Vacation 2009

Although, I will not be going anywhere exciting on vacation. I will be at home most of my vacation. My husband and I will be going to St. Louis for two days and doing a little sightseeing. St. Louis Zoo, Grant's Farm, The Butterfly Garden, and Anheuser Busch Brewery. Perhaps a couple other things too, if time permits.

Yesterday R.F. and I threw a party and it was a lot of fun.


"Lots of food and people."



"Volleyball with a beach ball"


"Hayrack rides...lol...without the hay"


"Lemon Meringue Pie I made for R.F.'s Birthday"

Here is the recipe for my pie! It's fabulous and everytime people have it, they say it's one of the best tasting lemon meringue pies they've ever had. This recipe was made on trial and error by me and therefore is MY recipe, but I am sharing it with you.

Lemon Meringue Pie

Preliminaries:
9 inch pie shell, baked

Pie filling ingredients:
1 1/8 cup sugar
8 tbsp cornstarch
2 cups water
¼ cup lemon juice
3 eggs, separated
3 tbsp butter
1 ½ tsp lemon extract
2 tsp vinegar

Meringue ingredients:
3 egg whites
6 tbsp sugar
½ tsp lemon extract
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees
Make meringue first!!!

Filling process:

Mix sugar and cornstarch together in a pot that is not heated yet. Add the water and stir to combine and turn on burner to medium heat. In a separate bowl, separate eggs whites from the yolks. Save egg whites for the meringue. Combine egg yolks with the lemon juice and beat until smooth. Add to mixture in pot. Add butter, lemon extract, and vinegar to mixture and stir thoroughly. Cook and stir constantly until it begins to thicken. Pour into the baked pie shell.

Meringue:

Beat egg whites at high speed with electric beater or mixer until foamy. Add sugar a couple tablespoons at time while still beating until stiff and forming peaks. Turn mixer to low speed and add lemon extract, vanilla, and salt. Spread meringue over the hot pie filling and make sure you bring meringue all the way to the edges to avoid it separating from the crust. Bake until the meringue is a golden brown (10-12 minutes).

I hope if you make this, that you enjoy it!