strawberry mania

Strawberries are my absolute most favorite fruit, and one of the best ways to eat them is definitely in the form of pie. I make as many of these as I can fit into strawberry season every year. The recipe comes from my Grandma Judy, though probably most of the ones I've consumed (aside from my own) were made by my dad. It's quite easy and extremely yummy; click the "read more" below for the recipe...

I also decided to make strawberry jam this year; my parents make a lot of this every summer, so thus far I've just raided their stash. Now that I am a grownup (okay, really just because I live 6 hours away now), I'm doing my own. Their tried and true recipe is from Sure-Jell - again: easy and delicious.

I found lots of cute printable labels online... I used some from Merriment Design and from A Sonoma Garden because they were both so cute that I couldn't pick just one.

A couple tips:

• Pie has to be from in-season berries to achieve proper level of deliciousness, so it's a limited window of enjoyment!
• Keep the pie in the fridge; it doesn't keep super long (bottom can get a little soggy), so it's perfectly acceptable to eat more than one serving per day. Including for breakfast.
• Reddi-wip is a must as it is the best (and packaged in my home town!)
• Find a you-pick place for cheaper berries & an excuse to eat more pie when you burn calories picking them.
• Mash up those berries for jam really well. It's better that way.

Strawberry pie

Ingredients:
Pie crust
Approx. 1.5 quarts strawberries
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1 cup water
salt
3 tablespoons corn starch
2 tablespoons strawberry jello mix

Wash and hull the strawberries; prepare the pie crust (from freezer section at the grocery store; bake it according to the package directions).

Put the sugar, corn syrup, water, salt, and corn starch in a sauce pan. Heat on medium/high, stirring constantly, until the consistency thickens and the mixture turns clear (you'll know when it happens; it's a pretty drastic change). Take off the heat and stir in the jello mix.

Arrange the berries in the pie crust and pour cooled mixture over top. Let it set up in the fridge for a while, and then you're ready to eat - once you've put a nice helping of whipped cream on top, of course.

sharing here and here: