Some days you just gotta have lemon!

UPDATE 8/25/11!!! So I had to try these again. It bugged me that the meringue didn't form stiff peaks. Plus they were too good and the boys wanted me to try with lime curd. SO, made another batch today. Smaller is better. Also managed to get the meringue into stiff peaks in 1/4th the time it took me to get the last batch to even take a form. Don't use packaged egg whites. It says egg whites BUT they don't whip up nearly as well as fresh egg whites straight from the egg. Still no torch but they browned more evenly in the broiler as well. Overall much better. Still prefer Lemon over Lime curd. I also have a recipe from a friend for lemon curd that I just might try one of these days

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(Original post 8/19/11) I saw these Lemon Meringue cookie gems through a Facebook feed. After going to the link, reading the creator's story and seeing the pictures I could not stop thinking about them for days. Last night I made them in between playing You Build It Monopoly with the family. We had a fresh made treat at the end. The only downside was a late bedtime as unfortunately it took awhile to get the meringue to whip into stiff peaks. :( I gave up after 15 min of beating on high with two different mixers. So mine don't look quite as fancy.

I really wasn't sure if my family would enjoy these. But everyone loved them, including Nick who I showed the recipe to and his initial response was "I'd make them but not eat them". HA I win!

Thank you Kristan of Confessions of a Cookbook Queen for inventing something so delicious...I think. Now to only make them for special occasions.

My description - the base cookie is like a shortbread that rivals my favorite Panera shortbread! The lemon curd is as good as you want to go with it. I have a favorite bottled kind and do not make my own. The meringue is as good as your beaters, eggs and patience I guess. Our torch is not working so I had to broil. But it still worked. Result - the perfect mini lemon meringue pie only with a tasty shortbread cookie instead of a yucky crust! (not a fan of pie crust)

Who got the better deal?

The schedule for the rainy overcast day (my favorite) included the last day of swimming lessons, Dan's baseball scrimmage (which ended up being cancelled), Nick going back to work to catch up on grading and I my long list of things I knew would not all get done. At swimming I made a deal to swap kids. After lunch I took Sam to his friend Liam's and I took Liam's two cute little sisters Kailey and Maddie home with me. As we left their dad said "I'm not sure who is getting the better deal here". I believe he was thinking he was getting the better deal. I don't get a lot of "girl time" at my house so I needed to make the most of this. Kailey was more interested in Wii Sports Resort, the dog and what Dan was doing. But Maddie was my little buddy. She was so excited to make little Easter treats. I had all the equipment and stuff to make more chocolate covered marshmallows. So we did pink and green with Easter sprinkles. Nothing real original but we had fun and the time went by quickly. I think I got a pretty good deal. Now to attack the list. Actually I didn't accomplish more than 2 things off my list but that's OK...life goes on whether the list is done or not. I at least have a fun memory from the day!

TV Dinner Anyone?

When I woke up this morning I really didn't think about it being April 1st. I didn't have plans to make something fun either. But after running across a link on facebook that lead me to THIS, I had to make it! The fun thing is that we took dinner tonight to a family that had a new little baby boy last week! OH he is so little and cute. Daniel proudly delivered the following line "our budget has been a little tight lately and we could only afford one TV dinner for you. But there are three chicken legs, some mashed potatoes gravy and butter, peas and carrots and a dessert." Then Sam said "April Fools" and we delivered the regular food.

FAT Tuesday...on its way out

Fat Tuesday, a day I will admit to have never really celebrated. Until moving to Michigan I had no clue what a Packzi is, or of its significance. This marks my 5th Fat Tuesday in Michigan. The first two years I simply wondered what on earth the stacks of Packzi boxes were all about. I mean, really a prune filled heavy looking doughnut? Then after trying it each of the following 3 years (NOT PRUNE FILLED) in hopes it might taste better than last time I’m hoping I have learned the lesson. Packzi are NOT for doughnut snobs. They are heavy, tasteless and one SHOULD in fact fast after eating them, just as intended. I hope all my Michigander friends enjoyed their Packzi (oh for those of you as confused about the pronunciation as I was it is pronounced PONCH-KEY or PUNCH-KEY depending on who you are listening to). So here is my written note to self for 2012. DO NOT EAT ANOTHER PACKZI! Lemon filling or cream cheese filling does NOT help them! They are still disgusting and not worth it and they cannot be on their way out any time too soon. (no offense intended for those who enjoy this tradition or use them as part of a religious experience)

CSA Time again…

This year we signed up to participate in a Community Supported Agriculture plan again. Last year was our first and a very positive experience overall. I admit though to being challenged as to how to cook or what to do or even identify properly some of the goods in our crate on occasion. I questioned our signing up again this year but opted to do so because it just seems like you can’t go wrong exploring with food that is grown so well and is so good for us. I determined I would need to be prepared each week to properly clean and store the goods and then be sure to try new recipes. I also determined that if we can’t get through all of the produce that I cook and freeze what can be.

This week was our first pickup which included salad mix, spinach, baby cooking greens, radishes and oregano. I used to love radishes as a kid but can’t eat them anymore. A recipe was provided in our newsletter for a radish dish so I tried it thinking that maybe cooking them might take away whatever it is that gives me problems. It worked and was tasty! It was also very easy to make. The kids didn’t like it so much but Nick and I enjoyed it along with a little bit of garlic chicken, fresh fruit and a salad from more fresh greens.

This is what happens when you go the extra mile

Nick asked me to make him a list of what I wanted for Mother’s Day. He knew it would include cleaning because the reality is a clean house put s me in a good mood. Doing the cleaning myself does not put me in a good mood. Getting it cleaned and then having everyone else undo the work puts me in a bad mood. So keeping with the saying “if momma ain’t happy nobody’s happy and if daddy ain’t happy nobody cares” he took my list.

Well Nick and the boys did most everything on my list on Saturday. Ahh it felt great to wake up to a cleaner less cluttered home! Then Sam had to stay home from church as he threw up again early Sunday morning (oh that part of waking up wasn’t so nice). Nick stayed home with him. Upon returning home with Dan we found Nick had cooked up a nice lunch (but more like dinner as it was a big meal). But he strayed from the list and tried to go the extra mile. He decided to turn on the self cleaning oven while we were gone so the oven would also be clean. As I’m looking at the good food he has cooking on the stove I notice my cute Tastefully Simple collection of various spice mixes that sit across the top of the stove ledge. They looked like they had fallen down and not been put back carefully. But on closer inspection they were melting! OK I know it’s just spices but they look so good lining it and honestly there aren’t any other good places to keep them all. The bottles don’t stand up right and some can’t stand up at all.

I was a little sad and trying to resolve what felt like unnecessary sulking about spice bottles -kind of like don’t cry over spilled milk. I didn’t cry but knew I couldn’t replace all of them as some of the spices are no longer available. Then purely by accident I ran across a solution online. I found this cool set of glass spice jars and they were on a great sale. Even though I really didn’t feel a need for a mother’s day present where money was spent I still ended up with a little gift. I can’t wait for it to arrive so I can transfer my spices and come up with some way to label them.

So sometimes when you go the extra mile things don’t quite turn out as planned. We never had a problem with the bottles melting in previous uses of the self cleaning…or when was the last time we did it? But it all worked out. I’m now getting an extra present.

A day for good luck...

My shortest blog entry to date! This is how we started off St Patrick's day.

All in a day

Today’s task list:

Paint hall bathroom

Cook dinner for missionaries

Cut boys hair and a bunch of misc. things.

Today’s events:

Raw egg flying around the kitchen while bowl flips out of hand making a huge mess. Didn’t know one raw egg could cover so much space and in so many places.

I Realized I didn’t have all ingredients to make dinner so great husband offers to go to the store for me (I HATE shopping on Saturdays). However, the 48oz glass bottle of salsa that I left in the back of the car, along with other things I picked up at Sam’s Club yesterday, rolled forward during a turn and smashed into the metal of the middle seat and spilled its guts all over the car and into the little well of the seat connector.

Sam was also swinging in his hammock and managed to do what we knew he would eventually and put a hole in the wall. We have been trying to come up with a solution for this but now we really have to before the hole gets bigger. Anyone know of a good place to get a padded mat with hefty solid backing?

In the middle of this we were taping and prepping the hall bathroom for paint, did the primer and then made some progress on the paint. I was also preparing some pulled BBQ pork, cole slaw, fresh pineapple and grapes and baked beans. The crowning piece was a lemon cheesecake, my first ever attempt to make real cheesecake! It turned out great (ignore the grand canyon in the middle) and is so smooth. The recipe will be posted on Facebook or can be requested.

Overall it was a good day, just frustrating in parts. OH and I did get the boys hair all cut as well (all 3 boys). Yeah!