Zesty Lime Pie

When warm weather finally rolls around I find myself in the mood for cool and refreshing lemon pie.  It’s one of my favorite pies – maaaaybe my absolute favorite!  In lieu of March being my “green” month I switched the citrus and made a lime pie.  Limes are beautiful little fruits, bright and colorful, tart and juicy, and full of healthy vitamin C.  They even have a color named after them.  I am quite pleased with this Lime Pie as it proved to be equally as delicious as lemon pie.  When Easter rolls around I’ll probably have to make a Lemon Meringue Pie because it’s what I do, but for now Lime Pie it is!

I want to show you a bee photo today before I share the recipe.  Upon inspection of my hives this weekend I found an interesting display in a brood chamber.  I’d hoped to find that there was still honey I could take but alas, the girls have devoured it.  I’m okay with that as the colonies are multiplying quickly this spring and that will mean more honey later, if our weather cooperates this year.  Not too hot nor too dry.

My two smallest hives have grown so much in the last few weeks that I had to add a “super” to each one.  I do this to make more space for brood and honey production.  I could tell the bees were pleased that I’d added on to their square footage as they immediately began to crawl around in the new supers.  Before long they will have added wax to the empty foundations making perfect cells for their queen to lay eggs and workers to deposit nectar or pollen, to be made into honey.

In hive Queen Anne, my colony of city bees, I found a unique drawing out of the foundation, making an interesting brood chamber.  In the picture you’ll see they made long skinny cell structures and the queen deposited the eggs in these sideways cells.  The brood in these cells are all drones – boy bees.  The tannish colored, capped cells contain drones. The structure at the bottom of the photo holds pollen in colors of orange and golden-yellow.  If you enlarge the photo you can see in the brood area, right about center, where one of the babies isn’t completely covered yet.  There is a worker bee walking away from the cell I am referring to, her tiny, pointed booty aiming at the almost covered boy bee.  She has probably been working on sealing him up to finish growing, before eating his way out of the cell.  They never cease to amaze me with their creative antics.Oh and FYI the pie… upon first bite you’ll be tantalized by the creamy feel, your taste buds will burst with the little bit of tart-little bit of sweet and then…wait for it……that rich chocolate cookie crust will have you reaching for the second bite in no time!

Enjoy!

Zesty Lime Pie

Ingredients:
Pre-made Chocolate cookie crust
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tbsp. lime zest
fresh whipped cream

Preheat oven to 350*.  In a medium bowl whisk together sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, and 1 tbsp. lime zest.  Add eggs to lime mixture and mix well.  Pour filing into crust and bake for about 20 minutes.  Cool and refrigerate.  Serve with a dollop of whipped cream – not Cool Whip as it provides an artificial taste, therefore ruining the delicious pie.

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