Rhubarb Slab Tart

Part slab pie, part pop tart 

slab tart just out of the oven and before cutting into 12 equal squares.

If you remember, one of my summer budget activities was to bake more fruit pies. I think this qualifies.

Saturday was a very rainy day. There was no chance I would be able to work in the garden or even want to. So I chose to spend the day in the kitchen. One of the foods that I made was a 5-crust batch of pie pastry. I froze 3 portions in 5-inch diameter disks and used the other 2 portions in this rhubarb slab tart.

While the pastry was chilling, I quickly (and briefly -- I didn't want the rhubarb to fall apart) cooked 3 fat stalks of rhubarb, diced, in some water, then added cornstarch to thicken and 1/4 cup of granulated sugar to sweeten. After cooling, the thickened rhubarb filling was ready for the pastry. I used a shallow baking pan, about 10 X 13 inches. The pastry was sealed along the edges, but I didn't do anything fancy with crimping. I baked the tart until it looked lightly golden.

This is a breakfast version of pie, like having a healthier pop tart. It's lower in added sugar than pie -- just over 1 teaspoon of added sugar in each serving. And I made the pastry with part whole wheat flour. Despite this good stuff, it does contain a fair amount of fat in the pastry and could possibly be made lower in fat with less pastry. 

As a dessert, each serving is less fat and calories than a standard slice of pie, as my two-crust slab tart was divided into 12 portions after baking. I know in our house, we never cut a regular pie into 12 wedges.

It's been a tasty breakfast treat and dessert item in our house, and another good way to use garden rhubarb surplus. Who would say "no" to a piece of pie for breakfast?!

How I saved big money this week

Both automobile and homeowner insurance have risen substantially in my area over the last year. My agent tells me this is due to more people (percentage-wise) filing claims combined with an increase in cost for repairs, replacements, and materials. (We know first hand the increase in cost for materials from last year when we put a new roof on our house.) When I opened our latest homeowner insurance paperwork a month ago I was flabbergasted.

I went through the details thoroughly and found two errors. I phoned the agent and asked to have these corrected, plus I asked her if there was anything further we could do to lower the premium, We went through our coverage and the details of our home that affect the cost of insurance. She, then, corrected the errors I found and submitted our current information to the underwriting department. While I was recovering from my surgery, she took some time to refigure various changes to our policy. This week she presented me with the options. 

With the errors corrected and altering our coverage slightly, we were able to shave about $2000 off of the annual premium! That's a substantial savings. All because I thoroughly looked through the details of the policy and then asked what else we could do to reduce the premium.

We've been loyal customers for many years. Our agent has been good about helping us in the past. I wasn't sure if there would be much more we could do to reduce the premium. But I asked, and she did her part.

What I'm saying is it never hurts to ask. The answer may be there's nothing they can do for you. But then again, there may be a whole lot they can do. 

have a great weekend, friends!