My Mother And Sister Were The Very Best Pie Makers

First I have to say that the pie above is not strawberry rhubarb, even though it may have strawberries, it probably doesn't have rhubarb. The recipe below I found in 2010, after my sister died in my mother's recipes. My daughter and I published a recipe book for my sister's memorial.

This recipe was not included, as my mother's recipe was. It was a choice made because my mother's pie was a favorite and we hadn't tried this recipe that follows yet.

My mother's recipe did not have the detail this recipe has as I'm sure my mother made her recipe 500 plus times in her 75 years of life. She used to take orders for pies. And not many didn't love her strawberry rhubarb pie.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie - Carrie Estey Ortiz, June 1985

Pie Crust

4 C. flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/3 C. lard/shortening

2 eggs

1/2 C. water

2 tsp. vinegar

Cut flour and shortening together. Combine water, vinegar, salt, and eggs in a separate bowl. Make 8 wells in flour mixture. Put liquid in each hole. Gently stir til all mixed. Wrap 2 balls in saran wrap, and cool for 2 hours.

Pie Filling

4. C. of rhubarb

1 1/2 C. sugar

2 C. strawberries

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3 T. flour

3 T. butter

Adjust strawberries/rhubarb per preference. Egg wash on top per preference. Bake at 425 for 65 minutes. With egg wash, adjust temp. to 375 for the last 45-50 minutes

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As children, we would go as a family to pick berries. Every kind of berry that there are in our home state of Minnesota. My mother would can berries and later when she had a freezer, she would put them in the freezer for the winter.

We would get plenty of berries while picking and my mother always baked. I grew up in the 50s and 60s and most mothers baked their bread and other baked goods in my family.

My aunts were a close second to my mother's baking. With one making better bread and one making better cakes and cookies. But my mother for most of her life had the best pie distinction.

Before 1985 she had the very best strawberry rhubarb pie. Having this recipe in her book of recipes was a bit of a surprise. My sister died soon after my mother and I didn't discover this recipe before her death. That meant I couldn't ask her about it.

We picked with the bears in the woods. My mother told us this story while in the woods one day. "Nanaboozhoo was walking in the woods and a small black critter came out of the bush and scared Nanaboozhoo."

She continued, "Just that quick Nanaboozhoo reached down and tapped the critter on the head and behind the tail, and just that fast he had a white stripe down his back and an odor like no other."

When we got home our aunt, who was 14 years older than my mom was at our house. We told her the story my mom told us. She laughed and laughed and then she said, "So, did you make more noise then?"

We all agreed we did make more noise then. She said, "Your mom made that story up and she is afraid of bears and she wanted to make sure that the bears didn't come and steal your berries!"

Oops, busted! My mom was told on by my aunt. It doesn't matter as I continue to be noisy in the woods. And when I see a white stripe and the smell like no other, I remember my mother's story.

Except, my mother would have to change the part of smells like no other to how it smells like some legalized marijuana now. I can't help but look around for a skunk when someone has been smoking marijuana.

We picked berries as a family and every year my mother would give us a pittance for picking but we also benefitted from picking so that made it worth it.

It was a family outing and we picked all summer. Rhubarb may have been first and maybe even last. Then it was all of the rest in between.

My mother would always say, "When you have a big family, it is important to pick berries and have a big garden to make sure your family has enough to last the winter."

One day picking it was hot and it was more miserable maybe than usual, and I remember my brother lying in the berries and he said in a whiney voice, "All I can smell is berries!"

I remember laughing and thinking it could be so much worse. He got upset with me for laughing and so I said, "Have you ever smelled a bear in the woods?" I know he had as he was with me and he is just 18 months younger than me. We were young teens then.

I would like to say I have continued to pick berries in my old age, but I have not, other than when my in-laws were still around and had planted raspberry bushes on their property.

I picked raspberries with my sister-in-law, and my ice cream bucket was full before she had half of a bucket. Picking doesn't leave you, some may say it is like riding a bike.

Then I will occasionally pick apples, strawberries, and blueberries when someone offers to let me pick at their place or wants to go with me to pick.

We have rhubarb and my husband will bring that for me at least a few times a season. I make a strawberry, blueberry, cherry, and rhubarb sauce that I can, then freeze and eat all winter.

Why do I can, then freeze? Because I reuse jars and covers, so they don't all seal when canned, but I don't know what to trust. That is okay as I have more room in my freezer. The door shelves part of the freezer has just enough room for my canned homemade soup and my homemade sauce.

Do I bake strawberry rhubarb pie or have I ever? I don't. I would rather get it from someone good at making it as they are probably making it all of the time. And now since I don't eat gluten or sugar, my strawberry, rhubarb sauce is as close as I get to my favorite pie.

That sauce used to have the best maple syrup of the season that I added to it. Now, I use whipped cream with cinnamon, without sweetener for topping my sauce and add a small handful of nuts, maybe a banana for sweetening or as a dessert.

I will also put the sauce in my breakfast cereal. It is great that way too and it feels like having dessert for breakfast.

Strawberry pie

My oh my

When I die

I hope I

get to have strawberry-rhubarb pie!