Moving On....Plus a Contest!

As I've mentioned, from December through February I'm up to my neck in lemons. But from early February through April, my grapefruit tree is creating yet another bounty that I can hardly keep up with. Maybe you're looking at the above photo and thinking it doesn't look too fruitful. Well, it seems grapefruit are a little sun-shy. They like to hide underneath the leaves. See below.

Incidentally, my grapefruit tree has yet to be named. Would you like to name him/her? I'm holding a contest for its naming rights and the prize is a bunch of fresh grapefruit from the tree you just named! Creativity is encouraged. To enter, please leave a comment on this post by midnight on March 6th.

I thought it was hard to be creative with lemons; it would seem you can make even less with grapefruit. (Way to promote the contest, Sara.) The juice is very tasty and very healthy, unless you're taking any medications because grapefruit and some drugs don't work well together. I decided not to buy orange juice for a while. We're going to have grapefruit juice each morning instead. Because it's just as good for us and it's free. And none of us is taking any medications so it's cool. Here's me using my KitchenAid citrus juicer attachment. Does this photo make anyone else think of Oobi?

These grapefruit are super juicy. In comparison, twelve lemons yield one cup juice. I juiced twelve grapefruit and got six cups of juice. Look how pretty!

Meet Liz

Why yes, that is my lemon tree, and I've offically named her Liz. And not after my daughter. If you're still confused, it's because you're not watching the funniest show on television. You need to watch 30 Rock. Yes Alec Baldwin is in it, but you'll actually enjoy the show partly because of him and not in spite of him. I swear.

Liz is a wild woman, isn't she? We tried to cut her back last spring but that only made her stronger. We clearly don't know anything about taking care of citrus trees, but she certainly doesn't mind. She's like the Molly Brown of lemon trees. Hmmm, perhaps I should have gone with Molly? Nah, I like Liz. I thought it only fair to dedicate a post in her honor as she has so generously given me, my family, my friends, and my neighbors so much deliciousness these past few months.

And that's all I'm gonna say about lemons...until next year.

Taste Test Fun

I'm not saying I have one, but if I did have a signature baked good, I think it would be this Lemon Tea Bread. A friend from work shared the recipe with me years ago, and although I've made a few changes, it's still one of my favorite things to make during lemon season. My mother-in-law almost drew up a business plan for me to start selling them by the loaf. I think we found a similar recipe in one of her mother's old cookbooks so that put the kibosh on that million-dollar idea.

Last week, I was shopping and found this Smart Balance 50/50 Butter Blend product and thought I would give it a try. It's better for you than butter (with less saturated fat) but it doesn't have any hydrogenated oils like margarine. Because I'm always trying to eat better and because of my passion for taste tests (sometime I'll have to tell you about a chocolate tasting party I hosted last year), I decided to make two batches of this (essentially) lemon cake: one with butter and one with this new butter blend.

As the photos would indicate, the loaf on the left is made with butter and the loaf on the right is made with the butter blend. Which do you think my family and I liked better? Everything else being equal, we preffered the loaf with the 50/50 Butter Blend. Both tasted great, but as silly as this may sound, the loaf made with butter tasted more buttery. And not necessarily in a good way because the butter blend loaf was more lemony and didn't seem as heavy. It had a better texture, too--softer, moister, and less dense.

The downside of the 50/50 Butter Blend is that it's expensive. Some people use margarine for baking because it's less than $1/pound while butter is about $4/pound. Admittedly, I bought the butter blend because it was on sale and I had a coupon. I probably wouldn't buy it otherwise, though. But who knows? I used to be one of those margarine-using people and I turned into a butter-using person. Maybe I'll eventually I'll use the butter blend for all my baking.

Lemon Tea Bread

1/2 stick butter or butter blend

1 c sugar

2 eggs, beaten

2 T lemon juice

1 T lemon zest

1 1/2 c flour

1 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

Glaze: Combine 2 T lemon juice, 1 T lemon zest, and 1/4 c sugar.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Add lemon juice and zest. Add flour mixture to egg mixture and mix until just combined. Pour into two small loaf pans lightly coated with cooking spray. Bake for 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on rack for 10 minutes and invert. Top with glaze. Allow loaves to cool completely on rack. Wrap and chill.

Happy Valentine's Day

I made chocolate truffles for my Valentine...and subsequently my friends. I know. How romantic, huh? See, I made the truffles yesterday and there were so many that I didn't trust myself with them. I went out to dinner and a movie with my book club last night so I took the remaining truffles for dessert/movie snacks.

They are so good and so easy to make. Really. Truly. If you're still not convinced, the recipe comes from Everyday with Rachael Ray. Okay. Now you're with me. Just melt 4 oz semi-sweet chocolate (or a 3.5 oz chocolate bar) with 1/3 c heavy cream (or half & half). Remove from heat and add 1/4 cup chopped nuts. Pour into a bowl and refrigerate for two hours. Scoop out by tablespoonfuls and lightly roll into balls. Roll in 1/2 cup finely chopped nuts. I used macadamia nuts and almonds, but I covered some with toasted coconut. Other than the coconut, they were a hit. Apparently no one I know, other than myself, likes coconut. Oh well. I love them anyway.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Lemon Heaven

I realize it's a bit redundant and silly to write about something I found on another blog, but I'm going to do it anyway. These Lemon Cupcakes filled with Lemon Curd are everything you'd expect them to be, only better. This lighter version of lemon curd is so tangy and sweet and the cupcake is its perfect container. The best part is that you get to carve out the center of the cupcakes and have a little bite before dessert time. Plus after I assembled the cupcakes, there was just enough lemon curd left over to squirt into the kids' mouths. Oh, I was the best mommy in the world that day!

Seriously?

Avid readers of this blog (ha, that's funny) already know that I make my own granola bars. This week, I changed it up a little. For the pecans and dried cranberries, I substituted macadamia nuts and dried cherries. Pretty darn good. And my husband noticed! Maybe we're watching too much Food Network because he's starting to sound like an Iron Chef judge. Last night he told me my granola bars were good. What he actually said was, "I like the tart flavor of the cherries and the underlying notes of the macadamia nuts." Oh really now?

Down Under

We had the pleasure of having our neighbors over for lunch this weekend. Actually, they brought most of the food while we provided the grill and back yard venue. Patti and Steve are one of the sweetest couples and we're so fortunate to have such kind, considerate and thoughtful next-door neighbors. One of their sons married a girl from New Zealand and they have a two year old and a newborn. They've come to visit for two months. Patty and Steve never met their grandchildren so this was a very special Christmas for them indeed! I thought I had it bad with all of my family in Pittsburgh, but can you imagine living across the world?

We loaned them a few baby items for their visit and they wanted to pay us back with a barbeque. I just wanted to spend time with them, become Angie's BFF, and visit them in New Zealand every year for the rest of our lives. I'm still working on that last part, but we did have an enjoyable Saturday afternoon with delightful people. I made these Dark Chocolate and Cherry Brownies for our dessert. For some reason, I don't have a 9x9 baking dish so I used a 9-inch pie plate and made a brownie pie. I like brownies with a more fudgey texture, but the intense dark chocolate flavor and hints of strawberry (I didn't have cherry preserves, but I figured strawberry would work just as well) evened it all out.

Angie tells me she loves to bake, too, and rumor has it that her chocolate pudding recipe is sinfully delicious. Maybe I'll have some New Zealand recipes to share with you in the future. Here's hoping!