Broken Computers & Rhubarb Dream Bars

This day totally got away from me!  Finn and I were up early this morning and we have been doing laundry and mowing the lawn and watering plants and cleaning ever since.  My intention was to get this posted earlier this afternoon when Finn took his nap (he was so tired from a morning of busyness that he practically put himself down for a nap!) but unfortunately, my laptop is not long for this world, so I spent most of his nap time and beyond getting our desktop computer dusted off and running.  It was a nightmare...the power cord had somehow gone missing during our move last summer and I pretty much opened every single box that hadn't been opened in our basement looking for it.  I called around trying to find someone who'd stock the power cord.  No luck in this small town.  I tried to find it on Amazon.  My initial search turned up nothing.  Finally, I flopped down in a frustrated pout and decided to look one more time in the box that holds all of our miscellaneous electronic stuff - you know, the spot that it was supposed to be to begin with, and what do you know?  It was there the whole time!  Today was a lesson in patience, learning to slow down and take my time and above all else, quit looking for things with my man eyes! 

So on to what I was really going to post about today: rhubarb.  Do you like rhubarb?  Have you ever had it?  I think that it's kind of an acquired taste.  Raw rhubarb is sort of like bitter celery.  It grows in lovely red stalks with big green leaves at the top.  When we were growing up, we would dip raw rhubarb in sugar and eat is as an afternoon snack.  Honestly, I didn't really like eating the rhubarb, I mostly just licked the sugar off and then pitched the rhubarb stalk in trash.

Cooked rhubarb, however, takes on a sweetness all its own, and it has such a soft texture.  My mom would make rhubarb sauce and we'd have it for breakfast.  Personally, I want to make some rhubarb sauce and pour it over vanilla ice cream, equally as good, but less healthy.  Coming from Minnesota, I have multiple recipes in my box for rhubarb sauce, rhubarb pie, rhubarb cake, and rhubarb bars.

Try the rhubarb bars are lovely and my favorite.  Equal parts tangy and sweet; soft and crispy.  I've seen rhubarb available for purchase at our grocery store here in Iowa, but you might have to hit up a farmer's market or a sweet neighbor to get some of your own (I got mine from my mama!) but they are totally worth the effort of tracking some down.  I did eat these bars for breakfast with coffee and also for an afternoon snack with iced tea (and they are sort of WW friendly if you cut them into 36 small squares - then they make the perfect points-friendly snack!  However, you have to stop yourself after eating just one, and therein lies the problem!).


Enjoy your Thursday evening, friends!

2-1/2  cups flour, divided
3/4 cups powder sugar
1 cup butter
4 eggs
2 cups white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups rhubarb, diced

For the crust, mix 2 cups of flour and the powder sugar; cut in the butter until crumbly.  Press into a 10x15" pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

While the crust is baking, make the filling.  Blend the eggs, white sugar, remaining 1/2 cup of flour and salt together until smooth.  Fold in the rhubarb.  When the crust has baked for 15 minutes, remove it from the oven and spread the rhubarb mixture over the hot crust.  Bake for another 40-45 minutes.  Allow to cool.

*One thing to keep in mind: these bars will be the crispest the day you make them.  The remaining liquid in the rhubarb will slowly leach out and soften the bars the longer they sit.  This is not incentive to eat them all the day you make them, however.  They are good just a little bit soft, too