Meyer Lemon Poppy Seed Waffles

Winter in Chico means lots of Meyer lemons. Many people have trees that are heavy with fruit right now and we are lucky to be the recipient of these tangy sweet citrus jewels. Meyer lemons are thought to be a cross between a Eureka lemon and a mandarin orange and have a very distinctive smell. Ali says they remind her of visiting Grs. Marie & Bill. We had a tree when I was growing up and the fruit lasts on the tree all year and makes delicious lemon aid in the summer.

Lemon poppy seed is not a new combination, but I was pleased with the results when I incorporated the tried & true flavor combination into waffles.

Lemon Poppy Seed Whole Wheat Waffles with Blueberry Syrup

Juice and grated rind of one Meyer lemon (reserve a quarter of both juice & rind)

1 extra large egg separated

4 T butter

7 fluid ounces milk

1 cup whole wheat flour

¼ cup poppy seeds

1 scant tsp baking powder

¼ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

Grate the rind of one Meyer lemon. Juice the lemon, set a quarter of the juice & rind aside for use in syrup.

Separate the egg and beat the white to form stiff but not dry peaks.

Melt butter in separate small bowl or 2 cup glass measuring cup, add milk and warm in microwave. (Melting butter & warming milk can be done on the stove.)

Using hand mixer, beat egg yolk into butter & milk. Gradually add lemon juice as you continue to beat. This seems to keep milk mixture from curdling.

In medium bowl, stir together dry ingredients and grated lemon peel. Add milk mixture and stir to just blend. Fold in egg white. Cook on heated waffle iron.

Serve with blueberry syrup and plain yogurt if desired.

Blueberry Syrup

1 ½ cup frozen or fresh blueberries

½ cup sugar

A quarter of the juice & rind reserved from the waffle recipe

Mix all ingredients in a small saucepan and heat gradually to boiling, stirring to dissolve sugar. Turn to simmer and cook for about 10 minutes. Syrup will be runny.

Jicama and Orange Salad

We have been enjoying lunch in the back portion of our yard. It is shadier at lunch time than the patio. A sunflower grew up and provided us with a floral arrangement.

Aunt Catherine made a delicious jicama & orange salad at the annual Jed Smith camping trip. She found the recipe on line when she looked for a Mexican salad to accompany her tacos. Thanks to Catherine and Gourmet Sleuth:

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Recipes/Salads-242/Jicama-and-Blood-Orange-Salad-621.aspx

Even though I had no mangos or jicama I decided to make the salad. What the heck, I had everything else. I used two green apples instead of the jicama and two peaches instead of the mango called for in the recipe. I also used regular oranges, as did Catherine. It came out good, but with the jicama it was delicious. The lime, fresh hot pepper & cilantro add a zing!

I'm still working on the old counter tops. But not for long. We are hanging our IKEA cabinets, with excellent results. So far it isn't too difficult (at least for me). Dad does the hard parts, as usual. My role is as grunt & consultant.

Graham Crackers & Mojito Pie

Imagine Lemon Meringue Pie. Now substitute lime juice for the lemon juice in the filling and replace 1/4 cup of the water in the filling with rum. Cook several sprigs of mint in the filling as well.

Ali & I had the idea for making a mojito pie. You can see from the photo that this pie was actually made.

We felt that our creation should have a graham cracker crust; and we didn't want to go out to buy soy free graham crackers, so we decided to make our own.

Exploring on the web we found a delicious recipe for perfect graham crackers. It turns out that graham flour is just whole wheat flour, although a slightly coarser grind. These crackers tasted so much like the real thing and were fun to make. Thank you to 123chef for posting this recipe on the website Chef Talk.com (forum.) Here is the recipe with a few modifications from us.

Home Made Graham Crackers

(makes enough for 2 pie crusts, or one crust and lots of delicious munching)

2 1/2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup (4.5 ounces) graham flour (whole wheat)

1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon (2 ounces) brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

3 ounces unsalted butter (or palm oil shortening)

1/2 cup honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup water

1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all the ingredients in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Mix until smooth and well combined, scraping down the bowl. This makes a very easy to handle, non sticky dough. Divide dough in half.

Pat out one portion of dough on a piece of parchment, to the size of a large, thick pancakes.

Lay another piece of parchment over the dough and roll it out with a rolling pin, until about 1/8-inch thick. (I think ours were a bit thicker, but baked up fine.)

Peel off the top parchment and transfer the bottom parchment with dough onto a baking sheet. Cut dough into squares with a knife or pizza cutter. Do not separate squares.

Bake for about 10 minutes and then check the cracker for doneness, bake for another 3-6 minutes. The crackers should be golden brown. Repeat with other portion of dough.

Place baking sheet on a cooling rack. Once cool, the graham cracker can be broken into squares, or crushed into crumbs for pie crust.

Rose Window Easter Almond Citrus Cake

I found this recipe on the back of some "Sugar Zulka" found in the baking section of our local market.  We've been enjoying it in coffee and tea too.
This was one of our desserts at Easter - hence the name Easter cake.
I made a few modifications, but everyone who likes almond agreed that it was tasty and my brother-in-law, the former chef, said it is the best dessert he's had in months!

I'll type the original recipe & put my modifications in parentheses.

- 1/2 C All-Purpose Flour
- 1 t Baking Powder
- 12 T Unsalted Butter
- 3/4 C Sugar Zulka (I used their product, but I think any course sugar in the raw would work)
- 12 T Almond Paste (I just used a tube...It may be a little less than 12 T)
- Grated Zest of 1 Orange
- Grated Zest of 1 Lemon
- 1/2 t Almond Extract
- 1 t Kirsh (I used Grand Marnier instead - hence the name "Almond Citrus Cake.  Lemon or orange extract would probably work too.)
- 1 t Vanilla Extract
- 5 Eggs

Topping:
- 2 T Apricot Jam (I used a little more than this.)
- 1 T Water (Why use water when you can use Bourbon?  I used Bourbon, enough to make the ratio work)
- 1/4 C Toasted Sliced Almonds (I didn't do this b/c I desperately wanted to use my lattice cutter that I purchased with April's birthday King Arthur's Gift Certificate.  I rolled out marzipan and cut it out and laid it on top of the jam/bourbon combo, with a rather gorgeous effect, if I do say so myself. Hence the Rose Window part of the name.)

Preheat oven to 325 F
Butter a 9" round cake pan & line with parchment paper (I forget the parchment paper, but it would have been cleaner if I had.)

Sift flour and baking powder together and set aside, Cream butter & sugar on medium, scraping down the sides of the bowl, until light & fluffy (3-4 minutes).
Add almond paste, zests, almond extract, kirsch (or whatever) & vanilla.  Beat until light & fluffy, scraping down sides of bowl (2-3 minutes.)  Add eggs and beat until smooth and lump free.  (The original recipe doesn't mention adding the flour mix, but I added it here and beat until smooth and lump free.)

The pan will be very full, but shouldn't run over.  Bake until cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick comes out clean 40-50 minutes (50 for me)

Transfer the cake pan to a wire rack and cool for 1 hour.  Turn the cake onto plate, brush with the jam mixture (I heated mine in the microwave) and sprinkle with toasted almonds (I skipped this in favor of my marzipan topping.)