Hi Wendy -

I noticed that the above recipes are not your classic strawberry-rhubarb pie, since they all use jello - they sound good, but are not the basic pie I think you must be looking for.

Use a basic two crust pie recipe, which I'm assuming you have - place the following fruit in the bottom of an unbaked pie crust in a glass pie plate (metal makes for a soggy bottom crust)

(Preheat oven to approx. 415-420 degrees for the first part)

For 8 inch pie, use 3 cups rhubarb cut into 1 inch pieces, and 1 cup strawberries, sliced at least in half. To these add 1 cup sugar, or slightly more if strawberries are tart - I usually make it one and one-fourth cups just because the rhubarb is also very tart - it's a matter of taste. Because both rhubarb and strawberries have lots of liquid in them, I use 1/4 cup Minute Tapioca for the thickening agent. Add to fruit and stir in well before pouring into bottom pie crust. Dot the top with about 3 dots of butter, top with crust, cut nice design into top crust to let steam out, and then sprinkle some white sugar over top crust. This makes for a really pretty pie top, and adds to the crispiness of the top crust.

Put into the pre-heated 420 degree oven for approx. 15-20 minutes until it starts to brown on the edges very slightly, then turn heat down to 375 for another 25-30 minutes, or until juices are bubbling through several of the holes in the crust.

Remove for cooling on rack.

Enjoy - Note: some people use flour as the thickening agent, I prefer the minute tapioca as the juices are more clear than cloudy.

Personally, I think the biggest mistake people make when doing pies is not having that first 15 minutes at high heat, and also, using metal or foil pie tins - glass works best for browning and sealing that bottom crust and avoiding gummy bottom crusts.

Hope your father in law enjoys it and how nice of you to want to do this for him!