Rhubarb Rocks My World

So my neighbour invited me to help myself to his very plentiful rhubarb. I was very happy. I have already made a straight rhubarb crisp, rhubarb-orange juice, and now this: 

I call it Rhuberry Crumble Bars. I am currently trying to convince myself that I don't need another piece. The boys devoured it in seconds. Jacob said it was so good it tasted like birthday cake. Daniel asked if he could also have it for lunch. (We had this for morning snack... Is that wrong?) 

Here is what you need to make yourself a delicious treat!

Preheat your oven to 350. Butter and flour an 8x11 pan.

Crumble Layer- melt 1/2 cup butter or hard margarine in small bowl and then add 3/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4tsp salt. Mix in 1 1/4 cup flour until crumbly texture. Put in fridge until ready to use. (I used part whole wheat flour)

Rhuberry Layer- In a medium bowl toss sliced strawberries and sliced rhubarb with 2 tbsps brown sugar and 1/3 cup white flour. I didn't measure the fruit. I just filled up my medium mixing bowl. 

Bar Layer- mix 3/4 cup room temp butter with 1 1/4 cup icing sugar until fluffy. (I used my stand mixer). Add 2 eggs already lightly beaten and 3/4 tsp vanilla. Add 1 cup flour, 3/4 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt. Spread in prepared pan.

Top batter with rhubarb/strawberry mixture. Top that with the crumble mix. Bake for 50 minutes.

Cool completely and dust with icing sugar. 

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Wow. We NEEDED something to do today! It is really windy to be outside and we need quiet in the house and I am trying not to rely on the TV unless I really have to. Daniel says "let's do a craft!" Ok. So we head to the basement to see what kind of supplies I have hanging around. Jacob grabs a whole bunch of Popsicle sticks and I grab the iPad to search Popsicle stick crafts on Pinterest. 

Here are the results:

Jacob made two airplanes and Daniel made an airplane and a dragonfly. The plane with Jacob's name on it is apparently called "JJ the Jet".  This was fun and easy! I might add magnets to the back when they are done flying their creations. 

An Apple Tale

Applesauce Spice Muffins

1/2 cup hard margarine

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 cup white flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsps baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon 

1 tsp allspice

1 jar homemade applesauce (a little more than a cup)

Makes 1 dozen large muffins. Bake at 350 for 22 minutes. 

So, I have to go back in time a bit to tell this story. Mothers' Day to be precise. Some lovely anonymous person dropped off two huge boxes of apples in front of our church (and other local churches as well) along with some small cardboard containers and a note for moms to help themselves. Amazing, I think. Anyways, due to the fact of being the pastor's wife and that these apples were at both churches we attended that day, I came home with ALOT of apples. Golden Delicious and Ambrosia! Well that day I made apple crisp (probably along with every other mom who goes to church in the area) for my family for dessert. Then we took a vacation. When we got home I realized I had more apples than we could eat before they were done for and I don't waste food! So I cut up as many apples as would fit in my crockpot (didn't peel them, too much work) added some water and honey and a little sugar and some cinnamon to make it smell good and eight beautiful hours later I had some yummy chunky applesauce (yes that is my recipe, pretty specific, eh?). I let it cool, put it in jars and stuck them in the freezer (Jacob dropped one jar full of applesauce on the ground in the basement on the way to the freezer... Yea for a mess on the only carpet in the whole house). I think it made about 6 jars. So, today I realized I had stuck a jar in the fridge and figured it has been there a week, I better use it up. And this recipe was what I made. These muffins are so soft and yummy and just the right amount of spice. Enjoy! 

Happy 3rd Birthday Daniel!

So my little guy is three... and he told me exactly what he wanted for his cake - James Cake. That would be James from Thomas the Train. Anyways, here it is:

I forgot to take a picture, but the inside of the cake was tye-dye blue.
Blue is his favourite colour.

Blow!! (Three blows, one for each candle, so cute!)

Birthday Shirt I made for him. Got totally stained today.

Dancing Daniel.