Monday, June 10, 2013

Finding Ways To Be Green

Saint Patrick’s Day kicked off Week 21, and I wanted a pie that would ring in Irish spirit.  Being the only one in my family of four who likes potatoes, many of my savory pie ideas were just not going to happen unless I was to eat the whole pie myself… not likely.  I decided I would capture that Saint. Patty’s day mood, as well as satisfy my ice cream-loving family by making the Easy Grasshopper Ice Cream Pie from Tasteofhome.com.

For the crust, I made chocolate cookie crust, using crushed Oreo chocolate sandwich cookies and melted butter, mixed and pressed into my pie pan.  The filling was mint chocolate chip ice cream, green for Saint Patrick’s Day, softened enough to spread and smooth onto the crust.  To top off this easy pie, I sprinkled crushed peppermint patties, drizzled Magic Shell chocolate ice cream topping, and placed the pie in the freezer to firm up. 


Oreo cookies and butter

Pile on the ice cream

Smooth out the ice cream to fill the cookie crust

Top off the pie with mint candies and chocolate sauce
Easy.  Green for St. Patrick’s Day. Devoured by my ice cream-loving family of four.

Ready to dig in to our St. Patrick's Day pie

When Life Hands You Lemons...

My husband’s all-time favorite pie is Lemon Meringue Pie.  As an alternative to cake and ice cream to celebrate his 33rd year, this pie adventure lends itself to providing him with another one of his favorites.  The recipe for Week 20’s Lemon Meringue Pie comes from the New Best Recipe cookbook.

Fresh lemons make for tart and refreshing filling

Instead of going with the All-Butter Crust which I use in most of my pies, I decided to follow the recipe provided in the New Best Recipe cookbook.  This crust uses a combination of butter and shortening and for this particular pie, adds crushed graham cracker crumbs as you roll out the crust.  The idea here is that the graham cracker added to the crust will allow the crust to stay firm, after adding the lemon filling.  This proved to be true for the pie I made, as well as providing a subtle and complementary flavor to the crust, not found in the average Lemon Meringue Pie.

For me this pie really makes its mark by the tart lemon filling, using both lemon zest and lemon juice from fresh lemons.  The meringue is pretty amazing as well, but without that refreshingly tart center… well, I just don’t care about the meringue enough. 

Covering the filling with plastic wrap while making the meringue,  reduces the risk of a skin  forming on your filling
Filled graham-cracker rolled pastry crust
Whipping up meringue
Meringue before browning


Perfect Lemon Meringue Pie with nicely browned meringue

This Lemon Meringue Pie was perfect.  The crust, filling, and topping came out as I hoped they would.  My husband was treated to a great example of his all-time favorite pie.