Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

I've been trying to empty out our large chest freezer. There are a lot of "forgotten" packages of frozen produce on the lowest layer that need to be eaten up. For instance, I just came across some bags of frozen rhubarb and strawberries, from last summer's garden. What better way to use them up than by making a strawberry rhubarb crisp? YUM!

The recipe I use is actually a combination of my grandma's recipe and one I found from Food Network. You know how it is...there's never one "ideal" recipe in your cookbooks for what you might want to make. Usually there's something I like about several different recipes, and at the same time, something I'm not crazy about each of the recipes. (It's not much different from house shopping; there's usually something I'm not crazy about every house we look at. Then, we end up just building our own, so we get exactly what we want.) My husband and I don't like ginger very much, nor do we like excessive amounts of nutmeg, and my youngest son dislikes nuts...so that was a couple of strikes against two of the recipes. One of the recipes had way too much topping. One of them used fresh fruit, which is great if you have it, but I'm working with frozen produce right now (and that's going to be the case most of the year). So I had to "adapt" some recipes and kind of pick the best elements of each. I think I was successful.

What follows is the recipe for what I think is the perfect mix of ingredients for strawberry rhubarb crisp. It's great served warm, topped with vanilla ice cream or freshly whipped cream. I hope you like it as much as my family does!

STRAWBERRY RHUBARB CRISP

Fruit layer:
16-oz. bag frozen rhubarb, sliced into 1/4 to 1/2-inch pieces
16 or 20-oz. bag frozen strawberries, quartered (about 2 1/2 to 3 cups worth, once quartered)
3 T. cornstarch
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Streusel topping:
6 T. cold, unsalted butter
¾ cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup oatmeal ("quick" or "old fashioned")
¾ cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

Directions:
Lightly butter a 2 quart baking dish. In a large bowl, combine rhubarb, strawberries, cornstarch, sugar and vanilla. Spoon into prepared baking dish. In another bowl, using a pastry blender or your fingertips, combine all the topping ingredients until crumbly. Sprinkle streusel over fruit. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes, or until bubbly and topping is golden brown. Let cool about 20-30 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Enjoy!
~Becky