Lemon-Lime Meringue Pie

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We're on snow day #2 here…
Some of us might be going a little stir-crazy.

Oh well.  Here's a story about t.v. and dessert. Story of my life, right?

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On Christmas Day, we watched one episode of American Horror Story: Asylum and 6 episodes of Once Upon a Time.

In September-ish, we watched the first season of American Horror Story and I'd not so patiently been waiting for season 2 to come onto Netflix.  It took forever.  Eventually I forgot about it and we moved onto Once Upon a Time.  Then, we finished season 2 of Once Upon a Time and were left hanging: season 3 is on now and most certainly not on Netflix. We weren't going to pay for Hulu Plus (nonsense), and ABC.com only had the last 5 of 11 episodes.

While at my parents' house, my brother's girlfriend was kind enough to show me that Comcast OnDemand had the last 6 episodes for free.  6 is greater than 5, right?

So Scott and I watched the 6 most recent episodes on Christmas night, staying up until midnight to finish them.  I'm still not sure what happened in the first 5, but it was easy enough to piece together.
Now I'm all caught up just in time for a mid-season break.  See you in March, Hook.  I'll miss you.

As for Asylum, I pouted through the entire episode.  After a month of mystical fairy tales, that show is kind of boring.

Good news though!  Downton is back!  Scott is almost as excited as I am.  (Not really.)

This pie has nothing to do with anything, except that I made it on Christmas Day.  It was very good.

Lemon-Lime Meringue Pie

1/2 cup fresh lemon and lime juice (2 lemons, 1 lime)

1 t. vanilla

1 T. cornstarch

1 T. cornmeal (This would be good.  We didn't have any.)

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 eggs, room temperature

5 T. butter, melted

1/4 t. salt

2 T. milk (I used evaporated milk. You can use cream or whatever you have on hand.)

1 unbaked pie crust

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, vanilla, cornstarch, cornmeal, sugar, eggs, butter, salt, and 2 T. cream.

Once it is all very well combined, pour into the unbaked pie shell.  

I cover the edges with a pie crust shield (to prevent over-browning) for the entire baking time.

Bake at 375* for 40 minutes.  You can check with a toothpick in the center, but it will most likely continue bubbling once you take it out, so it may not be set up yet.  

After you remove it from the oven, set it aside and work on the topping…

Meringue:

4 egg whites

4 tablespoons of sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Attach the whisk to your electric mixer.  Whisk until soft peaks form.  Add the sugar, and whisk until stiff peaks form and the meringue is shiny-looking (scientific, I know…should've taken some pictures).  Add the vanilla and whisk to combine.  Top the baked pie immediately and broil until lightly browned.  (The whisking process should take no longer than 10 minutes.)

Stuff and things

-Scott went on a hunting trip last week. When Scott's away, I will eat a quesadilla for dinner every night.  4 nights in a row.  I don't ever want to see one again.  Until maybe next week.

-I will also go to the gym every night.  Without a husband or puppy, it's just me, myself, and my computer I.  Might as well do something useful.

-This is so random, but just a few weeks ago, I realized that "North West" is Kimye's baby's full name.  I thought they named her "Northwest", because that's how low Kanye flies on my radar.  I hadn't connected that "West" was his last name.

-I'm a little too chicken to watch American Horror Story by myself.  Even during the day, that witch stuff is too freaky.  As is the "sewing-body-parts-back-on".

-I about lost my cool last week.  Someone posted on Facebook that they were PCS-ing to Alaska soon and "what should I bring?".  They mentioned that they had enough clothes to last their growing children for a couple of years.  Um.  Hello? It may be a horror story, weather-wise, and there may be no Marshall's or Homegoods, but dang..  I lived 2 miles from Target (in case you've forgotten...I'm telling you again).  Do you need warm clothes?  Heck yes.  Can you buy them when you get there?  Uh, yeah.  Weirdo.  It's not a vacation.  You're moving there.  You'll have that magical thing called an "address" that websites like "Amazon.com" can "ship" to.

Too sarcastic?  Maybe.

I don't know if I'll ever completely readjust to being a lower-48-er. I'm coming to terms with this.

-I found this picture on my computer and almost started to cry.  What has happened to my baby?

Dare I even show you this next one?

...that makes me want another one.  Don't tell Scott.  

He's not-so-patiently waiting for me to give him permission.

But then again, there is nothing better than a house-trained dog.  Nothing.

Even if he does sit like a person.