Paleo Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

I am not sure what came over me, but I really wanted to make some lemon tasting muffins this weekend. I've been on a bit of a splurge of gluten free goodies the past week, mostly facilitated by going out to various places for my birthday.

Muffins! Yum! These turned out great - they were light and fluffy - and were simple, with stuff I happened to have around. I want to experiment a bit with this recipe to make grain free lemon pancakes, and top them with blueberries or raspberries.

I followed the original recipe very closely, just reducing the honey and adding a few drops of stevia. I also just made a half batch (with 2 large eggs). My half made 4 muffins, not 6, but I filled the muffin cups fairly full.

Paleo Lemon Poppyseed Muffins (makes 9-12 muffins)
1/2 cup + 1 tbs of coconut flour
5 eggs
1 tbs of vanilla
1/4 cup of melted coconut oil
2 medium sized lemons juiced
1/3 cup honey (or 1/4 c honey plus some stevia)
1/2 tsp of baking soda
Zest from 2 lemons
2 tbs of poppyseeds (you could also use chia seeds if you can not find poppyseeds)

1. In a large bowl mix together the eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice. Melt the coconut oil and honey together and pour into the egg mixture.  Mix everything together.
2. In a separate bowl mix together all the dry ingredients.  Slowly stir them into the wet ingredients. The batter will thicken after a minute or two, and will get sort of puffy looking. This is good!
3. Fill each (greased) muffin tin (or lined muffin pan) with about 1/4 cup of batter
4. Bake for 22 minutes. Let cool a couple of minutes, and eat!

Ginger Lemon Tea

I started drinking this tea a couple of months ago and now I have it first thing most mornings. I love the spicy heat of the ginger, and the nice tartness of the lemon. It's invigorating, and also warming - which I suppose is nice for these ongoing snowy days! Originally I started making the tea for one individual cup, but that quickly gave way to the easier method of making one large batch that lasts several days. I think the larger batch utilizes the ginger best - it gets extra firey. (You can dilute as needed!) I do only add the lemon fresh though - I just squeeze about 1/3 to 1/2 a lemon each morning and add it to my mug.

Makes 4 cups/1 quart:
4 1/2 cups water
3" piece of ginger, peeled and micro-planed
2 lemons

Add water and micro-planed ginger to a pot on medium heat. (I encourage micro-planing because it seems to pull the most from the ginger. You can also make this by chopping or grating the ginger finely.) Bring to a boil, than cover and turn to low for 20-25 minutes.

Pour the tea through a strainer to remove all the ginger bits, and store in a quart jar in the fridge. For a cup of hot tea, heat up a mug's worth of the ginger-infused water (diluted with more water if you prefer). Once it is hot, add the fresh juice of 1/2 lemon (or a bit less if that is too tart) and drink!

Morroccan Preserved Lemons

Meyer lemons are in season right now in places like California. They are sweeter, more orange-y than standard lemons, and are always recommended in fancy lemon desserts. They also seem like a good selection for my first ever attempt at Preserved Lemons.

Preserved lemons are basically pickled in lots of salt, with whatever other spices suit your fancy. I made mine more Moroccan style, but there are lots of ways you could go. My preserved lemons are currently in week two of brining, and after another two weeks they will be ready to eat. You eat the peel and chop it up to put on fish, salads, chicken, veggies, in the previous post's couscous, etc. Apparently you can put it in anything that calls for lemon, and the preserved lemon will be even better. So I hear - this is all just second hand information until mine are ready. Oh the wait!

I based my recipe and directions off of this lovely post by Hunter Angler Gardener Cook (his photos are also way nicer than mine, but so it goes), though modified it to suit my spices. I did not can the jars of lemons (I checked several other preserved lemon recipes and it seems unnecessary) or wash them. I don't know, I'm just not a food washer when I buy it from the co-op. Here is what I did:

1. Slice off ends of each lemon, then slice lengthwise, almost in quarters. You want the lemon to still be in one piece, but almost cut through.
2. Using Kosher, pickling or pure sea salt, stuff the lemon. Pack it in well, and use about a tablespoon per lemon. Mush the lemons into a clean Mason jar. I used a large mouth quart jar and fit 6 meyer lemons, though probably could have smashed a 7th in there. Toss a little more salt on top.
3. Next add in whatever spices you want to use. I went with: Cinnamon (preferably a stick, but I only had powder), peppercorns, bay leaf, cloves (again I only had powder), and cardamom seeds/pods. I debated about putting in some fennel but I think I kept it out. ?
4. "Cover the lemons with vinegar or lemon juice, or not." It seems that many people put some extra lemon juice in there to cover their lemons. I only had a couple of other lemons on hand, so I put in the juice from them and then went for the "mush the lemons until their own juice covers them" method. It took a week or so until the lemons were entirely covered with juice, but nothing seems to have contaminated or otherwise compromised the exposed lemons in the meantime. So, do what you will. After my mushing, the quart jar is now only half full because everything is so squished down in there, releasing all those juices. Put a lid on the jar.
5. Put the jar/s in a dark place for 3-4 weeks. After that they are ready to eat, and they need to be kept in the fridge. They will last at least a year, if not longer.

Once mine are done I will do an addendum to the post about how they taste....to be continued!

Tilapia

My favorite new fishy discovery is tilapia.  I can't believe it took me so long to try it.  I have never been a big fan of cod and a couple other types of white fish, so I thought it would be in that same taste category, but it's not.  It is so much tastier, at least to me.

I'm sure you can get really fancy when preparing tilapia but my favorite thing to do is pan sear it with butter and lemon juice.  It's easy, light, and flavorful.  Plus, the other bonus about fish is that it cooks very quickly, so if you are hungry, it won't take long to get this yummy meal on the table.

I like to pair my fish with a green vegetable.  In the picture I have the stems from some baby bok choy sautéing next to the tilapia.  This was a good combination.  I have also done green beans recently since I have been getting some really beautiful beans from my garden.

Ingredients:
1-2 tilapia filets
a few lemon slices
1 Tbsp butter or ghee
sea salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Heat some of the butter or ghee in the pan.  Put the rest of the butter on the fish along with salt and pepper.  I like to slice the lemon and lay it on top of the fish as it cooks.  The lemon flavor slowly infuses, and then I squeeze the lemon on top right before eating.  It only takes 5-7 minutes for the fish to cook.  If the fish is larger I flip it over and cook both sides, but if the fish is thin this isn't necessary.  The crispy edges are especially tasty.

Enjoy!

Lemon Tartlets (paleo)

I was feeling motivated to try making some kind of dessert that fits within my current paleo preferred eating habits. My mom had already aced a paleo chocolate pudding (primary ingredients: avocado, cocoa powder, almond butter, and some honey - it was super tasty - thank you mom!), so it seemed time to try out something with lemon. I love lemon curd. Love love love.

This recipe was originally lemon bars, but calling them lemon bars conjures up a different idea. These aren't cakey or powdered sugar-y, these are rich and tart like. With several egg yolks. I ended up making mine in little muffin cups, which thus created tartlets. I followed this online recipe, which was adapted from a cookbook (that I now have on order from the library), but I halved the recipe because I only wanted a few and because macadamia nuts are expensive and because I couldn't figure out what I would do with 8 egg whites.

So. Follow the linked recipe, which is for a 9x13" pan (even though she says 9x9 in one spot). You can make it in a pan, or you can make some in a muffin tin - which made 8 for me when I halved the recipe. I made the crusts in a tin, and then transferred them to muffin cups in order to add the lemon topping to bake them again. (*Note you do not actually need to do this 2nd baking for tartlets. Instead, you can just spoon some cooled curd over a cooled crust bottom. And maybe put on some whipped cream and strawberries too!)

Another note: The crust pieces were puffier than I thought they would be - but once they cooled, they fell a little and were pretty firm (not cakey). They almost had a coconut-y texture, in a really good way. And really, you can't go wrong with macadamia nuts. omg. Also, go easy on the lemon curd for each tartlet. I was a little short for my 8th tart...

Raspberry Lemon Mini-Pavlovas

In honor of Mayday (and thinking about what to bring to multiple Mayday potlucks this weekend) I decided to break out some of last summer's raspberries hiding out in my freezer. Thinking about berries, whipped cream, and some sort of substance to put them on, I happened to spy an old Martha Stewart "Food Everyday" magazine on my table (KP, I promise I will give these back to you soon) and saw a recipe for Pavolva and Berries.

I have never heard of Pavlova before, but a little internet research on Wikipedia yields the following: "Pavlova is a meringue-based dessert named after the Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova. Colloquially referred to as "pav", it is a cake similar to meringue with a crispy crust and soft, light inner."

Pavlova is apparently quite popular as a national dish in both Australia and New Zealand, where it was created in honor of Anna during one of her tours there. And it is typically made for celebrations. So! Mayday Pavlova it is! However, rather than make one or two larger pav's, I tried some mini, tartlet sized ones.

Meringue is fairly simple - there is some mixing labor involved (particularly since I am using hand powered egg beaters), and a lengthy oven time (up to 2 hours), but otherwise is very easy. Once cooled, the meringue is then topped with whipped cream, lemon curd, and berries. See the lemon curd recipe below. (For potluck #2, I mixed the lemon curd with whipped cream a la "Lemon Curd and Blueberry Tart" to put on biscuits with the rest of the raspberries. and yum - really good.)

This recipe is from Martha (my first Martha recipe ever?!):

3 large egg whites at room temp
pinch of cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
1 c. lemon curd
1+ c. whipped cream
1 1/2 c. mixed berries

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment.
2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer (or a hand one of you are me), beat egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form - about 2 min. Beat in 1/4 cup of sugar. With mixer running, add last 1/4 c. of sugar 1 T. at a time. Scrape bowl as you go and continue to beat on high until whites are very stiff and glossy and sugar has almost completely dissolved - about 5 min. (If using a hand mixer, it will become very difficult to mix!) Beat in 1 tsp. vanilla.
3. Gently shape rounds of meringue on sheet; smooth tops. I used an ice cream scoop to get each mini meringue uniform, but you could also make two larger circles. Bake until meringues are crispy on the outside and detach easily from the paper, about 1 1/2 hours (mine cooked closer to 2 hours) - turning cookie sheet halfway through. Turn oven off and let meringues cool completely in oven.
4. To serve: gently peel from paper and top with whipped cream, lemon curd, and mixed berries (I just did raspberries).
*Note that for mini sizes, these are VERY messy. I think maybe there is a reason these are usually bigger. Just sayin.

Lemon Curd (makes 2 cups):
1 c. sugar
1 T. finely grated lemon zest
2/3 c. fresh lemon juice
8 large egg yolks
1/4 t. course salt
1 1/4 sticks (10T) butter, cut into 1/2" pieces

1. In a medium saucepan off heat, whisk together sugar, zest, and yolks. Whisk in lemon juice and salt.
2. Add butter and place pan over medium high heat. Cook, whisking constantly, until butter has melted and mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (small bubbles will form around the edges). *Do not boil.
3. Remove pan from heat while continuing to whisk. Pour curd through fine mesh sieve into a glass bowl. Cover and refrigerate until cool. (Stores in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks! Yum!)

Lemon Almond Cupcakes - GF

I have been eying this recipe for awhile, and finally got around to testing it out this week. The recipe: Almond and Lemon Cake is from Kitchen Therapy - and is gluten and dairy free. I opted to half the recipe and make cupcakes instead. The almond flour is really delicious (ground up almonds) - and the lemon is nice and spring tasting.


A couple of recipe notes:
1. They turned out a little sweet. I would cut the sugar down next time.
2. I could not bring myself to use all that powdered sugar for a glaze, which isn't necessary, but the extra lemon is nice. Thus my glaze ended up very thin, sort of running over the edges of each cupcake. I wonder if I could replace any sugar with cornstarch??
3. I ground almonds in a coffee mill, but I think a food processor works too.
4. I have never heard of this term "thick-ribbon stage" - but decided it was when the egg/sugar mix became thicker than a thin stream. Ribbons are so relative!?
5. For cupcakes, I reduced the heat to 325 and baked for 15-20 minutes.

Lemon curd and blueberry tart

Happy 5 year anniversary KP and Elizabeth! Here is to another 5 years of delicious abundance and love. If the food is any indication of goodness yet to come, the homemade spreads and crackers, deviled eggs, chocolate macaroons, pink cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, and flourless chocolate cake with cookie dough icing make a good prognosis!

This tart is one of my favorite summer desserts - I love lemon curd and whipped cream. The fresh blueberries are a new addition, swapped for raspberries in the original recipe. I tried making a mini-tart in a muffin tin with some of the left-overs...an experiment because I had thought about making mini tarts all together. It worked, but the crusts don't look quite as finished. See the original recipe here at Saveur.