Pi(e) Day celebration

Because I'm a geek and a food geek, I made a pie in celebration of Pi day, March 14th, 3-14. (Get it?)

I was hoping to work on pie crusts, but as our oven is still broken, I needed to focus on no-bake recipes. So I went with a Jell-O Pie.

Sure, Jell-O Pie is a marriage of 1950's convenience foods and 1960's science. But, at its core, it's Fruit, juice, gelatin, and cream. Mostly. What's not to like?

The traditional flavor is strawberry, though any variation of fruit, fruit juice, and Jell-O can be used. To make it a little bit interesting (and for my sister-she knows why), I made a Mango Tango Lemon Pie.

Mango Tango Lemon Pie
Most of the mango items can be found in the international foods aisle of your grocery store. You could use 2 fresh mangoes here, too, but the canned tastes pretty good and works just fine.

1 graham cracker crust
8 oz (smaller container) Cool-Whip Lite
16 oz canned mangoes (International Foods aisle at grocery store)
Juice and Zest of one lemon
1 packet Lemon-flavored Jell-O
Mango-flavored soda
Canned mango puree or juice
Red and yellow food coloring

Juice and zest a lemon. Add enough mango-flavored soda to make 1/2 cup. Add a half cup of mango juice to the mixture. Heat briefly over low heat until it's just boiling, then turn off heat.

Meanwhile, drain canned mangoes, and chop into bite-size pieces.

Dump lemon Jell-O packet into medium bowl. Add fruit juice, stir well. Add Cool-Whip, stir until all the lumps are out and everything is smooth.

Add 2 drops of red, and 4 drops of yellow, food coloring to the mix (optional).

Fold in the mangoes.

Dump it all into a graham cracker pie crust and toss in the fridge for a couple hours, until it's set.

I've found good luck sticking it in the freezer for an hour, then into the fridge. It means you get to eat it sooner.

You may scoff at Jell-O pie, but I dare you not to lick the bowl clean.