Easy Lime Pie

Last Thursday, we had a friend over for dinner and a movie.  She offered to bring Texas Caviar as an appetizer, so I thought it would be good to make a Tex-Mex themed dinner.  I made steak fajitas on the grill (no surprise there) with all of the usual accessories – sour cream, guacamole, salsa, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, and lime wedges.  I also made  sangria to go along with dinner.

Because it was the middle of the week, I didn’t have a lot of time to put together a dessert, though.  Instead of spending a lot of time baking, I decided to make a quick pudding pie. I flavored it with fresh lime juice to compliment the lime juice in the rest of the dinner. It was super quick and easy.  You can make it even easier by using a prepared graham cracker crust, if you prefer.

Ingredients:

• 1 package of graham crackers (from a box containing 3 packages)
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 8 ounces low fat cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 cups skim milk
• 2 packages (3.4 ounces each) of vanilla instant pudding
• 2 limes, zested and juiced
• 8 ounces light whipped topping
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400°F.  In a food processor, combine the graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, and melted butter.  Pour the mixture into a 9 inch pie plate.  Press the mixture onto the pie plate to form a crust.  Bake the crust in the oven for 10 minutes.  Set aside to cool.

Whip the cream cheese with a hand mixer until light and fluffy.  Add the milk and pudding, and beat until the mixture is smooth and begins to thicken.  Add the lime juice (be sure to zest the limes before juicing!) and half of the lime zest. Beat again until well combined.  Fold in half of the whipped topping.  Combine the remaining lime zest with 1/2 teaspoon sugar in a small airtight container and refrigerate.

Once the crust is completely cooled, pour the pudding mixture into the crust.  Smooth evenly and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Prior to serving, top the pie with the remaining whipped topping and sprinkle with the sugared lime zest.

Note – After making this, I realized that I probably should have added a drop or two of green food coloring to the pudding mixture to make it look more limey!