Day 310 – Key Lime Pie!

Yummy!!!  I made a Key Lime Pie today with a Meringue top!  Can’t wait to have a piece when I get home from work!  Pulled the last few limes off of my tree to make this…..and made the crust from scratch too!  CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTO

Here is the recipe!

Ingredients:

Graham Cracker Crust

1  1/4 cups Honey Maid Graham Cracker Crumbs

1/4 cup sugar

5 T. margarine, melted

Mix above ingredients well and press into the bottom and sides of an 8 inch pie tin.  Bake @ 350 degrees for 8 minutes.

Filling

3 egg yolks

2 t. lime zest

1 (14 oz.) can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk

2/3 cup freshly squeezed Key Lime juice, or store-bought

Beat egg yolks and lime zest with an electric mixer in a mixing bowl for 5 minutes on high speed.  Gradually add the condensed milk and continue to beat an additional 3 to 4 minutes until thick.  Lower the mixer speed and slowly add the lime juice just until mixed in good….no longer.  Pour the mixture into the baked pie shell and bake for 10 minutes @ 350 degrees.  Cool on a wire rack.  You can top with Cool Whip or Freshly prepared whipped cream, or top with meringue like in the picture above.  See below for whipped topping and meringue instructions.

Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy or whipping cream chilled

2 T. confectioners sugar

Whip the cream and the confectioners sugar until nearly stiff.  Spoon onto pie.

Meringue Baked Topping

4 egg whites

1/2 t. cream of tartar

1/2 cup sugar

Whip with electric mixer the egg whites and cream of tartar on high speed until soft peaks form.  Gradually beat in sugar on medium speed.  Beat for 4 minutes or until sugar is dissolved and stiff glossy peaks form. (I didn’t beat mine for 4 minutes).  Spread over pie sealing to the edges of the crust to prevent shrinkage.  Use the back of a spoon to create little curly peaks.  Bake an additional 13-15 minutes to brown on the middle rack in the oven set to 350 degrees.  Don’t burn the top.  Let cool for 3 hours before cutting.  ENJOY!

Day 308 – A Amazing Video

I LOVE this video!  It just makes me smile!!!  http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504784_162-20050976-10391705.html  Wonder how many hours and hours and missed shots occurred making this vid?!

Day 306 – Bokeh Photography

I took this picture of Tony in Las Vegas in a little cafe on Fremont Street.  I had made a little cuff for the lens on my 50mm, 1.8 lens that has a star shape cut of in the center.  This cuff is placed over the lens and makes the start shape you see in the lights.

Day 306 – Photography Challenge

This is a submission for a bi-weekly photography challenge at www.jessicasprague.com  This challenge was titled 11-11-11 Flip-It.  We were supposed to take an image, and clear out the background…copy the image, flip-it and apply a gradient black to white layer mask to it.  I used this picture of the Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas for this challenge.  CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTO