March madness…North Dakota version

No, our March madness has nothing to do with basketball, and I’m talking brackets of a different kind…this March is madness with peewee wrestling and spring weather. And it added up to spending an afternoon digging out some water pipes.

Let’s start off with Saturday morning and early afternoon. Scooter participated in our local peewee wrestling tournament and managed to come home with a first-place medal.

The weather was so unseasonably warm, that I decided we should finish a project we had started earlier in the week. Our aging pipes had sprung a leak, which lead to a continually green patch of grass in our yard all winter. But as it was warming up, that green patch had turned to mush. We needed to work on a fix…and 70-80 degree temps in North Dakota in March is a great reason to spend some time outside, even if it is to dig a hole.

So, if we’re fixing a water pipe, one would think that you would call a local backhoe and have it done in a jiffy, right? That’s not the way we roll around here. Instead, Boss Man gave a few directions, gave us a rough outline of size, and away we went.

Me and my little sister, just digging a hole.

Yep, my little sister and I became excavators and dug out the hole that will be needed to fix our water leak. And I have to say, I’m happy with the work we did, and enjoyed spending the hour or so outside in the beautiful weather.

And today (Sunday), the weather has continued on its beautiful streak, cracking the 80 degree mark. Let’s just hope our temps stay above freezing, because all of those beautiful buds and new plants will be a hard loss to take.

Our rhubarb is up...and it's March.

By tomorrow evening, I'm guessing we'll have full-fledged leaves on our lilacs. These buds are busting at the seams!

Simple Rhubarb Cake Recipe

Alrighty, folks…here it is, my first actual recipe post! (I did these flowers for Mother’s Day, but it was more of a craft than a recipe.)

Since I’ll be teaming up with Gooseberry Patch Cookbooks and The Real Farmwives of America and Friends, I better get my apron on and get to practicing my skills, so that some poor soul doesn’t end up following me into kitchen chaos!

My first recipe will be a super simple rhubarb cake. Here are the ingredients:

3 cups rhubarb, cut into 1/4 inch pieces

1 cup sugar

1 yellow box cake mix

1 pt. whipping cream (heavy cream)

9 X 13 pan

Yeah, simple, right??? Thought I should start out easy.

Here’s my rhubarb –

I picked 10 stalks, but only used 5 to get 3 cups of rhubarb.

 

 

My ingredients...all lined up! Super simple!

 

 

After you wash and cut up the rhubarb, pour the cup of sugar over the rhubarb and set it aside. (It will help draw the juices out of the rhubarb and make it sweeter!)

3 cups of rhubarb, 1 cup of sugar = yummy!!!

 

 

Then, make your cake mix according to the instructions on the box.

Yellow cake...all mixed up!

 

 

Then, simply sprinkle your rhubarb mixture over the top of the cake. Pour the cream over the top of that. And bake at 375 for 45-50 minutes.

Top off the cake mix with the rhubarb mix.

 

 

Next, pour the whipping cream over the top of it all.

 

 

Bake at 375 for 45-50 minutes...and voila!

 

 

Must have been good, 'cuz my taste tester had to have a whole row!

 

I will warn you, the bottom does end up pudding-like. To serve it all pretty and nice, you would have to serve it upside down somehow. But for now, I’m not at all concerned about presentation, just that it comes out of the oven actually looking like it’s supposed to! Big score for me!

Next I may try something that requires more scratch than box…we’ll see how adventurous I get.

Any suggestions???