Since a strawberry rhubarb pie has a fruit filling and far less sugar than you'd find in most cakes, it may seem like a healthy dessert. It certainly can be if you follow a light recipe, but the calorie-rich double crust in the traditional pie makes it a fairly indulgent choice. To get a healthier product, nix the top crust, get some whole grains in the dough and focus on the fruit.
Ingredients
A healthy strawberry rhubarb pie can feature fresh or frozen fruit, which offers a variety of vitamins and minerals without adding many calories or fat to the dessert. For the best flavor, choose the freshest fruit you can find, or pick frozen fruit that has been packaged at the peak of ripeness. In a crust, look for a recipe that's relatively low in fat and contains some whole grains instead of all refined white flour.
Recipe
To make a low-calorie single pie crust, you'll need 1/2 cup of rolled oats, 3 tbsp. of low-fat milk, 1/2 tsp. of vanilla, 2/3 cup of flour, 1/4 cup of sugar, 3/4 tsp. of baking powder, 1/4 tsp. of salt and 2 tbsp. of canola oil. Toast the rolled oats, process them until they're ground and mix them with the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Drizzle in the oil and add the milk and vanilla. Toss the dough until it holds together, knead it several times, roll it out and press it into a pie pan. For filling, mix 1 cup of sliced strawberries and 2 cups of diced rhubarb with 1/4 cup of sugar in a saucepan. Simmer over low heat for about eight minutes. Mix 1 1/2 tbsp. of cornstarch with 1 tbsp. of water, and stir the mixture into the simmering fruit. Cook until thickened and transfer to the refrigerator. Blind bake the pie shell for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees before putting in the fruit filling. "Eating Well" magazine reports that the pie makes eight servings and each has about 185 calories, 4g fat, 3g fiber and 30g carbohydrates.
Alternatives
An oat crust can be crumbly and may not hold its shape as well as a traditional pie crust, despite its nutritional advantages. If you'd rather use shortcrust pastry, make the crust with whole-grain flour to add fiber and complex carbs. Try using half whole-wheat pastry flour, half all-purpose flour and a reduced amount of butter. Reduce sugar in the strawberry rhubarb filling. According to TasteofHome.com, you can successfully reduce sugar by about 25 percent or replace 50 percent of the sweetener with a sugar substitute.
Considerations
If you follow a special diet or have a health condition that prohibits you from eating traditional pie, study the nutrition facts and ingredient labels on any commercial pie carefully before buying and eating it. However, if your goal is simply to cut calories and lose weight, you can do so by filling up on healthy, low-calorie foods and then serving yourself a very small piece of pie to top off a meal. Leave out accompaniments such as ice cream or whipped cream, and make pie just an occasional treat.
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