Rhubarb, Rhubarb, Rhubarb........

Where forth art thou, oh Rhubarb!!!!!     Sorry, y'all!    Just waxing a little poetic today.     I don't think this is what Shakespeare had in mind though.    "Anywho", now you know what I have been thinking about for a couple of weeks.    More on this subject in a little bit, y'all.

I hope and pray everyone has been doing well since I last posted.    Wow, it has been over a week since I last touched base with y'all.    I have been busy and I just imagine that everyone of y'all have been also.    Sometimes life gets in the way of doing what we would rather be doing.

We all know people who are going through some rough patches.    Two very special ladies from my church are recouping from surgery, even as I type.    I pray for both of these ladies to have full and speedy  recoveries.    Also  a very sweet man at church has had a need for prayer also.   There is others from my church that are dealing with illnesses of various kinds.    I just keep them lifted in prayer.    I think I mentioned a couple of young men in my last post or next to the last post that needed prayers.   K and M, they still need our prayers, but both are doing better, as of the moment.

We all know people who are having health issues.  Two very special people that I have grown to love as a result of the "world wide web" are dealing with serious health issues and I pray for both of you daily.    Keep lifting our family and friends to Father God in prayer.    He is faithful to hear our prayers.    We always want God to do His will and not ours.      We are to remain steadfast in our petitions to Him.

Isaiah 53:5 says....."But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed."

This is a beautiful word picture of what Christ done for us on the cross.    He was wounded because of my sins.    He was crushed because of my sins.    The pain He suffered has brought me peace.    And I have been healed because of His stripes!     Y'all, I hope and pray that you can say you have been healed because of His stripes!     Jesus Christ wasn't crucified because of who you are.    He was crucified because of who He is!     The Son of GOD!!!!    He is the ONLY access that anyone will ever have to Father God!     God knows of NO other way to Himself, except thru Jesus Christ!      Jesus Christ doesn't heal us based on who we are, but based on who He is!     What does healing look like?      Sometimes it looks like life and living, sometimes it looks like death and entering the Gates of Glory.    Jesus Christ is no respecter of persons.     If you believe in Him and put your faith and trust in Him, He will claim you as His own.     My  hearts desire is that if you haven't accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, you will today.     If you do, tell someone.     Then find a Bible believing, teaching, and preaching church, get in it and start digging in the Word.

Ok, now, back to my Rhubarb, Oh Rhubarb......I found a recipe a couple of weeks ago that sounded so wonderful.    Actually, the recipe found me.     I am signed up to the Betty Crocker mailing list and I get an e-mail from them two or three times a week and it will be full of recipes and the like.    A couple of weeks ago it had Rhubarb recipes.    Now, I haven't had rhubarb since I was a kid and still at home.     This is one of those food items that you either love it or hate it.     Me,  I LURVE, LURVE, LURVE IT!!!!!

I remember so vividly, my Mother baking rhubarb pies and they were the absolute best things I have ever eaten.     Rhubarb is so tart and bitter that you can't hardly eat it raw.     It looks like red celery.    And, like celery, if it is real tough, you have to peel it.    They say the hot-house grown rhubarb is more tender and doesn't have to be peeled.     You want to make sure you cut all the green leaves off, totally!    Then cut all the root end off, totally.     Do not eat it if it has been frosted on.      The green leaves and roots have oxalic acid in these parts of the stalk and it is poisonous.     If it has been frosted on, then the oxalic acid goes all through the stalk and makes what is normally, good to eat, poisonous.

So, after searching all over my town, the produce lady at H. G. Hill said she would order some for me.   And she did!!!!!     God bless my produce lady at H. G. Hill!!!      It came in yesterday and I went and loaded up my buggy and hit the trail for home.      I topped it all and then cut the root ends off and peeled it, and then I started cutting it up.     I split each stalk down the middle and then started making segments shorter than the shortest finger joint I have.    About 3/4 of an inch.     I ended up with about 12 cups of cut up rhubarb.    You can actually freeze it as is, in ziploc freezer bags and they will be good for about 3 months in the freezer.   But if you want it to last longer, you need to make a light sugar syrup that will act as a preservative and it will prevent freezer burn.   But it will last in the freezer up to a year when it is sugar syrup packed.    It doesn't take a lot of sugar syrup.    Just fill your bags as full as you want them, without over filling and then pour your "boiled and cooled" sugar water, just to the top of the rhubarb and seal bag.     Remember to leave enough room in the bag for the water to expand or it will burst the bag.

Now for the recipe.     You can find it by going to bettycrocker.com and search recipes, looking for "Five-Ingredient Rhubarb Squares".

1 box Betty Crocker Super Moist yellow cake mix
3/4 cup cold butter or margarine, cut in small pieces
1 3/4 cups sugar ( I used 1 1/2 and it was still too much for my taste)
3 eggs
4 cups sliced fresh rhubarb

1. Heat oven to 350*F. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the cake mix.   In a large bowl, cut butter into remaining cake batter with a pastry blender or two table knives, one in each hand, pulling through ingredients in opposite directions, until crumbly.   In bottom of ungreased (next time I bake, I WILL GREASE my pan) 13x9-inch pan, pat 2 cups of the mixture.   Reserve remaining crumble mixture for topping.   Bake 13 minutes.

2. In large bowl, beat reserved 2 tablespoons of cake mix with sugar and eggs, with electric mixer on medium speed till creamy.   Stir in rhubarb.   Pour over partially baked crust.   Even the rhubarb out over the cake.   Sprinkle remaining crumble mixture over top, as evenly as possible.

3 Bake 45 to 50 minutes or longer till golden brown and center is set.   (Next time I will start checking my cake at about 40 minutes.)    Cool slightly before serving.   Serve warm or cold with whipped cream, or without.   Store covered in fridge.                   Makes 16 servings

**4 cups frozen, slightly thawed rhubarb can be used in place of fresh. (2-16oz. bags)

**Can use food processor on pulse, on and off, to cut butter into cake.

This is a great recipe.    When I made mine, I used about a 1 1/2 cups sugar.    I will use less the next time I make this cake.     I love the sweet tart taste, so I may even bring it down to 1 cup.

Also, if you like rhubarb, and you know you like it, you may want to try stewing a bit of it.    Just toss a couple fist fulls of rhubarb in a small sauce pan, add about a tablespoon or two of water, no more than that though, and a couple tablespoons sugar and heat on medium high for about 5 to 7 minutes and let cool.    It is really delish, if you know you love sweet tart food.  

Eating rhubarb really brings back some of the good memories of yesteryear.     It was a real treat when we had rhubarb pie.     My mother was and still is one of the best cooks in the country.    There was nothing she wouldn't tackle, at least once.   hahaha

Ok, now, this is where it goes to getting under my skin y'all.   Most people that make pies or anything else with rhubarb always has to mess it up by adding strawberries with it, or some other fruit.    (left hand on hip, right hand shaking finger, and stomping right foot---hahahaha)    Folks, now this is my opinion, but I will be sticking to my opinion.     When you bake a pie with rhubarb, and put strawberries in it; it AIN'T rhubarb pie no more, y'all!!!     It becomes strawberry pie with a bit of rhubarb in it.     Some things are not to be mixed!    Gasoline and matches are not to be mixed!     Bleach and ammonia are not to be mixed!    Rhubarb and strawberries are not to be mixed!     Don't bake a rhubarb pie with strawberries in it and expect me to like it.  gggg   I won't!    I want only rhubarb or only strawberry.     I bet you would never guess in a million years what one of my pet peeves is, would ya'!!!   hahahaha     Oh well, we all got one or two, and that is just one of my many pet peeves when it comes to tradition.     (k-i-s-s)    Keep it simple sisters!     Whew!!!   I feel so much better, y'all, after getting that off my chest!    hahahahaha

Now that you have learned a bit about rhubarb and think it may be something you too, would like to try, ask your neighborhood produce person.    He or she will be glad to check about it for you.  

I hope you enjoyed your visit here today.     I wish I could share a piece of rhubarb  squares with you and a cup of decaf.    Since I can't, I will say "God Bless Y'all" in such a special way today!     I hope and pray that y'all will make your way back here again real soon.    You never know what you will find on here, but whatever it is, we'll have a little bit of fun while checking it out.

Ladybug, sweetpea loves you and has a piece of rhubarb square in the freezer for you.   hahaha

Till we meet again, God loves y'all and so do I!   hugs, Patty