Got Rhubarb?

It's summertime and the rhubarb plants in your backyard are overgrowing...what do you? You call Sarah the Sweet Tooth, that's what you do.

The beginning of my summer looks a lot like this picture. Simple. Sweet. Inspired by available ingredients. It all started when Ray, my other brother, offered up his rhubarb in exchange for a dessert. Thus, my rhubarb crazed week began. First, there was rhubarb pie and then as pictured above, there was rhubarb crostata.

Not all desserts require a lot of sugar, in fact, this crostata filling required only a sprinkling of sugar and a squeeze of orange juice (we ran out of lemons).

I continued forward with a voracious appetite for anything and everything rhubarb. I made a rhubarb custard cake from a recipe I found on Bon Appétit's Instagram. Needless to say, it was delicious. Somewhere along the way we had rhubarb crisp and then a rhubarb compote.

One of my favorite things about Instagram is all of the food creations that flood my feed and inspire me to get in the kitchen. I tend to save yummy creations I want to try on My Collections. It's a great way to use Instagram like a Pinterest board, but it can be catered to specific food inspo accounts. Some of my personal favorites are: @bonappetitmag, @hbfit founded by one of the coolest female DJs and healthy foodie, @hannahbronfman, @antoni from the Netlix show Queer Eye, @acozykitchen, and @mollyyeh.

One of the best things about this, however, is getting inspired by other people while also using ingredients that are readily available just outside the back door. It is important to remember we have all kinds of foods around us, and what better way to shop than to buy/grow local?! For example, my mom has been buying asparagus from a local farmer and farm fresh eggs on her way to work. Or another instance was last night, when I used fresh chives grown in my sister's backyard to top off a carrot ginger soup.

So before you start cooking up a new dish, think about what you can purchase from local producers or even pick from your own garden before you head to the grocery store. Even the small acts count, and the more you practice the easier it gets!