On Cooking with a Granddaughter

One of my favorite things to do with our three-year-old granddaughter Avery Grace is cooking. There's nothing like seeing the excitement in her eyes when I say I need some help making cookies, or blueberry muffins, or in this case, a Lemon Pie. She loves pouring the ingredients into the bowl, and mixing and stirring, and will stand in a chair at the sink for as long as I let her "washing the dishes."

I have sweet and happy memories of times spent in the kitchen with my grandmother and I hope someday Avery will cherish these times with me as well.

This recipe is from one of my favorite old cookbooks (Looking at Cooking, by Mildred Swift) written by a lady who had a cooking show on our local tv station when I was a little girl (waaaay before celebrity tv cooks came into vogue).
Someone gave it to me as a wedding gift and, even though the cover came off and its pages are splattered from years of use, I still treasure it today.

Here is the recipe for "Easy-Does-It" Lemon Pie, along with some pictures I took of my little helper:

Are you sure you want to put this in our pie, Grandmama?

Ingredients:
1 Egg, beaten
1 Can (1-1/3 cups) Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 Teaspoon grated Lemon Peel
1/2 Cup fresh Lemon Juice
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Prepare graham cracker crust (see below) and chill.
(Or you can use a ready-made crust, if you'd prefer)

Combine remaining ingredients, stirring until well blended. Pour into chilled crust and chill for several hours before serving.
(Makes an 8-inch pie)

Graham Cracker Crust:
Mix one cup fine graham cracker crumbs with 1/8th cup butter or oleo, or whatever it takes to make the crumbs stick together. I think I used about a 1/4th cup in mine. Press evenly and firmly on bottom and sides of an 8-inch pie plate and chill well.

This vintage aluminum juicer was my grandmother's and I love using it and sharing things like that with Avery; even though she doesn't really comprehend it now, one day she will.

Tadaaaaa! -- All done!