Strawberry Pie, Yum!

A couple of days ago my mother in law dropped off 3 quarts of fresh strawberries from her brother's farm. It has been a long time since I have had fresh-from-the-farm strawberries and they are FABULOUS! However, 3 quarts of strawberries are a lot for just two people to consume, so I decided to make some strawberry pies. I know most of you probably have made this pie before, but now that I have high speed internet and the food network at my disposal all the time I am feeling inspired to do a "recipe segment" on the blog and share with you! So here goes:

Yummy Strawberry Pie:
This is a no-bake pie if you buy pie crusts and bake them. I used to HATE making pie crusts and would almost ready to cry or swear when trying to make my own because they never seemed to turn out right and would always tear or fall apart before I could get them in my pie dish. However, all of that changed when I got this a great recipe for pie crust from my SIL Taryn. I am no longer scared of pie crusts, and if you are looking for a fool-proof pie crust, here it is (I doubled the recipe for crust and for the pie to accommodate all of my strawberries):

Easy-As-Pie Crust:
1 1/4 cups flour
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
2 TBSP cold water

In a medium bowl, mix flour and salt. With pastry blender, cut in butter until resembles fine crumbs. Sprinkle water over flour mixture while tossing with fork to blend well. Press dough firmly into ball, roll out to fit 9" pie plate.

Here are my two secrets: First, if you don't have one, I highly recommend this rolling pin from Pampered Chef:

This rolling pin has a large end for rolling out the dough, and a small end for rolling the dough up in the pie plate if needed. On the back side, it has a 2-sided tool that clips into it that can be used for pie crust edging. (No, I don't sell Pampered Chef or really even know anybody who does. I just really love this rolling pin!) It works sooooooooo much better than my old traditional style wooden rolling pin.
Second, I always roll my pie crusts out on wax paper. Not only does this make clean up easier, when the dough is the right size, I can put the pie plate down on top of the dough, hold the plate with one hand and put the other hand under the wax paper, and flip the dough right into the plate, instead of trying to pick up the dough and place it in the plate (that was always the worst part for me). See?


After baking them (be sure to poke holes with a fork since they are being baked empty), it's time for the no-bake pie!

What you need:
Strawberries:

A few other ingredients:

Sugar, cornstarch, strawberry jello (regular or sugar free), salt, and vanilla.
And here is the pie filling recipe-- super easy!
1 c. sugar
2 tbsp. cornstarch
1 sm. pkg. strawberry Jello
1 3/4 c. cold water
1 tsp. vanilla
Pinch of salt
Strawberries
Combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Stir into cold water and vanilla. Cook mixture until clear, stirring constantly. While mixture is hot, stir in Jello. Cool in refrigerator until just beginning to thicken. Fill baked shell with well drained sliced berries.

Pour glaze over berries and place in refrigerator.

Ta-da! The reason my finished product shows only one pie is because LL got to the other one before I could get a picture of it! Lol. Gram Reitz and Great Uncle Barney came over to visit last night and we all sampled the pie and loved it. LL had some for breakfast this morning and then some more for lunch. I don't think the pies are going to last very long! Anyway, there you have it. A quick and easy recipe for fresh strawberries this summer! Enjoy!