Family Day Out & Strawberry Pie

With a toddler still in the stages of growing confident on his feet, we tend to spend most of our time making sure that he doesn't fall, being watchful of what he is putting into his mouth and keeping his hands off the floor. Our latest day out as a family saw us leave all of that mentality behind and letting him pretty much run riot. We went strawberry picking and Clayton absolutely loved it. 

We ended up at a small farm in the Northamptonshire countryside that offered pick your own facilities for a handful of fruits and opted to pick strawberries and raspberries. We practically had the farm to ourselves and with soft ground and very little risk on show we were able to let Clayton roam free with us. As soon as he realised what we were there to do, the worry of what he was going to put into his mouth even disappeared because all he was interested in was the fruit. We gathered armfuls of delicious red strawberries, ate a few along the way and tried to convince the vendor that our little munchkin definitely hadn't stolen any during the picking process. She laughed when we told her and I don't know if that's because she found my face funny or could see the smeared strawberry juice all over our little hunter gatherers cheeks!

Picking your own fruit is a fantastic family activity, particularly with younger children. Not only is it an activity carried out in fresh air, but it encourages so many skills and senses. Clayton spent the whole time walking, crawling, touching, tasting, grabbing, pulling and putting things in and out of a bucket. He benefited so much from the experience and loved the strawberries despite not showing much of an interest in that particular fruit prior to the day we went picking. 

Regular readers will know that I'm part way through a 10 week 'eat clean and train dirty' challenge and although that meant I could devour my fill of the freshly picked strawberries, the strawberry pie I usually bake on days like this one was off limits. Off limits however doesn't cut it with a wife who's 9 months pregnant and expecting strawberry pie, and so I finished the afternoon off by baking a pie that I knew I couldn't eat. It always goes down well and so, here's my recipe should you feel like treating yourself.

Strawberry Pie Recipe:

Ingredients.

Block of sweet shortcrust pastry (Make your own or buy premixed)

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

1/3 cup white flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 cups of chopped fresh strawberries

4 teaspoons unsalted butter

1 teaspoon of brown sugar

Method.

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the sugar, flour and cinnamon. Mix gently through the strawberries, coating them all with your sugar mixture.

Roll out your pastry to 1cm thick and fill out your pie dish, saving enough pastry for a lid. 

Pour your strawberry filling into the pastry lined dish and add your butter a teaspoon at a time atop the filling.

Cut your pastry lid to size and top your pie. Seal and flute the edges and cut 4 slits in the top. Sprinkle your brown sugar over the top of your pie.

Bake for 40 minutes or until the crust is browned.

The filling will be hot and sticky, so be careful and make sure you allow the pie to fully cool before serving.