Rhubarb - crisp, bread and dessert

I get excited when I see the first signs of my rhubarb. Did you know that rhubarb is not a fruit? It's a vegetable. Most vegetables are annuals, but not rhubarb.

With a little attention, like watering and an occasional dose of fertilizer, rhubarb will keep providing harvest until frost. If your rhubarb isn't ready yet, save these recipes. When the rhubarb is ready, you will be too.

Rhubarb Dessert

Serving size: 12

1 cup butter

2 cup flour

2 tablespoons white sugar

Mix together and put in a 9x13-inch pan. Bake at 350 degree for 10 minutes. Cool.

5 cup rhubarb, cut up small

6 egg yolks

2 cup sugar

4 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup Carnation Milk

Mix the rhubarb, egg yolks, sugar, flour, salt and carnation milk and pour on top of cooled crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Beat egg whites with white sugar and vanilla until it forms peaks. Spoon on top of dessert and bake until brown.

Rhubarb Bread

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup Crisco oil

1 egg

1 cup sour milk or buttermilk

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 cup flour

1 1/2 cup rhubarb, finely chopped

1/2 cup nuts, chopped

Topping

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon butter

Combine sugar and Crisco. Stir in egg, sour milk and vanilla. Add sifted dry ingredients. Stir in rhubarb and nuts. Pour into two well-greased loaf pans. Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle on top, patting down gently. Bake at 325 degrees for about 40 minutes. Do not overbake.

Rhubarb Crisp

2 cup rhubarb, chopped

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup flour

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

Ice cream, Cool Whip or real whipped cream

Place chopped rhubarb in greased baking dish. Sprinkle with sugar. In a small bowl, mix flour, butter and brown sugar. Sprinkle mixture over rhubarb. Bake in 350 degrees oven for 45 minutes or until brown. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Instead of putting others in their place, we should put ourselves in their place.

GARY'S TIP: For sparkling clean chrome without streaks, use a cloth dampened in ammonia.