Easy Creamy Lemon Meringue Pie

Who says low fat has to taste badly?    Today was a major cooking feast in the kitchen using up produce and meat in the fridge.  We have cream of broccoli soup, cream of cauliflower and carrot soup, (both made with low fat condensed milk, vs cream) beef stew, low fat mac and cheese and we needed to add a little sweet to our lives today.

I found a lower fat creamy version of Lemon Meringue Pie on Rose Reiman's http://www.theartoflivingwell.ca/  website this afternoon.  

My daughter's little friend showed up and asked if she could help in the kitchen so we went at it.  This recipe is very easy.  My young ladies learned how to seperate egg yolks and whites, how to whip egg whites into yummy meringue (which they say is like goopy marshmallow "stuff"), zest a lemon and hand squeeze the juices. 

This recipe took very little time to make and while we haven't tastes the finished product quite yet, there were lots of little fingers testing the filling/meringue and base along the way.  Numberous thumbs up were achieved.

From the filling it is almost more like my Creamy Key Lime Pie  but I suspect lower in fats.  I was tempted to make it without the meringue as I'm not a huge meringue fan but given the first kick at the can so to speak, we made as directed.

Crust:

1 1/2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs (I used graham wafer crumbs)

2 tbsp water

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Filling

1 can + 2/3 cup low fat sweetened condensed milk

1 tbsp lemon zest

1/2 cup lemon juice (fresh squeezed)

3 egg yolks (saving the whites)

Meringue

3 egg whites

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

3 tbsp water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly coat a 9 inch pie pan with cooking spray (I didn't do this)

To make the crust simply combine the crumbs with the water and oil in a small bowl.  Pat into the pie pan along the sides and bottom

For the filling, comine the sweetened condensed milk, lemon zest, lemon juice and egg yolks until smooth and combined.  Let it sit for 10 minutes until it thickens a bit.   Pour into the pie pan and bake for 20 minutes or just until the mixture is set.

While the pie is baking make the meringue.   Combine the egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar, and water in a mixing bowl.   Beat on highest setting until stiff peaks form (about 7 minutes).   Spread over the lemon filling immediately upon removing the pie from the oven.

Increase the oven temp to 375 degrees F and bake for 10 minutes until just lightly browned.  Chill until cold and cut into 14 small slices.  

Yes...SMALL slices.  I'm learning it's not necessarily what I'm eating but the portion size of said foods.  We are definitely "lightening" up our dishes with some easy alternative ingredients  but really it's monitoring portion controls.

I don't really need large portions of food so on that front I'm lucky.   I just needed a little bit of tweeking.