Yesterday Titus, Caleb, and I went strawberry picking with some friends. The weather was beautiful, and there were plenty of berries to pick. I brought home about 12 pounds of strawberries and a few stalks of rhubarb.
I froze some of the strawberries for smoothies. To keep them from freezing into a giant clump I flash froze them. I lined a cookie sheet with waxed paper, hulled and halved the strawberries, and spread them out on the cookie sheet, which I put in the freezer for about an hour (sorry I don't have a picture of that). Once the strawberries were frozen, I quickly removed them from the cookie sheet and transferred them, still frozen, to an airtight container and put them back in the freezer.
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| Frozen strawberries for smoothies! |
George requested a strawberry-rhubarb pie, so I loosely followed a recipe from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook. Sometimes when I adapt recipes they don't turn out very well, but this one was absolutely perfect! Here is what I did:
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
Crust:
2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
2/3 cup shortening (I used
non-hydrogenated palm shortening)
cold water
Filling:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/8 tsp salt
2 cups strawberries, cut into small pieces
2 cups rhubarb, cut into 1/4 inch slices (about 2 stalks)
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
To make the crust, combine the flour and salt. Cut in the shortening with a pastry cutter until it is all incorporated, but is still a little crumbly. Add water a little bit at a time until the mixture just starts to come together. Stir very gently, over-handling the crust makes it tough instead of flaky. Divide crust pastry into 2 balls and roll one out and put in a pie plate to form the bottom crust. Roll the other ball of pie crust and use for the top crust after the filling is in.
To make the filling, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Pour this over the stawberries and rhubarb and gently mix until combined. Let this sit for about 10-15 min. Spoon the filling into the pan lined pie pan (there will be a lot of strawberry-rhubarb "syrup" left over, don't put this in, just save it for topping pancakes, ice cream, etc.) Lay the top crust on top of the pie. Trim the extra crust off and crimp the edges of the pie crust together. Use a fork or knife to make a few vents in the top crust to let out the steam.
Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for 30-40 minutes until the crust is starting to brown and the filling is bubbling.
This morning I made strawberry scones using
this recipe.
Strawberry picking was so much fun and we are definitely enjoying the fruits of our labor!
This post is linked to:
Little House Living's recipe exchange and
Tasteful Tuesdays @ Naptime Creations
