Honey-Sweetened Oat Rhubarb Tart

Rhubarb is an interesting plant. It technically is a vegetable, but more often it is compared in the fruit family. It has many anti-oxidant benefits and mostly will help with allergies, lung irritation and poor circulation. Which is interesting because those are some of the common aliments this time of year in the spring-summer months when the seasonal allergens in the air are most potent. So, once again, plants that are available and ripe in certain times of the year will naturally help with the common health issues of that season. How interesting that God has provided us with natural alternatives to a health-full life through plants. No need for Claritin here. Just eat some rhubarb and nettles and call it good :) (Well, you may need to build up more immunity, but you get the idea...)

Also, another interesting thing about rhubarb...you may not even realize you have some growing in your backyard along with other edibles. I had a naturopath friend recently come over to my new house (in the city that is) and he found many "wild" edibles to be eaten. It was so funny to me because he found wild chives, oregano, lemon verbena, and a few others I don't remember their long names to. I am not sure where you stand on the issue of eating weeds in your backyard, but it is seriously interesting to me. There are so many "weeds" and plants that you can eat for medicinal purposes or for health and you wouldn't even know it. Like nettles, dandelion, different greens that could be compared to lettuces. Instead, we spray chemicals and try to cover up all those plants from a neat and tidy yard space. So, I too, was eager to clean up my jungle of a yard, but now I am going to let myself take the excuse of seeing what is growing back there before I start ripping it all out and putting by the curb to be picked up by yard waste management. Yes, I am a city chic. So, for those of you that have acres of grass or forest to roam in your backyard you may find more interesting edibles like wild morels, berries, greens, herbs for tea, wild onions, or maybe even wild rhubarb. My yard really does need to be cleaned up, I just don't know if it will be done any time soon, so in the meantime before I am able to plant more edibles I have been enjoying rhubarb from the local farmer's market. So this is what I came up this week with a few simple ingredients...it's dairy-free and gluten-free, but not vegan technically because I used honey to sweeten.
Honey-Sweetened Oat Rhubarb Tart Recipe

Base:

1 cup of ground gluten-free oats to make a rough oat flour (I grind mine in a coffee grinder)

a heaping 1/2 cup of gluten-free oats

1/2 cup of unrefined coconut oil

3 TB of raw honey (or other sweetener you prefer)

1/2 ts. of sea salt

1 TB of non-dairy milk, I used coconut milk beverage

Mix the base ingredients together and press into a 8x8 baking pan, either circle or square or glass or tin. Whatever you have available. Let it sit in the pan for a minute to stiffen up and let the moisture be soaked up by the oats. Then bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. Pull from the oven when it is getting golden brown and let cool a few minutes. In the meantime, make the filling to pour over the base...

Rhubarb Filling:

2 cup of cleaned, chopped rhubarb stalks

1/2 cup of raw honey

1 ts. of corn starch or tapioca starch mixed with 1 ts. of water

1 ts. of ground cinnamon

1 ts. of ground nutmeg

juice from one lime or lemon ( I used a lime)

1/4 cup of strawberry jam (either homemade or store bought works) try to use one that is not sweetened with sugar to avoid refined sugars

optional: 1 ts. pure vanilla

Topping:

1 cup of ground almonds, or slivered or sliced almonds work as well

Put all of the above ingredients in a small saucepan. Mix the starch with water in a small bowl before stirring it into the saucepan with other ingredients to help it blend in better. Keep the heat on low and let it slowly cook and gel and meld together. This could take 15 minutes of slow cooking, but in the end you will want to have a jam-looking rhubarb mixture that has been broken down into a sweet and tart rhubarb mush. It will be very hot to touch, so make sure not to use your fingers to taste. After cooking for 15-20 minutes on low, turn off the heat and let sit for a minute to gel and cool before you pour it over the cooling oat base. Then pour the filling over the base and top with 1 cup of ground almonds, or sliced almond works too. The almond will soak into the filling a create a crumble crust over the rhubarb. Bake in the 350 degree over for another 30 minutes and then let cool before serving up.

This tart is literally tart, and sweet as well, but not too much. It was perfect alone, warm from the oven...but it would also be delicious with some fresh vegan ice cream on top. It is wonderful as a dessert, but a snack with tea or even breakfast would do just as well. I mean, you could totally eat this oat, "veggie" and almond dish for breakfast and feel like you are cheating the system, but with those healthy ingredients, why not! I hope you enjoy and le the simplicity of the ingredients be your guide. Much love to you...