Mom kept our family of 7 fed with homemade meals. She typed out favorite recipes and put them in a green ring-binder notebook. The green binder was imprinted in my memory, whether I knew it or not.

Mom died more than a decade ago, and when I recently visited my younger sister, I found the infamous green recipe book. My sister had kept it safe. What fun I had looking through it.

When a kid, I definitely grew up when margarine was the thing to use. And, every third recipe contained a box of Jello.

The pages stained with food ingredients contained recipes for cakes and cookies. Next to each recipe however, mom added the name of the person where she got the recipe. Mom (my grandmother), Jeanne, Doris P., Charlotte R., and so on. I remember growing up with those people.

A swoosh of memories flowed through my mind as I flipped pages in the green binder.

I came to “Lemon Angel Torte” and smiled as I read the recipe. This was the “Christmas Pie” recipe I remembered. I kept asking my siblings if they had the recipe for the “Christmas Pie,” but it didn’t ring a bell and I thought it must be lost.

I obviously titled it “Christmas Pie” because that is when I remember mom made this special unique pie. Everyone else knew it as Lemon Angel Torte.

I made Lemon Angel Torte the other day. I need to practice, because it wasn’t as good as mom’s, but it was still good.

Lemon Angel Torte

Pre-heat oven 450°

Beat till stiff. 4 egg whites, ¾ c. sugar, ¼ t. salt, and ¼ t. cream tarter.

Spread the meringue on the bottom of a buttered 9” pie plate. Put it in the oven and turn the oven off. Leave in in the oven for 5 hours, or overnight.

In a double boiler, beat 4 egg yolks, 1 T. grated lemon peel, 3 T. lemon juice, ½ cup sugar, dash of salt. Cook and stir till thick. Cover and cool.

Whip up whipping cream. Put half of the cream in the meringue. Add the lemon sauce, then top with remaining whip cream. Chill 5 hours.

We read in 21^st Century Science and Health, “The lost image is not an image. The true likeness can’t be lost in divine reflection.”