Simple Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

It's a rainy, yucky day, where we can't go on a walk or to a park, so we put our aprons on (yes, she has a matching toddler apron) and baked a pie with some of the rhubarb my mom brought from her garden. I looked through several recipes online and they all seemed really complicated, so I simplified this up with what I had available. I made my own crust from scratch, because I like to, even though it inevitably falls apart and looks horrible in the end. It's always tastier when you use real butter and your fingers.

Ingredients for Crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup butter (softened)
4-5 Tbsp cold water

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl, first with a spatula and then with your hands, until it forms a large dough ball. Then break the ball in half and roll out each side, one for the bottom of the pan (a regular 9-inch pie pan, greased, floured, and pricked with a fork) and one for the top of the pie.

Ingredients for Filling:

2 cups (or so) fresh rhubarb, chopped and rinsed
2 cups/1 pint fresh rinsed strawberries, de-stemmed and chopped
1 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp flour
1/2 lemon- all of the zest and juice
1 Tbsp butter

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Pour evenly into the bottom crust, sprinkling bits of the last pad of butter over the top of the filling, then top with the top crust, slicing an X in the center and pushing down the edges with a fork.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes.

Simple Blueberry Crisp

Like I said before, I've had an empty frozen pie crust hanging out in the freezer for a few days now. There isn't a whole lot of room on the counter where I'm currently living, so I didn't really want to clear myself a space just to roll out one half of pie crust dough for a full blueberry pie. I've never had a blueberry crumble or anything before, so I pooled my memories of making an apple brown betty along with flavors that would fit a blueberry pie, and threw this little masterpiece together.

Ingredients:

1 frozen deep-dish pie crust shell
6 cups blueberries (thawed under warm water if using frozen)
1 stick butter, softened
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
dash of ground allspice

Set the pie crust on a pizza baking pan (for support) and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Pour in the rinsed blueberries.

In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients, then add the butter and mix until crumbles form.

Sprinkle all over the top of the blueberries, then bake for 35-40 minutes.