Lemon Love

 I made lemon curd from this recipe by Ina Garten.  It is absolutely wonderful, especially if you like bits of zest in your curd. You do not strain this mixture.  I've purchased lemon curd for years but this is the first time I have tried making my own. A very necessary tool is a thermometer, you must watch the temperature closely. Do not boil or over cook!!! Since I want to keep this in the refrigerator for as long as possible I sterilized my jars and ladled the mixture into them while they were hot. This recipe does call for refrigeration only.

See the bits of zest~~~

As with anything you cook for the first time you should always try to alter the recipe!!!  The bag of lemons I had purchased apparently had been dropped at some point and I lost all but two lemons.  So what did I do when the recipe calls for three to four lemons? Well, I used a ruby grapefruit for a stand in...and I think it worked marvelously. You do get a taste of the grapefruit. When cooled the creamy texture is a little thicker than pudding.

I just add a big dollop to Greek yogurt, mix  and enjoy.

Next I will be trying to make my own lemon marmalade. Below is the brand I've been using, the color and the consistency are fabulous, but, they left the seeds in and they are quite bitter if you chew one. The Meyer lemons are in stores now and I think they would work really well for the marmalade. Probably should throw in a ruby grapefruit for good measure!

And I also have a recipe on file for Lemoncello, an Italian lemon liqueur to which you add sweetened half & half~~~so diet friendly! And so good!!

Oddly enough Sparkling Lemonade from France came in these bottles. No, I won't be making this many bottles of Lemoncello.  The bottles were to cool to send to recycle. I'll recycle these my own way thank you!!!
 

When I was growing up my mother would make a lemon pie. Don't know exactly how she went about it. I know she would cut the lemons into paper thin rounds and simmer them with sugar (not a lot this was a really tart pie).  As far as I can remember she baked it with just a bottom crust. My dad and I were about the only ones who would eat it. It was the best pie on earth except for mom's tiny wild black berry dumpling cobbler and nobody turned that down~~~

Thanks for popping in~~~

Happy Hunting and Gathering!!!