Wow... two years already! I think that calls for a pie!

My how time flies around here! Can you believe it has already been 2 years since we started this little blog? I certainly cannot! Our tastes have grown so wildly and we have come such a far way from our old "routine" - though, we still have our chicken salads every Saturday night and Jeff occasionally gets his Mickey eggs just as he likes! Yes, these pictures below are some of the very first pictures we posted on the blog... I hope we have gotten a little better since then!

While we originally started this site to prove that we actually eat more than chicken fingers and fries now (some people wouldn't believe us!), this site has turned into so much more from the comments and new friends we've met or made through e-mails - we even had one of our photographs published! That was the picture of the Fish Tacos with Broccoli Slaw from June of last year.

We have now added just about 1100 recipes to the site and we have made each and every single one - crazy! I didn't really have anything planned as this anniversary crept up so fast, but I did make this Lemon-Lime Meringue Ice Cream Pie in Toasted Pecan Crust (say that 5 times fast!) as a treat for us to enjoy while Steve and Jen drove out for their visit.

While this pie took forever to make, it was fun to put together. There is just a lot of down time between making the curd, waiting for the layers to firm up before the next goes on and then waiting for it to finish freezing before making the meringue. The base crust of this pie is simply raw chopped pecans, sugar and melted butter to bind it together - the crust is baked until the nuts gently toast and fuse the combination together. As it bakes, it will most likely slide down the sides of the pie dish - this is okay, just use a spoon and press it back into shape as soon as it comes out of the oven. It is most pliable then because it gets quite crisp as it cools.

Covering the crust is a layer of creamy vanilla bean ice cream - topping that is a luscious and tangy lemon-lime curd. The original recipe did call for just a lemon curd, but we wanted to give the flavor a little boost. Because the curd needs a good 4 hours or so to chill down and firm up, it is best to start this recipe by making that first. Once these two layers are fairly frozen, another layer of vanilla bean ice cream is spread on top and then the pie goes back into the freezer for its final trip. A generous mile-high pile of slightly-sweetened fluffy white meringue is quickly whipped up and then swirled over the frozen pie. When you are adding the meringue, be sure that it goes all over the top of the pie, touching the crust, so that it seals the cold ice cream in. Since I don't have a kitchen torch, we just put the pie into a very hot oven for only 2 minutes to turn that bright meringue into a golden crisp treasure. The rich ice cream helped to keep the tart curd in check, while the pecan crust gave a devilish contrasting crunch to the soft and light-as-air topping. Excuse me please while I go snag my second piece... that is, if there is any left!

Recipes
Lemon-Lime Meringue Ice Cream Pie in Toasted Pecan Crust