up before it took over that particular portion of my yard. This year, I'd planned to finally get rid of it, but an endless stream of rain caused it to grow gigantic before I got the opportunity to dig it up. I wasn't going to let this year stop me, but when I told my husband my plans to hack the plant to bits, he very sweetly asked if I could pretty please bake him a rhubarb pie. He was so cute, in fact, that I agreed. So, instead I found myself harvesting instead of destroying.

I'd never made a rhubarb pie before, so I turned to my old friend the internet for a solution. I know a lot of us love pinterest when it comes to finding great recipes, but my old stand by is Food TV. I always go to their website when I have a single ingredient and no idea what to do with it. I scrolled through the recipes, immediately turning away from strawberry rhubarb. I loved strawberries too much to throw them in a pie. Instead, I found a very simple and appealing recipe for Rhubarb and Blueberry Pie. After sending my husband out for the missing ingredients, the two of us got to work in the kitchen and made not one, not two but three pies. The result? Delicious.

I hate rhubarb, and I don't like blueberries very much either, but I LOVE this pie. It was so simple and it is so good. I highly suggest you all give it a try, although I should warn you, it's sweet not tart. That makes it a winner in my book (I hate tart, I won't use tart apples to make apple pie either), but I know some of you out there might find it too sweet. But so far, everyone I've shared it with has loved it as much as I have, so if you have a monstrous rhubarb plant mocking you from your yard, just follow the link below. Enjoy!

Summertime Blue Rhubarb Pie