Meyer Lemon Honey Almond Cake

A few weeks ago, I was tinkering around with a lemon cake recipe that I made/posted about last year, trying to see if a bit simpler method would yield a more lemony cake.  Happy to report, the new lemon cake was even more full of the sweet/tart goodness of my favorite citrus ~ the Meyer lemon.  More changes that I made to the original recipe were ~ using all egg whites this time around, replacing some of the sugar with honey and pureeing the Meyer lemons fresh (not cooked), peel-and-all.   It made for a bright, robust flavor that I really enjoyed.  This Meyer Lemon Honey Almond Cake is wheat-free and dairy-free.  It's a really enjoyable dessert, tasty teatime treat or snack for us.  If you wanted to add a little something extra, maybe drizzle on a quick glaze or a sprinkling of powdered sugar to dress it up, or eat it plain/naked.  teehee  :)  Enjoy!

Meyer Lemon Honey Almond Cake
adapted from this recipe
Ingredients

• 3 Meyer lemons ~ cut into wedges & seeds removed
• 2 1/4 cups almond meal
• 1 cup egg whites (I used eggs whites from a carton)
• 7 Tbsps sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.   Grease a cake pan and cut a piece of parchment paper to fit into the bottom. (so it will be easier to remove)

In a small food processor, puree Meyer lemons (skin & all) with honey until smooth.  Combine the pureed honey/lemon with the sugar, egg whites, vanilla extract and salt and stir until smooth.  Pour into a mixing bowl and add the almond meal and baking powder, stir until well combined.

Let batter sit 10 minutes, then pour into prepared cake pan and tap/smooth batter.  Bake for approx 40-60 minutes or until toothpick tester comes out clean.  Let cool in pan, run a knife around edges to loosen, then remove to cooling rack.  Or, just keep in the cake pan and serve from there.  Cake will get moister the longer it sits.  Store in a covered container, it will last longer if kept in the fridge. 

Light as a Feather Lemon Cookies ~ recipe from the South Beach Diet Cookbook

I picked up a copy of the South Beach Diet Cookbook at Goodwill the other day.  I was drawn to the lemon cookie recipe since I've got some Meyer Lemons, sitting in my fridge, just begging to be turned into tasty treats.

So, I made the Light as a Feather Lemon Cookies.  They were OK, but, not my favorite lemon cookie that I've ever made.  They just weren't 'lemony' enough for my tastes.  I added some pureed Meyer Lemon peel to the cookie dough, to help boost the lemon flavor.  The cookies were well received, but, I'm still on the lookout for another lemon cookie that really rocks my world.   If anyone has a favorite lemon cookie recipe they'd like to share, I'd love to hear from you!  To view the South Beach Diet lemon cookie recipe, just click ~ HERE. 

Lemony Kale Salad ~ Lisa Oz / Dr. Oz

I was reading a magazine and came across an article from Dr. Oz and his wife, Lisa.  She mentioned a salad that she likes to make at home, it's her own recipe for ~ Lemony Kale Salad.  It sounded really good, I had almost all  the ingredients to make it ~ so I did.

I skipped the hemp seeds since I don't have any in my pantry, I used an onion instead of a shallot and threw in a handful of chopped walnuts.  As Lisa says, get your hands messy and give the salad a really good massage.  It's super easy, super tasty and super good for you.  Cool!  Check out the recipe ~ here ~, it's over on the Oprah site.

Preserved Meyer Lemons

I've mentioned before that I'm a huge lemonhead.  I grew up with a HUGE lemon tree in my backyard & have always had a sweet spot in my heart for this most sour of fruits.  Awhile back, I had some Meyer lemons that needed using up & I was looking for something unusual to do with them.  I found this recipe for Preserved Lemons that sounded really good.  The story behind her making them was so inviting, that I decided I just had to make them, too.  Now, I'm on the lookout for recipes that showcase these little golden jewels ~ so, if anyone has a good recipe to share, I'm all ears!  :)

Lemon Basil Chicken Tenders with Zucchini Ribbons

Lemon Basil Chicken Tenders with Zucchini Ribbons ~ this chicken dinner has all the sunny flavors of the Mediterranean since it has fresh lemon, lemon zest & basil.  The zucchini ribbons are a low carb stand in for pasta noodles & the tomatoes/green onions give it a 'light tomato sauce' taste. It cooks up quick, so it would be a great midweek meal.

I saw this recipe in our newspaper last week & decided to give it a try.  Happy to say, it was easy to make & we enjoyed it.  I added a few things to their recipe & tweaked/adapted it a bit ~ no surprise there, heehee.  :)  I really enjoyed the sunny flavors of fresh lemon, lemon zest & basil, all mingled together.  This meal kinda reminded me of a low cal, low carb, low fat version of Chicken Piccata.  Just make a few tweaks ~ add a little white wine, capers, exchange the basil for parsley & add a bit of Parmesan cheese ~ & now you've got a whole different meal.   Love when that happens ~ two different recipes for the price of one!   This dinner is quick enough to throw together for a midweek meal, but is nice enough to serve guests.  It's also a good meal if you are eating Fat Flush Plan style...how cool is that?  :)  Enjoy!

Lemon Basil Chicken Tenders with Zucchini Ribbons

serves 2

• Juice of 1 lemon
• zest of 1 lemon
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil  or 1 Tbsp dried basil
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 green onion, chopped, green & white parts
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• 6 boneless, skinless chicken breast tenders
• smoked paprika (or regular paprika) ~ to sprinkle on chicken while cooking

• 1 medium zucchini 
• 1 small tomato, chopped
• 1 green onion, chopped, green & white parts
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp water
• salt & pepper, to taste 

Combine first 7 ingredients in a bowl ~ add chicken to the marinade and turn to coat.  Let sit in marinade while you prepare the zucchini ribbons. 

Use a vegetable peeler to shave the zucchini into very thin "ribbons."

Heat a skillet over medium.  Add chicken tenders and the marinade.  Sprinkle on a little smoked paprika on the chicken tenders.  Cook chicken tenders 3 minutes ~ flip, sprinkle a little more smoked paprika on other side, cook another 3 minutes.  (Approx. 6 minutes total, 3 minutes per side) 

While chicken is cooking ~ in separate pan, over medium heat, add the oil & water, when hot ~ toss in zucchini ribbons, tomatoes & green onions.  Cook until zucchini/tomatoes start to wilt & is hot throughout, about 3-4 minutes.  Salt & pepper, to taste.

Serve chicken tenders with any juice from the pan & zucchini ribbons, on the side.  Salt & pepper, to taste.   Enjoy!

Lemon French Yogurt Cake with Sugar Crunch Topping

Last spring,  I was reading a book that had recently been published called ~ Bonjour, Happiness! by Jamie Cat Callan.  It's a really fun read about the authors memories of her French grandmother, memorable meals/foods, her time living/traveling in France & how she has applied what she has learned to make her life more happy.  The thing that was really cool about the book was the recipes that were sprinkled here & there, little food gems just begging to be made & enjoyed.  One recipe that really tweaked my fancy was for a lemon yogurt cake with an unusual sugar topping (page 86 on the book preview link).  It reminds me of some simple French Yogurt Cake recipes that I've seen on the Internet, but with a twist.  Since I love lemon cake so much, I just had to try it.

Here is my adapted version of the recipe from the book.  I know I will be tinkering with the recipe some more, I want to try making it with some Meyer lemons next time & want to amp up/really heighten the sunny lemon flavor.  I just gotta say, the lemon sugar syrup topping that you pour over the finished cake is amazing!!   I was so impressed by it & I'm a hard sell when it comes to using a lot of sugar in a cake, but with this recipe, I will make an exception ~ it's that good.

I think the cake is best served when it has completely cooled & the lemon flavor has had a chance to totally soak in.  I really like it when the sugar topping has turned nice & crunchy/crusty.  I think the cake tastes just as good the second day, too.  The author prefers the cake served slightly warm, topped with whipped cream  (I didn't feel the cake needed the whipped cream, the sugar topping is the star & perfect as is) & then eaten/finished the same day.  Different strokes for different folks.  Either way you enjoy it, it's a wonderful lemon cake.  Bon Appétit!

Lemon French Yogurt Cake with Sugar Crunch Topping

* adapted from the recipe ~ The Mary Kelly Lemon Cake, from the book ~ Bonjour, Happiness!

for the lemon cake batter

• 1 cup flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 4 Tbsp margarine
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup plain non fat or regular yogurt
• zest from one lemon

for the crunchy sugar topping

• 1/2 cup sugar (or enough to create a syrupy consistency)
• juice of one whole lemon 

Preheat oven to 350*F degrees.  Grease cake pan & set aside. (I liked using the square pan for a change) 

Sift together the dry ingredients.

In a large bowl, cream together margarine, 2 Tbsp lemon juice & sugar until light & fluffy.  Add egg & beat at high speed for 1 minute.  Alternately add yogurt & flour mixture in 3 additions, with mixer at low speed.  When batter is finished, stir in lemon zest.

Pour batter into the greased cake pan & smooth top with a spatula.  Bake in center of oven for 30-35  minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center of cake comes out clean.

While cake is baking, make the crunchy sugar topping ~ combine sugar & lemon juice until it forms a syrupy consistency.  Spread the lemon syrup topping evenly over the cake as it comes out of the oven.  Set cake, in its pan, on a wire rack to cool.  As the cake cools, the topping will harden & form a crunchy sugar crust over the cake. 

Enjoy either completely cooled OR slightly warm.  I suggest you try it both ways & see which is your favorite way to eat it.  That's how I decided I prefer it completely cooled.  :)

Meyer Lemon & Limoncello Bundt Cake with Limoncello Glaze

I think lemon has to be my favorite fruit flavor.  It's always been that way, ever since I was a little kid.  It's only fitting since I grew up in Southern California, that & the fact we had a huge, very old lemon tree in our backyard.  We used to get so many lemons off that tree, we couldn't give them all away.

I've recently fallen in love with another type of lemon, the Meyer lemon.  I so look forward to finding bags of these golden-yellow beauties at the market.  It's a real treat, since you never know when you might find them there.  They have such a wonderful flavor, you can eat the skin & they're not quite as tart as a regular lemon ~ I think it's the elegant version of a lemon.  When I'm lucky enough to find some, I like to turn them into a special treat.  This time the something special was a birthday cake ~ mine to be exact.  My day, my choice of cake.  It turned out really good, just what I wished for.  It was absolutely bursting with the bright, sunny flavor of lemons.  The cake was full of different types of lemon ~ juice, zest, whole almost-pureed lemon (skin & all), lemon liqueur & lemon mixes.   I was happy that I was able to work in my homemade Limoncello (I made a batch last fall, check out that post here).  ~  Layer, upon layer, of that wonderful lemon flavor that I love.  Oh, yeah, my birthday wish came true! :)

Meyer Lemon & Limoncello Bundt Cake with Limoncello Glaze

  ~ cake batter ~
1                 box lemon cake mix*
1                 small box lemon pudding mix*
3                 eggs
2/3 cup       oil
2/3 cup       water
1                  Meyer lemon, seeded & finely chopped
                    (skin & all) in food processor
2 tblsp         fresh Meyer lemon juice 
1/2 cup        limoncello liqueur


*  if you want a bit less of the lemon flavor, use French Vanilla cake
                                                 & pudding mixes

 

  ~ limoncello glaze ~ 
double if you like a lot of glaze
1 cup             powder sugar (or more, to get
                       proper consistency)
2 1/2 tblsp    limoncello liqueur
1 tblsp           fresh Meyer lemon juice
1 tblsp           Meyer lemon zest  (about 1/2 lemon) 

~ thin slices of Meyer lemon for garnish, optional
~ powdered sugar for garnish, optional

1)     preheat oven to 350 degrees & grease bundt pan

2)    slice Meyer lemon into one inch slices & remove seeds, then chop in
        food processor until it's been very finely chopped, reserve until batter
        is all mixed

3)    in a large bowl, mix all ingredients (except the chopped lemon) with
        hand mixer for 3 minutes, when done mixing batter, add the chopped
        lemon & stir by hand until fully incorporated into the batter

4)    pour batter into greased bundt pan, hit pan on counter to release any air
        bubbles and then run a spoon in a circle, around the middle of the batter
        (about 1" down into the batter) ~ this will help the cake batter rise
         properly

5)     bake for about 45 min, or until tester comes out clean & cake is golden
        ~ let cake cool in pan until it is ready to release from pan, then let cake
         cool completely before glazing

6)     mix all glaze ingredients together & drizzle over the cooled cake

7)    once glazing is done, arrange lemon slices on top of cake &
        sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired

                                                        Enjoy!

Homemade Limoncello & Old-Fashioned Lemonade ~ Creating Liquid Sunshine

Homemade Limoncello  ~ It's like drinking liquid sunshine

California Lemons

I love lemons!  As I've mentioned before, when you grow up in California, you are surrounded by these golden yellow gems, they are everywhere.  Even more so if you have a huge lemon tree in your own backyard.

My love affair with Limoncello began last summer.  Early in August I bought a big bag of California lemons & began searching the web for interesting recipes that used lemons in unusual ways.  I was intrigued by one recipe for making the Italian liqueur, Limoncello.   The thought of making a homemade version really tripped my trigger.  I like lemons, I like liqueur & I like to make homemade 'hooch' ~ sounds like a trifecta to me.  I placed that bet & happy to say, about 6 weeks after I started the process, it paid off ~ big time. By late September my beautiful lemon nectar was ready to bottle & drink.  I've now got a good supply of homemade Limoncello to play with & I'm loving it!


Limoncello is very easy to make.  You must have patience, but it's worth it to be able to sip a liqueur that you've created yourself.  It's so much more that just a drink, you can add it to recipes & when put in a pretty bottle, it makes a great hostess gift.  I recently used some of this liquid sunshine in a cake recipe I created & it really took the flavor of the cake up to the next level.   I'll share that recipe with you soon, but for now, why not try your hand at making your own Limoncello.  Lemons are everywhere in the markets right now, so get a bag & try it ~ I think you'll love it, too!

The Limoncello journey begins...

P.S. ~ When you make the Limoncello, you will have a bunch of naked lemons hanging around. I think the best thing to do with all of them is to make some Old-Fashioned Lemonade.  Homemade always tastes so much better than powdered.   It's even cooler when you serve it in vintage 60's glassware. Ahhh, the classic taste of summertime...

Old-Fashioned Lemonade ~ The classic refreshing summertime drink

Meyer Lemon Almond Muffins ~ Breakfast, Brunch or Tea Time Treat

Meyer Lemon Almond Muffins

(Updated 4/29/13 ~ Sorry to say, but the original recipe I linked in this post to is now MIA.  In Feb 2012, I found the recipe on FoodBuzz and it is no longer there.  I wasn't savvy enough at the time to know I should always go to the blog source for a recipe link, and that I should not rely on a recipe sharing site (like FoodBuzz) for my link.  So, I am now unable to locate that recipe. :(  

I've honestly searched the web for over an hour, looking for that Meyer Lemon & Almond Muffin recipe ~ but no luck.  I've modified my blog text and *supplied new links to recipes that are similar (as much as I can remember way back then) Now, none of them uses almond flour/almond meal in their recipes, but you can replace about 1/3 of the flour called for with almond flour/meal if you'd like.  Since I can't find the original recipe I used, I guess I'll just have to come up with one of my own! :)  Sorry for the confusion)

Growing up in California means you are surrounded by citrus trees. They are everywhere ~ in backyards, orchards & nurseries. We had a HUGE lemon tree in our backyard.  We used to give away bags & bags & bags of lemons every year.  The scent of really ripe lemons always takes me back to my childhood.  So, when they had Meyer Lemons on sale at the store a few weeks ago, I bought a couple of bags. Winter skies need some sunny, yellow lemons to help them be less dreary.

I surfed the net & found an unusual recipe that uses the entire lemon as part of the batter. First time I have seen that.  You remove the seeds & then add the lemon, peel & all, to the food processor & away you go.   *As I mentioned above, the original recipe I found used almond flour for part of the flour, but unfortunalely, that recipe link is no longer available.  But, here are some other Meyer Lemon Muffin recipes that sound really good...

Low Fat Meyer Lemon Muffins ~ from the blog My Kitchen Adventures

Meyer Lemon Muffins ~ from the blog Gas-tron-o-my

Meyer Lemon Muffins ~ from the LA Times Food Section

It turned out really good & makes an exceptionally pretty muffin, especially with a bit of sliced lemon on top & sprinkled with powdered sugar.   I think I will play around with the recipe a bit & see if I can get it even more lemony.  These would be perfect with breakfast, brunch, tea time or for an after school snack.  These Meyer Lemon Almond Muffins make even a gray, Winter day feel like a sunny day in Springtime.  :)

Perfect for Tea Time

Cooling...

Checking to see if it's done...

Mixing it up...

Fat Tuesday ~ Shrove Tuesday ~ Pancake Day ~ Time for some pancakes!

Perfectly golden...

Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Day ~ by what ever name you call it, it is almost here.  In England, it goes by Shrove Tuesday & since the hubby is from England, that is what we call the day that the pancake is king.

As any 7 year old would, J loves his pancakes (a lot) & never needs an extra excuse to eat them. In this house we celebrate Shrove Tuesday by eating lots & lots of pancakes.  Here are a few of our favorite kinds of pancakes to make ~ both traditional & with a little bit of flair...




English Pancakes ~ These are very similar to French Crepes.  I really like to eat this type of pancake with Meyer lemon & sugar.

English Pancakes with Meyer Lemon & Sugar

Traditional Pancakes ~ These are J's favorite.  He really enjoys them at our local cafe.  On the kids menu they have a great big Mickey Mouse face pancake, you can count on him to order it whenever we go there.  At Mom's 'home cafe' he gets them regular.  Either way, he eats them up quick!

Traditional Pancakes with Maple Syrup

English Pancakes ~ You can roll them or you can fold them, any way you do it is good.  I think they look very petite when you fold them this way.  Just add your favorite filling. Yum!!

English Pancakes with Meyer Lemon & Sugar

Dutch Baby Pancakes ~ These baked pancakes are so very good & can be made large or small.  Leftovers, filled with custard/pudding & fresh fruit, make wonderful fruit tart desserts.

Dutch Baby Pancakes

French Crepes ~  I love to make French Crepes because they are so versatile.  They make a wonderful breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert.  Tuck leftovers inside & they become special.

French Crepes

Hope you get a chance to celebrate this years Fat Tuesday/Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Day with a big plate of golden pancakes.  I know we will!  :)

Meyer Lemon & Fresh Cranberry Muffins

Meyer Lemon & Fresh Cranberry Muffins

It was cold & gray today. Time for tea & muffins. I had some Meyer lemons & cranberries in the fridge ~ perfect!  I surfed the net & found this recipe over at Everybody Likes Sandwiches.

The scent of fresh lemon quickly chased away the morning blahs.  The flavor of the lemon/muffin is subtle & the cranberries give the muffins a unique twist. The recipe made a dozen regular sized muffins, as well as a bakers dozen of mini muffins.  I would drop the temp to 375* next time, 400* was just too hot. The sides of the muffins got a bit too brown by the time they were cooked through & the tops only got to a pale golden color.  You could easily use regular lemons in this recipe.

 The muffins are now almost all gone, can't get more of a thumbs up than that.