Lemon Icebox Pie

Some desserts are just retro, evoking another time and place, and a different generation of cooks so enamored of an appliance that they created recipes especially for it—icebox pickles, icebox pie, icebox cookies are just some of the ones that come to my mind. Do we even have an equivalent to that today?

I have been making this Icebox Lemon Pie all of my married life. It was a recipe in an actual newspaper, that I had to actually cut out, save somewhere, and dig out when I wanted to make it (now who’s retro?).

This pie starts with a crisp and buttery graham cracker shell baked until just golden brown. I have to insist on REAL graham crackers here, ones that actually contain graham flour. They are the best by far, and I think you can really tell the difference.

Next comes a smooth, sweet, tart lemon filling topped off with billowy clouds of the lightest meringue. Pop it into the oven until the top is beautifully caramelized, then chill for a good long while. Yum, yum, yum! Definitely one of my favorite spring and summer desserts.

I know winter is still hanging on in some places, but here in Texas, we are enjoying our last few weeks days of bug free afternoons, sweat free barbecues, and soft spring breezes.  Lemon Icebox Pie—it’s the perfect end to a spring meal!

Lemon Icebox Pie
Having clipped only the recipe part out of the newspaper, I don’t have any source or date listed for this recipe and online searches of the Statesman archive proved fruitless, so to the original author of this recipe, I'm sorry.

For the pie shell:
1½ cups graham cracker crumbs (about nine full sheets of graham crackers. I use the Nabisco ones in the red box)
6 Tbls. Butter
1/3 cup sugar

For the pie:
3 egg yolks (save the whites for the meringue)
½ cup lemon juice (about 4-6 lemons depending on their size and juiciness)
1  14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk

For the meringue:
3 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/3 cup sugar

Turn your oven to 350', then separate your eggs. It’s easiest to separate eggs when they are cold, but they beat up the best when room temperature. By separating your eggs in the very beginning, your whites have time to warm up while you make the rest of your pie.

Melt the butter in a medium bowl. Add graham cracker crumbs and sugar. Stir with a fork to combine thoroughly, then press into an 8 or 9-inch pie plate and bake at 350' for 8-10 minutes until lightly browned. Cool crust for about 15 minutes, keep oven at 350'.

Wipe out the bowl you used to make the crust and add the 3 egg yolks, the can of sweetened condensed milk, and the lemon juice. Beat until smooth and set aside.

In a mixing bowl or stand mixer, beat the egg whites with ¼ tsp. cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Slowly add the sugar a little bit at a time until stiff glossy peaks form.

Pour the lemon filling into the slightly cooled crust then dollop the meringue on top and smooth it out to seal the top of the crust. Bake at 350' for 12-15 minutes, until the top is lightly golden brown. Cool at room temperature for about an hour, then refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

 

 

 

Strawberry Corn Muffins

Because even though they are cute, I could not bear to look at the penguins any longer. :) These are a great housewarming gift. Recipe here.

Cheese Ball Igloo and Penguins

Aren't these just the cutest penguins? When I first made these back in 2008, I had plans to make a marching band of all eighteen penguins as called for in the original recipe. on Christmas morning. when I had nothing else to do :P. Silly girl. So, I modified my plan and made an igloo out of my favorite cheese ball recipe and smattered a reasonable amount of penguins around it. If you are equally insane, let's talk details.

Start with your favorite cheese ball recipe. Any white-ish recipe will do but this is my favorite. Reserve about 1 oz. of the plain cream cheese before you measure everything out, we're going to use that for our penguins. Mix up your cheese ball and let it get thoroughly chilled, this will make it easier to shape.

Initial Party

This cake makes me deliriously happy. It turned out even better than I envisioned and that doesn't happen often! I started with this inspiration for an Initial Party. Then I was inspired by a bunch of different cakes that formed into one plan for this cake (more cake details, below).

I cut out a bunch of Ps in different fonts and sizes and attached them to a white tablecloth with double-sided tape.

Wedge Salad

Only in Texas could you create a salad so big that it requires a fork and a knife to eat it. Truthfully, I don't think that the wedge salad was created in Texas but we Texans like to claim the origin of many things :).

Wedge salads have been on the trend in the last couple of years, but if you don’t know what I’m talking about, then let me fill you in. A wedge salad consists of a big wedge of crisp lettuce (there is no room for snobbery here, only crunchy iceberg will do), drizzled with chunky blue cheese dressing (ranch dressing will work as well, if you have an aversion to blue cheese), sprinkled with sweet cherry tomatoes, crisp bacon pieces, and finished off with crunchy croutons. Have I sold you on this yet?

I came up with these croutons when I realized I forgot to buy croutons and could not bear to put myself into a hot car to go to the crowded grocery store just for one thing. We’re made of tougher stuff than that, right? We don’t need no stinkin’ store to have croutons.

Wedge Salad with Salt-and-Smoked Pepper Croutons
Serves 4 as a side dish or 2 as a main course salad

For the croutons:
1 ½  cups  large bread cubes from about 2 slices bread (mine were about 1x1x1/2 inch cubes)
2 Tbls. olive oil
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. smoked black pepper (if you can’t get smoked pepper, coarse ground black pepper will work too)

In a large bowl, toss the bread cubes with olive oil, salt, and smoked pepper. Spread the bread cubes out on a cookie sheet and bake at 350', stirring a few times, for 10-15 minutes until lightly golden and crisp. Alternatively, you can cook these over medium-high heat in a cast iron skillet for about 5 minutes, stirring often, until crisp and lightly golden. Let cool completely.

For the dressing:
2 oz. crumbled blue cheese
1/3 cup regular or light sour cream
2 Tbls. regular or light mayonnaise
¾ tsp. Worcestshire sauce
2-3 Tbls. buttermilk or regular milk

Mash blue cheese in a bowl, then mix in mayo, sour cream, and Worcestshire. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in 2 Tbls. buttermilk, adding another tablespoon if it’s still too thick. You want to be able to drizzle this over your lettuce but not have it run all over the plate. It’s best if you make this at least one hour before you assemble the wedges. Cover and store in refrigerator up to one week.

For the salad:
1 large head iceberg lettuce, well chilled
12-15 small cherry or grape tomatoes
1/4 cup. crumbled cooked bacon (about 2 slices)
1-1/2 cups croutons
1/4 to 1/3 cup Blue Cheese or Ranch Dressing

Peel off the first couple of outer leaves of your iceberg lettuce. With the bottom of the iceberg facing the counter, give your iceberg a sharp smack on the counter to release the lettuce core. This should make it easy to flip the lettuce over and remove the core. Cut the iceberg in half lengthwise, then cut one half into 2 wedges for a main dish salad or 4 wedges for a side salad. Place lettuce wedges on a plate and drizzle each wedge with 2-3 Tbls. dressing for a big salad or 1-2 Tbls. for a side salad. Sprinkle with bacon crumbles, cherry tomatoes, and croutons. Sprinkle with additional pepper if desired.

Menu Plan

Broiled Fish Fillets; Watermelon, Orange, and Feta Salad; Corn Fritters

Fajitas, Guacamole, Sauteed Peppers and Onions

Buffalo Chicken Meatballs, Buttered Noodles, Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Blueberry Sour Cream Pie

Frozen Grapes (not really a recipe, but if you hadn't tried this, do! So much healthier than a popsicle.)

Lemon Tuna Avocado Snack

It all starts so innocently. You're going along, happy with your life, having no urges at all. Soon you find yourself sneaking quick looks when no one else is watching, hastily turning away if they make eye contact; you don't want anyone to think you're a weirdo! You peek in the windows of "those" stores but aren't brave enough to go in yet. You might buy a magazine or two but you hide them under a stack of books next to your nightstand, only taking them out when your husband is working late. Eventually you have to admit it to yourself...you want to have a baby!

This was me 12 years ago after we had moved into our first house. I had the baby bug bad. I bought every Martha Stewart Baby magazine that was published and pored over the pages anticipating knitting little sweaters (I didn't know how to knit then), embroidering little shirts (I didn't embroider then, either), mentally filing details of nursery decorations (this was pre-Pinterest, people), and dreaming of what kind of pregnant woman I would be.

About now you're probably asking what on earth my gestational longings have to do with tuna and avocados! Hang in there, it's all a rich tapestry. This recipe was in the very first Martha Stewart Baby magazine I bought and I pictured myself as a madonna of glowing health, eating only the "right" foods and having a fit baby "bump" which would of course always be very stylishly dressed. Yeah, the reality of it wasn't really like that (high heels in my 15th month of pregnancy, what was I thinking?!). I never made this recipe EITHER of the times I was pregnant, but 12 years and 2 babies later, I finally got off my procrastinating tookus (what was I so busy doing back then!?) and made this.

This is not only a great meal for an expectant mother, but also a great light lunch for anyone. It's also lightning quick to throw together and whether you're an expectant mom, a sleepless mom of a newborn, or a taxi-service busy mom, that is a welcome recipe indeed. If I want this to be a more substantial meal, I add some fruit or cheese and crackers on the side. I also usually double or triple the recipe 'cause Lord knows someone in this house is always needing to be fed! ;)

Lemon Tuna Avocado Snack

only very slightly adapted from Martha Stewart Baby, Spring 2000

Serves 1

1 ripe avocado

1-2 Tbls. lemon juice

1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 six-ounce solid albacore tuna, in spring water

1 tablespoon sunflower seeds

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Drain the tuna and set aside. Cut the avocado in half and scoop out some of the inside leaving about a 1/4-inch shell of avocado in the skin. Mash the scooped out avocado in a bowl, then gently mix in the tuna, olive oil, lemon juice, and sunflower seeds. Salt and pepper to taste. Scoop the tuna filling back into avocado shells and serve.