Father's Day "Festivities"

For the first time ever we have no children at home for Father's Day this year. Our oldest is working and the younger two are visiting their grandparents. We aren't doing anything fun, either. A couple weeks ago our garden irrigation system suddenly lost pressure and stopped working and we've been trying to fix it ever since. I say "we" although all I do is turn the water on and off and hand things to my husband, so I'm not really all that involved. I did go to the store and buy the wrong part and then managed to lose the receipt, so I will be listing that on eBay soon! Our washing machine also died this week, so we had to order a new one. That caused such a big dent in the bank account we don't have any money to go out and do anything. Never fear, though, we did have a Father's Day special supper earlier in the week.

My parents stopped on their way home from Ohio to pick up our kids and visit so I made a big special dinner and we celebrated Mother's Day, Father's Day, and my parents' birthdays all at once. While shopping for the supper I saw a strawberry pie at the grocery. It was the kind of pie I used to buy every spring, with strawberries suspended in a kind of gel and a thick topping of especially light, fluffy stuff that tastes like whipped cream but holds its shape when piped like buttercream frosting. I wanted to buy that pie in the worst way! However, I've read enough books on nutrition to know the berries in the pie don't make up for the load of chemicals, artificial colors and flavors, and hydrogenated oils, and besides our diabetic son couldn't eat it. I decided to try to make a Keto version and I'm happy to say it turned out beautifully and really hit the spot! Here's the recipe:

Keto Strawberry Pie
Serves 10
Takes 3+ hours to prepare and chill.

Keto Pie Crust:
1/2 C Coconut Flour
1/2 C Almond Flour
1/3 C Unsalted Butter, chilled and cubed
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Granular Monkfruit Sweetener
5 Tbsp Ice Water

Topping:
1 Pint Heavy Cream
10 Drops Vanilla Liquid Monkfruit Sweetener
1 Packet Unflavored Gelatin

Filling:
1 Quart Strawberries, chopped
1 C Water
1-2 packets Unflavored Gelatin
1/2 C Granular Monkfruit Sweetener
1 tsp Vanilla

To make the pie crust:
Mix flours together thoroughly. Blend in salt and sweetener. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle with ice water and mix in until the mixture forms a dough which can be shaped into a ball. Place the ball of dough in a greased pie pan and press out with your fingertips until the dough evenly covers the pan and the edge. Shape the edge with a fork or your fingers to make a decorative border. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit 10 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside.

To make the topping: 
Whip cream with the sweetener until it forms stiff peaks. Sprinkle a little water over one packet of gelatin. Stir the gelatin with a fork until it dissolves. Fold the gelatin into the cream and gently blend until it is evenly distributed. Cover the cream and chill until ready to use.

To make the filling:
Combine the berries, water, granular monkfruit, and vanilla. Blend until the sweetener dissolves. Bring to a boil. Stir in 1-2 packets of gelatin until they dissolve (I used 2 packets but I think 1 would probably have been sufficient; use 2 if you want a very stiff filling to display cut pieces well). Allow to cool to lukewarm, but not until the mixture is stiffening. Pour the mixture into the baked pie crust. Chill 2-3 hours until set. Pipe the whipped cream in decorative swirls over the pie. You can serve immediately or make this ahead and chill until you're ready to serve. I used home grown berries, which are tiny enough to add to the filling whole, and have a much more intense flavor than store-bought berries. If you use store berries you will need to chop them into bite-sized pieces and you may need less sweetener.

I'm glad I got a chance to enjoy my pie, because while the kids are away I think I"m going to do a zero carb fast or a water fast; I haven't decided which yet. I used berries from our garden so I threw in a few ripe blueberries and it was delicious. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

In retail news, I have all my men's fashions discounted in my Poshmark boutique for Father's Day. I hope you'll stop by and pick up a cool gift for Dad! A few days ago Etsy suddenly announced they are not only raising seller's fees but also taxing shipping, so I was forced to raise prices across the board in that shop. To ease the transition I have everything discounted through June 24th. If you've been wanting something from the Etsy shop please stop by before then to get the lower price. You can link to all my shops from the Home page.