Rhubarb Infatuation

I'm not sure why I've developed such an infatuation with rhubarb this summer, but I've just got to have it!  By have it, I mean grow it myself to be able to use throughout the summer.  When I was growing up my mom had a few plants in her garden (she still does) and I used to love helping her cut it and cut it up to either stew or make into pies.  I've been trying to track down a plant for a good price, and man are they expensive!  So thankfully a friend of mine was gracious enough to dig me up a couple of roots from her garden.  Not sure if they transplanted well, as they are slightly slumped over, but we'll see.  If not, I may just suck it up and buy a plant at one of the local garden centers.  I had a bag of already cut up rhubarb in the freezer from last summer, cut from my father-in-law's garden, so I pulled it out this past weekend to make up a dessert for our long weekend barbecue with friends.  I decided to make rhubarb crisp, and the way it turned out was fantastic!  Not too sweet on the inside, and crispy granola-like on top!  Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Rhubarb Crisp

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar *

3 tbsp corn starch *

5 cups sliced rhubarb (fresh or frozen and thawed)

1 cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup all-purpose flour

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine sugar, cornstarch (or powdered sugar, see note below) and rhubarb and toss to coat. 

2. Pour into an 8-in. square baking dish.

3. In a small bowl, combine the oats, brown sugar, butter, and flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. 

4. Sprinkle over fruit. 

5. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until bubbly and fruit is tender.

Enjoy!

* I ran out of sugar, so I used 1 cup powdered/icing sugar which is a ready mixed combination of sugar and cornstarch.