another way to use rhubarb that doesn't involve a pie

This was actually the reason that I bought rhubarb in the first place. Making strawberry rhubarb pie was just one of the perks of having extra rhubarb. Like most of the food that we eat, I can't take credit for creating the recipe but I'm sure glad that my friend Mary was willing to pass it along.

I had Rhubarb Lentil Chili for the first time last fall and I've basically been dreaming of it ever since. It may not seem like a very summer food, but rhubarb's in season and when I saw it at the store all I could think of was putting some of this chili into my belly asap. Also, it's gluten free, dairy free and yum-full. I usually put celery into my chili but rhubarb is like celery's tart, sassy, redheaded cousin that adds a major yum factor.  It's a pretty easy recipe that can be thrown into a crockpot or done on the stove. I love one pot meals. I ate the chili with grilled polenta—yum on it's own and with everything else—but I imagine it would be great by itself, with rice or cornbread on the side.

You will need:
2 onions chopped
1 can diced tomatoes (I used 1 1/2 fresh tomatoes and a little puree because that's what I had on hand)
4 garlic cloves minced
1 tsp thyme
4 tbs butter (or coconut oil or palm oil, I choose coconut this time)
1 tsp cumin
3 fresh stalks of rhubarb cut into bite size pieces
1 tsp garlic salt (didn't have any and it was still great)
2 cups of lentils
1 tsp red pepper
4 cups vegetable stock (if you want to do it vegetarian or I used chicken stock)
1 can of kidney beans
1 can of garbanzo beans
1 large chicken breast (or not, it's fine either way)

Throw all the ingredients into a pot or crockpot with the chicken on the bottom and bring to a boil and let simmer for 3 hours or let the crockpot do all the work. That's all folks and then you get some amazing food at the end. And I'll say "yum" one more time for the road. Yum.