strawberry icebox pie

a saturday strawberry picking spree.

A very early morning, a long drive, a fun-filled adventure and a strawberry filled bucket resulted in this delicious pie.

This pie was the delicious result of a Saturday morning at Whittamore's Farm!  We picked so many fresh Ontario strawberries and couldn't think of a better way to use them all up before they went bad.  So we created a slightly healthified version of Martha Stewart's strawberry icebox pie.  It was a fairly simple pie, definitely easier than the last Martha recipe I slaved away at and not to mention an extra tasty way to enjoy fresh strawberries!

This is the cutest, sweetest, most loving boy I know.  You might want to think about finding yourself one of these once you realize how many strawberries need to be hulled and thinly sliced.  BUT good luck finding one as good as mine.

graham cracker crust:

- 1½ cups graham crumbs

- 4 tbsp margarine or butter

- 2 tbsp brown sugar

- pinch of salt

strawberry glaze:

- 2 cups sliced strawberries

- ¼ - ½ cup water

- ½ cup sugar

- 1½ tsp slenda

- ¼ tsp cornstach

- ¼ tsp salt

strawberry pie filling:

- 6 cups sliced strawberries

- whole strawberries to garnish

- ½ cup whipping cream to garnish

- 1 tbsp sugar

*the original recipe for this pie calls for quite a bit of sugar and sweetness, especially in addition to the natural sweetness of the fresh strawberries.  SO I used one less tbsp of sugar in the crust,  one less tbsp of sugar in the whipped cream, I used water in the glaze instead of cranberry juice AND I substituted splenda to make up a quarter of the sugar called for in the glaze (1½ tsp splenda = ¼ cup sugar).  I must say this pie was more than sweet enough with my adjustments (and I have a huge sweet tooth) and tasted delicious despite the splenda AND you could easily use even less sugar.

I made the graham crust first and the strawberry glaze after while the strawberries were being prepared.  

for the crust:

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Spray or lightly grease a 9-inch pie plate.  Melt and cool margarine.  Combine graham crumbs, sugar, salt and margarine.  Press mixture to cover bottom and sides of pie plate.  Bake 10-12 minute until slightly browned.  Let cool completely.

for the strawberry glaze:

Combine the 2 cups of strawberries, water, sugar, splenda, cornstarch and salt in a pot over medium-high heat.  Mash strawberries gently.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer.  Stir frequently until very thick. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

for the strawberry pie filling:

Stir the 6 cups of fresh strawberries into the glaze pot.  Coat fresh strawberries completely. Pour into the cooled crust.  Refrigerate for 4 hours.  

After your long wait, with an electric hand mixer beat ½ cup of whipping cream and tbsp of sugar (or more depending on your sweet-tooth) until peaks form.  With spatula spread whipped cream over pie.  Leave a border around the edge to show strawberries. Throw a couple whole strawberries on top.  Enjoy!

a healthful hint:

Less sugar overall means less calories and less insulin spike.  When you intake a lot of simple sugars your insulin secretion levels are increased to help transport sugar from your blood to your tissues.  This ends up causing a large decrease of sugar in your blood and a large excess of energy in your tissues.  The sugar decrease in the blood causes fatigue or a "sugar crash" and the excess energy in the tissues ends up being stored as fat.  BUT polyphenol antioxidants in strawberries do help to regulate blood sugar levels which will also reduce this insulin spike.  On another note, use your strawberries as soon as you can and don't cut them until you are ready to use them!  Storage for longer than 2 days allows for major antioxidant and nutrient loss.  Vitamin C can also be destroyed by oxygen so once the berry is cut these nutrient levels start decreasing.  You could easily leave the strawberries whole (especially if they're cute fresh Ontario strawberries) to give you the greastest nutritional benefits AND save time on preparation.  BUT the fact that the majority of the strawberries in this pie are fresh, you'll be getting a nice helping of vitamin C because it hasn't been disrupted by high temperatures!