Recipe: Key Lime Pie

Tonight I made my first key lime pie! Well, it isn't really key lime as I couldn't find a single key lime in the three stores I went to so I guess it is just a lime pie, but still, I can't wait to try it! Tomorrow is Easter. My dear, sweet aunt is battling a very hard journey with cancer and in an effort to help her gain some weight, I am making this light, refreshing pie in hopes it will settle well on her stomach and help fatten her up. This was quite honestly the easiest dessert I've ever made. I read no less than 20 different recipes on-line and in recipe books before deciding to just throw them all together and make my own version. I have yet to taste this pie, but so far it looks nice and it smells darn good. Tomorrow will be the true test!

Ingredients:
3 eggs, separated
1/2 cup of fresh squeezed lime juice
1 tsp lime zest
14oz sweetened condensed milk
graham cracker pie crust

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Separate eggs into two clean glass bowls.

2. Whisk egg whites until stiff peaks form. I whisked by hand and it took about 5-6 minutes to start to see the peaks. Once the peaks form, set it aside.

3. Beat the yolks well. Stir in the sweetened condensed milk, lime juice and lime zest. Mix all of this well.

4. Slowly mix the lime mixture into the egg whites and then pour the entire mixture into the pie crust.

5. Bake the pie on 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool on counter. Chill in fridge until served.

I'm going to garnish this with a dollop of whipped cream.

The little flecks in the pie is lime zest. If I had time I would have made a homemade pie crust, but we were also dying Easter eggs while I baked this! Maybe next time...

Safe Trick or Treating

Tomorrow night is Halloween! Children of all ages will rush home to gobble up their dinner and then don their costumes. Soon the streets will be filled with children scuffling door to door in hopes of filling their bags with treats. Please consider getting some "safe" treats for kids with food allergies. Most chocolates like Kit-Kat bars, Snickers, Milky Way bars and even some non-chocolates like candy corn can either be made with nuts or in a facility with nuts deeming them unsafe for many children. Consider something like fruit snacks, Skittles, Smarties, pencils and tiny containers of Play-Doh to pass out.

Have a safe and happy Halloween!

The Switch Witch

Halloween is usually a fun filled holiday for children and adults alike. I mean, who doesn't enjoy dressing up in a crazy costume and getting free candy from all of your neighbors?! I have so many wonderful memories of trick-or-treating as a child. Back then we either made our costumes or we bought the cheap plastic costumes from Venture or Kmart. I fondly remember my homemade costumes like a black witch, Little Bo Peep and a clown. Best of all was coming home from a night of trick-or-treating, dumping out my loot and binging on sugary treats. Personally, I liked to sort out my candies into specific group. Chocolates like peanut butter cups, kisses, Twix, etc. were in the favorite pile. Next was the "OK" candy pile that consisted of treats like Skittles, Star Burst and Now & Laters. The crap pile was full of, well crap, like Raisinets, Smarties and Bit-o-Honey. The crap candy was always thrown away, the OK candy pile was placed in a bowl in the kitchen and the favorites were stashed in my room so I could gorge on them as I liked. I never once questioned whether scarfing down that Kit Kat or smuggling a Snickers would affect my health. I happily gobble away on sweets until my stomach ached and bounced off the wall on a sugar induced high. God, I loved Halloween!!

Fast forward to many, many years later. I am now the mom of a child with severe food allergies. Just one bite of an allergen can make my son very, very sick. Just one bite of an allergen can swell up his throat making breathing next to impossible. Just one bite can literally mean a matter of life and death. Trick or treating is still fun, but coming home to check out our loot is a totally different experience for Bryan and I. Instead of the favorite/OK/crap piles of treats, we have the safe/unsafe pile. Brennan must wait as Bryan and I carefully scour each and every label. Candies without an ingredient label are deemed unsafe. Treats that contain peanuts/tree nuts or are made in a facility with peanuts/tree nuts are totally out of the question. Most chocolates like Kit Kat and Twix are not safe. He is usually able to safely eat candies like Skittles, Start Burst and Nerds. While I am grateful he can at least enjoy those goodies, it is hard to watch his little face as I take all that candy away.

Thank goodness for the Switch Witch! Brennan places all of the unsafe candy in a bag and leaves it on the kitchen table. When he is fast asleep the Switch Witch comes in and takes all of that unsafe candy far away from our house (The candy usually finds its way to Bryan's work). In its place she leaves fun, safe goodies like pencils, fruit snacks, gummy worms, Rice Krispie treats and tattoos. Not only does Brennan get to celebrate Halloween, but he gets a bonus surprise from our beloved Switch Witch! Not many kids can say they have a super cool, super safe witch visit their house on Halloween!

For those of you reading who celebrate Halloween, please consider purchasing some safe treats so ALL trick-or-treaters can enjoy the fun and magic of Halloween. Pencils, fruit snacks, tattoos, Utz brand pretzels, individual baggies of Teddy Grahams or Oreos, Rice Krispie treats and even small containers of Play-doh are safe alternatives for kiddos with nut allergies. I always purchase Utz brand Halloween pretzels or fruit snacks as well as a non-food item like pencils. I do not ever want a child to miss out on the fun and excitement of being a kid on Halloween. This food allergy mom thanks you for considering this idea!

It's Fall Y'All!

Autumn is officially here!! I have such a love/hate relationship with this season. I hate the fact that my beloved summer days are long gone. No more flip flops or lazy days in the pool or hot summer nights with a cool drink in hand. No more summer vacation...booooooo! I hate seeing the dark come earlier and earlier each evening (the boys like to play outside and this cut into play time!). I hate this season because it bring on asthma flair-ups, colds, viruses and the flu. I loath super cold temperatures and icy weather. Most of all, I hate this season because it is when I lost my father to cancer.

Despite all of my dislikes, I truly love this season for so many reasons. I love the absolute beauty of the rich colors around me. The trees turning bright hues of blazing orange, fire red and hazy yellow can bring a smile to my face. I love walking through crunchy fallen leaves. The boys love making piles of leaves and jumping in them. Apple picking and pumpkin picking at the local farms are always a family hit (we visit several farms during the season because I am so in love with farms!). I don't know about you, but sitting around a warm bonfire with a cold beer in my gloved hand is a favorite past time of mine. And pumpkin, let's not forget how many wonderful pumpkin items you can indulge in this time of the year! Pumpkin lattes, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin beer......YUM! Of course we always celebrate Halloween and Thanksgiving, with Thanksgiving being one of my favorites. My birthday is on Thanksgiving this year! I don't want to get another year older, but I sure do like a whole day to indulge! I love Thanksgiving because it is a time to truly reflect on just how very blessed we are. The smells of autumn are some of the best around: apple crisp, cinnamon, burning leaves, frosty air, vanilla. When it is just too cold outside for a bonfire we light up the fireplace and snuggle in warm blankets and jammies. While I love my flip flop I also love slipping into my boots (Although this year I am not going to wear my heeled boots due to my broken foot. Guess I need to shop for some flats!). Knowing that my father is gone rips my heart in two, but this season also brings me some quiet times to stop, remember and reflect and for these moments I am grateful for the season that makes me slow down and think.

Here is to another season of natural beauty. Enjoy what the Earth gives us!

Memorial Day Foods

This weekend I have been cooking up a storm! Bryan commented to me what a good cook I've become so I must be doing something right these days! I am usually very conscious about cooking as healthy as possible, but I 'll be very honest, my extended family isn't on the same wave length as I am. Healthy to them is not adding ice cream onto the heaping pile of cake or not adding creamer to the coffee. When I cook for them I pretty much disregard all health notions because I know it will just be met with a fight and it isn't worth it n the end.

Today we BBQed brats, burgers and dogs and as sides I grilled fresh corn on the cob, made some doctored up beans, made a delish caprese salad and baked a peach dump cake. Everyone else supplied the rest of the sides. I'll be the first to admit that the beans were loaded with fat and sugar, but they were a hit. I will only make these bad boys for special occasions like a holiday BBQ. The caprese salad was divine! The basil came fresh from my garden! I cannot wait to pick tomatoes from my garden, too. I would happily make and devour this light, tasty dish throughout the summer months. The peach dump cake was another yummy hit. This cake is so easy to make, you have to try it at least once! The smell of the cinnamon and peaches baking fills the kitchen with a heavenly scent!

Southern Style BBQ Baked Beans


Ingredients
56oz of pork & beans
11oz can of pork & beans
3/4 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup molasses
2 teaspoons of dry mustard
1/2 green bell pepper diced
1/2 onion diced
8 slices of bacon, cut in half

Directions
1. In an iron skillet, fry the bacon slices just enough to render some bacon grease. Keep the bacon soft and half cooked, do not cook all the way! Remove bacon, but keep the grease in the skillet.
2. Place diced onions and peppers into the grease and cook until tender.
3. In a small bowl mix together the BBQ sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, molasses and dry mustard. Pour mixture into the skillet and mix together well with the onions and peppers.
4. Pour the cans of beans into the skillet, mixing well with the sauce. Simmer on low to medium heat until it starts to bubble.
5. Transfer beans into a baking dish. Place the slices of bacon on top of the beans. Bake on 320 degrees for 2 hours. You want the sauce to be thick like syrup.
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Caprese Salad


Ingredients
2 tomatoes
2 balls of fresh mozzarella
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
coarse sea salt
pepper
fresh basil leaves

Directions
1. Slice tomatoes and mozzarella into thick slices.
2. On a small plate or platter, alternate tomato slice with a mozzarella slice and so on.
3. Tuck a piece of fresh basil in between each slice of tomato and mozzarella (the pattern will look like red/green/white, red/green/white, etc).
4. Lightly drizzle olive oil over the dish.
5. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
6. Drizzle lightly with the vinegar.
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Peach Dump Cake


Ingredients
2 cans of peaches in heavy syrup
1 box of yellow cake mix
1 stick of butter
ground cinnamon

Directions
1. Spread both cans of peaches with the syrup on the bottom of a casserole dish. (I used a 9x13 dish, but you could use a small dish if you want a thicker cake.)
2. Sprinkle the entire box of cake mix over the peaches.
3. Cut the butter into small pieces and place on top of the cake mix.
4. Sprinkle the cake with ground cinnamon.
5. Bake on 350 for about 40 minutes.

Happy Memorial Day to all of my family and friends. A very special thank you to all of the brave women and men (past, present and future) who have served in the military for our freedom. Without you we wouldn't have the luxury of backyard BBQs or visits with family and friends.  Bless you!