Crustless, Dairy-free, Egg-free Key Lime Pie ala Dad and Me

I was in Florida last week visiting my family, and one of Dad's friends had given him a bag of key limes. I love key limes. I'll even eat them straight! But Dad and I decided to challenge ourselves and figure out how to make a key lime pie that I would not be allergic to, and he would not be either. Dad and I both have food allergies.

When making the first pie, Dad attempted to modify a recipe he has for homemade oatmeal and fruit bars into an oatmeal-based crust. It didn't taste bad, but it didn't add anything to the pie. We ended up eating slices of pie and skipping the crust bit. So, I suggested that we make life easier and make crustless pie.

Here is our key lime pie recipe:

3/4 cups key lime juice
2 1/2 cups soy milk
1 cup sugar
5 TBSP cornstarch
2 tsp lime zest

Whisk all the ingredients together in a saucepan, then turn on medium heat and slowly bring to a boil, stirring constantly until thick and creamy. Allow to cool slightly and then either pour into a pie plate or individual ramekins. Refrigerate until firm.

Chicken Soup ala Renee

Renee makes an awesome chicken soup, probably the best I've ever had. I finally got around to asking her for the recipe, and I've been making it with good results. So, I thought I'd share the recipe. It's super-easy! Did I mention that it's gluten free and allergen free too? None of the big 8 allergens are in this soup!

Ingredients:
1 chicken carcass
1 TBSP Salt
Water
1 Onion
Veggies (carrots, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, really whatever you've got is fine. The last batch I made, I used a package of frozen broccoli & cauliflower.)
2 Tsp black pepper
1 tsp parsley flakes

Instructions:
1. Put your chicken carcass in a big pot and cover with water. Add 1 TBSP salt and veggies. Put your pot on the stove and bring the contents to a boil.
2. Lower temp to a simmer and simmer for 2 hours uncovered.
3. Get out a plate, cutting board, or I use a cookie sheet. Pull out all of the chicken bones and set it on the plate. Walk away and let it cool for a while. Then put the meat back in the soup and discard the bones.
4. Add your parsley and black pepper. Taste the soup. Does it taste good? Too weak, simmer for longer. Too strong, add some water and simmer for longer.
5. Serve it up. Hooray, you've made chicken soup with no cans!

When I make it, the soup serves around 8, so I have lots of leftovers. I portion it up into containers that I freeze (you can only keep leftovers in the refrigerator for three days - that's it), and then when I want "fast food," I can heat up the leftovers in the microwave. If you don't have a microwave, it would be easy enough to heat up the leftovers on the stove too.

I served my soup for dinner with gluten free biscuits made from Gluten Free Bisquick. I substituted Ener-G egg substitute for eggs, rice milk for milk, and vegan shortening for butter. Yes, they still turned out good. Perhaps, if you didn't typically eat gluten free, you wouldn't like them, but I live with a fairly lengthy list of allergies. If you didn't want to deal with all that, you could serve it with a side of rice.