ORC Week 3: Starting Built-in Storage for my Loft Studio

It's Week 3 of the One Room Challenge and so far I've laid new flooring and hung wallpaper and new lighting. We spent last week on a road trip to visit my two eldest nieces at their colleges and enjoy some fall leaves so I didn't make a lot of progress on my Loft Studio for this week's update. I did start working on my built-in storage, however. I already owned two 8 drawer Hemnes dressers so my plan is to modify them to look built-in.

Since I'm planning to use 3-1/4" tall baseboard in the room I started by cutting down the dresser legs so that I'd have a 3/4" reveal under the bottom row of drawers. To avoid any tear out I taped up the legs with some painter's tape before cutting them with my circular saw. This would have been much easier to do with the dressers unassembled, but I didn't feel like taking them apart.

I wanted the dresser to sit flush against the wall so next I trimmed down the right side of the top, scribing it to the wall.

Since nothing in my 140+ year house is plumb or square, it turns out that I had a gap between the sloped ceiling and the back of the dresser on the right side so I cut a filler piece and tacked it on the back. Once it is caulked and painted it should look seamless.

My plan is to add a bookcase with paper storage on the end of the dresser so I needed to add some filler pieces to make everything work. To extend the top I ripped down a portion of the top that I previously cut off from the right side. For the filler piece along the side I used a 1x3 and attached it with pocket holes from the back.

While I was sliding the drawers into the frame I swapped out the knobs that came with the dresser for some fun brass ring pulls. I think they really elevate the dresser.

Even though I am far from done, I couldn't resist setting out a few of my storage items including a vintage ceramic toast holder that I'm using to store quilting templates and a blue glass jar from Belgium that stores my Sharpies.

Next up I need to replicate the same process for the second dresser on the opposite side. I also plan to build the bookcases to go at the end of the dressers and then I can install the baseboard. Hopefully I'll make good progress this weekend!

ORC Week 2: Wallpaper and Lighting for my Loft Studio

With the tedious job of installing new flooring complete in my Loft Studio, I turned my attention to adding some wallpaper and new lighting to the space for Week 2 of the One Room Challege. This loft space overlooks my bedroom so I decided not to paint the sloped ceiling because it extends to the bedroom and the color already works well for that space. I did decide to have a little fun and add some color and pattern on the back wall with wallpaper since that won't be visible from my bedroom.

I wanted something that was fun but not overpowering and when I saw this Navy Saybrook wallpaper I thought it was perfect. To me it looks like a modernized version of waves from a Japanese Edo-era painting, like Kuniyoshi's "Life of Nichiren: A Vision of Prayer on the Waves". I'm a Senior Engineering Manager at Toyota R&D and have been lucky enough to live in Japan and visit over twenty times in my career so I thought this was a nice subtle nod to that part of my life.

This wallpaper is peel and stick so it was really easy to install. Normally with wallpaper you start in a corner but with this triangular wall I thought it made sense to center the first strip in the middle of the wall. The wallpaper is 20.5" wide so I used my 4 ft. level to mark a plumb line 10.25" from the center. I then peeled off the backing a little at a time and hung the first piece aligned to my pencil line. Once the first piece was in place it was straightforward to hang the rest of the wall paper making sure that the pattern matched at the seams. When I was done I used my utility knife to cut the excess along the ceiling. 

To make the wallplates for the switches and outlets on the wall to disappear I also covered them with wallpaper. I cut out a piece of wallpaper that matched the area a few inches wider than the wallplate. I then held the wallplate in place against the wall and then aligned the wallpaper piece to match the wall pattern and pressed it to the wallplate until it stuck. I cut the excess wallpaper off, leaving about 3/8" and then folded the edges around the wallplate. After cutting out the switch openings it was ready to install. I love that with the pattern of the wallpaper the switches and outlets almost disappear.

With the wallpaper hung it was time to move on to lighting. It took me a little while to find the right sconces because with the slope of the wall they can't be too wide or too tall. I thought brass would look nice against the blue and white wallpaper and finally settled on a pair of brass sconces with white milk glass globes by Elk Lighting. They were straightforward to install and I'm really happy with how they look.

Several of the things that I ordered online have started to arrive, like my yellow desk chairs, and I am excited to see the space start shaping up. Next up, I will be starting on the built-ins along the sides... 

ORC Week 1: Plans for my Loft Studio (Plus Laying New Flooring)

I have a tendency (which my husband hates!) of starting and not finishing house projects. To spur myself on, I thought I'd join the One Room Challenge this year as a guest participant. My hope is that with a deadline I'll not only begin but also actually complete transforming my attic loft space into a craft studio. I've got a lot of ambitious plans that I'm doing myself but I always like a challenge.

Back when I first bought my home in 2007 and renovated the main part of the house I created my bedroom by combining two small bedrooms and lofting the ceiling. While I was at it I created a loft attic space that overlooks the bedroom in the space above the upstairs bathroom, hallway and closet. It’s a great bonus space but it’s sat unused all these years. Recently I decided to finally make use of the space and use it to create a craft studio for myself. Here is the space as it looked at the beginning of September.

It's bland at the moment, but I think it has a lot of potential. At 18' x 13' it's a generous size but I need to be creative in laying things out since the sloped ceiling and attic ladder restrict things. My plan for the loft studio is to create a space with a lot of storage, a nice sized work space and a cozy reading nook. I've never made a mood board before since I'm generally someone who evolves spaces over time, but it was fun.

1. Sconce | 2. Paper Storage | 3. Drawer Pulls | 4. Vintage Fabric | 5. Wallpaper | 6. Dresser | 7. Drawer Unit | 8. Desk Chair | 9. Flooring | 10. Armchair | 11. Ottoman | 12. Vintage Rug | 13. Vintage Storage Jars | 14. Dresser

To start I'm adding new flooring (9) with some fun wallpaper (5) on the back wall and new lighting (1) with a pretty vintage Turkish rug (12) to anchor the space. Right now there isn't a railing around the attic ladder opening, so I plan to build a guard rail but I'm still contemplating the design. I'm going to use two dressers (14) that I already own to create built-ins along the side walls and then also build some custom bookcases and integrate paper storage (2) into them. To create a workspace I plan to modify another dresser (6) as part of the desk and will tuck extra drawer units (7) underneath for more storage. I picked cheerful yellow chairs (8) for desk seating and a large comfy blue armchair (10) and ottoman (11) for the reading nook, with pillows I'll make from some vintage fabric (4). For some finishing touches I'm upgrading the hardware on the dressers with brass ring pulls (3) and have a few vintage ceramic jars for visible storage (13).  I'm sure as I get into things my plan will change, but this is what I'm thinking right now.

I got a jump on the space in mid-September by getting rid of the cheap carpeting I had installed 13 years ago and putting in some new flooring. I used a utility knife to cut the carpet and pad into manageable sized pieces and then rolled them up, securing them with twine. My husband helped me out by lugging the rolled up pieces down to the garage for me. Thank you, Frank!

Next up was the tedious job of removing all of the carpet pad staples and carpet tack strips. I used pliers to attack the staples and a small pry bar to pull up the tack strips. Working along the back wall was quick work but where the ceiling met the ground was the worst since I had to crouch or lay on my side to fit.

After all the staples and tack strips were removed, I was back to bare plywood subfloor and ready to lay down the underlayment which creates a moisture and sound barrier for the flooring. The underlayment I bought had a grid pattern on it which made it easy to cut to size with a utility knife and a straight edge. After I laid each piece I taped the seams creating a seal.

With the prep work done it was finally time to lay flooring. My house is 140+ years old so I chose to have hardwood and tile in the rest of the house since those floorings are fitting with the age of the house. This is an attic space, however, and not wanting to spend the time and expense of laying hardwood I settled on Memphis Light Oak laminate flooring. Another added benefit of the laminate is that it is only 8mm thick which is nice in a room where headroom is at a premium.

Laying the laminate was pretty easy and much less time consuming than hardwood because it is a floating floor. As with any flooring getting the first row perfect was important to prevent any issues in laying subsequent rows. I decided to install the flooring perpendicular to the back wall for a few reasons. My flooring joists run parallel to the back wall so this installation orientation allows the flooring to be perpendicular to the joists. Aesthetically, it makes for less busy sight lines and is in the same direction as the natural light source coming from the windows in my bedroom. Finally, with the way the ceiling slopes at the sides, installing it parallel to the back wall would have caused me to have to leave a large space along the side walls because some clearance is needed during installation to angle the planks and to click in place.  

Installation was pretty straightforward, just angle the tongue of the plank into the groove of the previous row and click in place. To close the gap with the adjacent piece, I used a scrap piece as a tapping block to prevent damaging the tongue and hammered until the joint was tight. For the last plank of a row I used a puller bar to get the joints tight.

Not having to use a flooring nailer combined with the laminate being much wider than the 2-1/4" hardwood flooring that I have in the rest of my house made this a much quicker job than installing hardwood. The most time consuming thing was that to make my end cuts I had to run down two flights of stairs and out to my garage to use my miter saw since I didn't want to bring it inside and create a lot of saw dust. I used my circular saw and jigsaw to make the cuts around the attic ladder opening and heating vent.

I noticed two things that I had to be careful of that weren't really a factor when laying hardwood. Since the floor is floating, if you don't have wall spacers when you tap your planks in place it is easy for the planks to move and hit the wall, eliminating your expansion gap. Secondly, after a only a handful of hits with the hammer the laminate tapping block starts to shred so I needed to replace it every few rows of flooring. It was important to keep sweeping up the splintered off pieces to make sure that the underlayment didn't have any debris on it when adding new planks.

Laying the final rows were the worst because of the cramped headroom. I had to rip down the last row on my table saw to get them to fit and then had to lay on my side while tapping in the pieces. I was quite happy when it was done and I think the result is a nice blank space to create a functional and pretty craft studio.

Next up is wallpaper and new lighting!

DIY Letterpress Holiday Cards with Foil Accents

Happy holidays! This year we got snow on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so we are enjoying a cozy white Christmas here in Michigan. It's been a busy month but I managed to finish making our holiday cards and mail them out a few days ago.

For the design this year I wanted to do letterpress again since I have enough navy ink left over from making our letterpress wedding invitations to last a lifetime. I created a simple greeting "Happy Holidays from the DiMaggios" using Adobe Illustrator and then ordered a letterpress plate through Boxcar Press.

To make the invitations I used the tools that I previously used for my past letterpress projects, Lifestyle Crafts Letterpress Combo Kit, letterpress plate, two pieces of acrylic plexiglass, a palette knife and a rubber brayer. For these cards I also used Crane's Lettra Pearl White 220lb Cover which is my favorite because due its thickness you can make a really lovely impression with it. I buy it in 8-1/2 x 11 sheets which I cut in half to print the cards and then later cut down.

I've explained my letterpress process in this previous post which has all the details but the number one tip is that you need way less ink than you think. Practice makes perfect and over time I am becoming happier with the quality of the impressions when I print and at the same time I am managing to get less ink stains on my hands. It now takes me less than a minute to ink the plate and print each card.

After printing the cards I wanted to add a foil detail along the bottom so I drew a little snowscape design on my computer using Silhouette Studio. Since I knew that my final card was going to be 7" wide I made sure to make my design a quarter inch wider. Once I was happy with the design I copied it across the workspace so I could cut 7 at a time and then used my Silhouette to cut the design out of blue adhesive foil. If you don't have a Silhouette you can make a pattern from cardboard and then trace and cut out the design by hand.

I applied the foil designs along the bottom of the cards and then trimmed the cards down to 7" x 5" to fit into A7 sized envelopes. Because of the thickness of the 220 lb. stock I used to bring my cards to Kinko's and use their paper cutter to trim down cards. However, a few months ago I picked up a huge 24" x 24" paper cutter at a second hand shop for $20 which is perfect for handling the thick stock. Despite being a little worn from a previous life in an elementary school art department, the paper cutter was super sharp and I was able to quickly trim all of the cards. Making the cards oversized and then cutting them down ensures that the edges of the foil design line up with card perfectly.

With the cards finished I mailed them off to our friends and family. It was fun to add the blue foil to the design this year and I'll have to come up with a different unique touch for next year. Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season and a happy 2018!

If you are interested you can check out some more of my handmade holiday cards here and here.

DIY Letterpress Holiday Cards

I love to make our annual holiday cards and this year I decided to do a simple letterpress card. I previously had made our letterpress wedding invitations a few years ago so I had the benefit of some lessons learned this time around. I already had plenty of navy ink that I had previously custom ordered for the wedding invitations and my Lifestyle Crafts Letterpress Combo Kit so all I needed was to order some more paper and create a design. I'm just going to share some basics in this post so for a thorough rundown about the process, check out my wedding invitation post as well as the information from Boxcar Press..

I started by creating my design using Adobe Illustrator with a simple greeting and a few snowflakes. I then ordered my plate through Boxcar Press. They have a minimum size so I like to add on a bunch of other fun things that I may use later, like small designs, greetings or initials. Also, when ordering they will send you extra plate strips for free that you can use as bearings when inking so definitely ask for it in the comments of your order. After receiving the plate I cut out the design using a scissors and removed the blue backing so that I could stick it to the top board of my letterpress bed. 

The big thing that I learned from last time was to start with a very, very small amount of ink and use a large acrylic piece to work with as your base. Instead of using the small piece that came with the kit, I ordered a nice large 12"x12" acrylic piece. I used my ink knife to only spread out a pea sized amount of ink and then worked it with my knife back and forth until it was smooth.

I then transferred only a small amount from my blade onto a second large piece of acrylic and used my rubber brayer to roll it back and forth until I had a very, very light coat of ink on the brayer.

I used some of the polymer plate strips that came with my plate for roller bearers. I didn't do this when I did my wedding invitations (it didn't work well for me then) but this time it resulted in a much better impression. With my brayer loaded with ink, I very lightly rolled it over my letterpress plate. It is very important to only roll once otherwise you will have way too much ink on the plate and you will get a messy impression.

After the plate was inked removed the polymer plate strips and put my paper on the bottom board of the letterpress bed.  I splurged and used the Crane's Lettra Pearl White 220lb Cover again. It is hard to show in pictures but it is amazingly thick and beautiful and I felt it was definitely worth it. Instead of using gage pins to align my paper on the letterpress bed I just aligned it with the markings on the letterpress and then trimmed down the card afterward. 

With the paper in place I carefully flipped the top of the letterpress over the bed. I then put the letterpress bed into the Epic Six and turned the crank which pushed the letterpress bed through the machine. After trimming it down to size my card was complete.

To make sure that I got good impressions, after each print I wiped the sentiment part of the plate clean with a dry cotton rag before reinking. I found that not wiping the snowflakes worked best to make sure that they filled in well. I also found that after trimming the cards down, if it was a little rough on the edges using a very fine sandpaper (600 grit) made it nice and smooth for a professional look.

I am very happy with how the cards came out and hope that our friends and family have enjoyed receiving them this year. It was definitely worth some blue ink stained fingers.

If you are interested you can check out some more of my handmade holiday cards here and here.

Gold Foil Holiday Cards with Hand Drawn Evergreens

Nothing says holiday like a little sparkle so this year I decided to design my holiday cards using black cardstock and gold foil. For an extra touch I also added some evergreen branches that I drew with colored pencils.

To apply the foil design I used my Heidi Swapp Minc Foil Applicator. I started by making designing my card with scattered small dots across the left and my holiday greeting in the lower right corner. I made my cards 5"x7" and fit two on a page. I then printed my card using my laser printer onto black cardstock. The Minc reacts to the toner of laser printing so it won't work with an ink jet printer but you can always bring your print to a copy store to make laser printed copies.

Next I drew my evergreen branches using colored pencils. I started by using brown to draw some branches along the side of the card. I then used light colored green to add pine needles and then added a little shading with a slightly darker colored green.

When I was experimenting with making the cards I tried drawing the evergreens first and then laser printing the design but I found I had much better results when I did the laser printing first.

With the evergreens drawn I placed my cardstock into my Minc transfer folder, layered some gold reactive foil on top, and fed it into my Minc using a setting of 3.

About a minute later it was done and I could peel back the foil to see the gold design where I the laser print had been.

 After I trimmed down my cards to size they were complete.

To send off my cards I used black A7 envelopes I purchased at my local stationary shop, Rock Paper Scissors. As an aside, if you are ever in Ann Arbor you should definitely stop to visit it as well as its sister store, Bed & Butter, which is an amazing shop to pick up things for your home. To match the gold foil on the cards I addressed the envelopes with a gold metallic Sharpie.

I really like how the cards turned out. The gold foil is festive and the hand drawn evergreens are a personal touch and make each card unique. Now I'm off to the post office to drop them in the mail...

Cranberry Orange Cream Tart

I like to cook but I love to make desserts. Whether it is a work potluck or a family dinner I always sign up for making dessert. This past summer I made a berry mint cream tart to bring to a picnic. I loved the recipe and thought it would be fun to adapt the flavor to cranberry orange for the winter plus beef up the pastry a bit since I like a thicker crust. The result was a beautiful tart that tasted even better than it looked. It is definitely time consuming but worth the effort for a special occasion. I made this for Thanksgiving but I think it would also be fantastic for Christmas dinner or a New Years party.

Ingredients
5 cups fresh cranberries
4 cups sugar, divided
3 cups caster (superfine) sugar 
3 cups water
1 cup milk
zest of 2 large oranges
3 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided
1/2 cup heavy cream, chilled
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
raw rice or pie weights for weighting down the shell    

Sugared Cranberries
- Make a simple syrup by heating the water and 3 cups of sugar in a pot until all the sugar dissolves
- After letting the simple syrup cool for ten minutes pour the cranberries into the pot
- Allow cranberries to steep for at least two hours
- Pour the caster sugar in a shallow dish, drain cranberries and then roll them in the caster sugar until coated
- Place sugared cranberries on wax paper and allow to dry 

Orange Cream
- Pour milk in a small saucepan and grate the peel of the oranges directly into the milk
- Bring the milk to a boil, remove from heat and then let stand for five minutes
- In a separate saucepan whisk together the egg yolks, 1/2 cup sugar, cornstarch and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Whisking constantly bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat causing the mixture to become very thick
- Continue to whisk the pastry cream while simmering for three minutes
- Place the pastry cream in a bowl, cover the surface with plastic wrap and then refrigerate until cool and firm
- Beat heavy cream until stiff peaks are formed
- Whisk pastry cream until it is smooth and then fold in the whipping cream until thouroughly incorporated 

Tart Shell
- Cream the butter with 1/2 cup sugar, salt and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 
- Mix in the flour until a soft dough forms
- Butter a 10-inch tart pan with a removable fluted rim
- Press the dough in the tart pan covering the bottom and up the side of the pan
- Chill the shell for 30 minutes and prick the shell all over with a fork
- Line the shell with foil and fill the foil with the rice or pastry weights
- Bake the shell on the lower rack of a preheated 375°F oven for 15 minutes
- Carefully remove the foil (with the rice or pastry weights)
- Continue to bake for an additional 10-12 minutes until it is crisp and golden
- Allow the shell to cool on a rack for 5 minutes, remove the side of the pan and then cool completely 

Tart Assembly
- Spread the orange cream into the bottom of the tart shell using a spatula
- Gently place sugared cranberries on top of the orange cream, covering the entire tart 

Tips and Tricks
- Make sure that the simple syrup has cooled sufficiently before adding the cranberries otherwise you run the risk of the skins splitting
- For efficient time flow I recommend arranging the work as follows
   1) Prepare the simple syrup and let the cranberries steep
   2) Prepare the orange cream up to the point that the pastry cream is chilled in the refrigerator
   3) Make the tart pastry dough and chill
   4) Roll the cranberries in the caster sugar
   5) Bake the pastry shell and allow it to cool
   6) Finish the orange cream with the whipping cream
   7) Assemble the tart
- To make sure that there are no gaps of orange cream showing along the edges I like to place a row of cranberries around the perimeter of the tart first and then fill in the center 

For more dessert recipes try my No-Bake Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes, Caramel Apple Cupcakes, Blackberry Rhubarb Pie or Chocolate Chili Cupcakes

No Bake Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes

Happy Halloween! To celebrate I thought that I would share my recipe for no bake mini pumpkin cheesecakes. They are easy to make plus they are delicious. I made a batch to bring in for my co-workers yesterday and they were a big hit.

Ingredients
- 1-1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 1/3 cup butter
- 3/4 cup brown sugar, divided
- 3/4 tsp. cinnamon, divided
- 1 package (8oz) cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup pumpkin purée
- 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp. ginger
- 1/8 tsp. cloves
- 1 pint whipping cream
- whole pecans (optional for garnish)

Graham Cracker Crust
- Use food processor or rolling pin to create fine graham cracker crumbs
- Melt butter and pour into bowl with graham cracker crumbs, 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- Mix up ingredients with a fork and measure out equally into small dishes
- Press crust into the bottom of small dishes to form bottom crust

Pumpkin Cheesecake Filling
- Mix together cream cheese, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves
- In a separate bowl, whip the whipping cream to stiff peaks and then gently fold it into the pumpkin mixture and top with a pecan for garnish
- Spoon pumpkin cheesecake filling on top of crusts and refrigerate for at least three hours before serving

Tips and Tricks
- You can use canned pumpkin puree, but I prefer to make my own from sugar pumpkins
- For reference I used 2oz square dessert cups for my mini cheesecakes

Autumn Outdoor Dining with Tips for Weeknight Entertaining

Between business trips and personal travel I haven't spent a lot of time at home this summer and haven't had a chance to enjoy our backyard as much as I would have liked. With winter on the horizon I decided to capitalize on the beautiful fall weather and a light work week to do a little backyard entertaining on a Thursday night at the end of September.

When you work full time, entertaining on a weeknight can be a bit of a challenge but with a little bit of planning it is totally doable and a fun way to break up the work week.

When I get home the first thing I always do is set the table. I like to arrange everything, including my serving dishes, and save the cooking for right before my guests arrive to make sure the food is hot. I love this flour sack linen table cloth because it has a little texture to it and I don't need to iron it. A navy runner grounds the center of the table and a few ceramic pumpkins on the ends are a festive seasonal nod.

For the place settings I love to mix and match for a casual look. I used a plain white dinner plate with a handmade butter plate that I bought in Seto along with a small blue and white bowl that I purchased in Tokyo. For a fall look I used my yellow linen napkins. Cloth napkins always look fantastic and to make it easier on myself I always fold and lightly iron them right after I wash them so I have them ready to pull out of my linen cabinet for entertaining.

For flowers, I always pick up something from the grocery store when I shop for the dinner party ingredients. Here I combined two grocery store bouquets, one of greenery and one of sunflowers, in a blue enamel ware pitcher.

I also couldn't resist picking up some mini white pumpkins from the grocery store which I tucked into the blue and white bowls at each place setting.

With the table set, I started cooking. Menu planning is important for weeknight entertaining in order to be sure that you can prepare everything quickly and easily and not stress yourself out. My go to weeknight entertaining menu is a pasta dish with a salad and a baguette.

To make the meal seasonal, I made Martha Stewart's Orecchiette with Butternut Squash and Sage using some sage from my garden. It is easy to make, looks beautiful and tastes like autumn which made it a perfect dish for the evening.

For the salad I used a base of baby kale topped with dried cranberries, goat cheese and pecans and paired with a pomegranate basalmic vinaigrette dressing. If I entertain on the weekend I like to make everything from scratch because I love to cook, but for a weeknight I take a few shortcuts to make it easier on myself. As an example, for this meal I bought already cubed butternut squash from the produce section for the pasta and pre-washed baby kale mix for the salad plus I bought the salad dressing instead of making it. All combined those three shortcuts probably took out 45 minutes of prep time for me and made the meal doable after work.

Little touches always finish off the table for me. I like to put out water in a carafe or pitcher with sliced up lemons and decant my salad dressing into a cute little carafe or dish. It only takes about five extra minutes but it makes the table look more festive and put together.

I also love to have an herbed compound butter to go with the bread. They are easy to make and a great way to use up extra herbs from your garden or cooking. I like to prepare them and keep them in the freezer to pull out when needed.

By keeping a limited menu and doing a few small things that had a nice visual impact I was able to be ready for my guests in about an hour and a half with a beautiful and delicious table of food. With everything finished before my guests arrived I was able to relax and enjoy the rest of the evening with them. Cheers!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Summertime means fresh fruit is in season which obviously means it is time to make pie. One of my favorites is the classic strawberry rhubarb pie. It is my grandfather's favorite and I grew up loving to eat it with him as a special treat.

Ingredients List
- 3 cups rhubarb, cut into 1/2" cubes
- 3 cups strawberries, sliced
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 Tbsp. corn starch
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 large egg, separated
- 1 teaspoon water
- Large granule sugar (optional)
- Double pie crust pastry

Directions
- Cut the rhubarb and place it in a bowl with the strawberries
- In a separate small bowl stir together the sugar, corn starch, cinnamon and salt
- Pour sugar mixture over rhubarb and strawberries, tossing filling to coat the fruit
- Roll out half of the pastry and line the bottom of a pie plate with it, trimming off excess
- Roll out remaining half of the pastry
- Add filling to the pie plate and then top with pastry using lattice crust or other vented style top
- Whisk egg white and water together to make egg wash glaze
- Brush glaze on pie and sprinkle with large granule sugar if you like
- Bake for 20 minutes at 425° F, turn heat down to 350° F and back another 35-40 minutes until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbling

Tips and Tricks
- I make my own crust but you can also use store bought
- To make your pastry easier to deal with, keep it in the refrigerator until you are rolling it out
- To prevent your crust from browning too much, wrap it in tin foil for the first 20 minutes of baking

If you are interested, check out my apple pie recipe, my mixed berry pie recipe, my blackberry rhubarb pie recipe and my recipe for making pie crust from scratch