Rhubarb

Like all good Midwesterners, my Grandma Shirley had a very healthy rhubarb plant growing in her yard. If I close my eyes I can picture it clear as day, the bright red stalks and huge, ruffley green leaves against the backdrop of her bright yellow garage. I was never much of a fan as a child...too tart for my liking I guess. Maybe it was because I can remember Grandma eating the stalk raw, just sprinkled with sugar, and I don't know many people who could tolerate THAT! It wasn't until I started working at The Maltby Cafe that I learned to love it. All the desserts there are wonderful, but they used to make this Strawberry Rhubarb crisp that was out of this world. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water and my tummy rumble.

So imagine my delight this morning when Julie, one of the nurse practitioners I work with came in carrying a HUGE bag of homegrown rhubarb. Just. For. Me. I was so excited I was tempted to leave my meeting just so I could go home and start baking. (I didn't, because turns out Julie had also brought in a huge pan of fresh baked rhubarb crisp, and I couldn't leave before indulging in a slice. It was delicious!)

I am a happy woman tonight knowing that there is a bag of fresh rhubarb stashed in my fridge and a full day tomorrow that has no plans or obligations to pull me away from baking. No classes, no work, no meetings, no errands to run...NOTHING. I could bake all day if I wanted, all the while teaching Libby the finer points of turning a true Midwest vegetable (yes, it is a vegetable) into something amazingly delicious.

Now I just have to decide what it is I want to bake. Oh man...that could be tough.

I could always turn my big bunch of rhubarb into strawberry rhubarb jam. I have a recipe of Grandma's that is wonderfully simple, and it would mean I could enjoy this rhubarb for a good long while. Into the winter months, when the snow has me dreaming about all things Spring and Summer.

Or I could try the recipe for Mexican Rhubarb Chocolate Chunk Brownies I found on the Food Network website. Definitely not a combination I would have come up with, but it got rave reviews and I am feeling a little daring.

They also had a recipe for Chicken Smothered in Rhubarb that sounds pretty amazing. I mean, who says you can only bake with rhubarb?! Can't you just taste it now, a slightly tart sauce paired with a juicy piece of meat?

And of course, there's always the potential for a rhubarb crumb cake, like the one the Pioneer Woman showed on her blog. This one, right here. I can already see it on a plate, topped with homemade whipped cream. (Libby is a 2 1/2 year old pro when it comes to making "yip reem" so it gets served with a lot of desserts around here.)

My gut tells me I'll go classic though, and pair that rhubarb with some of the strawberries that are overtaking our fridge after last week's Costco trip. Nothing can beat the strawberry-rhubarb combination, whether paired together in a pie or a crisp or a cobbler. NOTHIN' I tell ya! And if I have a strawberry-rhubarb pie sitting around, there is opportunity to turn it into a strawberry-rhubarb Polar Pie ice cream shake worthy of Betty's Pies. (Speaking of Betty's Pies, I'm thinking I need her cookbook.) Or I could just take the strawberry-rhubarb filling sans pie crust and put THAT in a shake just like they do at the Great Minnesota Get Together. You know the one right, the kind they sell in the dairy barn? The exact one I'm enjoying right here:

Oh sweet tart creamy goodness I will dream about you tonight.

Only time will tell what delicious rhubarb treat will be coming out of my kitchen tomorrow, so be sure to check back. I promise to take pictures of Chef Libby in action. And sorry, but we're not sharing!

love always, Kendra