Strawberry Rhubarb Oatmeal Crisp

The strawberry bed has provided me with a whole bowl of strawberries this week. I am pretty proud of my strawberry yield (this is only the second year that the strawberries have produced). Home grown strawberries are very sweet and flavorful.

Most of the strawberries were smallish, about the size of a quarter.

Some surprised us,and were quite large.

There were some characters in the batch. They were just oozing with personality.

There weren't enough strawberries to splint among all the eager eaters, so I combined them with some rhubarb from our rhubarb plant.

I ended up making Strawberry Rhubarb Oatmeal Crisp.  It was uber sweet, uber rich, and uber delicious! Even the rhubarb haters ate it up, and didn't complain!

I adapted a Rhubarb Crisp recipe out of one of my favorite cookbooks, "9X13 The Pan That Can".

Strawberry Rhubarb Oatmeal Crisp
(makes 12 - 16 servings)

Filling:
4 cups  fresh or frozen rhubarb
4 cups fresh or frozen strawberries (quartered if the berries are large)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup cold butter, cut in small pieces
1/4 cup all purpose flour

Oatmeal Topping:
2 cups oatmeal
1 3/4 packed brown sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup chilled butter (two sticks)

1. Preheat oven to 325.
2. For filling: in a large bowl combine rhubarb, strawberries, 1 cup of brown sugar, and 1/4 cup flour.
3. Spread filling evenly in a greased 13x9 baking pan.
4. For the topping: In a medium bowl combine the 1 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1 cup flour, and 2 cups oatmeal.
5. With a pastry blender or hand mixer cut cold butter into oatmeal mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.
6. Sprinkle oatmeal mixture evenly over fruit filling.
7. Bake, uncovered for 45 - 50 minutes or until fruit is tender and topping is golden brown.

This recipe isn't super frugal or healthy. Almost three cups of brown sugar and 2 1/4 cups of butter does cut into the baking supplies (and we won't talk about the cholestrol), but for a special occasion I think it's okay to go a little crazy once in awhile!