What do you do with a Lonely Rhubarb?

Okay, so I had some frozen rhubarb that needed to be used up, too. My parents have a gi-normous rhubarb patch in their garden and I squirreled a few bags of it away for the winter months.

I love rhubarb, but I run out of ideas when it comes to putting it in things. I noticed strawberries were cheap again, so I started searching...I was delighted to find this recipe on the web. It's originally from Guide to Southern Cuisine.

Strawberry Rhubarb Coffee Cake

Filling

3 cups rhubarb (cut into 1 inch pieces, fresh or frozen)
2 pints fresh strawberries, mashed
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 and 2/3 cups sugar (you may add more or less to taste, depending on how tart you like your rhubarb)
1/3 cup cornstarch

Cake

3 cups all purpose flour
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1 and 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Topping

1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar

To make the filling:

-Combine the rhubarb, strawberries and lemon juice in a saucepan.
-Cover and cook for about 5 minutes on medium heat.
-Combine the sugar and cornstarch.
-Stir into the strawberry mixture.
-Bring to a boil, stir constantly until thickened, remove from heat.

To make the cake:

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
-In a large bowl stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
-Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or fork until it resembles coarse crumbs.
-In a seperate bowl, beat together the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla.
-Stir into the flour mixture until just moistened.
-Spread half the mixture into a greased 9x13x2 baking dish.
-Carefully spread the strawberry rhubarb filling over the top.
-Drop remaining batter evenly over top with a tablespoon until well covered.

Topping:

-Melt the butter.
-Stir in the flour and sugar until crumbly.
-Sprinkle over the top of the batter.
-Bake the cake for about 45 minutes or until it tests done. (You may need to lay a sheet of foil or a baking sheet on the lower rack under the pan if the juices from the filling start to leak out so you don't have burnt rhubarb all over the bottom of your oven.)