Roasted Cherry Rhubarb Spring Smoothie

Let's talk about rhubarb. As an adult ( or "adult" it depends on what kind of day it is) I'm kind of 50:50 on my feelings about rhubarb. As a child I had no idea what it was. So, pretty solid start to this recipe. As you can tell I'm super confident with my rhubarb skills.  I can't ever think of a time I had rhubarb growing up and I can't figure out if it was because it just wasn't a thing here in Northern Virginia, or my parents hated it. Because that's what happened with parsnips and lima beans. Rhubarb wasn't something I was really aware of until maybe late college when I saw it at a farmer's market in Harrisonburg, Virginia. At JMU we did not have a lot of stuff in Harrisonburg (except Super Walmart and parties where the alcohol was served with Southern manners...aka free). But we did have a really thriving farmer's market and living in the historic down town area the last two years of college, I was really smitten with the market and the offerings. 

I think everyone's first run in with rhubarb is a strawberry rhubarb dessert of some kind. Which is fine since many people can totally get down with the strawberry flavor. Strawberry is a brilliant cover for new things. And while I do love rhubarb and strawberry as a dessert, sometimes you really want to eat things that aren't dessert. So I did what I always do: make smoothies (But seriously. You have no idea how many smoothies we make in a given week both personally and for work). And instead of strawberries, I used cherries. Because that's what I had in my fridge and I didn't want to bore you with another strawberry rhubarb dessert. But also because I had already been to Wegman's 3 times already that week.

When it comes to rhubarb and nutrition these are the basics:

• 1 cup (chopped)= 26 calories

• Fiber. Fiber. Fiber.

• Vegetable. Not fruit.

• The leaves are toxic. Don't eat them. It's not like eating beet greens or turnip greens. Seriously- don't eat them. Don't let your pets eat them. Usually the store will cut them off before putting them out (and if they don't they are just counting the days until a law suit). 

• Get yo vitamin K here. 

Roasted Cherry Rhubarb Smoothie

• 1 medium stalk rhubarb
• 1 c pitted cherries
• 1 t vanilla sugar (can substitute for regular sugar and a drop of vanilla extract in the smoothie)
• ice
• 1 T crystalized ginger chunks
• 1 C vanilla almond milk

Wash the rhubarb and cherries. De-stem and pit the cherries. Cut the top and bottom off the rhubarb. Split in half lengthwise and chop. On a baking sheet. add cherries and rhubarb and top with vanilla sugar. Bake at 375 F for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely. Store in fridge if you're not ready to smoothie. In a blender add 1 C vanilla almond milk (Pacific Foods makes a good one), chopped crystalized ginger, ice (I added about 6 large cubes) and the roasted fruit. It ends up being about 1/3 c rhubarb roasted and 1/2 c cherries after roasting.  Blend until completely smooth.