Whenever I’m feeling down because my floor is covered with cat hair and dirt, my laundry is piled up to the ceiling, or I haven’t made a blog entry in ALMOST A MONTH, I make sure I take inventory of my pantry.

Homemade granola bars on top of the fridge, chicken stock and cooked beans in the freezer, and rhubarb fruit roll-ups slowly dehydrating in the oven.  My house may be in a sorry state, buy my family is well-fed.

I’d venture to say you can’t have it all, but what is ‘all’ really? It certainly doesn’t bother my children that there are tumbleweeds of cat hair blowing across the wood floor or that they’ve worn the same socks two days in a row, so maybe I should just get over it.

Rhubarb is still going strong here, but with the hot weather approaching I think  soon it will be time to do a major harvest, make jam, a few pies, and freeze the rest. Strawberries are about three weeks ahead this year, so strawberry-rhubarb concoctions are sure thing.

But until the strawberries are ready to pick, make some rhubarb sauce for your next dish of vanilla ice cream, and make rhubarb fruit leather with the leftover puree.

Rhubarb Fruit Leather

Make rhubarb sauce, and place the leftover pulp in a blender or food processor and blend until very smooth.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with a silicon baking mat or parchment paper. Pour the puree onto the sheet and spread until thin. Try to spread it evenly, with no bare spots.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees and let the rhubarb slowly dry over 2-3 hours. If you have a convection option on your oven, it will speed things along.

When fruit leather feels dry and only lightly sticky to the touch, and the edges are curling up ever-so-slightly, remove from oven and let cool.

When cool, carefully peel from pan lining and cut into strips. Roll up and store at room temperature for 3-4 days in an airtight container.