Summer Berry Pie

I discovered this pie when I crashed my friends family reunion. There was lots of delicious food served and one of the many was this delicious pie that her mom traditionally makes every year for the fourth of July. The day was particularly hot, so it was nice to have a pie that was cold and refreshing. Its a no-bake pie with a JELL-O filling and LOTS of berries. Berries are in season, so its the perfect time of the year to make this pie! Go pick some berries at your local berry farm and make this pie for your festivities!

Side Note: You can choose to make your own crust or buy a pre-made one at the store. I'm usually all about making everything from scratch, but I decided to finally use these crusts that have been sitting in my pantry forever. If you decide to make your own crust, here's a great recipe. 

Summer Berry Pie

Ingredients:

• 3 cups assorted berries
• 1 graham cracker crumb crust (9 inch)
• 1/2 cup sugar 
• 2 Tbsp. corn starch
• 1 & 1/2 cups of DOLE 100% Orange Strawberry Banana Juice (I couldn't find this, so I just used a can of Hawaii Own's Paradise Punch juice. Prepare it as if you were to drink it, and then use it in your recipe)
• 1 pkg. (3 oz) JELL-O Brand Strawberry Gelatin

Instructions:

1. Arrange berries in crust

2. Mix sugar and cornstarch in medium sauce pan and gradually stir in juice until smooth

3. Stirring constantly, cook on medium heat until mixture comes to a boil; boil for 1 minute and then remove from heat

4. Stir in gelatin until completely dissolved.

5. Cool to room temperature before pouring into crust. This is very important, if the mixture is too hot, it will turn your berries into a purée. 

6. Refrigerate for 3 hours pr until firm. 

7. If desired, garnish with Cool Whip and more berries

Notes:

• I used strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries. Kept the raspberries and blueberries whole, but cut the strawberries down into fours and then cut each of those fourths in half if necessary.
• Fresh berries work best, but if you do use frozen berries, be sure to let them thaw out first and drain them before using
• I said this in the ingredients above, but I'll say it down here as well: I couldn't find the DOLE 100% Orange Strawberry Banana Juice, so I used a can juice of Hawaii Own's. Honestly, I think any sort of fruity juice will work. If you do use a canned juice, be sure to prepare it as if you were to drink it, and not just use the stuff straight out of the can. It needs to be diluted with water, otherwise its just basically all sugar. 
• One recipe of the liquid JELL-O mixture was plenty for two pies. I wasn't expecting there to be that much, but that's what ended up happening and tasted great! I think I might've added more berries than expected. But hey, the more berries the merrier! Right? Or the more berries the berrier! 😆😋