A fun lime pie

How do you get kids involved in the kitchen? I bring their world into my kitchen... and we have fun with the ingredients! For this recipe we used... those wonka nerds candies that kids love...

This lime pie goes to the Leftover Queen Royal Foodie Joust. Jenn came back from Italy recently with her so italian husband and the fun and creative ingredients for this joust are... well, actually they are colors! Red, green and white, the colors of the Italian flag!

Lime pie (torta de limão) is a popular dessert in Brazil made with limes (not lemons), sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream and fresh lime juice (no eggs!) with a meringue topping. To please my kids even more I used the whipped cream on top, instead of the meringue... and they sprinkled the wonka candies themselves.

Lime pie

No-fail pie crust
I've made this no-fail pie crust since I was in College.
It makes two 9-inch (22 cm) crusts for savory or sweet pies.

2 to 2-1/3 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup milk
1 egg

Filling - it has a mousse consistency

1 can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)

1 cup heavy cream (or soy cream - not soy milk)

1/2 cup fresh lime juice (or more if you like it tarter)

Garnish with:
1 teaspoon grated lime zest

2 cups whipped cream

1/2 cup wonka nerds candies or any sprinkle mix

1) Make the crust: combine all crust ingredients in a food processor and pulse untill all ingredients hold together (or blend them all in a bowl).

2) Shape dough into 2 balls. (You only need one.) Roll out one dough into 1/8 inch (0.5 cm) thick. Line bottom and sides of an ungreased pie plate. Poke small holes in the bottom with a fork. Bake in the preheated oven at 390°F (200° C) for 10-15 minutes until lightly browned. Let cool.

• Wrap remaining dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 2 days or in the freezer for another use.

3) Make the filling: using a whisk beat the sweetened condensed milk, the heavy cream and the lime juice. Pour the mixture into the baked pie shell. Garnish with whipped cream, lime zest and the wonka nerds.

Lordy, Lordy now I'm 40!

Earth Day is also my birthday...