When Life Gives You Lemons...Make Lemonade Pie!

It was a beautiful weekend to be outdoors. The heat let up and J.J. got grilling and chilling with some friends.


So I made the Frozen Lemonade Pie via my friend Kerri via the Neely’s. I must say it was rich but oh so good. I shared it Saturday with my awesome neighbors while we sat on her patio and enjoyed the nice weather and swapped stories. I didn’t put the berries on the pie and it was just as good without it. I also took the lazy man’s rout and got a premade crust. This is definitely a keeper for my recipe arsenal.

Frozen Lemonade Pie

Ingredients

For the Crust

•2 cups graham cracker crumbs
•1/4 cup sugar
•7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the Filling

•2 cups heavy cream
•1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk, chilled
•1 6-ounce can frozen lemonade concentrate (do not thaw) [I used 12ounces]

For the Topping

•1 cup blueberries
•1 cup raspberries
•2 tablespoons sugar
•1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Make the crust: In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter. Press firmly on the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate. Bake for 7 minutes; cool completely.

Make the filling: In a cold medium bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks form. In another bowl, stir together the condensed milk and frozen lemonade. Gently fold the lemonade mixture into the whipped cream. Pour the filling into the crust; freeze overnight.

About an hour before you serve the pie, make the topping: Toss the berries in a medium bowl with the sugar and lemon juice. Set aside until ready to serve.

Let the pie come to room temperature for 10 minutes before cutting. Top each slice with berries.

I made Melissa’s awesome chicken dip recipe that I snaked for the cookout today. So very yummy…


Melissa’s Buffalo Chicken Dip

• 2 packages of precooked chicken (Purdue…Tyson…Oscar Myer)
• 2 [8 ounce]packages cream cheese
• 1 cup Ranch dressing – Must use Hidden Valley for this!
• 3/4 cup red hot sauce – I use Texas Pete
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (sharp is incredible) or Colby jack or mozzarella

Preheat oven to 350. Place cream cheese in pan and put in oven to get soft. 10 to 15 minutes. When soft mix hot sauce, ranch, and chicken…smooth and top with cheese. Place back in oven serve after everything is warm and bubbly.

I like it with Frito Scoops…Melissa likes it with Ruffles. It is also good with tortilla chips, Wheat Thins, or carrot/celery sticks. I also like to cut the chicken chunks up in bite size pieces. Also…Texas Pete Garlic Hot Sauce is good to use for this.

Now the debate over the ages since the gas grill was invented: Gas Vs. Charcoal. I like both…charcoal gives good flavor where as gas is convenient. I own both. I haven’t used the gas grill this year as I haven’t procured any propane (and propane accessories) yet. The thing with charcoal you just need to make sure you let it get hot enough first. When the coals are pretty much all white…they are ready. The gas grill is better for long term cooking items such as beer can chicken.

As for hamburgers…you can use those frozen preformed patties if you want and I do use them if I am feeding a crowd…but for small gatherings I use real ground meat…usually chuck, formed into thin patties (remember they plump as they cook), seasoned with black pepper, season salt, and garlic powder.

We also discovered a new use for the chicken dip…we put it on our hamburgers! Oh so Yumm-o-licious!