Nine years ago, I weighed about 50 lbs more than I do now.  That’s 15 pounds less than my 5-year old.  Then I lost a bunch of weight, largely propelled by lots of back handed compliments like, “You’d be pretty if you weren’t so fat.” My personal favorite was “How far along ARE you?”  A question my Auntie Precy repeatedly asked me despite being well aware of the fact that I was 19 and single at the time.  But whatever.  By the way, my secret was not eating carbs for like 2 years.  I’ve since gained about 12 pounds of it back (after 9 years, not bad!) but at least I weigh less than a baby pachyderm.

Since then, I’ve reintroduced carbs back into my diet and learned that which has eluded me nearly all of my childhood and adult life: portion control.  That’s why I like to make shrink down food to cute, Lilliputian sizes.

Zest the key limes before you juice them

Squeezing key limes by hand is like seeding strawberries–invest in one of these

..and one of these…they call them tampers.

Cute, aren’t they?

*The original recipe called for 2 cans of condensed milk but I couldn’t quite bring myself to adding that second can (see intro above).  So, it came out a little tart, but nothing that a little dusting of powdered sugar couldn’t fix.

Mini Key Lime Pies

Ingredients:
12 squares (1 1/3 package) of graham crackers, pulverized in your foodprocessor
3 T Sugar
3/4 stick butter (about 1/3 cup)
3 egg whites beaten
1 (14 oz) cans sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup lime juice (about 20 limes)
1 T Lime zest
1/2 c sour cream

Instructions:

• Press 1 tablespoon graham cracker mixture into the bottom of a cupcake liner, pressed down
• Bake at 350 degrees for 7 minutes then set aside
• Mix together egg whites, condensed milk, lime juice, lime zest, and sour cream
• Use ice cream scoop to evenly fill lined muffin tins 3/4 way full
• Bake for 12-15 minutes and cool.
• Keep overnight in the fridge if you prefer to set fully