Pi DAY
My husband is an engineer and loves Pi day. It’s a favorite joke between him and our daughters, who have memorized Pi out to the most digits.  (3.1415926535897932384626433)   It’s so fun to remember Pi jokes and fresh pie from when our kids lived at home, even though I only know Pi to 3.14…

REAL PIE
I love pie too, but not the mathematical kind. I love strawberry pie. For me, strawberry pie brings memories of my mother teaching me how to make it – memorizing the recipe for her pie crust and then also memorizing the steps to make the strawberry filling. She didn’t use jello in her recipe, she used crushed strawberries sweetened with sugar and thickened with cornstarch, and poured over fresh strawberries topped with the most wonderful whipped cream (not out of a can). I can still smell the strawberry filling cooking. 

MEMORIES
Even though I don’t usually eat pie since I went gluten-free 15 years ago, I can still remember the recipe and the steps to make it.   Both of these memories are important to me and to my children, and to their children too. They are stories of another day and time. What life for me was like before they were even born. 

Some children and grandchildren are more curious than others and ask questions about my life, but all of them eventually want to know where they came from, who they are, because of who their foremothers are.  

YOUR STORY IS RELEVANT
A whole-hearted woman knows that her stories are important to her family. They might not be able to see how their stories are directly relevant to their family, but they know they have been blessed by the stories of women who have gone before them, and they trust that something about their life will be a blessing to their children or grandchildren’s lives.

When we work together in my Becoming A Whole Hearted Woman program, one of the things we will work on is your personal stories.  The turning points that have made you who you are today. You will identify those times when you made a choice in your life that defines who you are. We will write those stories down so you can share them. Those stories help you make sense of your own life and the forces that shape it, and also help your family know, understand and love you even more. They are part of your legacy. 

I love how our stories are part of the legacy to our families, and I decided to include my mother’s strawberry pie recipe below so you can share a little of my family’s legacy. If you are gluten-free like me, you can use gluten-free cookies to make the crust.  I use crushed gluten-free sugar ice cream cones and crushed Pamela’s shortbread pecan cookies for my crust.

STRAWBERRY PIE RECIPE

• 1 baked pie shell
• 8 cups fresh strawberries, washed and hulled
• ¾ c. sugar
• 3 T cornstarch
• ½ c. water
• 1 c. heavy whipping cream
• 2 T powdered sugar
• ½ t. Vanilla
• Puree enough strawberries (10-12 ounces)  to make 1 cup of puree. In a saucepan, whisk together the sugar and cornstarch, then add the water and the puree. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly until the mixture is thick. Set aside and cool to room temperature. 
• Arrange the whole strawberries in the pie shell and then spoon the glaze over them.
• Refrigerate for two hours.
• Mix the whipping cream in a mixer, and add the vanilla and powdered sugar when it starts forming peaks.
• Top each slice of pie with a big spoonful of whipped cream.

Oh, and enjoy eating with family and friends!