A fresh bit of summer all year long!

I LOVE strawberry rhubarb pie. In fact, I think it's my absolute favorite kind of pie. I always get a little jealous of my family members with June birthdays because they can choose it for their birthday dessert. But my birthday is in December and every year I long for the taste of summer on my special day.

Until this year I hadn't found a good way of preserving strawberries and rhubarb. I've tried freezing the fruit separately, but both end up watery once defrosted. I've been leery of canning the pie filling because the recipes I find are so different from my tried and true pie filling. Plus, in the pictures I've seen of canned pie filling the fruit is always a little off color.

This year I stumbled across this blog on pinterest. The author claimed that creating the pie filling and then freezing it fully prepared in a ziploc bag would work. I was a bit skeptical, but decided to try it.

Oh my, delicious!

I froze two pie fillings. I then waited a week before defrosting and baking. The pies were amazing. The first one turned out a little watery so with the second I simply drained off a little of the excess liquid. It set up so well and was incredibly good. Today I made five more batches to save for winter. I can't wait to pull them out of the freezer and enjoy the taste of fresh summer fruit in the dead of winter.

Here's how:

Step 1: Harvest your rhubarb and your strawberries.
(You really don't want to wait too long to get to your rhubarb. If it has holes in the insides of the stalks, you've waited too long. It can end up with a "woody" taste if you wait too long.)

Step 2: Chop your berries and rhubarb into small pieces. About 3 cups of each.

Step 3: Add in the sugar and flour. Allow the ingredients to maserate (mix) for about 20 minutes. You will no longer notice the sugar and flour as you stir, but instead will see a bit of syrup forming around the fruit.

Step 4: Place the mixture in a freezer bag. I highly recommend getting a vacuum sealer like this one. Ziplocs work but will allow freezer burn after an extended time in the freezer.

Step 5: Once ready to make a pie, simply defrost your bag, remove a little bit of the excess liquid, make a pie crust and bake.
(For best results, allow your pie to set overnight. The filling will thicken and you'll have a perfect pie in the morning.)

(photo credit)

ENJOY!

Here's my recipe for AWESOME STRAWBERRY RHUBARB PIE:

3C strawberries, cut
3C rhubarb, cut
2/3 C flour
2 C sugar

Mix the ingredients in a large bowl. Pour into prepared crust.

Top and Bottom Pie Crust:

2 C flour
1 stick + 2 T butter (not margarine!)
1 t salt
6 T very cold water

Mix all with a pastry cutter or by hand. Divide in half and turn out onto a floured surface. Roll out a bottom and top crust. Place bottom crust in the pie pan, fill with pie filling, cover with top crust. Turn excess crust under around all the edges to seal the pie. Flute with a fork or spoon. Poke a few holes in the top of the pie.

(It's always a good idea to bake a pie on top of a cookie sheet in case any filling oozes out.)

Bake at 425 degrees for 55 minutes.

Pumpkin Goodness!

It's pumpkin season and I've decided to try cooking and freezing my own pumpkins this year. It adds such richness to any pumpkin recipe to have it fresh instead of using the canned stuff.


To cook a pumpkin:
1. Buy pie or cooking pumpkins. These are generally smaller and can be found at veggie stands and in some grocery stores.
2. Slice the pumpkin in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds.


3. Place the pumpkin halves peel-side up in a baking dish and add about a 1/2 inch of water.
4. Cook the pumpkin in the oven at 450 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour.
5. Once out of the oven, scoop the meat out of the pumpkin and place in a blender or food processor.
6. Blend until smooth.
7. Pumpkin freezes well or can be kept in the fridge for about 5 days. {I had planned to can pumpkin, but read that it's not recommended since pumpkin has a lower acidity level and bacteria can grow even after canning. However, I'm not 100% certain on that, so do your own research!}

I've had several people request the recipe I use for pumpkin cookies, so here it is. This is a recipe from Josh's Grandma and is a favorite amongst all Brumbaugh men!

Pumpkin Cookies:
1C shortening
1C pumpkin
1C sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla

Cream these first five ingredients together until smooth.

Add:
2C flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt

Mix well and bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes. These should come out soft!

Once the cookies are cooled, make the frosting.
Frosting:
3 Tbsp butter
4 Tbsp milk
1/2C brown sugar

Boil these three for two minutes. Cool for 10 minutes. Then add 1C powdered sugar.

This should be slightly runny - not like normal frosting. Frost cookies and enjoy!


Of course, no pumpkin blog would be complete without a great pumpkin soup recipe. This soup really gets it's greatness from using fresh pumpkin, so if you have it on hand, I highly recommend it!

Creamy Pumpkin Soup: (Serves 8) prep: 10 min Cook: 20 min.
Ingredients:
1 ½ Medium Onion Chopped 3 Cans Chicken Broth
3 Tablespoons Butter 2 ½ Cups Sliced Peeled Potatoes
2 ½ Cups Canned Cooked Pumpkin 2 ½ Cups Milk
¾ Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg ¾ Teaspoon Salt
¼ Teaspoon Pepper 1 ½ Cups Sour Cream
2 Tablespoons Chopped Fresh Parsley 4 Bacon Strips, cooked & crumbled

In a large saucepan, sauté onion in butter until tender.
Add the broth, potatoes and pumpkin; cook until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.
Remove from the heat; cool.
Puree half of the mixture at a time in a blender or food processor until smooth; return all to the pan.
Add the milk nutmeg, salt and pepper; heat through.
Meanwhile, combine the sour cream and parsley.
Spoon soup into bowls; top each with a dollop of sour cream and sprinkle with bacon.


Happy Pumpkin Eating!!!