Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie is my gramps's favorite. Whenever I make this for my fam, I take a couple of slices over to him.

This is also my friend, Em's, favorite. Last year, her mom, Carolyn, was kind enough to donate a bunch of rhubarb to the Feed Strawberry Rhubarb Pie to Em effort. I went over there to Carolyn's house, and there was the Rhubarb Shrub of Life. This thing was at least four feet tall and wide. She gave me this huge knife, which actually resembled a machete, and told me to go at it. I felt so funny, hacking away at her beautiful shrub. I took a ton, but barely made a dent. It's like the Manna from Heaven concept, but with rhubarb.

My mom and I were at the nursery the other day, picking out geraniums, and she pointed to a rhubarb seedling on the other side of the greenhouse. She was like, "Kar, you could grow your own rhubarb!" I said, "No need, Mom. I have the Rhubarb Tree of Life at Carolyn's. I think fifty people could get rhubarb from that shrub."

I'll never need to grow my own zucchini, either. Because this gal in my ward, Heather, gives me ten thousand zucchinis every year.

I love my ward. As a matter of fact, I'm making this pie tomorrow for our ward's barbecue.

I got this recipe online. It was adapted from "The New England Cookbook" by Brooke Dojny.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Crust for a double-crust pie
1 cup plus 2 tsp. sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 1/2 cups sliced rhubarb (about 1 1/4 pounds)
2 1/2 cups strawberries, quartered
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbsp. butter, cut in several pieces
1 Tbsp. milk
Vanilla ice cream to serve with it.

1. Whisk together one cup of the sugar, flour, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add the rhubarb, strawberries, lemon juice, and vanilla and toss until the fruit is well-coated with the sugar mixture. Set aside for ten mins until the fruit softens slightly.

2. Spoon the rhubarb mixture into the pie shell and distribute the butter over the fruit. Cover with the top crust. You can lattice it or just put the top crust on and cut a few slits in it. Seal the edges by either crimping or fluting. Brush the top crust with milk and sprinkle with the remaining 2 tsp. of sugar.

3. Put a rimmed baking sheet that has been lined with aluminum foil on the bottom rack underneath the pie on the top rack, because that pie will definitely dribble juice.   Bake at 425 degrees for 30 mins. Then put foil over the pie. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 and bake another 30 mins. Cool on a wire rack at least one hour.