Mom's Butterscotch Pie Recipe and Ellie's Halloween Costume

If you've been around here long enough, you'll remember that I went on a 21 day diet where you ate categories of foods in different sized boxes. You were allowed plenty of boxes of vegetables a day, but there was a TINY box for fats, including cheese, and you only got one of those a day. I did lose some weight, but really, I ask you, who can live long term with only a tiny box of cheese a day? (If you missed those episodes of fleeting nutritious eating, read Part I here and Part II here).

Most importantly, you know what they didn't even have a box for?

Pie. 

Really.

I can't live in a world without pie. 1) Pie makes me happy. 2) Happy people live longer. 3) There has to be a box for pie, people. And there's no better pie than my mother's butterscotch pie recipe, which obviously will lengthen my life, making me happy and all. 

Seriously. It's the bomb.

I can't give up my mom's recipe without a proper introduction...Some of you may remember I've mentioned my grandmother, MomB, and how she was a character? (If you missed it, read about her here). Well, my mother, Lana, doesn't fall far from the tree in that regard, although she's a character in different ways. She's fun, sassy, and is always on the go. 

Mom and I at a Mother/Daughter Banquet several years back. I know, isn't she pretty?

When I say she's always on the go, I mean it. A few years back I called and said we were coming for a visit for spring break (she lives 12 hours from us). She paused and said, well, that'd be nice, honey, but I'll be in Spain. Most ladies her age are not dropping everything and running off to Spain. I don't have half her energy, but she keeps telling me she's just 29, so what do I know?

However, she does slow down long enough to cook when she's not jet setting off somewhere, and anything she makes is a treat. She is constantly entertaining and this is one of the favorites. Her cousin teases her that he's going to keep her locked up in a closet and only let her out to make this pie. (He's a little sassy, too, haha).

Here is her famous Butterscotch Pie Recipe, a perfect fall dessert. Delicious.

LANA'S BUTTERSCOTCH PIE RECIPE

Ingredients:

3/4 cup light brown sugar
3 tsp. Cornstarch
1/4 tsp. Salt
2 Cups milk
3 beaten eggs
3 tsp. Butter
1 tsp. Vanilla extract.

1 unbaked pie shell

Meringue
3 egg whites
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 tsp. Vanilla extract
6 Tbsp. Sugar

In saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, & salt; gradually stir in milk.  Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils & thickens. (Warning, if you don't thicken enough, pie will be runny!) Cook 2 mins. longer.  Remove from heat; in a separate bowl, stir small amount of hot mixture into beaten eggs; return eggs to hot mixture.  Cook 2 mins over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.  Add butter &vanilla.  Cool to room temp. You can pour directly into unbaked pie shell, or I like to bake my shell 10 mins. first, cover edges so it will be crisp.

Meringue: Beat egg whites with cream of tartar & vanilla until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, beat until stiff.  Layer meringue on top of pie filling and bake at 350 degrees for 12 - 15 minutes.

PIN IT FOR LATER!

Hope y'all enjoy the pie!

Love,

Elizabeth

P.S. I need help choosing Ellie's Halloween costume...I'll show you the choices over the next few posts. Let me know what you think.  Choice #1:

Queen Ellie does have a nice ring to it. 

And I couldn't resist posting a pic of Mom a few years ago on Halloween.

I told you she's a fun gal.  She says this year's costume is a surprise...I'm almost afraid to ask, haha

Give me a little 1970s with a side of Lemon Icebox Pie

I know everyone thinks the decade that they grew up in was the best. 

But there's this decade called the '70s where we neighborhood kids played outside until dark.  Barefoot sometimes (gasp!).  We played hide and seek, searched for Bigfoot (that guy was good, we never did find him), caught lightening bugs and only came inside to eat.  All the girls made mudpies, climbed trees and raced down the street on their bikes with no hands, just like the boys.  Better than some of the boys.  Nobody had ever heard of the words 'transgender' or 'ISIS', all we knew was that we were just kids- dirty, grubby little kids- having the time of our lives.

No one minded to come in and wash up for dinner because we'd played so hard that we were really hungry when we finally stopped to notice.  And sometimes, at least at my house on hot summer nights, we ate Lemon Icebox Pie for dessert.  My mom always could make the best meals and I had no idea that this deliciousness only had three ingredients or that the recipe used to be on the can of Eagle Brand Condensed Milk.  I just knew it was yummy.

I hadn't eaten it in years when I rediscovered it recently.  It took me back to some of the best times in my life and boy, did it taste good.  I knew I'd gone a little overboard when the hubby sent me a text that said,

'I like pie too.'

Um. Ok, well, you see, yeah, I had pie for breakfast,  And lunch.  Like not with my breakfast and lunch but AS my breakfast and lunch and before I knew it, all the pie was gone.

So I've decided this time when I made the pie I'd have to make two.  A His and a Hers.  And His is the one that gets shared with the rest of the family. 

And Hers, well, that's all mine.

Because sometimes we need a whole lot of 1970s in our lives.

❤️, Elizabeth

P.S. - The recipe: 

One can of Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk, 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, and three egg yolks.   Mix together, poured into a 9 inch graham cracker crust pie shell and bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes.  Let cool and store in fridge before serving.   Good plain or with fruit topping.  Hello 1970s,  I've missed you. Welcome back to the era of simplicity. 

P.P.S.  Disclosure: There was a pie accidentally harmed in the making of this blog post.

It was most definitely HIS.

Elizabeth is a clumsy pie hog, but I still love her.