Cooking Thursday: Spring Rhubarb

 

Hello dear Friends!

It's looking to be a lovely sunny day here in the northwoods. Maybe even get into warmer temps (high 50's low 60's) Spring finally feels like she's slowly showing up. Yay! 🌸☀️

For one moment I need to be a proud Mom and share that our Annie and her college hockey team got a leadership award. She and the current president and captain of her team went up to accept it. Annie is assistant captain and will be president of the team organization next year. She goes to University of South FL (go Bulls!💚) and I'm so proud of the amazing young woman she is becoming. 

Okay, thanks so much for that time out to gush. :) 

Now on to what I wanted to share today, which is.... rhubarb! I always associate rhubarb with the Spring/early Summer. Are you a rhubarb person? I've always loved that it adds a little bitter punch with the sweetness you add to dishes. 

Of course cooking with rhubarb means adding sweetness and I'm not sure if other sweeteners could be used and it would still work the same...but feel free to experiment with that if you want to lower the sugar (try honey, maple syrup, swerve sugars etc)

I had come across this recipe in my recipe box that my Aunt and I came up with quite a few years ago. We called it "Rhubarb Crunch". To be honest it's been so many years since we made it that I don't remember it that well, other than that I thought it was yummy. Here is how we wrote the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

3/4 c. sugar

1 egg

3/4 c. and 3 T. flour (divided)

2&1/2 c. rhubarb (cut up)

1 c. brown sugar

4 T. butter (cold and cubed)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350*

Wash and cut up rhubarb and put into a large bowl. Mix together 3/4 c. sugar, 1 egg and 3 T. flour. Pour over the rhubarb and mix well. Pour into a greased 8x8 or 9x9 pan or pie plate. In another bowl mix brown sugar, flour, and butter with a pastry blender or your hands - to make a crumb like topping. Sprinkle over rhubarb mixture. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. 

The notes we made said that it's like a crisp but rich so we liked it as topping for ice cream. I don't have a photo - but I hope to make a version of this when I have my rhubarb ready to harvest down the road. So stay tuned if I do make this and I will share a photo then. 

I thought I would share again the rhubarb strawberry sauce recipe I shared in the past (that is so delish) and you can find it if you click here. I also recommend Ina Garten's strawberry rhubarb crisp recipe which you can find if you click here.

So what are your thoughts on rhubarb Friends? Yes or no to it? And if yes, do you have a favorite recipe?

xoxo

Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello Friends!

Happy new week to you. ☀️

The sun is shining here in the northwoods....even though we've had a few more rounds of snow dumped on us. At least we have some warm days in the forecast this week - hooray! So I know a lot of it will melt again. Spring will come eventually. 

And it's been absolutely wonderful girlie time over here. My Annie is home from college in FL on her Spring break. And Matt had to go to AZ mid last week for work and due to our lovely weather, he needed to switch his flight. He was supposed to come home this weekend, but now isn't coming home until this week. Thankfully he has a full work set up in his folks house that he leaves there for these work moments. He had meetings he couldn't miss and it just worked better for him to come more mid week. I miss him, of course, but Annie and I have been having a lot of fun getting full 1:1 time and doing all the girlie things. So I'm really not complaining too badly. :) 

My cold is almost fully gone now - thankfully. Still some coughing but overall feeling good and have my energy back. I did lots of Spring cleaning and put out Easter things before Annie got home. We even did a fun shopping outing too. She really needed a new bedspread in her room here. So I told her I wanted to get her a new set so she picked out the prettiest pale yellow fluffy comforter, pink accent pillows, and yellow sheets with pink flowers. And she already had a fleecy pink accent blanket. It's so Springy and fresh and pretty.

I still watched my church from home this weekend because I can occasionally get in a little coughing fit and just didn't want to put folks off at church. So other then our little outing for her bedding and some groceries we have mostly been hanging out, gabbing away, making meals, coloring, doing our nails, she's working on a puzzle, and we're watching fun shows together. I just adore my dear daughter and I'm so proud of the young Lady she has become. 

 

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

half a piece of toast, coffee

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

bringing in a painting to get framed, Ruby's haircut, Annie MD appt, Annie & I doing lunch with my Mom and step Dad, hang out with my girl, hospice work

THINKING ABOUT: 

making some veggie pinwheel roll-up sammy's for lunch for us per Annie's request

THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY:

coloring with my Annie-boo

CURRENTLY READING

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier 

 

ON THE TV TODAY:

  Jeopardy, old seasons of big brother & the office, the Pitt, When Calls the Heart, Survivor, Outlander, Victoria

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY - leftovers

TUESDAY - I had planned on making an Irish inspired meal but Matt won't be here in time to eat with me, and it wouldn't be Annie's thing. 

So instead I'm making a pork chop (for me) and a baked veggie side dish with boursin cheese and sauteed asparagus with lemon per Annie's requests (she rarely eats meat) But I'm making a favorite of Annie's for dessert - chocolate & butterscotch chip bars and I'll put a sprinkle of green sugar on top in honor of St. Paddy's ☘️

WEDNESDAY -  protein pasta & marinara (meatballs for Matt & I), salad

THURSDAY - sushi per Annie request

FRIDAY - ?? but no meat for me

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

work on puzzle and more coloring with Annie, watch shows together, lunch with my Mom

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

FROM THE CAMERA:

Matt has been sending pics of his work moments (one at an awards dinner for his company), the warm AZ sunshine, and golfing at a cool golf course with work buddies. He said it was the swankiest and hardest golf course he's ever golfed. It was called Gold Canyon Golf Resort and they did the Dinosaur Mountain Course. He said for how little he has golfed he was grateful he did pretty well and had many pars and even a birdie! Yay Honey! And I've been sending him pics of the furry babies and all of our snow. Very glamorous. 😂

My Annie deep in puzzle concentration. Can you tell where our thoughts were as we colored? And check out the adorable lego flamingo she built one night. I did some gel stick on things on her nails and did my usual St. Patrick's mani of green with gold coin nail accent. ☘️💚

Scenes from around home. Church from the couch. My new iphone cover. I love that it has hummingbirds and we're going to Hawaii in the future and I thought it had that tropical vibe. We put one of our Wizard of Oz sphere apples on top of Matt's dresser (that's a cabin I painted him for Christmas - he loves A frames). When we got Annie's bedding I picked up a cute new laundry basket. We got those things at Home Goods.

Some peeks of Easter around the house. I'll share more in the days to come. If it can't be Spring outside - then I'll make it feel Springy inside. 🌸

love this nightlight/air freshner - isn't that painters palette so cute??

PRAYER LIST:

 For an end to the conflicts all over the world and anyone living in war & fear, especially everything going on in the middle east right now. For peace and unity in this country, especially from hate and shootings or violence.  For anyone sick, suffering, in pain, fear, loneliness etc ... that God bring them comfort and peace.  🙏🏻

For the Lord's love and peace to fill 2026. ❤️ 

For Christ's Light and Love to cast out the darkness everywhere and help the world find its way to loving our neighbors as ourselves. 🙏🏻

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day and wishing you an amazing week my Peeps! 

I'm sharing this with my friend Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello and happy fresh new week to you Friends!

It felt like the weekend flew by over here. How was yours?

We did a lot of the usuals...running around with errands, church, and out for a nice dinner. Oh and of course watching more of the Olympics! We usually go to church on Saturdays. So Matt & I caught the U.S. mens gold medal winning hockey game Sunday morning. It was awesome! It went into OT and Jack Hughes scored the winning goal and he had some teeth knocked out earlier...so smiling with his medal and no teeth was true hockey style there. Lol We are such hockey folks here up north so we really enjoyed it. It was truly historic as it was the first gold for the U.S. since the miracle team in 1980. Very cool!

We also had Aaron home for some of the weekend and that, of course, is always the best! We played cards, dominos and some video games together. One of the nights he and I stayed up late and had a great heart-to-heart chat until almost 3 in the morning!! We've always been close and I just love the man he has become and I'm so very proud of him. To have him end our chat with "I love you so much Mom" and giving me a huge hug - well as a momma I don't think it gets better. 

Now a new week begins....

 

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

a little piece of leftover kringle from the weekend, coffee

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

some errands I need to run and pop in to my Mom's, groceries, calls for hospice and other hospice work, home projects

THINKING ABOUT: 

how much I adore my kiddos and the young adults they have become :) 

THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY:

running my diffuser and the way it smells so fresh (right now it has lavender, eucalyptus, and rosemary in it)

CURRENTLY READING

I decided not to start the new series I was going to just yet and instead I'm diving into another Comfort Food Cafe book from the series by Debbie Johnson

ON THE TV TODAY:

  Jeopardy, old seasons of big brother & the office, the Pitt, Best Medicine, I forgot about When Calls the Heart and need to catch up, Survivor starts back this week and also Ghosts as well, All Creatures Great and Small 

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY - leftover Italian grinder sliders and tossed salad

TUESDAY - chicken soup dumplings and veggie spring rolls we didn't have last week along with Asian pear and veggies and dip

WEDNESDAY -  

THURSDAY - 

FRIDAY - 

*not sure what we're doing the rest of the week yet

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

work on scrapbooks, do some yoga stretching, read

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

I have been doing extra devotional time - including I am on the Hallow app for Lent. You can find out about it here. This weekend I listened to Mother Olga (she is the founder of the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth) in Boston. And I love the prayer/mantra she prays every day. It's this simple: 

Lord, empty me. Fill me. Use me.

Basically asking the Lord to take away all the parts I try to control - empty me from that. Then fill me with His will and where He wants to lead me. And then use me to do the works He wants of me. I love this so much and I am adopting it into my prayers each morning. 

I often pray something similar before I do hospice work where I also ask Him to use me as an instrument for what he wants me to do for others in hospice and that when others see or hear me...that they really see or hear Him and grow closer to Him. 🙏🏻

FROM THE CAMERA:

Still buried in snow so I enjoyed a bit more coloring. Again, I love how the alcohol markers are so bright and saturating so even the back of the page is pretty. 😍 

For a little while the boys played some WWE so I just sat and watched and caught up on my new magazine. Then I jumped in to play when they switched to some other games. This magazine has so many recipes I want to try so stay tuned and I'll share when I make them. Ruby was more "Mom quit flipping and pet me!" Lol

 Here are just a few I have marked: slow cooker beef curry (we both love curry dishes), roasted chicken with leeks & lemon, and moo shu pork in lettuce cups. 😋

We also got a little time with our Girl. She had tried calling when we were in church so we called her back in the car on our way to dinner.

By the way, I found those cute air freshners in an etsy shop. It's called Shop Vroom Blooms. They have cork bottoms that you put drops of essential oil on (comes with the freshners) and they smell so good. I picked lemon lavender for the scents. I had gotten Annie one she keeps in her car (hers is a lily of the valley as that is her birth flower). And I kept loving hers when we visited last month. So I had to get some of my own. 

PRAYER LIST:

 For an end to the conflicts all over the world and anyone living in war & fear. For peace and unity in this country, especially from hate and shootings or violence.  For anyone sick, suffering, in pain, fear, loneliness etc ... that God bring them comfort and peace. For Nancy Gutherie to be found 😢

For the Lord's love and peace to fill 2026. ❤️ 

For Christ's Light and Love to cast out the darkness everywhere and help the world find its way to loving our neighbors as ourselves. 🙏🏻

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

I couldn't agree more. 💗

Blessings on your week ahead! 

I'm sharing with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.