Easy, Peasy... Lemon Icebox Pie Squeezy

“I have a new favorite pie!” ...a husband's proclamation 

    He took a fishing trip with his brother and came home proclaiming of a new favorite pie... (and lots of catfish, but that’s a recipe for another post). 

   Having never made this new “best” pie, I knew the place I should start my recipe research was on Allrecipes.com. I combed through several submitted recipes and even more reviews, littered with suggestion after suggestion. I always feel that the simpler, the better. 

   A good dessert doesn’t need a litany of steps and ingredients to taste wonderful.

I think I ended up with a gem!

   The secret to this recipe? Bring all the ingredients to room temperature before you do anything else.

   Starting with the cream cheese block and a hand held mixer, beat the cream cheese into a smooth, creamy base on medium-high speed.  Mix in the sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and vanilla. If you can’t get it perfectly smooth, don’t worry. It’ll taste just as good with a few beads of cream cheese. (In other words, I couldn’t get my super smooth, so I guess I meant to do that, right?)   

  

   Pour the mixture into a ready-made graham cracker pie crust. (If you make your own crust, give yourself a pat on the back. If you make your own graham crackers and make a pie crust with it, you’re my hero!)

   Cover the filled pie and put it in the freezer for 4 hours. Then transfer it to the fridge. Let it chill for at least 8 hours before serving. 

   For a luncheon presentation, make star shapes with an aerosol whipped cream container around the pie rim and one in the center. Cut into 8 wedges.

   The hubs oooh-ed and aaaah-ed all about this pie, and he ate nearly half of it. That might sound normal for me, but for my "he-who-doesn’t-eat-sweets" man, that speaks volumes! Even my picky eater son likes it. Where has this been all my life? And, since there are only 5 ingredients, I consider it a “win” for simplicity.

The original Allrecipes.com recipe was just a base. I took some of the suggestions from the reviews and then added a splash of vanilla. Who doesn’t love vanilla? The full recipe is given below. Ladies, start your mixers!

 

Lemon Icebox Pie

1 prepared graham cracker crust

8 oz. cream cheese

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup lemon juice

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Bring ingredients to room temperature. With a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese block until smooth. Add the milk, juice & vanilla and continue to beat on medium-high speed until well mixed. Pour mixture into the crust and even out the top. Cover & place in the freezer for 4 hours. Then, transfer to the refrigerator for at least another 4 hours. Slice & serve plain or with whipped cream.

A Break in the Cold

I've been waiting for a day where the temperature and wind would let me paint outside. Today was that day! Finally, temps in the mid-60's... I busted out the paint roller and a gallon of a great pale blue primer+paint. The best part ~ if you count the whole gallon of paint, today's furniture remodel cost $17. Yep, seventeen buckeroos!

I'm not completely finished with it yet, but since I'm not sure what the final version will be, this is what I have right now.

First step was to sand and wipe off a few years of storage dust and unintentionally-decoupaged paper shreds from the multiple tiers.

Second step involved painting the whole thing in a coat of latex eggshell-finish, robin egg blue all-in-one paint. Then I repeated step two, all the while trying to chase bugs, a cat and a chicken away from my fresh paint job.

Finishing options, you ask? I could leave it as-is, or I could slap a coat of poly on it for a shiny finish. I could paint the top in black chalkboard pain (using a template, not just the whole top). Who knows? As for now, it looks really darling!

And that's today's quick blog! God bless you on your next adventure.
~Fame~

Wired Up!

Today, I put words & talk into action. I actually completed a DIY project! Whew... that was hard. I bought this lamp at a yard sale during the summer. Yes, count the months... SIX months ago. I've been staring at it, tripping over it & shuffling it around my house WAITING for it to magically remake itself. Turns out, they don't do that no matter how much you want them to. Instead, I needed to get dirty - or get covered in paint & fabric strings.

I forgot to take a pic of the full "before" photo, so these will have to do. You can still get a sense of the hideous color and condition that the lamp & shade were in.

The mustard seed with dirty seams color just didn't quite cut it for me, so I bought some really great turquoise spray paint and made it better. My only prepwork on this was to clean the lamp base with a wet rag and tape off the metal and cording (they don't need to be turquoise, too). Then I tore off the shade material, leaving me with two wire rings.

Spraying the base took 2 coats. I bought the "good stuff" rather than the cheap-o cans of paint. I will never go back. The only reason I had to hit it with a second coat is because I missed a few spots completely in the initial spray. If I had been more diligent, I'm sure one coat would have been sufficient. But let's move past paint...

I found some great material (which I unfortunately did not photograph before shredding it and tying it to the shade rings. Oops! I bought 2 fat quarters & 2 pre-cut yards of material that would complement my choice of base color.

Then I spent more than 2 hours sitting in front of the lamp & the television tying the shreds onto the shade rings in an organized, yet haphazard manner. I'll let you be the judge on whether it is full enough, colorful enough, matchy-matchy enough, etc. You can judge, but I'll still like it anyway.

This little light of mine... I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!

Living the rag life,
Fame

Ever So Thankful

We are regularly thankful for the "easy" things (the in-the-moment items), we can be reminded to be thankful for the "forgotten" things (things we take for granted)... but how many can say that you've expressed your thanks to God and to others in your life for the silver linings... the blessings that come from "pain"? Praise God through the pain, through the trial, through the fire.

Our pastor gave us homework to do this week: list the easy & the forgotten stuff, look for the thankful moments in the painful circumstances... and then ACT on them. Say thanks to those that have been a part of your reasons for being grateful.

Today, I'm thankful for chickens that provide food & enjoyment for my family, a new cat that gives me something to care for, money to pay bills nearing their due dates, shelter & comfort that I overlook daily. I have grown into the pain of my stroke, and I am so grateful that I suffer through what is considered minor "aftershocks". I walk. I talk. I eat. I breath. All of these things I am thankful for. 

The trial of my son's ADHD... I have not come to grips with the silver lining of this yet. I am thankful that it means he is an extremely intelligent being, and I am enormously grateful to the Lord who gave him a wonderful disposition. So many other boys with this illness are aggressive & combative. My son can be argumentative, but he is soft-hearted and empathetic.

God, thank you most of all for my husband, who held me up to you during the most painful parts of our lives together. He has been strength when my own has failed. He guided me back to you when I wandered. He grounds me. Thank you.

A Turquoise Gem

I've had this small night stand sitting in my craft room for-ever. My husband despises it (and the 3 other small tables that seem to be lingering around the house) because it takes up precious space in our small, humble abode. So! I. Finally. Did. It. I refinished it.

It only took 2 days. I've put it off and procrastinated at every opportunity because I thought it was going to be difficult. That's the lie that procrastination tells me, whispers in my ear... "it's difficult", "it'll take so much time", "it's hard, hard, hard". Big fat liar!

One piece of sandpaper, two coats of latex paint & one coat of polyeurethane later...

Voila! A beautiful new table for someone's bedside! Now I just need to defeat Monsieur Pro C. Stination on those other tables.

 

May Our Thoughts Be Pleasing

What better way to start the day than a devotion that says to me "keep your mouth shut". Hmmm. I've been challenged in this area my whole entire 36-year life. When God reaffirms this statement (okay, so I paraphrased), it's time to pay attention.

 

"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer." Psalm 19:14

"A prudent man keeps his knowledge to himself, but the heart of fools blurts out folly." Prov. 12:23

"A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy person keeps a secret." Prov. 11:13

I am thankful that I married a man that will listen to me ramble, raise his eyebrows when I've said too much, and be patient with me when I forget that I can be silent. I pray for the understanding to know that in all three of these times, I can be still. I also pray that the Lord keeps my idle words from springing forth. I hope that you find the strength with me not to blurt out folly.

God bless!
Fame

Thirty-Second Blog

When I started this journey into cyberspace, I wanted to craft glorious stories of my daily life that would draw people in to read and read and read. Then I visited a few of my favorite blogs and found that I was looking for something but had to muddle through long (but funny or poignant) recollections of how the author had happened across whatever s/he was "selling", discovery of an amazing donut shop, the best bread recipe known to man, the secret to Olive Garden's salad dressing. Whatever it was was sorta buried. I didn't mind delving into a portion of their lives to get the goods, but three paragraphs later, I just wanted what I had come to find. That led me to believe that there's a shorter way to do this... three parts in 30 seconds. Part 1: Greet & intro, Part 2: Tell what you know, Part 3: The parting shot. The "glorious" part is difficult; three parts will be much simpler. And, Simpler is my new existence.

**Special Note: I'm sure I'll break my cardinal rule some days, but I solemnly vow to keep it simple to the best of my ability!