Lime pie and Quilting

My husband has enjoyed working for a dynamic manager for the past few years, and was sad when she decided to pursue another career opportunity back East.  She's a big Wizard of Oz fan, so it seemed natural to make her a Wizard of Oz quilt for her farewell gift.  When I volunteered to make the quilt it seemed like I had plenty of time to get it done, but the month of June whizzed by and suddenly I had only a few days left before she would be leaving - and the quilt was pieced but not quilted.  My wonderful friend Mary volunteered to help me with the stitching, and we ended up having a nice time quilting in the shade on a perfect summer day.  To "sweeten" the deal, I made a cool and refreshing frozen lime pie for us to enjoy when we took a break (and to keep our husbands occupied).  We all liked this pie, although the girls thought it was best when it was mostly thawed.  The men didn't let it sit around long enough to find out if they liked it thawed.  Give this one a try - you don't even have to make pastry!

Lime Freeze Pie

• 2 (8 ounce) packages  Neufchatel Cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar, divided
• 1 (3 ounce) package lime gelatin
• 1 tablespoon lime zest
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1 (8 ounce) tub light whipped topping, thawed
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• 1 1/2 cups finely crushed pretzels
• 6 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

Mix pretzel crumbs, 1/4 cup sugar and butter; press into bottom of springform pan or pie pan.

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Beat Neufchatel cheese and 1/4 cup sugar with mixer until blended. Add dry gelatin mix, zest and juice; mix well.

Fold in whipped topping and pour into prepared pan. 

Freeze 3 hours or until firm.  Let t stand at room temperature 15 min. to soften slightly before cutting to serve.  Top with sweetened whipped cream or whipped topping.