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Sweet and light

Posted on 16 February, 2023 8:53 pm by Jennifer Comment

I had plans to make something different today but it’s been a long week and we were tired, so instead we ordered pizza and I made these lemon cookies, which are basically a lemon crinkle cookie in appearance.

They were quick to throw together while we were waiting for the pizza to be delivered (and yes, I do realize that I could have just as easily made the originally planned shrimp dish in the time it took, except neither of us was in the mood for it).

The cookies are soft, slightly sweet, and have a pleasing scent of lemon, although I didn’t actually taste it. I did feel as if they could have benefited from the addition of just a bit of salt, and perhaps twice as much zest to bring out more flavor, but in general, they were a perfectly acceptable cookie.

Citrus used: 1 lemon

Total citrus used so far: 9 mandarin orange, 17 tangelos, 13 lemons

Making a thing a day for Thingadailies.



Pucker up

Posted on 15 February, 2023 7:40 pm by Jennifer Comment

I really like orange chicken – you know, the stuff you get from places like Panda Express, that has a hint of tart and a hint of sweet, with the chicken coated in a lovely sauce. So when I found this recipe, I was excited to give it a try, especially since it calls for two entire cups of juice and one is trying to use up a plethora of fruit.

The chicken is fairly simple to make; it’s just cubed and tossed in some flour, then pan fried, and then you bring all the sauce ingredients together and simmer them until slightly thickened.

It looks like orange chicken, doesn’t it? However…shudder. I took one bite, shuddered, and then went and made myself a sandwich instead. I’m not sure what exactly was the problem, but there’s an extremely unpleasant bitter note to the entire dish, that lingered unpleasantly on the tongue for quite some time.

Richard didn’t mind it, however, so at least we’ve got his lunch sorted for the next few days, but it’s safe to say I won’t ever be making this recipe again.

Citrus used: 7 tangelos, 7 mandarins

Total citrus used so far: 9 mandarin orange, 17 tangelos, 12 lemons

Making a thing a day for Thingadailies.



A use for my kitchen torch

Posted on 14 February, 2023 8:29 pm by Jennifer Comment

Happy Valentine’s Day!

In honor of the occasion, I made Lemon crème brulee.

Crème brulee is one of those deceptively simple desserts that looks much harder than it actually is. It’s basically just a rich custard, baked in a water bath, then chilled, and topped with sugar that gets torched for that characteristic hard topping right before serving. In this instance, lemon zest is added to the mixture to add a little bit of citrus flavor, although it was pretty subtle.

I might have let it bake a hair too long, but it was still pretty tasty. We enjoyed it after a dinner of the leftovers of the salmon and risotto from Friday.

Oh and by the way, that weird potato salad from Sunday might not be the best sandwich filling, but it actually works fantastic as a breakfast when warmed up and topped with a sunny side up egg. We’ve had that for breakfast the last two days and I suspect it will be breakfast for the rest of the week.

Citrus used: 1 lemon

Total citrus used so far: 2 mandarin orange, 10 tangelos, 12 lemons

Making a thing a day for Thingadailies.



Early valentine

Posted on 13 February, 2023 9:36 pm by Jennifer 1 Comment

Because tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, which is usually marked with chocolates, I decided to make truffles. White Chocolate Citrus Truffles, to be exact.

I actually made these yesterday, because a work day is not exactly conducive to making chocolates (due to the multiple steps involved), but they were meant for today, and this is my own challenge, so I say it counts.

First, you zest one lemon and one orange (I used Meyer lemon and Mandarin orange, since that’s what’s on our trees) and you simmer that zest in the cream for a bit until it takes on the flavor. Then you strain out the zest, stir the infused cream into some melted white chocolate chips, and mix that together until smooth. That goes into the fridge to chill for a couple hours.

Once the ganache is chilled, that gets scooped into balls (shout out to cookie scoops, which are perhaps on of the best things I have ever gotten for my baking adventures), and the balls go into the freezer to set firm.

Once the balls are firm, then each one is rolled so that it’s smooth. Back into the freezer for another hour or so to chill again, and finally they then get dipped into yet more melted white chocolate, which if you have tempered it correctly, should set almost immediately on the cold pan.

I had intended to top them with pieces of candied peel, but during the process of boiling the peels, I lost track of time and managed to scorch the peels to the bottom of the pan, and by that time it was getting late in the evening and I didn’t want to start that whole lengthy process again, so….naked truffles are what we’ve got!

I am extremely pleased with how these turned out. The ganache inside is perfectly creamy and soft, while the white chocolate coating was just the right thickness to hold it all in place. There is a nice tartness from the infused cream that helps keep them from being too overly sweet, and overall, it is a lovely bite.

I took them to rehearsal with me (which is why I wanted to have them for today) and they were hit. This is a recipe I will definitely be making again.

Citrus used: 1 lemon, 1 mandarin orange

Total citrus used so far: 2 mandarin orange, 10 tangelos, 11 lemons

Making a thing a day for Thingadailies.



One potato, two

Posted on 12 February, 2023 7:07 pm by Jennifer Comment

Today was Baking Sisters, and since we’re still meandering our way alphabetically through the states, this month it was time for Idaho. Or rather, this month it was time for all things potato.

The official pie of the state is Huckleberry pie, but as berries are Not Food (and also huckleberries are both not in season, and nowhere to be found around here anyway), we skipped that one. However, the official cookie of Idaho is the Potato Chip Cookie, and the official sandwich is the Potato Salad Sandwich (no I am not making that up), so clearly we had to give both of those a try.

Oh and also because of my need to use up citrus, plus my recent acquisition of a madeleine pan, we also made Lemon Madeleines.

So this morning shortly after I got up, I zested and juiced some lemons, and then mixed together the madeleine batter and got that into the fridge to chill. Then, once we started our video call, and after we got the potatoes into the pot to boil for the potato salad, I filled my madeleine pan and put that back into the fridge to chill some more.

The recipe for the potato salad includes carrots and eggs (which get boiled in the same pan as the potatoes), and also chopped celery and cubed cooked ham. The dressing was just mayo, salt and pepper, and seemed on first glance that this was going to end up pretty bland, but we pressed on, deciding to follow the recipe exactly. Neither of us thought to halve the recipe because it didn’t seem like it was going to make all that much….at least until we started mixing everything together and realizing that no, this makes a TON. Hmm, guess what we’ll both be eating now for days!

Technically we should have used white bread, but instead Richard and I put a scoop of the salad on some leftover Lemon Buns from yesterday for lunch. It was…okay, although my sister and I were correct in that it is extremely bland and is in desperate need of *something* (she stirred in some pickle relish, and I am thinking that a large dollop of mustard might be needed for mine, but we’ll see). I feel like this whole concept might have potential, but possibly not as a sandwich, or at least not without a whole lot of additional help.

As for the potato chip cookies, it’s basically an oatmeal cookie with crushed potato chips mixed in. They’re a perfectly acceptable cookie, I suppose, and there’s that same aftertaste that you get from potato chips (slightly greasy, slightly salty, a hint of something fried), but this isn’t a recipe I’m ever going to be wanting to make again.

And moving on to the madeleines – well, they puffed up perfectly, they all had the requisite hump, and they tasted fine….but they got a little too brown (they should be a pale golden brown, oops).

They were fun to make, however (despite the multiple chill times), and since I have this pan, I will definitely be making madeleines again, although perhaps I’ll try a different recipe .

Citrus used: 2 lemon

Total citrus used so far: 1 mandarin orange, 10 tangelos, 10 lemons

Making a thing a day for Thingadailies.



Slow cooking

Posted on 11 February, 2023 7:49 pm by Jennifer Comment

Since I know I missed a day this week, today you get two citrus recipes. First, in the morning I set up the dough for Lemon Buns. These are a yeasted dinner roll sort of affair, but with lemon zest in the dough, and also brushed with a mix of zest and butter both before and after the bake. I thought the recipe sounded intriguing, and these are the sort of thing that freeze well, so I made the full batch.

They’re baked in round pans, 10 per pan (and the assembly fits perfectly into a freezer bag, which is where the second pan went immediately after it was cooled).

They look pretty, all golden brown and brushed with bits of lemon zest, but aside from being a perfectly soft and lovely dinner roll, you would never guess (if you weren’t told) that there was lemon in them. So on the plus side, at least they’ll go with anything a normal dinner roll would, but on the downside, I admit I was hoping for at least a hint of that lemon.

We had them alongside Salmon with Dill Sauce and Lemon Risotto for dinner. Richard mixed up the dill sauce while I worked on the risotto, ladling hot broth into the pan and stirring and stirring and stirring until it was all fully cooked. I think I have made risotto before (?), but it is the sort of thing that, to me, always seems unnecessarily tedious.

The salmon is simply seasoned with a little salt and pepper and then cooked. We’d originally planned to have this with a side of broccoli, as a nod to health, but upon taking the bag of broccoli from the fridge to prepare it, I discovered that it was squishy, and not in a good way, so….another plate of all the tones of beige it is!

Verdict – the fish was cooked perfectly (phew!), and everything was absolutely delicious, although I felt like overall it was a bit on the heavy side (and I found myself really wishing that we’d had the broccoli to help lighten it up).

Citrus used: 2 lemon

Total citrus used so far: 1 mandarin orange, 10 tangelos, 8 lemons

Making a thing a day for Thingadailies.



Flavor, and the lack thereof

Posted on 10 February, 2023 9:40 pm by Jennifer Comment

This morning for breakfast I made Lemon Poppy Seed Scones.

I’ve made scones oodles of time in the past, but I believe this is the first time I’ve ever put poppy seeds in them. Otherwise, they came together pretty much the same way as all the other scone recipes I’ve tried – you mix your butter into your dry ingredients (you could do this with your fingers, or a food processor), then stir in the wet ingredients only until just mixed, then form into a circle, cut into 8 pieces, separate slightly, and bake. Then you make a glaze (lemon juice plus powdered sugar) and drizzle that over the tops once they’re cooled.

My scones always look a bit slumped – I suspect I should chill the formed dough prior to baking it, except that I am usually in a hurry and don’t have time for that.

Anyway. I was rather disappointed by this recipe. The scones themselves have almost no flavor; the only flavor (such as it was) comes from the lemon glaze, which although lovely, is just not enough to make eating a tasteless breakfast pastry worth it.

Citrus used: 1 lemon

Total citrus used so far: 1 mandarin orange, 10 tangelos, 6 lemons

Making a thing a day for Thingadailies.



That would be a nope

Posted on 8 February, 2023 7:54 pm by Jennifer Comment

Every year when take on this ‘use up all the citrus’ challenge, I wander through the internet looking for recipes. This year I stumbled upon the Sunkist website, which has a whole pile of recipes, and some of them looked pretty tasty, including this one. Orange flavored rice krispy treats? Sure, why not, that could be good.

Let me stop you right here, in case you also might be falling for the same trap.

Don’t.

Trust me. Really. Don’t.

They’re sticky and weird and yes, vaguely orange flavored but….no.

We both took a couple bites and then dumped the rest of the pan. Ah well.

Citrus used: 1 mandarin orange

Total citrus used so far: 1 mandarin orange, 10 tangelos, 5 lemons

Making a thing a day for Thingadailies.



Fungi for the win

Posted on 7 February, 2023 6:34 pm by Jennifer Comment

Tonight’s dinner was originally going to be a version of orange chicken, except that we discovered that rice had never made its way onto the grocery list. So instead I made Lemon Cream Chicken instead, with some penne pasta.

This recipe is pretty straightforward. You coat the chicken is a mix of flour, salt, and pepper, then pan fry it in a tiny bit of butter until cooked. Then while the chicken rests, you reduce some chicken broth in the same pan, then stir in a whole pile of mushrooms, the juice of one lemon, and a little bit of cream. Finally, after the mushrooms are cooked, you stir in a slurry of flour with a little bit more cream, so that the sauce thickens up.

It’s not much to look at, obviously, but it’s actually pretty tasty. This would work just as well using milk instead of cream, I suspect, so I’ll likely do that next time, and I’d happily double the amount of mushrooms in the dish as well, or even a thinly sliced onion to add a little more depth of flavor. But overall, this was a win, and we’ll definitely be making this recipe again.

Citrus used: 1 lemon

Total citrus used so far: 10 tangelos, 5 lemons

Making a thing a day for Thingadailies.



Bet you never made your oatmeal like this

Posted on 6 February, 2023 9:48 pm by Jennifer Comment

What better way to start the week then with a healthy breakfast? How about something where you cook some oats in orange juice and then bake it into a cake?

I saw the recipe for Orange Oat Breakfast Cake and was intrigued. You first cook the oats in the orange juice (which is…not the most delightful smell), then you stir together all the other ingredients and fold in the cooked oats. The recipe called for a 5 inch pan, which I don’t have, so instead I divided it between two of my four-inch springform pans, and that worked perfectly.

A small breakfast cake, dusted with powdered sugar and sitting on a plate.

Sometimes things like this can come across as very earnestly ‘healthy’, but this was actually pretty good. We split one of the little cakes for breakfast this morning and the second one will be breakfast tomorrow.

Along with the breakfast cake this morning, I also made Lemon Orzo Soup for dinner. This was originally planned for last night but time got away from us.

A bowl of creamy orzo lemon soup with carrot coins

I first made this soup back in 2019 (for Thingadailies), and it’s been in our winter rotation ever since. It’s fairly quick to make (I usually just beat the egg whites by hand to avoid dirtying yet another bowl), and we always add a couple carrots, peeled and sliced, to sneak in some extra veggies. And bonus, it makes enough for lunches for the next few days.

Citrus used: 2 tangelos and 1 lemon

Total citrus used so far: 12 tangelos, 5 lemons

Making a thing a day for Thingadailies.




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