Rhubarb Bread

My boss has dozens and dozens of rhubarb growing out of her garden.  She didn't plant them, but rather they came with her house when she bought it.  To be honest, I have NEVER tried rhubarb in my entire life.  Isn't that slightly weird?  Her seven (eight?) year old son asked me if I liked it.  I told him that I never tried it.  We ran over to the family garden and he taught me how to choose a ripe rhubarb and how to pull it out.  He took a little nibble out of the one we pulled out.  I tried it, too.  He likes it, me...not so much.  However, my boss told me that it's great in recipes.  I took all of their ripe rhubarb and brought it home.  I got a recipe off of allrecipes.com.  It was meant to make two loaves.  I wanted to make one loaf for my sister who was having surgery and one loaf for Jon and I to try.  It's rather scary, but Jon and I both fell asleep with our second loaf in the oven.  I woke up at 2am gasping for breath and realizing that our second loaf was still in the oven.  Thank whatever god there is that our apartment did not burn down with us in it.  We never got to try a loaf before sending it to my sister and her husband.  However, the consensus between the two of them is that it's delicious.  The good news is Jon is babysitting my boss's three sons over the summer.  So, I'm sure there's plenty more rhubarb where the initial batch came from!

The recipe is here:

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups chopped rhubarb
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans. In a small bowl, stir together milk, lemon juice and vanilla; let stand for 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, oil and egg. Combine the flour, salt and baking soda, stir into sugar mixture alternately with the milk mixture just until combined. Fold in rhubarb and nuts. Pour batter into prepared loaf pans.
3. In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup brown sugar, cinnamon and butter. Sprinkle this mixture over the unbaked loaves.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a loaf comes out clean.

Recipe online here