Some Solitary Cooking and a Rhubarb Pie

Three weeks of wonderful traveling and visiting made me thoroughly enjoy my slow Monday morning of quiet pie making.

Jibs is napping, Clara and Jimmy are out exploring the river for wildflowers and bugs, and I'm in the kitchen. Everyone is having a happy day indeed.

When I returned to my lovely little rhubarb crop this weekend I was pleased to discover a healthy bunch ready for picking.

Strawberry-rhubarb has to be one of my favourite fruit combos.

It literally took me an hour to decide what to do with my 8 precious cups of the sweet red gems.

Since its a holiday and my fridge is bare from our weeks of being away, my choices were somewhat limited.

I was missing key ingredients necessary for:

Rhubarb Soda and Rhubarb Jam.

These looked inviting as well...tartlets and crisp.

In the end I settled on a simple Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie with Crumble from my good old Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie with Crumble

(adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook)

1 recipe Single Crust Pie

1 recipe Crumb Topping (below)

3/4 C sugar

1/3 C flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

3 Cups fresh chopped rhubarb

3 Cups fresh quartered strawberries

Prepare and roll out pastry. Line a 9-inch pie plate with pastry and trim to fit the plate. Crimp edges if desired. Prepare crumb topping. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together sugar flour and cinnamon, add fruit and gently toss.

Transfer fruit to pastry lined pie plate.

Sprinkle with crumb topping.

Bake in a 375* oven for 45 mins.

Cool and eat with ice cream.

Crumble Topping

1/3C Brown Sugar

1/2 C flour

3 Tbsp cold butter

healthy pinch fresh nutmeg (optional)

Stir together sugar, nutmeg and flour, cut in cold butter until mixture resembles a crumb.