Not much feels like such success in the vegan world as making vegan food non-vegans love. I was reminded of how high praise feels when I was asked to make a vegan dessert for dinner at a friend's house this past Sunday, since the last one was so good! 
Of course, that was totally intimidating too. I obviously enjoy cooking, but my schedule these last few months has left a lot to be desired, and cooking has not been an activity I have been doing often. Take out? Check. Delivery? Check. Restaurants, where someone else cleans up after? The best check. Cooking? If salad and guacamole count, I have done a little... I started to leaf through cookbooks and magazine, scouring online for something that might just work. The challenge was, I had no idea what I wanted to eat, and had no idea in what direction to go. When I walked into my local market and saw rhubarb, I knew a strawberry-rhubarb cobbler was it.Rhubarb is like a tart, reddish, tougher celery. Sounds fabulous, no? If you cook it just right, and add enough sugar, it's really delicious. I bought about 12 stalks, rinsed them, cut off the ends, and diced them like you would a celery stalk for salad. I then de-stemmed and cut up a large container of strawberries. Their sweetness beautifully balances the rhubarb. 
I assembled it all in an oven-to-table baking dish, and added 1/4 cornstarch, the juice of half of one lemon, and 1/2 cups of granulated sugar, tossing it all together. A pie crust seemed to heavy for the spring weather (though the rain outside felt nearly biblical!) so I made a crumble topping. To do so I combined 1/2 cup chopped almonds, 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats, 1/4 cup brown sugar, and 2-3 TBSP of vegan butter, placed in small pats randomly on the top, so soak into the cobbler while baking. I then baked the dish, uncovered, for 15 minutes at 425 and then for 20 minutes at 375. As every oven is different, you may need to adjust the time to be sure everything is tender. I would show you an "after" photo, but it was gone as soon as it came out of the oven!
