Lemon-aid!

I grew up with a lemon tree in my backyard.  There were summer days when my friend Myra from down the street and I would pluck a lemon off the tree, cut it in half, dip it in sugar, and eat it...until my mother caught us and told us we'd rot our teeth out of our heads.  I set up my fair share of lemon and lemonade stands over the years, and made a good amount of change at it.  I watched my mother make many a lemon meringue pie, and they were absolutely heavenly, even if the meringue separated from the crust.  For these reasons and more, I LOVE lemon.  I love cooking with it, I love drinking lemonade, and I absolutely love baking all things lemon.  My dentist hates me for it.  Here are some lemony favorites that you might like too:

Some lemon meringue pie secrets:  First of all, make twice as much meringue as the directions tell you to.  That will allow you to spread the meringue thicker and more effectively all the way to the edge of the crust.  And second of all, brush the crush with beaten egg white BEFORE you spread the meringue on.  The meringue will stick to the egg white and stay put.

Lemon Meringue Pie (from the Pillsbury Family Cookbook with some pointers added by me)

Crust for an 8-9 inch pan
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup shortening
3-4 Tablespoons cold ice water
Crust Directions:
Sift four and salt into a bowl.  Cut in shortening until the size of small peas.  Sprinkle with water, a little at a time, while tossing and stirring until dough is just moist enough to hold together.  Form into a ball.  Flatten to 1/2 inch thickness and smooth the edges.  Roll out on a floured surface into a circle 1 1/2 inches larger than the pie pan.  Place crust into pan and pat out the air pockets.  Fold the edges to form a rim.  Flute the edges.  Prick generously with a fork.   Bake at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes.  Cool before filling.
Filling
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup corn starch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cold water
1 1/3 cups hot water
1 teaspoon freshly ground lemon rind
1/3 cup lemon juice
3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 Tablespoons butter or margarine
Filling Directions:
Crack eggs and beat yolks slightly.  Combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a saucepan.  Blend in the cold water.  Add the hot water.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a long-handled wooden spoon, until thick and clear (5-8 minutes).  Remove from heat.  Stir in lemon rind and lemon juice.  Cook for two more minutes or until thick again.  Blend 1/2 a cup of the hot mixture into the eggs.  Pour the eggs into the hot mixture and cook two minutes, stirring constantly until very thick.  Blend in the butter.  Cover and cool in the freezer or refrigerator to lukewarm.  Pour into the baked shell.  Cool to warm before topping with meringue.
Meringue (This meringue recipe has already been doubled, as suggested above)
6+1 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
12 T granulated sugar

Meringue Directions:  
Beat 6 egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar at highest speed until soft peaks form.  Add sugar gradually, beating continuously until stiff peaks form.  Beat the 7th egg white, then brush it all over the edges of the cooked and filled crust.  Spread the meringue over the cooled filling, sealing it all the way over the edges.  Use the back of a spoon to create points in the meringue (push the spoon's back down flat into the meringue, then lift up) Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes (or 400 degrees for 6-8 minutes), watching closely to make sure the tips' points are brown but not burned.  Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

Lemon Bar Torte (my recipe!): This dessert looks beautiful and is about the simplest dessert you can make and it tastes so darn lemony.  I made it up when I was in a pinch.  Here's how:  Buy a box mix for lemon bars.  I like the Krusteaz kind, but whatever kind the grocery store has is fine.  Make the crust as directed, but put it in a pretty tart pan with fluted edges or a pretty pie dish instead of in a square or rectangular pan.  Now for the filling.  Make it as directed, except instead of the water it asks you to add, use half water and half fresh lemon juice (or the stuff in the plastic squeezy lemon if that's all you've got).  If you really like lemon, use all lemon juice and no water--it'll be tart but that's how I love it.  Add in 1/2 cup shredded coconut, and 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts (optional).  Bake as directed. When mostly cooled, sprinkled powdered sugar over the top by putting it into a sieve and shaking that over the tart.  It looks like a very fancy lemon tart, yet it only took you 5 minutes to put together!

Two minute frozen lemonade (my recipe!): Blend together in a blender until silky smooth- 2 cups ice cubes, 1/2 cup frozen lemonade concentrate, 1/2 cup clear soda (sprite, sierra mist, 7 up, or whatever).  Garnish with a slice of lemon or a lemon-slice-shaped candy, and serve immediately with a straw.  Makes one tall 16 oz serving.  Pictured here. You could add one drop of yellow food coloring before blending if you really wanted to.

My grandma's amazing lemonade: My grandma, Hester Dieter, was an amazing cook.  (She was also an amazing cake maker, secretary, member of the Navy Waves, Sunday school teacher, mom, and grandma) and this is her recipe.  This is REALLY GOOD stuff.  It's pretty concentrated, so when the ice all melts, you'll still have lots of flavor.
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
4 lemon RINDS, cut into pieces
Stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved.  Boil about 7 minutes.  Pour it all into a large (one gallon) pitcher.  Add to the pitcher 2 cups of lemon juice (about 4 cubes of lemon juice made in an ice cube tray).  Add  8 cups of ice water. Serve over more ice. Remove the rind pieces if you are going to store it overnight.

Pitcher of Pampered Chef's Lemon Drop Martinis: I had one of these at a Pampered Chef party and probably bought more kitchen gadgets than I should have because of it.  Deeelish!  This recipe makes about 15 servings.
2 (12 oz) cans frozen lemonade concentrate
24 ounces citrus vodka
1 cup sugar
juice of 4 lemons
ice
15 lemon heads
Mix all ingredients except the ice and the lemon heads.  Put ice into the glasses and one lemon head into each glass. Pour over, then serve immediately.

My mom's lemon bars: These taste like home to me. Yuuuummmm.  Not sure where she got the recipe.
Crust:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
Mix with a fork to make into a pie crust and press into an 8 x 8 pan.  Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.
Filling:
1 cup sugar
4 T lemon juice
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
3 T flour
Mix together and pour over the crust.  Bake for 20 mins at 350.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar while still a little warm.  Easier to cut into bars when cool.  Makes 9 bars.

Yummy and mild Mexican meal

My husband, Lord bless him, is one of the pickiest eaters I know.  And by picky, I mean he won't eat anything containing mayonnaise (there goes most salads), won't eat any meat that's cold (there goes most sandwiches), and he won't eat meat off the bone (usually).  He would eat Mexican food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if he could.  I could just drive through Del Taco three times a day, and he'd probably be much happier than he is eating my cooking.  So I'm trying to serve Mexican-style food more often, and have been trying out and modifying some recipes.  Here's a meal that he actually likes, and I actually like too.  I can't say these recipes are exactly my creations, but I did combine and modify several different recipes to arrive at them.  Enjoy!

Black Bean, Corn, and Avocado Salad

Prep time: 15 minutes
Serves: 4-6 as a side dish

Ingredients:
1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz can whole kernel corn, drained
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped (that's about 1/4 of a medium sized red onion)
1 avocado, diced
1/2 a medium orange bell pepper, chopped small
1/2 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
4 drops Tobasco sauce (use more if you like things hot...this turns out very mild.)
2 T olive oil (or veggie oil if you don't have olive)
1 T balsamic vinegar or apple cider vinegar
2 T lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (this gives it the Southwest flavor)
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Combine everything EXCEPT the avocado in a serving dish and stir well.  Add the avocado and mix in gently.  Can be served immediately or covered and refrigerated for several hours to meld the flavors.  


and now for the main dish!

Easy Chicken Enchiladas 

(I adapted this recipe from Tortilla Lovers Cook Book by Bruce Fischer and Bobbi Salts, 1996)

Prep time: 20 minutes     

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

26 ounces of cooked, shredded chicken (canned, or from leftovers, or from a store-bought rotisserie chicken, or 4 cooked and shredded chicken breasts)

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

2 cups shredded mozzarella or Monterey Jack cheese

1 small onion, very finely chopped

1/3 cup milk

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of celery OR cream of mushroom soup

2 T butter

1 (7 ounce) can diced green chiles, drained
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon tequila lime seasoning (optional)

12 corn tortillas

OPTIONAL: 1/2 cup vegetable oil

OPTIONAL: 1 small jalapeno, peeled, seeded, and diced

Directions:

Combine the cheeses and onion in a bowl, and set aside.  Combine the chicken, milk, soups, butter, and chiles in a large sauce pan and simmer for approximately 15 minutes until the chicken is heated all the way through. 

Heat the oil and soften the tortillas by dipping each one into the hot oil for a few seconds per side (or microwave the tortillas to soften them if desired) then drain them.  Fill each tortilla with a generous portion of the chicken mixture and a portion of the cheese mixture, roll up, and place seam side down in a baking dish. (Uses up two 9 x 13 pans with 6 tortillas in each pan.)   When all are rolled, top with any remaining chicken mixture, then any remaining cheese mixture.  Bake at 300 degrees for approximately 20 minutes. Serve hot. 

I'll add a picture after I make 'em again!

Almost as good as McPhee's

It was a sad, sad day when I realized that us moving away from California's beautiful Central Coast also meant leaving behind my favorite dessert on the entire planet: Ian McPhee's Grill's Chocolate Decadence Cake.  McPhee's is Templeton's fanciest restaurant, and this dessert is positively out of this world.

We actually called our daughter "Lime Sauce" while she was in utero as an homage to that dessert.  And on the day after she was born, someone on Ian's staff gifted my scruffy, unslept husband with a piece of this heaven to take to me in the hospital.  That was a very good day.

It's a flourless chocolate cake served with a lime sauce and a crunchy chocolate garnish thingy on top (that last part I can live without). The menu's exact wording is"Flourless bittersweet chocolate cake with caramel lime sauce."  My mouth is watering just writing that.  And here's a photo of said cake.

At any rate, after resigning myself to the fact that we were moving, I set out to find a recipe for this dessert that I could make wherever we moved to, and after much searching, intermingling of recipes, and experimenting, this recipe is the closest I could come up with.  Ian's has some sort of a smooth glaze on top, which this recipe does not have.  Altogether, it's not as good as Ian's but for a girl now living 5 hours away, it'll have to do...until my next visit! This recipe is mostly adapted from this recipe: torta- xocolata by chef john sedlar

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Lime Sauce

Cake
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 8 oz package semisweet chocolate squares, broken into pieces (I use Baker’s)

12 oz semisweet chocolate chips (I use Toll House)

Line an 8-inch circular cake pan with a circle of waxed paper or parchment paper large enough to come halfway up the pan's side.

In the top of a double boiler, place the cream and chocolate pieces and stir until the chocolate has melted completely and is fully blended with the cream.

Pour the mixture into the lined cake pan and chill it in the freezer until solid, about 2 hours. Then store in the refrigerator until serving.  To unmold the torte, place a flat platter or plate over the pan then invert it and peel off the paper.  If stuck, replace the pan and dip the pan into warm water.

Cut with a warm wet knife, cleaning after each cut.

Caramel Lime Sauce
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon water
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup key lime juice (bottled works fine; I use Nellie & Joe’s brand)

Put the sugar and water in a heavy medium-sized skillet. Heat the mixture over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar melts and turns a medium caramel color, 10 to 15 minutes. 

Immediately after all the sugar is melted, add the cream and continue to heat and stir until it is fully incorporated. Remove the pan from the heat and strain out any lumps. Then, stir in the lime juice and let the sauce cool in the refrigerator or freezer.

To serve, cut a SMALL wedge of the cake and place it on a chilled dessert plate, then spoon a puddle of the sauce on the side.  Deeeelicious.

Here's a picture of how this turns out.  I promise you, it's tangy and delicious!