rhubarbalicious

Simply put: i LOVE rhubarb!!!

Over the past 8 years, I've had several attempts at growing the plant that is supposedly "SO easy" to grow. Three of the rhubarb starts planted two summers ago actually came back last year, Yay! They grew enough stalks to make one dessert with--YAY! This summer, they grew back again, and slightly larger, so it was enough to make two desserts with--double YAY!! But, I just wasn't satisfied, I wanted more!

During a Relief Socity lesson last month, the teacher was talking about desires, and she asked about specific desires: are we born with them or are they something we attain over time? I think they are both, and I gave examples of both. One of the examples I gave was regarding food desires: I said I've always liked rhubarb and I'm always desirous to eat it, and yet Josh has always hated it and still can't stand it. She said to me "You like rhubarb? Well, have I got a deal for you!" The teacher is my neighbor, and a week within giving the lesson, I was making my second rhubarb dessert, and I ran out of rhubarb; I needed about a cup more to complete the recipe. I called her up, (it was almost 10:00 at night, and I didn't even realize it because the sun was still out), told her that I needed some rhubarb, and asked if she would give me some, because that's the impression I got from her comment during her lesson the previous Sunday. She was thrilled to give me some, and I drove straight to her house. I couldn't believe how large her rhubarb plants were. She planted 4 starts the same year I planted my 3, and yet hers were ten times the size of mine! She said she doesn't even know what to do with it all, and I was shocked! I've been saving up rhubarb recipes for 10 years now, waiting for a good crop of rhubarb to come. I told her I had so many recipes that I've been dying to use, and that if I found one that everybody loved, I would make it for her and bring the recipe. So, we got to work chopping the stalks, filled a bag full of rhubarb, and it didn't even put a dent in her plants!

For the next two weeks, I felt like I was Bubba on Forrest Gump when he's talking about shrimp, and all the things you can do with it--"fried shrimp, grilled shrimp, shrimp gumbo, shrimp & grits, shrimp dip....", except of course it was all things rhubarb. I made rhubarb cobbler, rhubarb layered jello, rhubarb oat crisp, rhubarb pie filling, rhubarb jam, and rhubarb cake. I wish I would've remembered to take photos of every recipe I tried, but I didn't. 

Rhubarb Pie Filling - super rhubyummy!!

(I ate it on wheat thins covered with cream cheese for a snack everyday until it was gone)

Rhubarb Jam - my first ever attempt at preserving it! I think it looks rhubeautiful!

I was so grateful to my neighbor for her willingness to share her rhubarb with me! I was so happy to finally get to try out so many of the recipes that I've been saving! I threw away two of the recipes, because they didn't turn out very well. And I cut several cups of rhubarb and froze them to make strawberry rhubarb pie (my absolute favorite pie in the world) sometime during the next year. The very best recipe ended up being the "Special Rhubarb Cake with Vanilla Drizzle". I made it twice, and fed it to Josh's family over the 4th and everybody loved it! So I made it again, fed it to the missionaries, and gave the rest to my neighbor and her family, and they loved it too! It was SO delicious, I would say it was "rhubarbalicious"! If you are a rhubarb fan, you'll want to try it! Here's the link to the recipe: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Special-Rhubarb-Cake